Primeval: New World Season 1, Episode 5 Thoughts (Spoilers)
I caught the fifth episode of Primeval: New World, "Undone", last night, and thought I'd offer my thoughts on the episode here on the blog. Given that there are major spoilers in the write-up below, I offer this entry under a cut to allow those who don't want to be spoiled about the episode to forego this entry if they so choose, and come back to it once they've seen the episode.
This fifth episode of the new, spin-off series, is probably the best of the batch to this point, but suffers from some of the same problems that the previous episodes have had, though rhe character development and plot itself are quite something. The basic plot is pretty simple: When a university is menaced by a canine-like prehistoric animal, Evan Cross and his team investigate. However, when the Anomaly closes and Evan has the team take the creature back to the Special Projects Group, tragedy strikes as one of their own deals with his anger at the death of a lost character.
The episode opens, and we are treated to what appears to be the start of a story that owes much to horror cinema. It's Frosh Week at Radcliffe House, a frat house that we can see is about to suffer from a bad time. They're about to play a real-life game of Capture the Flag, complete with the bossy female house leader who picks on the "uncool" kids, the naive blonde girl ripe for the picking, young jocks hiding in the bushes to jump out at the unsuspecting freshmen, and oh, yes...there's a creature that stalks our naive blonde girl. These are either witty, tongue-in-cheek nods to the viewer or cheap scare tactics in this "darker, more adult" version of the Primeval tv series. But that's where the horror cinema nature of the episode falls away.
What makes this episode stand out is that the writing appears on the surface to be taking a downward turn with a somewhat cliché set-up, but it's worth sticking around for what comes later. The horror film stylings of the episode continue when Evan, Toby, Dylan, and Mac stalk the creature between corridors of books in a tense, well-constructed hunt to a spooky soundscape that builds the tension. The CGI of the creature in this early part of the episode is used sparingly in flashes here and there and, though the greyness of the creature in a dark setting is hardly visually exciting, its compositing and fur is well done.
I couldn't figure out the title of the episode... "Undone". But it actually fits quite well in the end. Several of the characters in this episode begin to unravel, as the situation in this episode begins to spiral out of control. With nowhere to place the creature now that the Anomaly has closed, it’s taken back to Cross Photonics to be temporarily stored there until a solution can be found. Brought by an eager-to-please Sam, who works as a security guard at Cross Photonics and keen to earn a place on the team, this is a decision that will come back to bite (in more ways than one) the team. Mac finds himself, in a rather gross-out joke sequence, covered in animal urine - but this is not a cheap laugh, as will be revealed later. With the Lycaenops now tranquillised and stored in the back of a van in a loading bay, Evan makes the decision to have it guarded by the two night watchmen - Sam and the other guard, Bill, who while away the night playing poker whilst Toby tries to solve the delays experienced earlier with her Anomaly detector.
With the team split between the campus and base, and with the Anomaly briefly re-opening again to spit out a second creature, a slightly clichéd episode redeems itself in one tense, well-constructed scene. The captured animal, it seems, has a faster than expected metabolism, and is soon up and about. While Sam is on the phone to a fawning Mac, Bill approaches the van to investigate what is making the noise in a great "don’t-open-it" moment whilst Sam runs down an increasing number of corridors to get back to him. However, it's too late... in the most visually strong death scene in the series so far - and much more than we ever saw in the original series - we see the creature kill Bill (no pun intended). But then we get an even more surprising twist. The UK version of Primeval was never shy in killing off main cast members, and here in Primeval: New World, it's no different: in another tense moment, Sam fails to taser the creature and has to run away but the safety of a called lift eludes her and the creature pounces on her, and kills her. I have to say that I was downright surprised/shocked and extremely annoyed at her death, as to be honest, I thought she might join the Special Group team as an addition that could serve as a foil for Mac, and act as part of a possible Toby-Mac-Sam love triangle down the road. Not to mention an extra gun hand for the team. And Jody Balfour was just so good in the role. But now... damn.
