Primeval: Season Four, Episode Five
On a cliff. A researcher makes a video diary; he's searching for some kind of animal and hasn't seen it yet. It's been eating life stock in the area.
"The locals are totally freaked. Well, the locals are freaks. But that's probably unrelated."
Something roars outside. He goes out to check and it all goes very Blair Witch Project, night vision and jump cuts. He is dragged away.
Credits.
At the ARC Philip is sweet talking Connor to leave the field team and join Prospero to research the Anomalies. Connor is flattered but unsure.
"I have to square it with Abby, but..."
"Fine. Well, once you have her permission, come and see me."
Matt is watching the confrontation, much to Lester's disdain, since he's trying to ream Matt out for hiding Emily. Matt still thinks he's in the right, so it doesn't much bother him.
Anomaly alert. Jess can't get a read on it; Connor taps a few buttons and decides it's a fluctuating Anomaly. Philip wants a team on it; Lester has to agree.
Matt follows Lester to ask to go looking for Emily and Ethan. Lester refuses. Matt is to go with Connor and Abby.
Emily's still tied to a table. Ethan monologues at her for a while while she tries to pull free. Ethan doesn't like that.
"Charlotte was my friend too. Don't you think I'm grieving?"
"Don't. Don't compare your feelings to mine. I loved her."
"If you blame me so much for her death, why don't you just kill me here now?"
"All in good time."
Abby and Connor can't find a signal on the ADD. They pull into a seaside town.
They discuss Philip's job offer while heading for the pub.
"So what do you think I should do? You've got to admit it's a pretty incredible opportunity."
"I would rather shower in toxic waste than get involved with Philip's lousy job."
"Right. I'm sensing you're still a bit angry with him?"
"Can't think how you're getting that idea..."
Inside a local tells his mother that the man in the tent is gone. You should just take it for granted that there are lots of Irish accents in this episode, and in fact in the rest of the series, and I won't bother pointing them out each time.
Everyone stops talking when Abby and Connor go into the pub; it's like a bad western. The bartenders gives them - possibly beer? Connor is himself and gets his 'manly' beer taken away
- and there is an awkward silence until Matt catches up, approximately thirty seconds later.
He notices a poster about the Wychfield Worm and asks about it. They are shot down. The local man and his mother share Significant Looks. Abby sets Jess on the research trail.
Matt asks Connor about Philip. Connor holds his tongue for about three point five seconds before fessing up. Matt is very interested.
Abby comes back to tell them people and livestock have been going missing for years, mostly out on the headland. Matt sends them to check while he goes to look for the man on the cliff. Oddly, he splits them up despite being told that the kid was on the headland...
The barman and the local are watching them.
Connor and Abby come across a farm. Connor still can't get a reading on his ADD. They wander past a sign that says No Trespassing.
Out on the cliff Matt finds tent bits and a shoe, but no camper.
Connor and Abby explore the farmyard. Abby finds a highly significant puddle of goo.
"This place is well creepy. All we need now is a weird kid sat on a porch playing a banjo."
They head for a barn, where they find petrol in cans. A woman with a pitchfork - the local's mother - takes them by surprise.
Guys, you have non lethal guns. Just shoot her!
Matt's still out on the cliff. He finds more of the tent strewn over a slope. The local man is watching him. Matt looks down but doesn't see him.
The woman disarms Connor and Abby and makes them take out their earpieces. Connor tries to tell her they're interested in the Worm, but she isn't biting.
"We're just interested in the Worm, that's all. All the sightings that's...happened around here."
"Tourists, are you? Carrying weapons like that? I don't think so."
Matt sees a guy fishing. Something ominous is coming through the water.
That pitchfork is awfully close to Connor's neck. He tells the woman about the ARC, knowing she won't believe him.
"You want the truth? We're a secret government department. That worm's a dangerous prehistoric creature and we're here to capture it quietly and take it away."
The local guy interrupts and Abby and Connor snatch up their guns and run for it.
Matt finds body parts in the river. He tries calling Abby and Connor - without touching any controls; are the earpieces always on, and if so why didn't he hear at least the start of the woman threatening them? - but of course they now have no earpieces. He runs back to the fisherman, trying to get him away from the water.
Something with lots of spines swims along.
The man catches a very nice fish, which the Creature snatches from him. Matt dive tackles him to the ground and shoots the Creature a few times to get rid of it.
