Well, I'm back. I bet you missed me already. Today I'm going to be reviewing the seventh season of River Monsters, released in 2015. If you still haven't watched it, there will be some spoilers in this review. Also, I am not reviewing Season 6 because Admiral Warsilver reviewed it like... 20 days after the final episode, so be sure to check out his Season 6 review if you are so inclined. We'll be looking at several different factors, created by Admiral Warsilver of course, and judge the season from 1 (not done well) to 5 (Perfect Score!!!!!!!!!!!). Afterward, I'll look at the season as a whole from my perspective. Please note that these reviews are fairly subjective, especially in some categories, so you may not agree with my judgment. Also note that River Monsters is the best show (the subjectivity begins here) and that even if I give a season a low score, I still think its better than every other show. With that aside, lets begin with Location.
Location- Season 7 has some interesting location variety. The first episode takes place in Canada, whereas we go on to see many exotic locations including Alaska, and my personal favorite- Cambodia. I believe Jeremy visited Angkor Wat in the episode "Mekong Mutilator". That was pretty cool. Another thing of note was that Jeremy started his break from the Amazon basin, which lasted till the end of the series, probably because there can't be much better than what we saw in season 6.
My Rating - ****
Monster Variety- This next category is naturally more subjective than Location, because variety is hard to define. Granted, all of the culprits were fish, but they were very different fish. One example was the pufferfish in "Mekong Mutilator". I really liked that. Also, one episode titled "South Pacific Terrors" featured two monsters. One of them was a monster eel, while the other was a battering ram known to kill sharks. I find this monster variety to be quite interesting.
My Rating- ****
Monster origionality- Seriously... we saw that tiger fish before. No, there is no way I would have thought the meat on my plate could kill someone. If you've watched what used to be my very favorite episode, "Alaska's Cold Water Killer", you'll know what I mean. I was quite shocked by some of the monsters in this season. It was honestly very original. Many of the monsters were fish that I would never suspect.
My Rating- ****
Mystery- Perhaps the biggest part of River Monsters is mystery. This season came pretty close to lightning caught in a bottle in the way of mystery. The creepy tale of boats vanishing in Alaska's frigid water was even better (in my opinion) than the story of a monster fish in a bottomless Alaskan lake in Season 2. The disappearances on the island of Fiji were almost impossible to explain, and that adds value here. And of course, the tigerfish. That has to be one of the best illustrations of mystery done right.
My Rating- *****(Perfect Score!!!!!!!!!!!)
Culture- If I'd crack down on Season 7 anywhere, it would be here. Culture does appear in this Season (obviously I'm referring to "Canadian Horror"), but it does not play a major role. Culture was always a big part of River Monsters, but its slight absence in this season did not seriously bother me. Granted, its prescense would have improved the season, but it did not take too much from my experience. Still, we're using the same matrix, so I have to give this season less points here.
My Rating- **
Monster Size- Lack of Monster Size can lead to making an episode feel "dry". By dry I mean that they nailed everything else, but didn't bring in an impressive catch. For me, episodes that end with the capture of a small fish that is every bit as terrifying as its larger counterparts, or in some cases even more so *cough* *Candiru * *cough*, it adds a new dimension to the series as a whole. Consider season one with its monster catfish and arapaima . Then there's that Piranha tucked in there adding a small terror that compliments the big ones. Thats how I feel seasons 1 and 2 did it. But seasons 5 and 7 were like... small fish with a Halibut tucked in there. Sorry Rhizodus , next time around how about you last another 300,000,000 years. But my point really is that most of the epic episodes ended in a fish on non-monstrous proportions. However, that doesn't mean I don't enjoy the episodes as individuals, it just means that it takes a little of the gawking away. Seriously, I could hardly believe that Arapaima at the end of Season 6.
My Rating- **
Over All Rating 4/5-
I give this Season 4/5-. Its not quite 4/5, but I would feel a little bad giving it a 3/5 plus because of how solidly it nailed mystery, and everything other than culture and monster size. Honestly, this was one of the high moments of River Monsters. I wouldn't say it beat Seasons 1 and 2, however, some of the episode may have been pretty close to "Killer Catfish". For a really long time, my favorite episode was "Alaska's Cold Water Killer". Granted, back then I had only seen about half of the episodes, but it still means a lot to me. If you haven't seen Season 7 yet, I will recommend it.
We still have the Seasons 8 and 9 reviews coming, and then I'll touch up on Mighty Rivers before we get to whatever Jeremy's making next. I'm also planning to review the Jungle Hooks series at some point. Its been great reviewing these seasons and sharing my thoughts in the blogs. Always feel free to leave a comment and tell me your thoughts. Thanks for reading my rant, and I'll see you all next time.