What happened?
Captured and interrogated, Boylan reveals the whereabouts of a body to Jim. Recovering and examining the body, it appears the person was murdered years back and indications are that Taylor did it. Taylor explains that he was sent to Terra Nova under false pretences, and killed his superior officer when his rule was to be overturned and the place was merely to be plundered for resources rather than used as a new place for humans to exist.
Taylor’s son, Lucas, had been working on a way to create a two-way portal to the future so that the old Earth could harvest resources from Terra Nova and kill the world. Taylor refused to allow that to happen, and explains to Jim that he and Terra Nova stand against the Sixers, and Lucas, who are intent on sacrificing this new world to try and save the old one.
Thoughts
Terra Nova finally gets around to showing its hand and displaying the true set-up, the meaning behind the strange calculations on the rocks and the message behind the oblique warnings about the “truth of Terra Nova”. In doing so the show has actually stepped up a notch and delivered its best episode, as well as lifting the curtain on the stage things are being played on to better determine the drama.
It was still rather predictable. I expected the truth would suggest that Taylor had gone against the initial plans for Terra Nova and, whilst for a short while there might be the impression he wasn’t to be trusted, ultimately it would transpire he was on the side of ‘right’ and the Sixers and their agenda were working for a cause that was ‘wrong’.
It’s worth taking a moment here to discuss that notion, of course. Whilst Terra Nova was quick to side with Taylor, via Jim and his assent to fight with him and for his cause once he learned the truth, and the depiction of Lucas as a scheming, angry, vengeful son, it’s worth considering the view of the Sixers and ‘future Earth’.
From Taylor’s view there’s this new world that a handful of people have been permitted access to away from the pollution and decay. And now they have it, they don’t want anyone taking it from them. Only the world they left behind presumably has millions of people that are living under a death sentence.
Fundamentally Taylor’s willing to sacrifice the vast majority of the old population for the few lucky souls that are forging a new life for themselves. There’s an extremely selfish principle at play there. I’m not saying Taylor is some monstrous despot – I just hope Terra Nova doesn’t just gloss over this crucial dynamic and expect us to accept that fresh, innocent Terra Nova is good because the old world of pollution and technology is bad.
If they can make the suggestion that Terra Nova is to be plundered of resources just for one major corporation’s gain, for example, or to benefit the few in future Earth rather than replenish and rescue the planet there’s a better argument being made. Perhaps if it’s established that even ravaging all the resources would only be a temporary fix then there’s better justification for Taylor’s strident position towards defending Terra Nova from ‘future Earth’. It needs a better explanation than it just being about Taylor liking Terra Nova and wanting to keep it for himself and the few hundred with him and to hell with the billions of others back home.
The episode title, and Terra Nova, are apparently setting out their stall for a ‘them vs us’ scenario, so I would like the battlelines and battle reasons properly marked out if I am being provoked into siding with one faction.
As stated, however, this advancement does definitely mark an improvement. It does make me wonder where else the show can go, though. I quite like the idea that the portal to old Earth gets destroyed completely by the end of the first season and so this ‘battle’ can have a line drawn under it; the people of Terra Nova left then to face their brave new world and the show can introduce an entirely different set of challenges. This is, technically, a parallel universe in the past which paves the way for anything being possible.
The plotting regarding the flying insect was rather clumsy. That it just happened to flutter around the rehearsal stage and get thwacked so they could learn that it was like a carrier pigeon was altogether too convenient. And I’m not sure why Taylor was such an ass about marking Jim out as a suspect and so leaving the real mole at large. He actually had the potential of finding out who the traitor was in his midst and he squandered it!
I am glad there is still a secret mole, though, and that it’s been made clear that this is as much a secret to us as it is to the characters. I’d still have to figure it’s the young soldier, too, although he did get ambushed and injured (though we didn’t see it directly, unlike when Washington got into a proper fight with a Sixer).
It’s rather risible how Josh has been treated rather lightly (for making pacts with the Sixers and providing them with the entire stash of lifesaving drugs, Josh is sentenced to. . . being grounded!). Whilst Boylan was eventually released he sure did have to suffer under Taylor’s hand. Interesting reveal that they used to be friends, though – Boylan has moved from being a clichéd side character into someone with depth and intrigue. Same can’t be said for Malcolm who has gone in entirely the opposite direction. There’s the odd ruffle that suggests he’s a rabble rouser against Taylor’s command but there’s scant sight of it, and even his scheming affection for Liz appears to have died down.
Lucas is a welcome addition to, I suppose, the ‘bad guys’. Mira’s one-note tough girl aggression played out more like an irritation than a credible threat. Lucas appears to be the mastermind and if the show wants to go down the route of making him a proper villain then I’m rather in favour. . . However, with how saccharine Terra Nova can be I wouldn’t for one moment write off the possibility of their being a father-son reunion before the season’s end.
What was the best part?
Taylor’s flashback was absolutely the best part, shifting the little plot details about the calculations on the stones and the body in the woods into focus, and with it pushing Terra Nova into the light as a show that was marking out exactly what it was about. At least for the foreseeable future. I don’t see how a battle over a portal gateway between a new world and an old world can support an entire show indefinitely but, for a season at least, there’s a lot of mileage in it.
What do I think will happen next?
I would expect that the emerging crisis of Lucas working out how to get the portal permanently open will be next on the agenda. I fully expect him to get to the point where he can succeed with this, and it will fall on Jim and Taylor to stop him (or convince him to stop). Potential season end? For sure. In fact, it might pull a massive cliffhanger and the season could end with the portal being opened permanently.
No comments:
Post a Comment