Jess has found CCTV of Ethan taking Emily from Matt's place. With Becker on medical leave, Lester pulls Matt from the field to deal with it.
Connor and Abby have got earpieces from somewhere, as they meet up with Matt. He describes the Creature and Connor identifies it. Jess calls Matt and the others send him away.
Jess finds Philip in her seat at the ADD, doing - something. He gets the ADD signal working and orders Connor and Abby to focus on the Anomaly rather than the Creature. Lester overrides him and they have a brief argument about it before Lester simply walks away. Philip appeals to Connor, who dithers until Abby simply says they'll split up. Philip orders Matt to go with Abby, unaware that he's already gone; Abby covers for him.
Connor takes out his earpiece and whistles for Abby's attention, telling her to wait for backup. She thinks that'll take too long. He offers to go with her, but she's pissed off and storms off without him.
At the farm the local and his mother are moving petrol cans. The mother is afraid of police turning up. The man has an idea where to store the cans for now.
Abby, tracking the Creature, finds traces of slime here and there.
She hears screaming coming from a caravan park and heads in that direction.
There are children screaming, but only because they're having a water gun fight. Abby sends them inside as the Creature attacks her. She loses her gun when the Creature sends her flying, so she climbs into a camper van to hide.
Connor sees the local and his mother pouring stuff into a drain. He contacts Abby to ask about the Creature. She tells him it's under control. He's talking pretty loudly, considering those two are about ten feet away, isn't he?
Jess comes in to tell Lester that she can't keep track of every other member of the team. Lester offers to help with Matt, but since he has no idea how the computer tracking system works, he doesn't actually save her any work.
"Jess? Matt can't hear me and the computer's broken."
"It helps if you put the volume up."
"Sarcasm won't get you promoted, Jess."
"Must've worked for you."
"Don't think I didn't hear that. Matt? Can you read me?"
"Lester? What are you doing there?"
"Bear with me, I'm the new Jess. Right, now I've got two blinking dots on the screen, both with your name on."
Connor, on the trail of the Anomaly, runs around on the cliffs.
Ethan takes Emily out of a car boot. They're at a cemetery; Lester tells Matt where they are. Emily realises Ethan drove the car and that she has no idea who he is.
The Creature has stopped attacking Abby's camper. She tries to get out, but it's jammed the door. She heads for the driving area, but the Creature attacks through a side window. She fends it off with a camping mallet.
Matt follows Lester's slightly uncertain directions around the cemetery. Emily tries to get away from Ethan, but he catches her and she drops the Black Box.
Connor's down on a beach - he seems to have jumped even though there are steps - and following the ADD to a cave. For some reason he looks very puzzled when he sees the cave entrance, even though he already knows that's where the Anomaly is. Luckily, his EMD has a torch. The cave walls have iron ore, he notes.
The Creature tries to get in the skylight. Abby hits it.
Connor finds a gate blocking part of the cave. The Anomaly is beyond it; Connor can see the reflected light, but not the actual Anomaly. He calls Abby to tell her where to bring the Creature.
Abby - eventually - gets the Camper going and, with the Creature on top, heads out along the cliffs.
Ethan brings Emily to a crypt. He seems to have gotten Charlotte's ashes from somewhere; I'm not sure how that would work. He puts them into a sarcophagus. He tells Emily all about his plans to get back at his family and then hauls her off screen.
The local man pours more petrol into a drain.
Connor describes a sludge he's found to Philip, and some acid that's coming down from above. Philip figures out that the sludge is bismuth, which repels magnetic fields. It's causing the weak Anomaly. The Anomaly itself is creating the bismuth by interacting with the acid. It's basically a vicious circle.
Connor calls Abby to find out where she is, but unfortunately she's just crashed the Camper. Another Creature, a much weaker one, is in the cave with Connor. It screams and the Creature about to eat Abby gives up and heads towards the cave.
Connor can't get Abby on the comm., but Jess is following her tracker, so she must be ok.
Connor figures the acid is coming from the farm above them. He doesn't get a chance to do anything about it, though, before he gets cold cocked with a rifle. Jess and Philip lose contact with him.
Matt finds Ethan, but not Emily. There is a fight. Matt offers to get Ethan home, but he says he is home already. Ethan drives them over a drop, stunning Matt long enough for a monologue and then escape.
"I am the future, I am the past. You and your friends think you know all about the gateway. But you don't have a clue."
Matt gets Lester to sort out back up - why didn't he have back up in the first place? - and heads for Emily's Box.
