Primeval 4.07
Feb. 19th, 2011 04:14 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
purplecatOh Primeval! How can you get so much right and so much so wrong all in the space of one episode!
Let's start with the things I didn't like.
Did Not Like for Good Reason
Emily Merchant. I really liked the character outline we got for Emily and I thought she came across well in her first episode but, umm, she was basically a damsel in distress wasn't she? She had no real desires or agenda of her own ("Catch Ethan" was only ever invoked as an excuse to keep her around or get her into trouble, she never actively did anything about catching Ethan), she behaved in no way as anything other than a 21st century woman (apart from one joke about team-building in 4.06). She existed entirely as a plot device for Matt to rescue, confide in and finally get angst-ridden about when she left. If she'd been killed and stuffed in a refridgerator I would have been entirely unsurprised. I realise I'm being a little harsh here, but when you strip away a few moments of "fiestiness" (and I did like the bit with the bone) she was primarily a plot device whose purpose was to make Matt look worried or sad from time to time. The writing team have consistently shown an inability to view a woman has having any plot function away from a man (Helen and Jenny both written out because Nick went, as if they had no narrative purpose beyond providing motivation for him) but this was more blatant than usual.
The special forces soldiers. Muppets the lot of them. Even Becker. Armed with stun guns and therefore less anxiety about shooting someone, there was really no excuse for them being as incompetent as they were being. Ethan's ability to overcome them had become farcical by the end of the episode.
Did Not Like for No Good Reason
I don't like the evil!Burton and Connor sup-plot. I'm not sure why beyond I feel it makes Connor look weaker and stupider than he should be at this stage. I suspect part of that is that Siddig isn't bothering to try and make Burton likeable, but I'm more than a little turned off by the whole plot thread.
Did Like. A Lot
Connor and Abby. Why, oh why haven't we seen them like this before now in the season? It's like their character arc is being played backwards or something. Here we had an Abby showing both appreciation and support for Connor, rather than the embarrassed awkwardness we'd been having up until now. It looked like a functional relationship which it frankly hasn't for the previous three episodes, but I don't understand why we are seeing this now, as Connor falls deeper into Burton's clutches, rather than at the start with their estrangement building through the series. However I was grateful to see it, even if I didn't understand the character reason behind it appearing at this point.
Danny Quinn. I was quite `meh' about Danny in season 3 but I thought he was great here. It may be that he was such a good contrast to the rather more regimented ARC set-up we've seen this season. I think he showed up the lack of a real maverick on the team but it was a welcome breath of fresh air to see him turn up, stand up to Burton, ask Abby direct questions about her relationship with Connor, and generally look as if he wanted to shake things up and was enjoying himself. In short I thought he was great. The plot twist about Ethan, I had genuinely failed to see coming and I liked that (I thought Ethan's entitlement "you didn't come to get me!" was a bit rich, but I'm not sure that we were supposed to take it seriously, Ethan was just saying it to make Danny feel bad).
I thought the scenes with the Terror Birds in the prison were well set-up and played out as well. The episode in general was much pacier than many this season and seemed to have a much clearer idea what it was doing.
In the end this episode, like much of the season was strangely frustrating, as if I kept getting glimpses of a much better show. The complaints aren't new: general lack of imagination when it comes to female characters and the military and organisational set up they have. I did think this was much better than season 3. I thought both the character work and the arc plot were more consistent and better thought out, but the show would definitely benefit from lightening the tone a bit and, frankly, investing a bit more effort into the set-up of the ARC and turning its supporting characters in actual people.
Let's start with the things I didn't like.
Did Not Like for Good Reason
Emily Merchant. I really liked the character outline we got for Emily and I thought she came across well in her first episode but, umm, she was basically a damsel in distress wasn't she? She had no real desires or agenda of her own ("Catch Ethan" was only ever invoked as an excuse to keep her around or get her into trouble, she never actively did anything about catching Ethan), she behaved in no way as anything other than a 21st century woman (apart from one joke about team-building in 4.06). She existed entirely as a plot device for Matt to rescue, confide in and finally get angst-ridden about when she left. If she'd been killed and stuffed in a refridgerator I would have been entirely unsurprised. I realise I'm being a little harsh here, but when you strip away a few moments of "fiestiness" (and I did like the bit with the bone) she was primarily a plot device whose purpose was to make Matt look worried or sad from time to time. The writing team have consistently shown an inability to view a woman has having any plot function away from a man (Helen and Jenny both written out because Nick went, as if they had no narrative purpose beyond providing motivation for him) but this was more blatant than usual.
The special forces soldiers. Muppets the lot of them. Even Becker. Armed with stun guns and therefore less anxiety about shooting someone, there was really no excuse for them being as incompetent as they were being. Ethan's ability to overcome them had become farcical by the end of the episode.
Did Not Like for No Good Reason
I don't like the evil!Burton and Connor sup-plot. I'm not sure why beyond I feel it makes Connor look weaker and stupider than he should be at this stage. I suspect part of that is that Siddig isn't bothering to try and make Burton likeable, but I'm more than a little turned off by the whole plot thread.
Did Like. A Lot
Connor and Abby. Why, oh why haven't we seen them like this before now in the season? It's like their character arc is being played backwards or something. Here we had an Abby showing both appreciation and support for Connor, rather than the embarrassed awkwardness we'd been having up until now. It looked like a functional relationship which it frankly hasn't for the previous three episodes, but I don't understand why we are seeing this now, as Connor falls deeper into Burton's clutches, rather than at the start with their estrangement building through the series. However I was grateful to see it, even if I didn't understand the character reason behind it appearing at this point.
Danny Quinn. I was quite `meh' about Danny in season 3 but I thought he was great here. It may be that he was such a good contrast to the rather more regimented ARC set-up we've seen this season. I think he showed up the lack of a real maverick on the team but it was a welcome breath of fresh air to see him turn up, stand up to Burton, ask Abby direct questions about her relationship with Connor, and generally look as if he wanted to shake things up and was enjoying himself. In short I thought he was great. The plot twist about Ethan, I had genuinely failed to see coming and I liked that (I thought Ethan's entitlement "you didn't come to get me!" was a bit rich, but I'm not sure that we were supposed to take it seriously, Ethan was just saying it to make Danny feel bad).
I thought the scenes with the Terror Birds in the prison were well set-up and played out as well. The episode in general was much pacier than many this season and seemed to have a much clearer idea what it was doing.
In the end this episode, like much of the season was strangely frustrating, as if I kept getting glimpses of a much better show. The complaints aren't new: general lack of imagination when it comes to female characters and the military and organisational set up they have. I did think this was much better than season 3. I thought both the character work and the arc plot were more consistent and better thought out, but the show would definitely benefit from lightening the tone a bit and, frankly, investing a bit more effort into the set-up of the ARC and turning its supporting characters in actual people.