PNW: Babes in the Wood
Jan. 13th, 2013 04:23 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
purplecatAnd... the military having geared up to full operational whatever-it-was they were doing are entirely conspicuous by their absense this episode.
This was a fun episode though I was definitely a little put out that we didn't get the military roll in and subsequent clash of objectives and personalities that I had been expecting. Of course, it did underline the fact that Evan is the only person with access to an anomaly detection device and that therefore the military can be as fully operationally effective as they like, but if he doesn't feel like telling them what is going on then they won't know anything about it.
Ange's appearance in the field was also a little odd, but I thought it was well-played with Ange herself clearly a little unsure why she had decided to be there. Just I was wrong-footed by the absense of the military, I was also somewhat wrong-footed by the way the spotlight was taken off a potential romance between Dylan and Evan and switched instead to Ange and Evan. Still Ange and Evan show a lot more chemistry together and I'd happily buy into it as a good complex relationship between undoubted equals which a relationship between Dylan and Evan would not be.
Oh, and I squeed a little quietly that we had a majority female response team as a result of Ange's presence. I've been know to complain about the way Primeval often makes horrible mis-steps when it comes to female characters (the eponymous babes, for instance, and Toby's back story as a model), but it has shown increasing confidence in allowing there to be a range of women placed front and centre in the action.
The love triangle between Mac, Toby and Natalie was fun and played with a nice lightness of touch. I do wonder if it is the influence of Doctor Who that gave Primeval (a generally more cautious series) the confidence to show a gay relationship without feeling the need to make an issue out of it, or whether it is just a sign of attitudes in genre television moving on in a more general way.
On reflection I think this was a really good episode. It was firmly in `monster of the week' mode, but that's not necessarily a bad thing, especially when, as here, it is used to have some fun and to quietly do some interesting things with the character dynamics.
This was a fun episode though I was definitely a little put out that we didn't get the military roll in and subsequent clash of objectives and personalities that I had been expecting. Of course, it did underline the fact that Evan is the only person with access to an anomaly detection device and that therefore the military can be as fully operationally effective as they like, but if he doesn't feel like telling them what is going on then they won't know anything about it.
Ange's appearance in the field was also a little odd, but I thought it was well-played with Ange herself clearly a little unsure why she had decided to be there. Just I was wrong-footed by the absense of the military, I was also somewhat wrong-footed by the way the spotlight was taken off a potential romance between Dylan and Evan and switched instead to Ange and Evan. Still Ange and Evan show a lot more chemistry together and I'd happily buy into it as a good complex relationship between undoubted equals which a relationship between Dylan and Evan would not be.
Oh, and I squeed a little quietly that we had a majority female response team as a result of Ange's presence. I've been know to complain about the way Primeval often makes horrible mis-steps when it comes to female characters (the eponymous babes, for instance, and Toby's back story as a model), but it has shown increasing confidence in allowing there to be a range of women placed front and centre in the action.
The love triangle between Mac, Toby and Natalie was fun and played with a nice lightness of touch. I do wonder if it is the influence of Doctor Who that gave Primeval (a generally more cautious series) the confidence to show a gay relationship without feeling the need to make an issue out of it, or whether it is just a sign of attitudes in genre television moving on in a more general way.
On reflection I think this was a really good episode. It was firmly in `monster of the week' mode, but that's not necessarily a bad thing, especially when, as here, it is used to have some fun and to quietly do some interesting things with the character dynamics.