Terra Nova Review

REVIEW:- Who knew Alfred Hitchcock was a part of the 10th Pilgrimage? Last week, I wondered about how Terra Nova was going to settle down from its highly anticipated and dense series premiere. I think we got a pretty good idea of how things are going to go in “Instinct.” At the moment, there are two external threats to Terra Nova: the dinosaurs, and the Sixers. This week, it was the dinosaurs' turn to cause trouble with an obvious nod to Hitchcock's The Birds as the structure and “A” storyline of the week.

I like a good ode to Hitchcock as much as anyone and I thought Terra Nova did it about as best they could. The problem that this show is going to face week-in, week-out is that this kind of episode – and the type of tense, “scary” action that has made up a large chunk of Terra Nova's first 3 hours – is really hard to keep going. This can't – and shouldn't – be a science fiction/action version of House, where a problem/threat arises and through the brilliance of smart people and a semi-miraculous discovery/solution, it is all tidied up 42 minutes later. I liked the discovery that Terra Nova was built on the Pterosaurs' breeding ground. I did not like the solution involving pheromones. Sloppy writing took us out of the moment, as Malcolm and Elisabeth played with 3D graphics to somehow come up with the perfect pheromone to save the colony and solve all their problems. I will say it again – television is about characters. If you don't give audiences someone to root for (or against) – someone to want to watch every week – it doesn't matter how great your visual effects are or how tense and well directed your action is. Predictability – especially for a new show such as this – is bad. This isn't a legal or cop procedural that thrives on that sort of format.

While I wasn't crazy about this week's “A” story, I actually though the secondary stories were better. Josh, in particular, was much less annoying and grating. In fact, he showed an almost heroic side when he saved Zoe in the midst of the Pterosaurs in the Shannon home. We also saw a quieter side to his relationship with Skye and his conflicted feelings and guilt about his former girlfriend back on Earth 2149. The Shannon girls weren't really the focus of this episode, but I thought on the whole the Shannon children were better written and portrayed in this episode versus the premiere.

I also liked the introduction of Malcolm as a rival to Jim for Elisabeth’s affections. It provides a sound reason for the Shannons' presence in Terra Nova and adds another unknown variable into a relationship that may have been more strained by Jim's incarceration than previously thought. It gives the writers of Terra Nova yet another story thread to build on as time moves forward. I actually kind of liked that we couldn't get a real beat yet on Malcolm. It's fairly obvious that Jim had it right and that he still has designs on Elisabeth, but Jim's surprise arrival did take him aback and now he has to slow-burn it a bit. We'll see how Elisabeth feels as the weeks progress. I also liked the running gag of Jim and Elisabeth constanly being interrupted by the Pterosaurs and Zoe while trying to be intimate.

On the whole, this episode felt a bit like filler, which happens in television. It's not really surprising given the effort and scale of last week's 2-hour premiere, but Terra Nova has to snap into place eventually. This week we ignored the Sixers, the drawings at The Falls and the more interesting history of the Terra Nova colony and the character of Nathaniel (which we and the Shannons still don't really know). They should also do a better job of getting us to really know the Shannons at a quicker pace. It's okay for Terra Nova to occasionally have these “dinosaurs attack the camp/people” episodes and the homage to The Birds was actually a pretty nice touch. Eventually though, this show is going to have to kick it into a higher gear in terms of story and character development and break out of the constraints of only having 42 minutes of air time. Actual cliffhangers might help; a non-episodic format wouldn't hurt either. I hope it doesn't try to condense every story into 42 minutes of air-time. There's only so many times the citizens of Terra Nova can be attacked and under siege only for everything to be perfectly fine again at the end of the hour, before people start doubting that there is actually any danger or threat. Eventually, we are going to have to feel there are real consequences and threats being faced; otherwise, we might start rooting for the dinosaurs.

                               

The 411: Dinosaurs-attack-the camp episode with a nice homage to Hitchcock's The Birds. This week the Shannon children were less annoying, but the writing wasn't all that much better. Mysteries and interesting plot points established in "Genesis" were ignored in this episode, with a self-contained story about a group of flying dinosaurs that attack Terra Nova because it is built on their breeding ground. Perhaps the best part of the episode was the introduction of Dr. Malcolm Wallace, the chief of Terra Nova's science department and a possible rival to Jim for Elisabeth Shannon's affections. Hopefully this episode was just a bit of filler and a way to settle things down before the larger story arcs of the season take shape and become the focal point. Effects -- as usual -- were great. Not a great episode, but hopefully we get deeper into Terra Nova's mysteries and enigmatic characters (especially Nathaniel) next week.

Final Score:  6.5   [ Average ]  legend