Malcolm has no chance, even with the British accent

Terra Nova - “What Remains”

Much better than last week, show. However, viewership dipped after that last episode, so no one got to see the show start to be genuinely fun. We still have a lot of problems with the show. The most glaring one that we don’t think we’ve mentioned yet (see the previous post for a list of other problems) is that culture apparently hasn’t evolved in 100 years, even with this cool thing called the internet.

There are no new curse words, for one thing. Remember how in Firefly, you bought that these were people from the future? Still people, but different then us? Or Battlestar Galactica? Terra Nova has none of that. These people look, dress, speak, and act like people from 2011. Cheesy people with no depth or real emotional problems from 2011. Also, the guy who plays Jim cannot act when it comes to sneezing.

However, this episode got a thumbs up from both of us. Compared to last week’s bore-fest, this was an entertaining work of art. There was action, and the dinosaurs were back, and they weren’t just annoying little birds. The characters have more chemistry with each other. The action of the week helped us get to know our characters better, and it made us care about the Jim/Elizabeth relationship a little bit. People are comparing this episode with Star Trek, and that’s not far off. It’s also not a bad thing.

We had a little bit of a LOST touch when the episode started with a high-tech room and a guy freaking out. We didn’t know where this was or who this guy was, and that pulled us in, because with this show so far, we’ve always seen things coming a mile away. Then the man gets eaten by a carnosaur. Yes show! That’s what we like. Elizabeth and Taylor go off to investigate the research center this man was from, because they are having a problem communicating with that offsite facility.

Taylor, Elizabeth, and a random guy go and find the research center crawling with people who think they are living in some point in their past, along with research logs from when the scientists were almost sane and trying to figure out what was happening to them. Elizabeth determines that this amnesia was caused by a pathogen. There’s that scientifically plausible show we’ve come to know and love! Elizabeth, Taylor, and the random guy realize that Dr. Elizabeth needs to figure out how to cure these people and get everyone’s memory back, because they too have probably been exposed.

Soon, they actually do lose their memories. Zoe caught a cold, so Jim caught it from her. Kids are always sick, huh? Eventually, Jim and Malcolm go out to check on them. When they arrive, Malcolm decides that Elizabeth can still help cure the condition. She thinks she is a university student still dating Malcolm (Jim just loved this), and she was brilliant them too. So Malcolm, to keep things simple, omits her marriage and children from his description of her life and asks for her help. Jim goes looking for Taylor and leaves some threats while Malcolm and Elizabeth nerd out.

Jim finds Taylor. Taylor thinks he is still fighting a war in Somalia, and that his wife and son have been taken by the enemy. We loved this. Taylor has been a little too perfect and capable up until now. Seeing him totally irrational, violent, and scary was awesome. We liked when he tried to kill himself once someone told him his wife was dead. This is definitely a different side to this guy who apparently had a darker past than we though. It makes sense though.

Taylor knocks Jim out and heads for Terra Nova, looking for answers. Jim wakes up and finds Malcolm putting the moves on Elizabeth. Jim tackles Malcolm, and Malcolm says, “Oh, it was the pathogen. I’m going in and out of reality. And I was dating your wife in the time I flash back to.” Mmhmm. Elizabeth doesn’t get what’s going on. For a genius, she sure can’t put two and two together. These guys are jealously mooning over her. It’s been 20 years. Does she really think she stayed single until her 40s?

Jim and Malcolm find guy #3 who is knocked out and drag him to the safety of the lab. They are almost eaten by a dinosaur. We shrug. We can only ask for one death by dinosaur per episode, so we won’t be greedy today. Finally, Elizabeth realizes Jim is her husband and gets all tender. She realizes that it’s Jim’s cold that is keeping him from losing his memory. She makes out with him in order to get those pathogens to block the bad pathogens. We are satisfied that Elizabeth really would choose Jim over Malcolm, because even with no memories of Jim and thoughts of Malcolm being her current boyfriend, she picked Jim.

The most interesting thing going on, if you intend to continue watching this show, happened with Josh and Skye. Not them making out and then Josh realizing that he wants to be faithful to his girlfriend. No, not Josh getting a job with a bartender who says that he can help him get his gf to Terra Nova. What’s neato is that the bartender is the Sixers’ inside man, he’s bringing them supplies, and he intends to use Josh to the Sixers’ advantage because of who Josh’s father is.

We are wondering why Skye would take Josh to that bartender. She knew that he is the man who can get things from the future. Does she know why? Does Skye know that it’s because he has help from Sixers? She is crushing on Josh, and it seems a little too nice that she would help get her rival for his affections into their little town just out of the goodness of her heart. Is she setting Josh up too?

We deem this a “family show,” to be watched with your adolescents and older elementary school students. It’s mild, inoffensive, and nice enough. Even with amnesia and cheesy love dialogue in it, this episode entertained us.

Episode grade: B