I absolutely loved this show. It came out of nowhere and blew me away. I was just looking at the list of Netflix shows and picked this one out, started watching without any prior knowledge, except that Stellan Skarsgård was the lead. I already knew he was he good actor, but not like this. The truth is that Stellan makes the whole show. Put a lesser actor in there and the whole show is ruined. Another reviewer here said that River is all about relationships. And I agree, this whole show is build around how River deals with everyone around him, dead or alive. I'm not going to repeat how well it was executed withing the show and I'm not going to reveal spoilers that I don't need to. Unlike most though I was disappointed in the final episode. As said before this show is about relationships. But the writers couldn't resist making this big "thrilling" finale to a show that was all about exploring the human psyche in it's own time. They insisted in making and solving this huge web of lies in one last episode even though the previous episodes barely had any of that. There really is a clash of styles, the last episode feels like it belongs on a different show, something more akin to CSI: suddenly putting plot twists and sensationalism above real human drama. Now, there was still some resolution and Stellan's, and the whole cast really, performance alone makes this worth your while. The last few scenes really are worth seeing and as a whole I can still recommend River to just about anyone. It's just a pity that at the end the writers overreached.
Review of Episode #1.6
