The River

Series Finale:     
Episode eight — Row, Row, Row Your Boat
It’s a new day and The Magus crew is feeling something they haven’t felt since setting foot in the Boiuna. Relief. Relief that they are headed back home, relief that they didn’t get torn limb from limb by the mutated beasts that laid claim to Rabbit, but most of all, relief that they have found Dr. Emmet Cole alive and have him safe and sound on board.

Ever the producer, Clark is now able to give everyone their happy ending. Jahel is grateful they are able to go home because most who traverse the Boiuna don’t. Jonas is excited to go home and have sex and has no plans of being picky about it. But all that aside, Clark says what we’re all thinking when he address the camera and says, “it’s time to get some answers.”

The crew sits Emmet down and waits for him to start talking. Emmet tells them that he came to the Boiuna because he thought he was supposed to find something. But now, after all he’s been through, after all they’ve been through, there isn’t anything of him left besides the husband and father. And with that, he stands and walks away, leaving his friends and family wanting more.

Later in the day, Emmet approaches Lena and apologizes. He tells her that her father, Russ, trusted him and all he did in return was fail him. Unable to do anything but accept that, Lena asks Emmet what the mark on her neck is. It has to mean something, right? Emmet tells her that it’s a simple birthmark. He thought it signified that she was meant for something special, but in truth, “the Boiuna does not want us here.”

Elsewhere on The Magus, Clark and Tess find a moment to take a deep breath and reflect on their journey here in the Amazon. Clark tells Tess that, “out of all the things we saw out here, you just might be the most astonishing.” Flattered but forever devoted to her husband, Tess tells him that she made a mistake when Emmet left, and now that he’s back, she’s not making the same mistake again. Clearly not taking that well, Clark is resigned to his editing room, where, in a moment of rage, jealousy and sadness he smashes some of his valuable editing equipment.

After saying all he could to Lena, Emmet continues his rounds of making amends and approaches the largest challenge yet. His son, Lincoln. “Since you were nine years old you’ve been your own man… and I’m proud of that,” Emmet tells his estranged son. The two agree to take it slow and work on just being a good father and son. Then, in the still of these two men coming together, Lincoln suddenly throws Emmet to the ground and jumps in front of his dad as a gunshot rings through the shadows and onto the deck — striking Lincoln in the neck!

Everyone rushes to the deck where Lincoln lies on the ground, blood pouring out of him. Despite all their efforts, it’s all too little too late as Lincoln, the son of famed explorer, Dr. Emmet Cole, is dead.

The crew is thrown into chaos. Tess distraught and fuming with emotion. Everyone’s pointing fingers but no one truly saw a thing and the cameras are useless because Emilio had to shut down the boat’s power to work on the engine. At the end of it all, there is one person who stands out above them all. Kurt. Clark finally informs everyone about what he over heard when they first set foot on The Magus weeks ago. If Emmet finds the source, Kurt would “put him down.”

That night, Jahel approaches Tess. “There is a way,” she informs the mourning mother. What Jahel knows is that if they use the Boiuna’s spirit itself, they could possibly revive Lincoln. While Tess is on board to do anything to bring her only child back, Emmet warns against this. The Boiuna is not a spirit, it’s not like the things they’ve dealt with here so far. “It’s the God of all demons,” he says, and even if it does work, which they don’t know it will, there are some things you just don’t call out.

Ignoring his warnings, Jahel and Tess sneak away to the bowels of The Magus. Jahel slices both of Tess’ forearms long and deep. Blood drips everywhere. The boat begins to vibrate, the lights flicker and an amulet that floats between Jahel and Tess erupts into a ball of fire. Tess asks how Jahel knows how to do this, to which she replies, “she is telling me.” The ceremony grows more intense as the room where Lincoln’s body rests begins to flood… a loud screeching rings through the metal body of The Magus… Lincoln’s body now fully submerged. Tess sprints out of the room, passing Emmet, and into Lincoln’s room where she turns the handle to find… Lincoln standing. Breathing. Alive!

They are beside themselves. He was dead not moments ago. Now, he’s seemingly himself. Walking. Talking. And remembering who shot him… Kurt. It was Kurt who tried to take out Emmet Cole and instead shot Lincoln in the neck. Kurt denies it, but goes quietly; he warns them to do whatever they want, but to be careful. They lock him in the panic room, but not before Emmet picks up on something and suspects that Lincoln may not be himself.

With Lincoln alive and The Magus running well, Emilio confronts his daughter, upset that she has deliberately disobeyed his clear wishes to shy away from the spiritual world. However, this is a different Jahel than the one we started with, and she tells her father no. She’s not a child anymore and she makes her own choices.

In the kitchen, Lincoln fixes himself a sandwich while he chats with Jonas. It doesn’t take long for Lincoln to quell the small talk and cut to the quick of the matter. He may have told everyone that Kurt shot him, but that’s just because they have “unfinished business.” He knows that Jonas is really the one that pulled the trigger. As Lincoln steps closer, he picks up a knife… continues in closer still… and with a lightening quick strike, slices Jonas’ neck open, spilling blood everywhere.

