#107 River Dog (2) – Primer

…Continued from 285 South.

Topolsky realizes she has missed the kids, who have escaped from the dome with the Atherton files. Once home, Isabel shows a pendant to Max that she found at Atherton’s. Each admits to recognizing the symbol on the pendant, although neither is sure of the meaning. Max decides to hide the files under his bed until everyone can go through them together.

Later at school, Liz confronts Kyle asking him to keep quiet about what happened in Texas. Kyle agrees but promises he’s going to bury Max Evans someday.

As Max and Isabel arrive home from school, they discover Sheriff Valenti at their home. Valenti tells them they have been robbed, and Max and Isabel soon discover the Atherton files have been stolen. During the robbery investigation, Deputy Blackwood makes a comment to Isabel about her pendant saying he hasn’t seen that symbol since his days on the reservation. Feeling the aliens are being watched, Liz volunteers to take the pendant to the reservation to see what information she can obtain about the symbol. Her quest leads her to a Native American man, RIVER DOG, who warns her the symbol means death. Liz runs off in fear.

The next day an Indian teen, EDDIE, tells Liz that River Dog wants to meet her again. Michael and Isabel stage a fake-out for Topolsky, who they have discovered is secretly following them, as Max and Liz go to the reservation. Eddie greets Max and Liz telling them there will be a test once they meet River Dog. After Eddie abandons them, Liz and Max discover a cave. When Max uses his powers to light up the cave, River Dog tells Max he has passed the test.

River Dog then shows Max and Liz a cave painting containing symbols familiar to Max. River Dog tells them the fourth alien, Nasedo, who lived among his tribe until Atherton came, was the one who did the painting. River Dog also explains Nasedo and Atherton became quick friends, but for reasons unknown to him, Nasedo killed Atherton. As they leave, Max holds out his hand to Liz. River Dog stops Liz warning her to be cautious of Max. Liz makes the choice to accept Max’s hand and they leave the cave together.

Back at The Crashdown, Michael and Maria’s bickering leads to a moment of passion — and a first kiss.

Valenti confronts Topolsky, telling her he knows she was the one who knocked him out at the dome. He further tells her he knows she’s a federal agent, and threatens to expose her. Topolsky offers the two work side by side.

Jason Katims Commentary

“WE WEREN’T JUST IN A HIGH SCHOOL…”

Transcribed by Lena

“River Dog”, I think sort of continues to expand the landscape of the show. We wanted from the beginning to explore the connections between the Native American community and aliens and suddenly it felt like the world of New Mexico was really coming to life and we weren’t just in a high school. We were in places that we couldn’t be in other youth oriented TV shows. It was very exciting, because we were starting to exploit the world. The other thing I remember that’s the episode when Maria and Michael first kiss and we didn’t really plan that to happen. I wrote the scene in much the way that Maria Michaels relationship was it was this very impetuous decision it was just like this thing that happened it was like oh my god they’re kissing and which of course seemed like a very natural thing to do. It was unlike a lot of things it wasn’t really planned for that relationship, which is going there whether the writers wanted to do it or not you know it just happened, so that was that was “River Dog”.