She doesn’t say much and what she does say, we can’t understand (unless you speak Spanish). Last week, we got a chance to see what The River was all about and believe it or not, the most important character to follow might be Jahel, played by 19-year-old Paulina Gaitan. Equipped with the powers of a medium to talk with the dead, Gaitan hinted that we should keep our eyes peeled to her at all times, as she is almost always dead-on about what is going to happen next. Well, Gaitan busted out her translator (no joke) and we grabbed some insider info on tonight’s episode “Los Ciegos,” where the crew does its best to deal with going blind, hence the title of the episode. The legend of the Morcegos is also introduced and let’s just say Justin Bieber doesn’t get stalked as much as the crew does on tonight’s episode.
In a recent interview, Joe Anderson (Lincoln) said whatever you think it is, it definitely is not?
That’s the interesting thing about the show because when you think something is going to happen, it always changes. When you think you are going to resolve something, you have to wait and you don’t resolve it to the next episode.
Your character is a medium and seems vital to the show. At the end of last week’s show, Emmet uses Jahel to talk to his wife Tess.
My character is a medium between this world and the spirit world, and the people won’t want to take their eyes off her because what she says and what she thinks is the most accurate to the truth.
She always seems like she knows more than the rest of the crew, even her father Emilio. Why is she so scared?
In the beginning she knows it is not a good idea to go into the river and she tells them, but they don’t listen. She knows what’s going to happen but they don’t care; they don’t listen because she is the youngest and she doesn’t speak English. It’s really hard for her not speaking English because it is a barrier between them.
What can you tell us about tonight’s episode “Los Ciegos”?
As the name of the episode says, it is something that is going to happen and it’s full of action.
What does the name “Los Ciegos” mean in Spanish?
The blind people.
Your character mentioned Corpo-Seco in the pilot (the unseen monster attacking the crew), what other legends come up in future episodes?
There are a bunch of legends and there is one in episode two about a girl…in the river and then in the “Los Ciegos” episode [tonight], there is a legend about the Los Morcegos [a local tribe that might be stalking and watching the crew].
You shot in Hawaii, in the jungle, how did that add to the creepiness?
The first couple of weeks it was hard to sleep because usually we spent the entire night in the boat. So, most of the time when everyone was quiet, you could hear loud sounds, you could hear things going into the water and it was not little things like fish or something, they were heavy things, so everyone was really tense…it was really scary.
The River airs at 9 p.m. ET/PT Tuesdays on ABC. You can find Mike Rothman on Twitter @TheRealRothman.
