Primeval: New World - Ep: 1.10

Primeval: New World's Episode 1.10 was broadcast in Canada on Tuesday night which we review below. Episode 1.4 was broadcast in the UK on the same night and you can find our review of that episode HERE.

Evan (Niall Matter) and Dylan (Sara Canning) are the only team-members 'on duty' when they get a call from Detective Harlow (played by British-born actor Adrian Holmes, last seen in the series pilot). Harlow has a young stoner who observed a strange animal in an incident in the local multi-storey. Harlow recognsies the signs of something that our team would be more appropriate and suitable to handle. So with Ange still absent, Mac flying under the radar and Toby given a rare day off to save her hands from melting to the keyboard, Evan and Dylan head off to help... with Evan mystified that there doesn't appear to have been any incursion or anomaly resigtering on the equipment.

That could be because the beast in question is a 'Titanis' or 'Terror Bird' as seen in the Angry Birdsepisode (1.4 and - co-incidentally, the episode playing on WATCH in the UK this week). In fact, it's the exact same bird we saw as it becomes clear it hasn't just come through from another time recently - it's been captured and  (literally) probed in a laboratory... until it escaped.  As Evan and Dylan close in, they find they're not the only ones looking for the creature. They're out-gunned, out-manned... but will they be out-manouvered? As the search leads to a massive stadium and ice-hockey venue in Vancouver, it soon ebcomes clear there's much more going on than the team originally knew.

The tenth episode of Primeval: New World attempts to pull off a lighter cast line-up while, at the same time, majorly advancing some of the ideas of where the series is heading in its over-all arc. The monster of the week aspect works well in providing momentum - making us both sympathise with the overall plight of an abused and trapped creature, but also aware of just how much death and destruction it can cause. Essentially it's an effective maguffin that causes our heroes to become aware of a much bigger picture. Regular viewers have already noted that Ken Leeds (Geoff Gustafson) appears to have some conflicting agendas and orders regarding Evan Cross and 'Project Magnet' and this is the episode where we finally get to see some of those explored - with the promise of further fallout and consequences in next week's episode. There are also some nice moments for the development of Dylan's character, where we see the tougher side of what her job-choice sometimes demands.. 

Another episode directed by Amanda Tapping, she makes good use of the location and emotive facework - this is largely a running-down-corridors outing that is more about character-conflict than all-out action (though it's good to see some military uniforms liberated from the Stargate toybox!) The only quibbles here are that the opening sequence of the laboratory-escape does beggar the question of why such a sensitive project appears to be in the heart of the city and there's no REAL reason not to call Toby back into play when the stakes get higher. But these are minor points and it's good to see the series getting its teeth into what looks to be a very interesting end-game (or, hopefully, climax and platform for season two).

8/10