Connor comes around. His earpiece is sitting on a rock and the local has a gun on him. The mother is moving petrol cans around.
The local suggests leaving Connor for the Worm. His mother doesn't believe him, until she walks three steps and sees the Creature. Apparently the screams weren't enough to convince her. The local says he built the gate to keep the Creatures in.
Connor has figured out what they're doing; stripping dye from farm fuel to resell at premium prices. The local says they were doing what they had to, and Connor realises he deliberately set the Creature on the man on the headland.
Connor's about to get shot when the Creature comes back and eats the local and mother. Connor grabs up his earpiece and snatches a bit of wood to use as a weapon. Jess tells him Abby's signal is right in front of him. Since the only thing in front of him is the Creature, Connor draws the natural conclusions and attacks in a blind fury. His wood gets snapped and the Creature advances.
Matt finds Emily's Box on the ground. He heads towards the crypts and picks one out because it's got Charlotte's surname. Bursting in, he breaks into a sarcophagus, but it's empty. Luckily, there's another one and Emily's in it. He grabs her out just in time. And through the magic of continuity errors, Emily's hands are untied as he lifts her out, then immediately tied again.
Connor's still facing the Creature. He throws a petrol can at it, but misses; the diesel dilutes the acid and the Anomaly opens fully.
Connor's about to get eaten when Abby jumps in from the side, smashing it over the head and ducking past it to get to Connor. He warns her off shooting to avoid igniting the petrol and lets the Creatures go through the Anomaly.
"I thought you'd...I thought you'd been eaten. I..."
"You all right?"
"Yep. Yeah. It's just...it's good to...for a minute there I thought you were gone. It'd be a pretty lonely place here without you."
"Well, I'm here."
"Please don't do that do me again."
"I'll try my best."
Then he and Abby kiss and make up.
Matt reports to Gideon, who is angry he let Ethan go. Whatever it is they're looking for, they think Ethan's it. Gideon suggests using Emily as bait for Ethan.
At the ARC, Connor turns down Philip's job offer.
"I wouldn't feel comfortable in a lab, knowing that there were other people, my friends, out there risking their lives. It just...it doesn't sit well with me."
"I see. Well, you're making a big mistake."
Connor suggests doing both jobs instead as a compromise. He promises he can handle both. Philip agrees to try it.
"The locals are totally freaked. Well, the locals are freaks. But that's probably unrelated."
Something roars outside. He goes out to check and it all goes very Blair Witch Project, night vision and jump cuts. He is dragged away.
Credits.
At the ARC Philip is sweet talking Connor to leave the field team and join Prospero to research the Anomalies. Connor is flattered but unsure.
"I have to square it with Abby, but..."
"Fine. Well, once you have her permission, come and see me."
Matt is watching the confrontation, much to Lester's disdain, since he's trying to ream Matt out for hiding Emily. Matt still thinks he's in the right, so it doesn't much bother him.
Anomaly alert. Jess can't get a read on it; Connor taps a few buttons and decides it's a fluctuating Anomaly. Philip wants a team on it; Lester has to agree.
Matt follows Lester to ask to go looking for Emily and Ethan. Lester refuses. Matt is to go with Connor and Abby.
Emily's still tied to a table. Ethan monologues at her for a while while she tries to pull free. Ethan doesn't like that.
"Charlotte was my friend too. Don't you think I'm grieving?"
"Don't. Don't compare your feelings to mine. I loved her."
"If you blame me so much for her death, why don't you just kill me here now?"
"All in good time."
Abby and Connor can't find a signal on the ADD. They pull into a seaside town.
They discuss Philip's job offer while heading for the pub.
"So what do you think I should do? You've got to admit it's a pretty incredible opportunity."
"I would rather shower in toxic waste than get involved with Philip's lousy job."
"Right. I'm sensing you're still a bit angry with him?"
"Can't think how you're getting that idea..."
Inside a local tells his mother that the man in the tent is gone. You should just take it for granted that there are lots of Irish accents in this episode, and in fact in the rest of the series, and I won't bother pointing them out each time.
Everyone stops talking when Abby and Connor go into the pub; it's like a bad western. The bartenders gives them - possibly beer? Connor is himself and gets his 'manly' beer taken away
- and there is an awkward silence until Matt catches up, approximately thirty seconds later.
He notices a poster about the Wychfield Worm and asks about it. They are shot down. The local man and his mother share Significant Looks. Abby sets Jess on the research trail.
