'The River' Season 1, Episode 8 Recap - 'Row, Row, Row Your Boat'

If you were wondering what the secret of the titular river and its magic are, then this finale episode didn't answer much for you. But if you were wondering how "The River" was going to continue on to a possible second season, then consider your questions answered.

We've done a lot of "Paranormal Activity"-esque ghost/demon stuff so far in this series, but "Row, Row, Row Your Boat" took us more into "The Exorcist" territory, or at least a realm closer to the very final scene of "Paranormal Activity." It all starts as the crew adjusts to having Emmet on board, and tells us what they're going to do when they get home.

But when Emmet and Lincoln have a heart-to-heart, someone shoots Lincoln right through the throat. Yeah, it's pretty sudden. He bleeds out just as suddenly, and with that one of our main characters is dead. But wait! This is "The River" and the laws of nature pretty much don't mean jack anymore, so Lincoln might not be totally dead.

Sure enough, Jahel claims she knows how to bring him back and does so, with instruction from a spirit she overheard. Bad move by the usually cautious Jahel.

It works and Lincoln is alive again, but he's a bit different. First of all, he wears all black all the time. Secondly, he murders Jonas. I may have had the order mixed up there in terms of importance, but the important thing is that Jonas is totally dead. For real this time. We're slightly less empathetic as we learn that Jonas was the one who killed Lincoln while he was aiming for Emmet.

That gets Kurt off the hook, who it turns out knows a lot about the Boiuna. With some help from Lena, Emmet manages to tie the possessed Lincoln down and attempts to extract the demon from him. But Kurt notes that the spirit cannot be drawn out, it must be forced out by the possessed person. So Emmet talks to Lincoln like a father would to his son (finally), and it works.

However, the crew isn't totally out of the woods (or jungle): when they try to make their way back onto the Amazon, they find the passage closed. When they send up the helicopter with the camera, they get a shocking view of the various canals and tributaries of the Amazon shifting and changing to trap them there.

So that's how "The River" is planning on proceeding to another season. They're trapped, but now they have the knowledgable Emmet (and Kurt, apparently) to help them fight back against the Boiuna.

The other major fallout is that Lincoln pretty much just straight murdered the other guy that Lena liked, so that relationship is going to be a bit strange.

Ultimately this was a pretty exciting finale. The exorcism had some truly creepy moments, especially with Demon Lincoln singing "Row Row Row Your Boat" in a child's voice while undressing Lena. That's some truly messed up stuff right there. Also, side note: was it just me, or was there a lot of cleavage in this episode?

The whodunit aspect of the episode was a little odd, but once things got rolling it was fun/creepy to watch. Should "The River" be renewed, it should be fun to see Emmet navigate this area with his advanced knowledge (enough stumbling around and getting out of bad situations with luck). Plus, we now have a clear bad guy in the Boiuna that we can ascribe a voice and attitude to, where the demon has thus far been formless.

What did you think of the finale?