s1 river is in such an interesting place. like. i watched episodes 1-3 today . and the 'i have one lead and it might be bullshit but if i don't follow it what good am i' line is really indicative of river's whole entire deal. he's always trying to do the right thing but he doesn't always stop to think before he does what he thinks is the right thing. the classic jump to conclusions based on (usually incomplete) information i have approach which tends to backfire on him. i also think the turning point in s1 is the whole thing with sid at the end of episode 2 (and the reveal much later on) because of the way it is probably the first time river's ever experienced a real world consequence to his actions. this doesn't teach him much cause he never stops being an idiot but i do think it shifts things a bit. he was set up sure but he did still screw up there with material consequences. i dont have a conclusion to this post but makes you wonder