- Instinct Luckily, Terra Nova‘s latest episode actually represents something of an incremental improvement. In this instalment, the Terra Nova compound comes under attack from a group of migrating pterosaurs, and Elisabeth discovers that an old boyfriend – Malcolm – is the project’s chief science officer. Meanwhile, the older kids, Josh and Maddy, adapt to life in their new home. As you can probably tell from the synopsis, the scope of this episode is far narrower than the pilot, but the story itself is much tighter as a result, and the characters are proportionally more comfortable in their roles. There’s no evidence of the flip-flopping emotions or the summary motivations that showed up in the season opener. In particular, Jim and Elisabeth’s relationship is more at ease, while the three Shannon kids display a believable level of warmth towards both their parents and one another. Perhaps the most impressive thing about Instinct, however, is that it actually had a theme, which you’ll notice is carefully hidden in the episode’s title. After years of watching TV shows which thought that a pretentious voiceover constituted a thematic spine, the fact that this episode’s central concept was reflected in its subplots offers some hope that the writers of Terra Nova might actually be smarter than the pilot made them look. Now, admittedly, if you were hoping for some subplots that go beyond the exploration of budding (or rekindled) inter-character romances, you won’t necessarily enjoy what this episode has to offer in terms of wider arc material. Certainly, it would have been nice to see a hint of the conspiracy-type mysteries seeded in the opening episode. But at the same time, it makes sense for us to spend time with the characters for a while before we return to the series arc. In fact, the only obvious eyebrow-raising thing about the series so far seems to be project head Taylor’s insistance in heaping responsibility on Jim. Perhaps they’ll explain it later, perhaps it’s just something we’ll have to take with a pinch of salt because Jim is the series’ lead male, but viewed objectively, one wonders just how under-staffed Terra Nova is that the same guy gets picked to do three different plot-critical jobs alongside Taylor. Effects-wise, it’s tough to deny that the CGI of the opening episode was ropey at best, but this episode does a little better. How much of that is down to genuine improvements and how much is down to the episode’s use of a smaller-scale beast as the primary threat is debatable, but better is better, however you arrive at it. Admittedly it’s still nowhere near Jurassic Park levels of quality, but at least it looks better than the average episode of Primeval this time around. Of course, The most impressive part of Terra Nova‘s effects remains the colony itself, so even though this episode is, in effect, a relatively cheap ‘bottle’ episode played out entirely within existing sets, it’s still early enough in the show’s run that it feels like a new prospect to spend some time on the base, so it makes sense to milk that while they can. It’s still early days for the series, but right now its prospects look good. Read our review of the series opener, Genesis, here. Terra Nova screens in the UK on Sky1 and Sky1 HD.