Her death leads to an emotional scene with Evan, who realises his actions have led to the death of two (relatively) long-standing employees, but also from Mac who says goodbye to his lover/partner and places the key from around his neck in her palm. This also triggers the final third of the episode in which Mac goes on a revenge-filled manhunt to track down the creature, a female, that killed Sam, but also the second one, a larger male, that followed the scent of the female's urine on Mac's shirt - all the way back to Cross Photonics, and Toby! Another nicely done horror scene, in which the team chases the creature around the building, one that brings to mind so many scenes from the original UK Primeval in which creatures loose in the "safe base" of the ARC was employed regularly. Because of what has happened to Sam earlier, when the male Lycaenops menaces Toby there is a feeling that she could be next in this blood-filled story, but Dylan shoots the creature dead. (And how is this Conservation officer going to deal with this, given the respect for animal life that she has?) This leads to a bit filled with pathos, in which the second creature discovers the dead body of its mate and tries to coax it back to life, reminiscent of the earlier scene when Mac tried to do the same with Sam's body. It makes us feel for the Lycaenops, and is brutally disrupted when Mac kills the second one as well.
The two characters who get the most development in this episode are Evan and Mac. The beginning of the episode starts with another stereotypical scene of Evan Cross trying to solve complicated math problems while also trying to shoot a ball through a basket or into a basket (can't recall this clearly). It's like he's trying to prove that he's got brains as well as brawn, and it was a very forced visual metaphor. There's also the fact that Angelika Finch is clearly flirting with him in the scene, and he seems somewhat oblivious to it. Evan definitely got humbled this episode, and has to reconsider a few things about how the Special Research Project team works, as the loss of Sam and the almost loss of Toby proves. I understand why he thought bringing the Lycaenops back to Cross Photonics was the right thing to do, but the results were disastrous and have fractured the team somewhat. Part of me wonders whether Evan has been coming across as unlikeable, and this episode was meant to show a softer side of him and that he is affected by what happens to his friends and employees. Then there's Mac, who loses someone that he's come to care about over the last few weeks or month (??) in Sam. I was somewhat (pleasantly) surprised to see the steamy shower scene between Mac and Samantha Sedaris, the character introduced during "Fear of Flying" as Mac's love interest (played by the lovely Jody Balfour), but this set things up for later on. Definitely a sexier version of the show than the original one, though there was a shower scene with Helen so... She proves to be somewhat manipulative, wanting to get involved more with Evan's pet project and team, and while it's nice to see her again after her introduction two episodes back, she's permeates much of this episode's action, and drives the plot forward even after her death. Mac has been portrayed as having a bit of a temper, being impulsive at times, but here he goes over the edge after Sam's death, not caring about the creatures or the timeline or any of that stuff. This is a man who hunts down the Lycaenops for one reason only - revenge. Furthermore, he blames Evan for Sam's death and Evan's already guilt-ridden about the business to begin with, so here's hoping that their relationship has changed after this, though that will have to wait until next week's episode. Furthermore, the attack on Toby in the Tank, her shock at Mac's actions, and Dylan's caring animal expert and her attitude to Mac's actions in killing both Lycaenops should have some interesting repercussions in the next episode. The fact that the final bits of the episode deal with the team trying to deal with the events with a very touching song playing in the background (and sung by Miranda Frigon, aka Ange Finch) is ironic, as a teary Evan seeks solace in Ange's arms at her place.
The creatures used in this episode, the Lycaenops, were small canine-like creatures, possibly dog-sized descendants of the Gorgonopsid, the very first creature to appear in the original Primeval tv series (other than the Scutasaurus). While the creatures are visually well executed, much of the episode takes place at night, and the creatures are seen for the most part constantly in shadow (other than Mac's shower scene, and in the Tank), and the head of the beastie should have been more wolf-like, I thought. That said, the Lycaenops were used to good effect, were quite dangerous (as the SPG team and Sam found out the hard way), and I can't complain about them at all in this regard here. If there's any problem with them, it's once again the "creature vision" sequences, which first were black-and-white and then with the Lycaenops seeing the world in a red haze.
