So here we are, finally at the end of the season and possibly the series. It really wasn't a bad show so much as a disappointing show. There was so much potential in the premise and even in some storylines introduced, but all potential was pretty quickly squandered. It all came down to this, and once again potential was glossed over.
On a better show, the occupation of Terra Nova could have played out over a number of episodes, maybe even an entire season. You could delve into the psychology of being captive in your own home, the small ways in which to fight back, the resistance slowly gaining ground inside the colony, the ups and downs of guerrilla warfare from Taylor's group outside. Instead, Terra Nova glosses over all of that to wrap up the story in two hours. The only real hint we get of that is Wash's execution. That did lead to the wonderful little scene of Zoe comforting Taylor, so there were a couple bright spots in this episode.
If I'm to concentrate on the good parts there was also Elisabeth being awesome in the rescue of her husband. That was probably the greatest thing she has done all season. Malcolm was actually pretty awesome this episode, too. He really stepped up to help the resistance, and I was happy his character actually gt some good things to do. And I can't forget the rampaging dinosaur eating bad guys. I may not have liked the story that got us there, but c'mon, it's rampaging dinosaur eating bad guys! I guess that's it for things I liked. I suppose it was nice to see 2149 again, but that came way to late to give these shadowy bad guys any real weight.
And on the bad guy front, we get a new bad guy that really doesn't seem all that bad, just greedy. And our real bad guy starts twirling his mustache big time. Lucas was starting to grow on me, but his character really became too much this episode. His hatred for his father is way, way over the top for what happened. Taylor obviously doesn't blame him for the death of his wife, he even tells that to Lucas, but then Lucas is like "I don't care, have the sharp end of this knife." The best villains believe that what they are doing is the right thing to do. Lucas, on the other hand, knew all of this was evil and just went along to get at dad. I would buy that only if Taylor did something really bad to him, which he didn't.
You'll notice I've barely talked about the Shannon family, y'know the actual leads of the show. It's because, once again, they are some of the least interesting parts of the episode. Zoe has her aforementioned moment with Taylor, Maddy continues the most boring romance of all time, and Josh just does stupid things. Josh was the most annoying of all, he was starting to grow on me, but then he goes and pretty much ruins the whole resistance. I understand he was hurting because his girlfriend died (it was suppose to be sad, but my first thought was that that was convenient for Josh and Skye to get together), but Lucas being creepy to Skye is not enough to derail everything.
The ending brings us pretty much back to square one. The colony is retaken, the Sixers are out there somewhere, and Lucas has survived and is also in the jungle somewhere. The only difference is that now they are cut off from the future. This is an idea that has potential, but if I've learned anything it is that potential doesn't go far in this show. Especially when we find out at the end that the badlands seems to have some other time rifts in them.
So I won't be back next year, even if the show is, but it was pretty fun pointing out things wrong with the show.
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