Matt asks Connor about Philip. Connor holds his tongue for about three point five seconds before fessing up. Matt is very interested.
Abby comes back to tell them people and livestock have been going missing for years, mostly out on the headland. Matt sends them to check while he goes to look for the man on the cliff. Oddly, he splits them up despite being told that the kid was on the headland...
The barman and the local are watching them.
Connor and Abby come across a farm. Connor still can't get a reading on his ADD. They wander past a sign that says No Trespassing.
Out on the cliff Matt finds tent bits and a shoe, but no camper.
Connor and Abby explore the farmyard. Abby finds a highly significant puddle of goo.
"This place is well creepy. All we need now is a weird kid sat on a porch playing a banjo."
They head for a barn, where they find petrol in cans. A woman with a pitchfork - the local's mother - takes them by surprise.
Guys, you have non lethal guns. Just shoot her!
Matt's still out on the cliff. He finds more of the tent strewn over a slope. The local man is watching him. Matt looks down but doesn't see him.
The woman disarms Connor and Abby and makes them take out their earpieces. Connor tries to tell her they're interested in the Worm, but she isn't biting.
"We're just interested in the Worm, that's all. All the sightings that's...happened around here."
"Tourists, are you? Carrying weapons like that? I don't think so."
Matt sees a guy fishing. Something ominous is coming through the water.
That pitchfork is awfully close to Connor's neck. He tells the woman about the ARC, knowing she won't believe him.
"You want the truth? We're a secret government department. That worm's a dangerous prehistoric creature and we're here to capture it quietly and take it away."
The local guy interrupts and Abby and Connor snatch up their guns and run for it.
Matt finds body parts in the river. He tries calling Abby and Connor - without touching any controls; are the earpieces always on, and if so why didn't he hear at least the start of the woman threatening them? - but of course they now have no earpieces. He runs back to the fisherman, trying to get him away from the water.
Something with lots of spines swims along.
The man catches a very nice fish, which the Creature snatches from him. Matt dive tackles him to the ground and shoots the Creature a few times to get rid of it.
Jess has found CCTV of Ethan taking Emily from Matt's place. With Becker on medical leave, Lester pulls Matt from the field to deal with it.
Connor and Abby have got earpieces from somewhere, as they meet up with Matt. He describes the Creature and Connor identifies it. Jess calls Matt and the others send him away.
Jess finds Philip in her seat at the ADD, doing - something. He gets the ADD signal working and orders Connor and Abby to focus on the Anomaly rather than the Creature. Lester overrides him and they have a brief argument about it before Lester simply walks away. Philip appeals to Connor, who dithers until Abby simply says they'll split up. Philip orders Matt to go with Abby, unaware that he's already gone; Abby covers for him.
Connor takes out his earpiece and whistles for Abby's attention, telling her to wait for backup. She thinks that'll take too long. He offers to go with her, but she's pissed off and storms off without him.
At the farm the local and his mother are moving petrol cans. The mother is afraid of police turning up. The man has an idea where to store the cans for now.
Abby, tracking the Creature, finds traces of slime here and there.
She hears screaming coming from a caravan park and heads in that direction.
There are children screaming, but only because they're having a water gun fight. Abby sends them inside as the Creature attacks her. She loses her gun when the Creature sends her flying, so she climbs into a camper van to hide.
Connor sees the local and his mother pouring stuff into a drain. He contacts Abby to ask about the Creature. She tells him it's under control. He's talking pretty loudly, considering those two are about ten feet away, isn't he?
Jess comes in to tell Lester that she can't keep track of every other member of the team. Lester offers to help with Matt, but since he has no idea how the computer tracking system works, he doesn't actually save her any work.
"Jess? Matt can't hear me and the computer's broken."
"It helps if you put the volume up."
"Sarcasm won't get you promoted, Jess."
"Must've worked for you."
"Don't think I didn't hear that. Matt? Can you read me?"
"Lester? What are you doing there?"
"Bear with me, I'm the new Jess. Right, now I've got two blinking dots on the screen, both with your name on."
Connor, on the trail of the Anomaly, runs around on the cliffs.
Ethan takes Emily out of a car boot. They're at a cemetery; Lester tells Matt where they are. Emily realises Ethan drove the car and that she has no idea who he is.
The Creature has stopped attacking Abby's camper. She tries to get out, but it's jammed the door. She heads for the driving area, but the Creature attacks through a side window. She fends it off with a camping mallet.