There were a couple of problems that I had with the episode. First off, the scene in the library. Lovely scene, creepy, full of intensity. But... I'm assuming this was filmed at the University of British Columbia, but even during Frosh Week, leaving the doors of the library unlocked or allowing someone to prop open the university library doors with all those valuable books, computers, and other equipment. Seriously? Another part of this scene bothered me, too. Dylan is carrying her bag of stuff in a perfect position for something that can bite to grab the bag and drag her off to be eaten. This is a Predator Control team expert? And bear in mind that Evan's got that over-the-shoulder bag thing going as well. *sigh*
Something else that bothered me in the episode was the fact that when Samantha and the guard are playing cards at the table while guarding the armoured van with the creature in it, she heads off to the break room and to the bathroom. She does this by walking through a door very close to the table at which they're playing cards. Yet when she has to come racing back to him when he goes to open the armoured car door, she has to run pell mell down two corridors and through some other space to get back to the loading bay where the vehicle with the creature is. Why do this? Why couldn't she just go back through the door that she'd come through? Obviously for dramatic effect, and to let the creature kill the guard, but still... Another thing: The whole business with Sam returning to find the dead guard, Bill. She knows the creature got loose, she knows it's somewhere in the loading bay. She probably has no experience with the taser. All she has to do is call Mac and the others to come and help her out, and go through the door near where the two of them were playing cards. Creature in the loading bay, no way out. But she doesn't do this, instead playing the heroine. The dead heroine. I really loved Jody Balfour in this role, and as noted before felt she could have been a good addition to the team. No hope of that now, I suppose. Damn it, again!
In the final analysis, "Undone" is an unusual episode. On its first watch, it's a creature hunt full of clichés that doesn't have the depth of plotting that the original Primeval did, but when one looks under the surface, it's not as shallow an episode as it seems. The episode also hints at other things - the meaning of the key that Mac gave Sam; the fact that the team still doesn't know much about the Anomalies, including how to track them; and a line about halfway through, where Dylan questions whether Evan knows more than he's saying about the impact of killing creatures rather than returning them to their own time - and I'm hoping these teasers are not just red herrings. An episode full of emotional and surprising developments that offset some of the more dodgy characterisations of the opening minutes of the episode, "Undone" proved to be a rather mature episode that I hope is a sign of good things to come.
This fifth episode of the new, spin-off series, is probably the best of the batch to this point, but suffers from some of the same problems that the previous episodes have had, though rhe character development and plot itself are quite something. The basic plot is pretty simple: When a university is menaced by a canine-like prehistoric animal, Evan Cross and his team investigate. However, when the Anomaly closes and Evan has the team take the creature back to the Special Projects Group, tragedy strikes as one of their own deals with his anger at the death of a lost character.
The episode opens, and we are treated to what appears to be the start of a story that owes much to horror cinema. It's Frosh Week at Radcliffe House, a frat house that we can see is about to suffer from a bad time. They're about to play a real-life game of Capture the Flag, complete with the bossy female house leader who picks on the "uncool" kids, the naive blonde girl ripe for the picking, young jocks hiding in the bushes to jump out at the unsuspecting freshmen, and oh, yes...there's a creature that stalks our naive blonde girl. These are either witty, tongue-in-cheek nods to the viewer or cheap scare tactics in this "darker, more adult" version of the Primeval tv series. But that's where the horror cinema nature of the episode falls away.
What makes this episode stand out is that the writing appears on the surface to be taking a downward turn with a somewhat cliché set-up, but it's worth sticking around for what comes later. The horror film stylings of the episode continue when Evan, Toby, Dylan, and Mac stalk the creature between corridors of books in a tense, well-constructed hunt to a spooky soundscape that builds the tension. The CGI of the creature in this early part of the episode is used sparingly in flashes here and there and, though the greyness of the creature in a dark setting is hardly visually exciting, its compositing and fur is well done.
