TV Review - TERRA NOVA Episode 1.11
Tyrants!
After our one-week delay, Terra Nova returns with Season 1’s penultimate episode “Within.” Within what? Let’s find out, shall we?
Review:
At the Terra Nova colony, preparations are being made for the arrival of the 11th Pilgrimage, and Jim is closing in on the Sixer mole.
Meanwhile, Skye realizes that she’s close to being outted, so she begs Josh to cover for her whereabouts on the day Jim and Taylor almost spotted her trying to contact the Sixers. Click here for a refresher.
Even worse, Skye is at the Sixer camp getting more threats over her mom’s wellbeing by Lucas Taylor, Commander Taylor’s brilliant but deranged son who’s this close to make the time fracture portal go both ways. All he needs is for Skye to access the Eye in Terra Nova to compute all the calculations.
Skye does this begrudgingly, and after the computations yield the results he wants, Lucas is happy. Then he pulls the dumbest of dumb supervillain faux pas. He monologues his evil master plan, which is that after jumping back to 2149 he will bring back reinforcements that will take down Terra Nova. And why is he doing this? All to get back at his dad, whom he hates...just in case you forgot. When Skye asks Lucas the reason for his paternal rage issues, Lucas merely says, “Ask Taylor about August 2138.”
But back at Terra Nova, Jim and Washington finally see video footage of Skye sneaking out of a breach in Terra Nova’s gates. A quick check of the security logs at Skye’s construction job show way too many holes. Taylor is understandably heartbroken, as Skye has become like the daughter he never had. So Jim and Taylor land a trap, openly talking about a supply route in front of her.
But when Jim and Taylor try to use the bait as a lure to get the Sixers to attack, nothing happens. They quickly figure out that Skye never reveals any direly needed supply lines or intel to the Sixers, just peripheral info. So Taylor and Jim then believe that the Sixers are blackmailing her with something. But as far as everyone knows, both her parents are dead, so it can’t be that!
Skye, who seems to be timesharing at the Sixers camp this episode, is talking with her mom and telling her about her deal with the Sixers to get medicine. Skye’s mom tells her daughter to let her go and get back to Terra Nova before more people die. Skye’s mom is smart.
As Skye is running back to spread the word, Taylor and Jim catch her finally. And then Skye spills Lucas’ evil master plan. Taylor thinks she’s full of crap, especially when she brings up that her mom’s alive. That’s until she brings up August 2138. Taylor runs pale and reads back to his rover.
However, Lucas has made his presence felt at the portal and uses it to take out all of the Terra Nova guards.
By the time Taylor and Jim arrive, Lucas has already completed whatever it was to upgrade the portal so people can come and go through.
Lucas wanted his father here so Taylor knew that he beat him. Lucas also lets Taylor know that when his friends show up to strip Terra Nova of its natural resources, he wants Taylor to beg for mercy. Fat chance of that happening. Then Lucas vanishes through the portal.
Skye somehow didn’t get through into the brig, so she decided to sulk to Josh about how she left her mom behind. But it turns out, Taylor ordered his inside Sixer man to bring Skye’s mom back to the colony. Along with that, Elisabeth will start looking for a way to synthesize whatever medicine the Sixers where using for Skye’s mom. Yay, right? However, Taylor’s still rightfully mad at Skye. So no block parties just yet.
The next day, Taylor then summons all of Terra Nova to give one of his epic speeches outside. What the theme this time?
War. Because when Lucas’s corporate friends show up, there will be a battle to decide the fate of Terra Nova. But you’ll have to wait for next week to see it.
My thoughts:
Really good episode. It was much tighter and really focused on Skye’s dilemma with her mom as well as Lucas’ determination to get back at his father.
We finally find out that the reason Lucas hates Taylor so epically is due to him being unable to save his wife (i.e. Lucas’ mom). There has to be more to that. If not it’s a weak sauce explanation.
Also, the interaction between Taylor and his son is very forced. I think Stephen Lang (Taylor) isn't getting much from the actor playing his son. There is no believable anger or resentment behind the line deliveries. All in all, the showdowns between the two have been a letdown.
Quick thing I noticed. The dinos are becoming more and more like window dressing each episode, I really hope this doesn’t becoming too regular, though given the costs I can understand the need to cut back on some CGI every few episodes.
Didn’t care much for Maddie’s subplot as usual. But I’ve made it very clear how I feel about the forced Shannon family times. Either way, next week’s Season 1 should be interesting. But will it be enough to yield a Season 2?