Matt follows Lester's slightly uncertain directions around the cemetery. Emily tries to get away from Ethan, but he catches her and she drops the Black Box.
Connor's down on a beach - he seems to have jumped even though there are steps - and following the ADD to a cave. For some reason he looks very puzzled when he sees the cave entrance, even though he already knows that's where the Anomaly is. Luckily, his EMD has a torch. The cave walls have iron ore, he notes.
The Creature tries to get in the skylight. Abby hits it.
Connor finds a gate blocking part of the cave. The Anomaly is beyond it; Connor can see the reflected light, but not the actual Anomaly. He calls Abby to tell her where to bring the Creature.
Abby - eventually - gets the Camper going and, with the Creature on top, heads out along the cliffs.
Ethan brings Emily to a crypt. He seems to have gotten Charlotte's ashes from somewhere; I'm not sure how that would work. He puts them into a sarcophagus. He tells Emily all about his plans to get back at his family and then hauls her off screen.
The local man pours more petrol into a drain.
Connor describes a sludge he's found to Philip, and some acid that's coming down from above. Philip figures out that the sludge is bismuth, which repels magnetic fields. It's causing the weak Anomaly. The Anomaly itself is creating the bismuth by interacting with the acid. It's basically a vicious circle.
Connor calls Abby to find out where she is, but unfortunately she's just crashed the Camper. Another Creature, a much weaker one, is in the cave with Connor. It screams and the Creature about to eat Abby gives up and heads towards the cave.
Connor can't get Abby on the comm., but Jess is following her tracker, so she must be ok.
Connor figures the acid is coming from the farm above them. He doesn't get a chance to do anything about it, though, before he gets cold cocked with a rifle. Jess and Philip lose contact with him.
Matt finds Ethan, but not Emily. There is a fight. Matt offers to get Ethan home, but he says he is home already. Ethan drives them over a drop, stunning Matt long enough for a monologue and then escape.
"I am the future, I am the past. You and your friends think you know all about the gateway. But you don't have a clue."
Matt gets Lester to sort out back up - why didn't he have back up in the first place? - and heads for Emily's Box.
Connor comes around. His earpiece is sitting on a rock and the local has a gun on him. The mother is moving petrol cans around.
The local suggests leaving Connor for the Worm. His mother doesn't believe him, until she walks three steps and sees the Creature. Apparently the screams weren't enough to convince her. The local says he built the gate to keep the Creatures in.
Connor has figured out what they're doing; stripping dye from farm fuel to resell at premium prices. The local says they were doing what they had to, and Connor realises he deliberately set the Creature on the man on the headland.
Connor's about to get shot when the Creature comes back and eats the local and mother. Connor grabs up his earpiece and snatches a bit of wood to use as a weapon. Jess tells him Abby's signal is right in front of him. Since the only thing in front of him is the Creature, Connor draws the natural conclusions and attacks in a blind fury. His wood gets snapped and the Creature advances.
Matt finds Emily's Box on the ground. He heads towards the crypts and picks one out because it's got Charlotte's surname. Bursting in, he breaks into a sarcophagus, but it's empty. Luckily, there's another one and Emily's in it. He grabs her out just in time. And through the magic of continuity errors, Emily's hands are untied as he lifts her out, then immediately tied again.
Connor's still facing the Creature. He throws a petrol can at it, but misses; the diesel dilutes the acid and the Anomaly opens fully.
Connor's about to get eaten when Abby jumps in from the side, smashing it over the head and ducking past it to get to Connor. He warns her off shooting to avoid igniting the petrol and lets the Creatures go through the Anomaly.
"I thought you'd...I thought you'd been eaten. I..."
"You all right?"
"Yep. Yeah. It's just...it's good to...for a minute there I thought you were gone. It'd be a pretty lonely place here without you."
"Well, I'm here."
"Please don't do that do me again."
"I'll try my best."
Then he and Abby kiss and make up.
Matt reports to Gideon, who is angry he let Ethan go. Whatever it is they're looking for, they think Ethan's it. Gideon suggests using Emily as bait for Ethan.
At the ARC, Connor turns down Philip's job offer.
"I wouldn't feel comfortable in a lab, knowing that there were other people, my friends, out there risking their lives. It just...it doesn't sit well with me."
"I see. Well, you're making a big mistake."
Connor suggests doing both jobs instead as a compromise. He promises he can handle both. Philip agrees to try it.
