Taylor is talking to Skye – hey, remember her? The
anniversary of her parent’s death is approaching and Taylor is trying to raise
her spirits. Taylor is heading off outside the gate (and, to my brief
amusement, one of the soldiers even dares to apply the rules of Terra Nova to
the Supreme Leader! Silly boy.) While he’s away, he reminds Jim to find the spy
and that he’s the only person Taylor fully trusts (not like Washington who has been
his second in command, friend and colleague since before coming to Terra Nova).
At least Jim’s only in charge because Washington is out with a survey team
(wow, Jim leaped that chain of command, didn’t he?)
Taylor goes rambling through the wilderness, alone, until
he finds more of the equations that his son, Lucas has left. As he is scanning
them, he’s surprised by Mira pointing a gun at him. She takes him prisoner and
they begin the trek back to her camp, snarling and snarking at each other all
the way. Taylor manages to secret a sharp object in his bound hands and Mira
mentions that the Sixer project was supposed to take 6 months and if it weren’t
for Taylor she’d be back in the future with her daughter. She smacks Taylor for
judging her – she was living on the street and her daughter had a disease and
she couldn’t afford to get her medical treatment. Of course she’s going to take
the chance for a better life for her daughter.
Holding Taylor isn’t easy and when Mira is distracted
(almost mesmerised) but a pterosaur he manages to turn the tables and she’s the
one captured. More snarling follows including some hint of a rift between
Taylor and Lucas that began in Somalia and Mira revealing that Lucas is the one
in charge of the Sixers, not her. Right before they hear dinosaurs rustling in
the bushes.
Something is watching them – and they notice even when
they begin to melt a little and Taylor asks after Mira’s daughter and Mira
tells him Lucas looks ok. They sweetness and light is interrupted by 2
dinosaurs leaping at them and chasing them (why why why are dinosaurs immune to
the guns they have?). They run until they reach a large cliff and waterfall –
with nowhere else to go, Taylor cuts the rope tying Mira’s hands and they jump
over the falls. At the bottom they’ve avoided the Slashers -adolescents
claiming their territory making them more aggressive since they’re not just hunting
prey. Which means they’ll be back, and Taylor lost the gun over the falls. They
only have knives and it’ll be dark before they can get to Mira’s transport.
They plan to stand and fight the Slashers.
Taylor makes a bow and Mira prepares a flammable coating
for the arrows. Taylor claims superior experience since he arrived on Terra
Nova first and spent a 100 days alone there, but Mira points out she’s spent
about a thousand since the Sixers left Terra Nova and were forced to learn how
to survive. She also worked security for a group called the “secessionists” in
the future- and when they lost that’s how she got a criminal record and was
prevented from working again. They drive the dinosaurs back with fire and bows
rather dramatically – and then bond over a meal of grubs, both wishing they
could be allies.
At the camp Jim quickly starts throwing his weight around, irritating Malcolm with his new security protocols. Reynolds, who is a little creepy with his 1950s-ish behaviour is extra nervous with his girlfriend’s father now being Acting Supreme Leader. He’s called out by flashing lights in the wilderness which look like Sixer signals – turning to Terra Nova they see more flashing lights used to responds (after the insect last episode, the Sixers are looking for a new way to communicate with their spy).
When they arrive the spy hides – it’s Skye. So that’s the reason she returned. Y’know it would have been better if she had remained a more regular character and then this moment would have been more shocking and less “it’s Skye… who’s Skye again?”) She hides, but cuts her hand on the shard of mirror she was using to send signals, leaving her blood at the scene.
She hurries to the infirmary, running into Josh on the
way who apologises for dragging her into all the Sixer trouble (she takes the
time to tell him how dangerous the Sixers are) before dodging Elizabeth (who is
discussing releasing the baby ankylosaurus back into the wild with Malcolm) and
treating her cut hand. Jim also arrives with the blood sample he found – one drop
that fell in a paint sealant solution and Elizabeth tells him that she can’t
isolate the blood sample, she’s a doctor, not a chemist – he needs to speak to
Malcolm. Who isn’t eager to help because he dislikes Jim and, besides, it’s
nearly impossible – but Jim breaks things until Malcolm agrees to help.
The Sixers want to get Skye back to base camp and the
ones communicating with her wait outside the gate to see if she can get out
past the lockdown. She sees Josh leaving on a work duty and volunteers to go
help him. Once out of the gate she runs to go join the Sixers, handing over
intel. In exchange she gets to see her supposedly deceased mother – she’s
alive, but very very ill and only the Sixers have the medication to cure her.
Back at Terra Nova she sneaks into the hospital and
contaminates the DNA testing of the blood sample. The next day the only thing
Elizabeth can glean is that the blood came from a woman – so they narrow down
the suspects to women who had access to the medical facility – it’s still a
long list.
Domestic round up time – Zoe releases the Ankylosaur back
into the wild where it’s joined by an adult ankylosaur that demonstrates why
they don’t make good pets. Reynolds continues to be annoying. Taylor returns
and talks to Skye about how her parents would be proud of her, racheting up her
guilt
Am I supposed to find Reynold’s “awwww shucks I’m gonna
declare my intentions” hokey nonsense endearing? Because I really really don’t.
Either Maddy, at 16, is too young to pursue a
relationship with (especially with that whole declaring his intentions to marry
one day) then he needs to step back. If she isn’t and wants to go ahead, fair
enough. This whole asking daddy for permission to date his daughter is creepy and
reduces her to her dad’s property. Why has this 22nd century man
zoomed back to the 1950s?
The plot is continuing to develop but I don’t think there’s
any mystery left – but there’s definitely a show down coming. It’s a shame Mira
is an enemy as she’s one of the more compelling characters on the show.
