River on Netflix and BBC

[PokerFace]

Make no mistake about it, River has a lot of style, and lots of substance ... at least for the first episode. But then by the time the second episode arrives, that substance (though still present), often turns to boredom.

At least the second episode contained the uplifting (though repetitive) song, I'm In the Mood for Dancing, by The Nolans ... actually, I even enjoyed the cheesy music-video version of the song that I watched on YouTube. Even though it's such a basic music video with repetitive lyrics, I laugh each time I watch the silly choreography.

With River, the somber (Yup, I used the American spelling of the word) mood throughout is a real downer, but only for the second episode.

In the first episode, the somber mood was a like a separate character that I couldn't get enough of, but then suddenly towards the end, in an effort to tie things up, the magic carpet ride came to an end, and I was left feeling a bit cheated. Still well done, just not quite worthy of a 9 ... so an 8.5/10 will have to do. The first half of the pilot is closer to a 9.5/10. I loved it. The second half still contained enough satisfying moments to keep my eyes glued to the screen.

While watching the first half of River's pilot episode, I assumed it was a BBC series (which it is), or perhaps an ITV one (nope), but then I thought that something this good, belongs on Netflix. Sure enough, it turns out Netflix bought it. It's only 6 episodes, but Netflix Canada, etc., will begin streaming all the episodes on November 18.

I sense there is indeed something special about this series, I'm just hoping that the wonderful opening episode wasn't the best the series has to offer. As the fortune inside the fortune cookie says in the second episode: Do not go where the path may lead. Go where there is no path and leave a trail. If the remaining episodes of River can actually do that (basically, blazing its own trail), I will most likely be very pleased indeed.

I'm in the Mood for Dancing (sayyyy cheesy):