Meanwhile, Emmet scrubs through tapes of his family and friends’ adventures. It’s then that Emmet focuses on the conversation in the kitchen with Jonas and Lincoln. Except the morose reality of the situation is not what presents itself to Emmet. Instead of a gruesome killing, Jonas smiles and walks out of the room… Lincoln then looks up to the camera and seemingly makes it fritz out and then on again. This seals it for Emmet: something is off. He seeks out Lena and asks if she wants to talk. She does, and Emmet turns off the camera mounted above her, clearly planning something.

Back with Jahel, Emilio asks her what she knows about her mother. Jahel remembers how she laughed through her nose and how her hair looked as she brushed it. With a deep breath, Emilio finds the strength to tell his daughter the truth he long avoided, “Your mother isn’t dead.” This renders Jahel speechless. Emilio goes on to tell her that, like Jahel, her mother had the same gift. She was able to speak with spirits and she used it to help others. But once you let them in, the spirits cannot be silenced and her mother didn’t have the strength to ignore them. This is why he desperately tried to stop her from going down this road.

Elsewhere, Kurt sits in the panic room, silently locked away, confident in his own innocence but without an advocate. Suddenly, to his surprise, the door creaks open, revealing Lincoln, who approaches confidently. Upon entering, Lincoln begins to speak to Kurt in fluent German. Kurt knows this is not Lincoln, and whatever it is… they have met before. Then, without warning and with superhuman strength, Lincoln begins throwing Kurt against the wall and savagely beating him up!

Later that night, Lena approaches Lincoln, who sits deep in thought looking over the side of the boat. Using her sexual wiles, Lena kisses Lincoln and invites him back to her room. But before they go, she offers Lincoln a beer, which he gladly drinks down. However, Emmet has learned a thing or two in his time here in the Boiuna and has fixed the drink in a way that propels Lincoln into convulsions, which allows Emmet to get the jump on him and knock him unconscious as he screams, “let go of my son!”

Moments later, Lincoln regains consciousness and realizes that he’s tied down tightly to a table. Emmet prepares the only thing he can think to do in this situation, an exorcism. With assistance from Lena, Emmet explains to her and the others who watch safely from the editing bay that when Jahel opened the door for Lincoln’s spirit to come back to his body, another spirit beat him to it: the black snake-the Boiuna itself is inside of Lincoln.

Lincoln taunts Lena and Emmet, preying on their fears and insecurities as they begin their ceremony. Lena puts a dragon fly down Lincoln’s mouth and holds a flashlight on him. The metal on the flashlight begins to sear with heat, Lena can barely hold on — it burns her hands intensely until, finally, the bulb explodes, shooting glass all over Lena.

But the first step has had an effect as Lincoln begins to violently spit up blood, which triggers the Boiuna spirit to yell at Emmet that it is going to make him “Die for this.” It is going to make Emmet die for coming down here and stealing its secrets. Then, Lincoln’s body lunges forward, contorting in impossible ways, trying to free itself from its braces. Lincoln yells at Emmet that his body wasn’t even cold. But even this revelation doesn’t shake Emmet’s focus as he starts speaking Spanish and sprinkling salt on Lincoln. This pains him greatly, and now, showing off a new power, Lincoln slams Lena into the roof of The Magus with a flick of his wrist and holds her there as he flicks open one button on her shirt at a time, toying with her. Emmet grabs his hand, but touching Lincoln in this state does no good as Emmet’s hands are immediately engulfed in flames!

It appears that even Emmet Cole may be out of his depths. Tess, attempting to seek any kind of help, notices Kurt praying. She goes to him and asks him what he truly knows about the Boiuna. “More than you do,” he replies, and that’s all she needed to hear to let him walk out and assist her husband in saving her son. Kurt guides Emmet through the process by telling him that he must stop speaking to the demon and talk to his son for he is in there somewhere and wants to come out. Emmet follows suit and begins to apologize for being an absent father, for missing his son’s first kiss, his first steps, and that no longer will he be that kind of father. Emmet isn’t going to miss another minute of his son’s life. All the while, Lincoln screams and contorts until, finally, he jolts forward and blows out all of the glass on the windows that surround the room! Finally, Lincoln lays still and outside, on the river, the Boiuna spirit winds away from The Magus.

It’s the morning on the Amazon. Emmet and Tess have their son back. Emmet goes to Tess with open arms, seemingly forgiving her for getting involved with Clark. All that seems too petty to worry about after what they’ve been through. Finally, our crew is ready to head home. Just around the bend is where they entered the Boiuna, and in a minute, they will be back on the plain old Amazon river.

Yet, something’s off. The mouth of the river isn’t there… Their GPS signal is gone… it doesn’t make sense. The crew sends up a laserbeak to get a better view, and what they see seems like a lie to their eyes… but it’s entirely real. The river, the Boiuna, is actually changing. Moving. Transforming. Tributaries re-aligning, stretching, and joining others. The Boiuna is reforming itself, locking our crew inside. The Boiuna is becoming an impossible maze and isn’t going to let our crew go. Courtesy ABC.
First aired: March 20, 2012.