Terra Nova - "Bylaws"

Season 1, Episode 5

Dropping in on the show, as continues its middling path

I must admit that I feel sort of bad for not following through on my promise to write about Terra Nova on a weekly basis. I mean, it’s a pretty bad show – worse in fact than I would have thought based on the pilot – and I don’t really have the energy to write about another subpar show every week – that’s what Modern Family is for. (Sadly, a few months ago that slot used to belong to Glee, but the latter show has picked up this season.) But because I heard that the show is planning on picking up its serialized elements – and because I don’t have class tonight, as lack of time was another reason I quit my coverage of this show – I’m offering up this review for those three whole people who were disappointed that I haven’t followed through on my initial commitment.

I just wish that this was a better episode; I don’t know when exactly it was that we’re supposed to enter serialized territory, but it certainly wasn’t tonight. 

I think the most frustrating thing about Terra Nova is that it makes certain moves towards being a better show, but at the end of the day, it’s content just to recycle old stories, both from the sci-fi genre and from television in general. “Bylaws”, for example, essentially turned the show into Law & Order: Terra Nova. Granted, this wasn’t as heinous a rip-off as say, “What Remains”, which recycles the old “mysterious amnesia” trope, or as wildly stupid as “Instinct”, but it still feels old, and it severely limits the stories that I think the show could tell.

Now, I could go on about the fact that tonight’s A-plot was tired and completely predictable, but you probably already noticed that. What I’m more concerned with/frustrated about is that it got in the way of what I thought would have been a far more interesting idea, assuming that the writers could have pulled it off. (Okay, so there’s not a whole lot that the writers seem capable of pulling off, but just go with me here, okay?)

Somewhere between the time that Miller confessed to the crime but before he was actually banished, Jim and Elisabeth get in a fairly standard argument about the rule of law in a new society, with Elisabeth calling Taylor’s decision to banish Miller “frontier justice”. As I said back in the review of the pilot, the show has the potential to explore the “inherent problem with flawed humans creating a civilization” theme, but it’s not one that I’m convince that the show wants to explore fully. Oh sure, every episode has been about this theme to some extent, but all of those extents were small, and were pushed aside for a more concrete plot that didn’t challenge viewers. (In fact, one of the shows biggest flaws is that it seems focus-grouped to death, and then ironed out even more under the weight off all the producers.)

That’s of course what happened here as every time the issue seemed to arise in manner which would facilitate a nuanced look at the problem, the show realized that it was aiming at the lowest common dominator and which straight back to the murder mystery. Even worse, though the episode tried to pretend that it was presenting both sides of the issue, by the end we were clearly supposed to cheer for Taylor and Jim as they banish the real murderer out onto the jungle with no weapon. I realize that there’s a large moral gap between a man who killed because he was cheated on and a man who killed to clear his own gambling debt, but if the show wanted us to believe that Taylor was trying to set up a universal system of law, it would have been better had the ending to this story not felt so triumphant.

Surprisingly, the B-plot was the most interesting thing tonight, and I say surprising because it revolves around Josh. While Josh has mostly been played as the douchey, overly-angsty teen, this current arc he’s in where he’s seeking to bring his girlfriend from 2149 to Terra Nova has been good for the character, as it allows him to show a wider range of morality and emotion, and it gives the audience a reason to sympathize with the character. (It probably also helped that this plot was so sort, but that of course was a side effect of there being way too much screen time spent on the A-plot.)

Now, as an ongoing plot, I guess this technically counts as “serialization”, and while it does hold some intrigue – especially the part where Josh now owes Mira the favor, and for pointing out some of Boylan’s more shady connections – it’s not the type that I was hoping to see tonight. What about learning more about the Sixers, or the civilization’s past? What about all those damn symbols out by the waterfall, and Taylor’s lost son? Where’s the interesting shit that I liked back in the pilot?

I’ve said it once, and I’ll say it again: Terra Nova very well could be a solid, entertaining hour of sci-fi fluff done right if only the writers would start making their stories more original and their characters more real. But considering that next week’s episode is going to borrow the “we’ve lost out much needed power” plot, we shouldn’t expect anything to soon. And considering that the show’s future is still uncertain – it may get 9+ million viewers, but that’s only an acceptable number for a much cheaper show -  that’s probably not what the show needs right now.

Other Thoughts:

So that’s how you kill a man with a dinosaur. Good thing I found out tonight; the suspense was killing me.

For some reason, I keep typing it as “Terra Nove”. Huh.

Another thing that bugged me about tonight’s A-plot: Wasn’t Taylor using some sort of futuristic lie detector on Miller during his interrogation? I base this off of the fact that it seemed to be scanning his eyes. Either that’s a plot hole, or Terra Nova can’t even spring for some basic crime-fighting equipment.

Oh, and there was a C-plot that involved Elisabeth, Zoe, and a dinosaur eggs, which was apparently just an excuse to rip off one of the early scenes from Jurassic Park. (It also allowed Malcolm to be creepy once again, and reminded us of how pointless his role is on the show.) Are the Shannons really going to keep that thing? Because that’s even stupider than building a civilization in the time of the dinosaurs without bothering to put in a roof to keep out the airborne species. Oh, wait….

That Ankylosaurus was probably the first real dinosaur that the show has ever mentioned. Took them long enough. Too bad they paired it with the Nikosaur, which isn’t a dinosaur, though there is somebody with that internet handle.

If you too finding the show difficult to get through, might I suggest the Terra Nova drinking game?