I couldn't figure out the title of the episode... "Undone". But it actually fits quite well in the end. Several of the characters in this episode begin to unravel, as the situation in this episode begins to spiral out of control. With nowhere to place the creature now that the Anomaly has closed, it’s taken back to Cross Photonics to be temporarily stored there until a solution can be found. Brought by an eager-to-please Sam, who works as a security guard at Cross Photonics and keen to earn a place on the team, this is a decision that will come back to bite (in more ways than one) the team. Mac finds himself, in a rather gross-out joke sequence, covered in animal urine - but this is not a cheap laugh, as will be revealed later. With the Lycaenops now tranquillised and stored in the back of a van in a loading bay, Evan makes the decision to have it guarded by the two night watchmen - Sam and the other guard, Bill, who while away the night playing poker whilst Toby tries to solve the delays experienced earlier with her Anomaly detector.
With the team split between the campus and base, and with the Anomaly briefly re-opening again to spit out a second creature, a slightly clichéd episode redeems itself in one tense, well-constructed scene. The captured animal, it seems, has a faster than expected metabolism, and is soon up and about. While Sam is on the phone to a fawning Mac, Bill approaches the van to investigate what is making the noise in a great "don’t-open-it" moment whilst Sam runs down an increasing number of corridors to get back to him. However, it's too late... in the most visually strong death scene in the series so far - and much more than we ever saw in the original series - we see the creature kill Bill (no pun intended). But then we get an even more surprising twist. The UK version of Primeval was never shy in killing off main cast members, and here in Primeval: New World, it's no different: in another tense moment, Sam fails to taser the creature and has to run away but the safety of a called lift eludes her and the creature pounces on her, and kills her. I have to say that I was downright surprised/shocked and extremely annoyed at her death, as to be honest, I thought she might join the Special Group team as an addition that could serve as a foil for Mac, and act as part of a possible Toby-Mac-Sam love triangle down the road. Not to mention an extra gun hand for the team. And Jody Balfour was just so good in the role. But now... damn.
Her death leads to an emotional scene with Evan, who realises his actions have led to the death of two (relatively) long-standing employees, but also from Mac who says goodbye to his lover/partner and places the key from around his neck in her palm. This also triggers the final third of the episode in which Mac goes on a revenge-filled manhunt to track down the creature, a female, that killed Sam, but also the second one, a larger male, that followed the scent of the female's urine on Mac's shirt - all the way back to Cross Photonics, and Toby! Another nicely done horror scene, in which the team chases the creature around the building, one that brings to mind so many scenes from the original UK Primeval in which creatures loose in the "safe base" of the ARC was employed regularly. Because of what has happened to Sam earlier, when the male Lycaenops menaces Toby there is a feeling that she could be next in this blood-filled story, but Dylan shoots the creature dead. (And how is this Conservation officer going to deal with this, given the respect for animal life that she has?) This leads to a bit filled with pathos, in which the second creature discovers the dead body of its mate and tries to coax it back to life, reminiscent of the earlier scene when Mac tried to do the same with Sam's body. It makes us feel for the Lycaenops, and is brutally disrupted when Mac kills the second one as well.
The two characters who get the most development in this episode are Evan and Mac. The beginning of the episode starts with another stereotypical scene of Evan Cross trying to solve complicated math problems while also trying to shoot a ball through a basket or into a basket (can't recall this clearly). It's like he's trying to prove that he's got brains as well as brawn, and it was a very forced visual metaphor. There's also the fact that Angelika Finch is clearly flirting with him in the scene, and he seems somewhat oblivious to it. Evan definitely got humbled this episode, and has to reconsider a few things about how the Special Research Project team works, as the loss of Sam and the almost loss of Toby proves. I understand why he thought bringing the Lycaenops back to Cross Photonics was the right thing to do, but the results were disastrous and have fractured the team somewhat. Part of me wonders whether Evan has been coming across as unlikeable, and this episode was meant to show a softer side of him and that he is affected by what happens to his friends and employees. Then there's Mac, who loses someone that he's come to care about over the last few weeks or month (??) in Sam. I was somewhat (pleasantly) surprised to see the steamy shower scene between Mac and Samantha Sedaris, the character introduced during "Fear of Flying" as Mac's love interest (played by the lovely Jody Balfour), but this set things up for later on. Definitely a sexier version of the show than the original one, though there was a shower scene with Helen so... She proves to be somewhat manipulative, wanting to get involved more with Evan's pet project and team, and while it's nice to see her again after her introduction two episodes back, she's permeates much of this episode's action, and drives the plot forward even after her death. Mac has been portrayed as having a bit of a temper, being impulsive at times, but here he goes over the edge after Sam's death, not caring about the creatures or the timeline or any of that stuff. This is a man who hunts down the Lycaenops for one reason only - revenge. Furthermore, he blames Evan for Sam's death and Evan's already guilt-ridden about the business to begin with, so here's hoping that their relationship has changed after this, though that will have to wait until next week's episode. Furthermore, the attack on Toby in the Tank, her shock at Mac's actions, and Dylan's caring animal expert and her attitude to Mac's actions in killing both Lycaenops should have some interesting repercussions in the next episode. The fact that the final bits of the episode deal with the team trying to deal with the events with a very touching song playing in the background (and sung by Miranda Frigon, aka Ange Finch) is ironic, as a teary Evan seeks solace in Ange's arms at her place.
