If rumours are to be believed, the reason Terra Nova has spent so long on the kind of stand-alone episodes that the audience might consider to be “throwaway” or “filler” is because the network executives were insisting on it. If that is the case, then maybe – just maybe – the end of the series will be as expository and arc-heavy as this one was. Although the scenes in the past (between Taylor, Lucas, and Taylor’s commanding officer) gave us our first look at what it is that motivates Taylor’s benign dictatorship, there’s the suggestion that he might be an unreliable narrator. We’re shown a lot – but we don’t necessarily get shown everything. It’s possible that this is just giving the series too much credit, but the ending suggests (albeit poorly) that Taylor wanted an excuse to tell Jim his version of events. Is that because they’re all lies? Quite possibly. And if he is telling the truth, well, the idea of him protecting Terra Nova to maintain its original goal instead of allowing the dream to be twisted is a noble, ends-justify-means one. More of that dynamic wouldn’t be at all unwelcome – although do the Sixers really seem like corporate instruments to anyone? I’m guessing (hoping, even) that there’s more to this than we’re being told. As usual, it was Taylor and Malcolm who rescued the show by being complete bastards and not really caring if that’s how they look – although in this case, Malcolm’s willingness to inform Taylor of Elisabeth’s secret project didn’t ring true at all. Is he trying to win her back or alienate her even further? Apparently the former, but from his actions in this episode, you’d think the latter. Finally, it has to be said that once again, for a show about living on a prehistoric earth, it really is criminal how few dinosaurs there are. This episode, the best we got was an unusually large dragonfly, and even that was so badly rendered that it completely sucked the life from the idea. If the effects are too hard to do properly, fair enough – but in that case, don’t make them the centrepiece of the opening shot! You can read our review of episode eight here. Terra Nova screens in the UK on Sky1 and Sky1 HD.
