Terra Nova: Review: Series 1 Ep 12 & 13

Lucas’s colleagues spring their trap on the back of the 11th Pilgrimage – and many will die to protect the Terra Novans’ way of life…

Yes there are some dinosaurs in this two-hour finale, but they’re not exactly essential to the plot – one brachiosaurus bites the dust to show how evil one of the new characters is, while a carnosaur causes carnage in a not particularly well-done piece of CGI in the second half of the story that evokes memories of Jurassic Park, and not necessarily in a good way.

If you’ve not bought into the basic premise of the show and the characters, then don’t bother with this – although there’s enough of a clean sweep made by the end of the episode to make the potential second season opener a good jumping-on point. We’re very much into V territory here, with soldiers with superior technology taking control, and our heroes becoming the resistance. Inevitably, one of the good guys makes a brave and noble sacrifice to save the others (and if you’ve not guessed who that’s going to be within 15 minutes of the start of the episode, then you’ve obviously not watched any Second World War resistance dramas).

There are some well-shot and edited action sequences, and moments of quiet contrast, and makes for an enjoyable watch, but there’s no real substance to it. There’s still a lot of potential in this, but I can easily see budget cuts being forced on a second season, bringing the dinosaur content down even further… at which point the show will stand or fall on the strength of audience empathy with the characters.

Verdict: A suitably loud and grand finale that lives up (or down) to the rest of the series. 

Episode 12: “Occupation” & Episode 13: “Resistance”: 7/10

Paul Simpson