What happened?
A meteorite falls near Terra Nova and explodes in the air triggering an EMP, disabling the fence security, weapons, vehicles and medical equipment. As a solution to craft new chips and return power to Terra Nova is sought Taylor and his men are forced to defend their colony the old-fashioned way.
Spying a chance at reclaiming the box, Mira launches an assault on Terra Nova and, using a dinosaur decoy, manages to take the box back and deliver it to its intended recipient: Taylor’s son.
Thoughts
Oh, Terra Nova walked a fine line with the opening minutes. It was almost, almost, as though it was self-aware enough to parody its worst traits as a means of delivering a surprise. I’m not sure it was being that clever. I just think the schmaltz and sweetness of seeing the Shannon family hurrying around in the morning to get to wherever they are going just all felt like it was being played for maximum mawkishness.
Really I think they were just trying to create the feel of an everyday, normal run of things that was then abruptly interrupted by the sudden impact of the meteorite knocking out the electromagnetics. I don’t think Terra Nova has displayed enough self-aware credibility to claim it was sending up its own tacky qualities before it dropped a big explosion on it all.
The meteorite delivered an EMP that knocked Terra Nova for six. (Note to writers: If you want to make us believe in Maddy as an intelligent geek girl (which she plainly is way too hot to play with ease) then don’t let her use the phrase “EMP Pulse”. If you don’t know why that’s wrong you’re too stupid to write the show.) Briefly I hoped for something of an old-school siege episode, with Taylor defending the weakened colony from dinosaurs smelling free lunch.
As far as I could tell they didn’t get troubled by a single dinosaur except for the massive lumbering one the Sixers directed towards the camp. I’m 50/50 on whether or not I thought that was the dumbest thing ever or the show managed to sell it convincingly enough. It was all basically a plot device to let the Sixers get into Terra Nova and get the box and get back out again. Felt like a waste, to me. There’s any number of ways that box could have been liberated (most dramatically would have been to use the mole in camp, yet to be revealed, I think!) but the programme-makers had the camp crippled to make them vulnerable.
As stated, a more fun, crowdpleading episode would have been a defence against a dinosaur assault under those circumstances. If there’s one thing Terra Nova could use it’s a rousing, crowdpleaser of an episoder.
Still, Taylor and Jim (once he got out of ‘the eye’ room, which better be used again for better purposes than rollercoaster simulators!) were good value for some punching and kicking action with the Sixers. And I don’t know the name of Mira’s right-hand man, the one that Jim chased, but he had some nifty moves and could certainly handle himself in a fight. Hopefully there’ll be a dust up between Washington and this guy; a right-hand sidekick face-off!
The subplots were reasonably decent, I thought. Sky and her friend, that she thought of as a brother and he wanted more, felt a bit fumbled. Up until that point the business with the tapeworm creature thing was unpleasant and amusing. Although just when you thought that Liz might have some tense, surgical procedures to perform, with lives in the balance due to the lack of power, Terra Nova elected to just not bother. She’s at risk of becoming seriously redundant and/or boring. Still hot, though.
Maddy and solder boy’s picnic/night in a tree was about as good as the blossoming romance between these two has been handled so far, though it’s still being ladled on syrup-thick with insipid chivalry. Unless teenagers in the future all live like The Waltons it’s highly unlikely and unclear why they behave in such a quaint fashion.
Soldier boy being away from the camp on the day the power went down and the night the Sixer’s apparently had inside help to retrieve the box suggests he’s not the mole. Shame, he would be infinitely more interesting if his noble goody-two-shoes front was a mask for sinister intent.
It has occurred to me that, regarding this mole, possibly I am giving Terra Nova too much credit and assuming it’s staging a mystery to be revealed. It could be that the bartender is the mole, we’ve been well-informed about it for some time, and now we just need to see if and when Taylor finds out! The bartender's actions here in shooting the Sixer were surely to prevent him from being captured and potentially telling Taylor about him, as opposed to stepping in to save Taylor’s neck – though it could be a handy bonus that he is winning back some trust.
There was absolutely no surprise to anyone who has paid the mildest bit of attention to the show that the man at the end was Taylor’s wandering son. Whilst the exact nature of what was in the box remains a mystery (there’s no more clue in the graphics that appeared than was present in the rock carvings from the first episode) it’s the most compelling plot thread Terra Nova has. Indeed, the idea that Taylor’s rule is flawed and that the truth about Terra Nova the place, its original intent and its potential future, have been subverted by his leadership are the best things Terra Nova has waiting to spring. The big question is: Will the mystery deliver a payoff that justifies the suspense and takes the show to a new level?
All in all, it was actually a decent episode, it’s just that all the shortcomings Terra Nova is riddled with (simplistic characters, cheesy values and a confused tone) were present here and, as ever, made watching it and enjoying it a matter of overlooking its flaws and holding onto the few good bits. It desperately needs to get better to be considered ‘good’, let alone ‘great’, television.
It’s a shame, really, because it’s actually a show with a terrific concept and good ongoing ideas. Somehow it just keeps getting in the way of itself from delivering them.
What was the best part?
You know, for all the crashing meteorites and huge stomping dinosaurs, the best bit of the episode for me was the all-too-human and non-effects scene where Jim and Taylor engaged in some smackdown with the infiltrating Sixers. Brutal without being overly-violent, it was succeeded by a nice chase to the fence. But, really, the cherry on top was Taylor’s “Let’s dance” taunt. It’s like 80s machismo never went out of fashion!
What do I think will happen next?
The plot ball really sits in the Sixer’s, and Taylor's son's, court. If that doesn’t get picked up and taken some place then there’s really not a whole lot else of ongoing interest worth getting invested in enough to make predictions about. Maddy and soldier boy will continue their romance. Josh might wake up to the fact Sky likes him, egged on by his mum. . . Is this really all there is going on!?
No comments:
Post a Comment