The creatures used in this episode, the Lycaenops, were small canine-like creatures, possibly dog-sized descendants of the Gorgonopsid, the very first creature to appear in the original Primeval tv series (other than the Scutasaurus). While the creatures are visually well executed, much of the episode takes place at night, and the creatures are seen for the most part constantly in shadow (other than Mac's shower scene, and in the Tank), and the head of the beastie should have been more wolf-like, I thought. That said, the Lycaenops were used to good effect, were quite dangerous (as the SPG team and Sam found out the hard way), and I can't complain about them at all in this regard here. If there's any problem with them, it's once again the "creature vision" sequences, which first were black-and-white and then with the Lycaenops seeing the world in a red haze.
There were a couple of problems that I had with the episode. First off, the scene in the library. Lovely scene, creepy, full of intensity. But... I'm assuming this was filmed at the University of British Columbia, but even during Frosh Week, leaving the doors of the library unlocked or allowing someone to prop open the university library doors with all those valuable books, computers, and other equipment. Seriously? Another part of this scene bothered me, too. Dylan is carrying her bag of stuff in a perfect position for something that can bite to grab the bag and drag her off to be eaten. This is a Predator Control team expert? And bear in mind that Evan's got that over-the-shoulder bag thing going as well. *sigh*
Something else that bothered me in the episode was the fact that when Samantha and the guard are playing cards at the table while guarding the armoured van with the creature in it, she heads off to the break room and to the bathroom. She does this by walking through a door very close to the table at which they're playing cards. Yet when she has to come racing back to him when he goes to open the armoured car door, she has to run pell mell down two corridors and through some other space to get back to the loading bay where the vehicle with the creature is. Why do this? Why couldn't she just go back through the door that she'd come through? Obviously for dramatic effect, and to let the creature kill the guard, but still... Another thing: The whole business with Sam returning to find the dead guard, Bill. She knows the creature got loose, she knows it's somewhere in the loading bay. She probably has no experience with the taser. All she has to do is call Mac and the others to come and help her out, and go through the door near where the two of them were playing cards. Creature in the loading bay, no way out. But she doesn't do this, instead playing the heroine. The dead heroine. I really loved Jody Balfour in this role, and as noted before felt she could have been a good addition to the team. No hope of that now, I suppose. Damn it, again!
In the final analysis, "Undone" is an unusual episode. On its first watch, it's a creature hunt full of clichés that doesn't have the depth of plotting that the original Primeval did, but when one looks under the surface, it's not as shallow an episode as it seems. The episode also hints at other things - the meaning of the key that Mac gave Sam; the fact that the team still doesn't know much about the Anomalies, including how to track them; and a line about halfway through, where Dylan questions whether Evan knows more than he's saying about the impact of killing creatures rather than returning them to their own time - and I'm hoping these teasers are not just red herrings. An episode full of emotional and surprising developments that offset some of the more dodgy characterisations of the opening minutes of the episode, "Undone" proved to be a rather mature episode that I hope is a sign of good things to come.