Ever go to McDonald’s and sit in your car, casually throwing out French fries out the window only to find, five minutes later, that you’re now surrounded by seagulls clamoring for food?
The latest episode of Terra Nova, ‘Instinct,’ is the prehistoric version of this situation. In the episode, Jim and the rest of the pilgrims find out that a new species of pterosaur had its breeding ground right at the same spot that Terra Nova now sits. This explains the groups of this new dino popping up here and there, causing some havoc. Jim and Taylor look for some way to keep the colony safe while at the same time maintaining their stance on using non-lethal methods/weapons.
On the Jim/Elisabeth front we have a new character introduced, Dr. Malcolm Wallace. He is a former boyfriend of Elisabeth who seems to hold some swagger in the Terra Nova program and may have been the reason she was recruited in the first place. Being the cop that he is/was, Jim is immediately suspicious as no one would have known that Jim would have been along for the ride, so maybe this was Malcolm’s way of bringing Elisabeth and her clan there all for himself.
We see the Josh/Skye relationship taken to a deeper and more complex level as they spend more time together. Their closeness kind of backfires on their relationship as Josh starts to pine for his former life, girlfriend (who we saw in the first episode) and bandmates.
Jim also gets to do his best Danny Tanner impression as Maddy comes to him about what she suspects is Reynolds’ budding attraction to her.
The one and only problem with ‘Instinct’ is that it’s em the pilot. The Terra Nova pilot ‘Genesis’ set the bar high in terms of storytelling which doesn’t carry through, much like what happened with The Walking Dead. In the case of that AMC hit the disparity was minimal. With Terra Nova, it’s distracting.
I think it was the tone and pacing that was the biggest issue for me. ‘Instinct’ is more family drama and less Sci-Fi/action, although that aspect of it was not ignored completely and well executed.
Ultimately, Terra Nova is a family drama. If I focused solely on that aspect of the episode, it succeeded. If that focus was redirected to the Sci-Fi/action elements, it succeeded equally as well.
What’s bothersome at this early point in Terra Nova is the disconnect between the family drama and Sci-Fi. Those two aspects are playing cards from the same company, but with different colored backs shuffled together. They work when you’re playing gin rummy, but try and use them together in a card trick and the gig is up.
– James Zappie
