Primeval S02E05 (ITV)

Primeval is a British science fiction drama television program produced by Impossible Pictures for ITV. The first episode was broadcast on 10th February 2007, and was renewed for a second series by ITV, which started on 12th January 2008.

The series follows a team of scientists who investigate anomalies in time and deal with the creatures that travel through. The team of five is led by Professor Nick Cutter, a palaeontologist determined to find his wife, who disappeared while investigating an anomaly in the Forest of Dean eight years previously.

From the Wikipedia entry on Primeval.

As much as the premise sounds ridiculous, the series is actually quite good. Things really get interesting when the predator from the future arrives in our timeline and wreaks havoc. There is also the enigmatic Helen, Dr. Nick Cutter’s ex-wife, who travels between times. She’s trying to get to the future era, but spends most of her time in the Permian Era.

I actually like the second series a lot more than the new season of Torchwood, and that’s saying a lot. The actors are good in Primeval and they have good chemistry, something that is completely absent from Torchwood. To confound matters even further, Dr. Cutter changed something by traveling into the past. Claudia Brown is missing and no one knows of her. He might have just stepped into an alternate worldline. However, clues are shown that there might be other time traveling agents involved. This show is really getting good.

Most definitely, Primeval is way better that the current season of Torchwood. Primeval is better than the first season of Torchwood. There are better action scenes, the script is better and it’s just plain more entertaining. The team is interesting and although Connor, Cutter and Stephen’s lovelife is a part of the show, it’s part of the fun. Connor is just the über geek. Stephen is still sleeping with Helen, behind Cutter’s back. Cutter doesn’t know what to do about the Claudia Brown mystery.

Warning: Spoilers ahead.

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A young girl named Taylor walks her dog at a housing estate. Her dog runs away. She chases it. It runs through an anomaly. She goes after it. She arrives in the past. The dog is attacked by some strange sand borne creatures.

Connor is at his anomaly detection device. It crashes. It crashed just as it showed a new anomaly appearing. Cutter tells Connor to check out the system. Connor says that it’s completely infected. Connor says that someone switched the feed towards them. It’s Leek. Cutter tells him to repair the damage and not mention this to anyone.

Leek has a team going into the anomaly. The strange security agent is there as well. He reports to Helen that the team is in.

Jenny shows up with an ugly hat and gold shoes. She was at her engagement party. Her own.

How does Leek’s team know that there is a dog there? They have a small cage with them and a dog harness. They see a girl on some rocks further away. She tells them to stay off the sand. They don’t listen to the girl. The creature attacks them.

Stephen comes home to find Helen in his shower stall. Helen thinks that the situation is getting worse. The anomalies are appearing more frequently. She wants the world to know about the anomalies. She tells Stephen that someone has got an agenda at the government.

Leek is still at the site. Cutter arrives with Jenny in tow. Leek reports back to Helen that he’s got to leave. The dog runs back through.

Connor, Stephen and Abby arrive at the situation. Connor asks Stephen about what to do with Abby. Stephen says that it’s his move. He tells him that confidence is sexy. Stephen tells Connor that he needs to tell Caroline that things aren’t working out.

Connor is unveiling another prototype. It’s a remote drone. The drone finds the girl. They decide to go after her. The period looks pretty safe. They see a bunch of big insects heading away.

Connor tells Abby that things aren’t really working out with Caroline.

Cutter and Stephen find the dead team’s equipment. Cutter watches the footage from one of their cameras and sees their demise. This means that security guy is dead. Stephen continues telling Cutter that there is a traitor on their team. Cutter says that it’s probable. Cutter tells Stephen that he sounds like Helen. They don’t have time for this. They need to save the girl. Cutter and Stephen are intercepted by the giant scorpions. They manage to make it to the rocks and the girl. The girl tells them about the other soldiers. They start to make their way across the rocks towards the anomaly. The anomaly fades and they are trapped in the past.

Connor texts Caroline that it’s over. Abby sees a big millipede running away. The creature is in a ball pool. Abby gets it. She throws it back through. They see the anomaly fade.

Lester, Jenny, Connor and Abby assess the loss of their comrades. Abby and Connor are put in charge of the anomaly operation.

Caroline, having received Connor’s SMS, decides to get Rex. She uses a tennis racquet to squash him.

Taylor is very opinionated and a motor mouth. Stephen sees a mirror signal in the distance. Cutter’s portable anomaly detector detects… another anomaly. However they are hit with a sand storm before they can do anything. The detector is lost for a moment. Cutter finds it again and tells Stephen to remind him to tell Connor that he did a good job on those. They are ambushed by the security agent who wants the anomaly detector.

He takes the detector and all of the water. Cutter makes him fire his gun so that the creatures attack him. He is killed. Cutter gets the water and the detector back. Security guy didn’t tell Stephen anything about who he is working for.

Cutter, Taylor and Stephen make their way across the sand. They try and thread lightly, but Taylor falls. A scorpion gets Stephen. He disappears under the sand. Taylor starts to create vibrations. The scorpion appears. It’s got Stephen by the foot. Another one surfaces. They start to fight and drop Stephen.

Cutter has to fight off a giant scorpion while the others run away. They manage to get through an anomaly. They jumped into the present.

Cutter brings Taylor home.

Cutter also brought the IR camera home that he salvaged from one of the corpses from the past. It had recorded the merc op that Helen had organized through Leek. He leaves for a few minutes and comes back to find it missing.

Abby and Connor come home and find their place ransacked by Caroline.

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