This week’s episode of Terra Nova had a very appropriate title: “Vs.” Looking at this episode, those two little letters carried a whole lot of meaning as “Vs.” was full of confrontations that all seemed to involve Commander Taylor. There was the early pissing match between Taylor and Boylan in the interrogation room. Then, as Jim got closer to uncovering the truth behind the skeleton, we got a showdown between Taylor and Jim that led to some much-needed background info about the bad blood between Taylor and Lucas. These three conflicts culminated in the best episode of the series thus far, one that fleshed out the relationships between our characters and highlighted the ongoing brilliance of Stephen Lang’s performance as Commander Nathaniel Taylor. If everyone were as committed to their role as Lang, Terra Nova would be way more enjoyable. Granted, the show would still need help in the writing and special effects departments to be considered great, but committed acting would a fine starting point.
The interrogation drug that makes your face sweat like a waterfall.
I think we all knew going into this episode that Boylan wasn’t the Sixer spy despite the shady business dealings he has going on with them. Boylan’s a classic opportunist so it was therefore frustrating to see Taylor’s incarceration and interrogation of him drag on for so long. The whole good cop/bad cop routine employed by Jim and Taylor did bear some unexpected fruit, though – the revelation from Boylan that he knew about the body Taylor had buried in the jungle. Let us not overlook two things regarding this valuable piece of information: A) that it came in a rather convoluted way, with Boylan under the influence of some “tongue-loosening drugs” and talking out of his head to who he thought was Taylor B) the ungodly amount of sweat pouring down Boylan’s face during that scene. Did the drugs turn his head into a water fountain?
The sweat geyser notwithstanding, Jim took this information and headed into the jungle to find the tree Boylan had identified. After some digging, Jim discovered the skeleton and began to build a case against Taylor, one that started with Elisabeth trying to ID the body. Jim, of course, decided to keep his investigation a secret from Taylor. This decision felt completely organic. I mentioned in an earlier recap that Jim went from being a fugitive to Taylor’s right hand man in about four episodes and that perhaps their partnership wasn’t as rock solid as it appeared. We saw those cracks begin to show in “Vs.” as Jim went behind Taylor’s back to uncover the truth. With the help of Malcolm and some shoddy writing, Taylor eventually discovered that the skeleton had been unearthed and deduced that Jim was on to him. Here Jim had an opportunity to disclose his suspicions to Taylor and chose to lie instead, setting Taylor down a path that ultimately led to Jim’s wrongful arrest.
Hey Men in Black, is it OK if we borrow your dragonfly?
We got a step closer to uncovering the traitor’s identity this week only to have the storyline swerve in a completely different direction. I didn’t truly expect the repaired dragonfly to reveal the traitor given the dubious nature of Malcolm’s plan. I had a feeling it might end up in the Shannon household but I didn’t expect it to go there for the reason it did. My original thought was that Mira had given Josh something (unbeknownst to him) that could implicate the Shannons should the dragonfly be intercepted. Not my brightest inclination to be sure as the real reason made much more sense.
Come to find out Taylor planted a firearm recharger in the Shannon house that emitted the dragonfly’s desired frequency. The commander wanted Jim arrested so that he could privately strong-arm his only police officer into dropping the investigation in exchange for his freedom. Tired of being incarcerated, Jim goes all “TV cop” and asks Taylor why he killed Captain One Arm (sorry, his name eludes me). Talk about jumping the gun! But rather than shoot down Jim’s question, Taylor confesses to the murder and reveals the juicy backstory between himself and Lucas. There’s some great stuff here: Taylor’s pride slowly dissolving into heartbreak, Lucas tormenting his father with the calculations carved into rocks and that awesome Terminator moment when One Arm stepped through the portal.
Taylor gets his badass moment when he shoots One Arm and disarms his son but the biggest reveal in this scene was that Lucas is brilliant and incredibly driven. We’d seen it hinted at before though never quite like this. Just the fact that Lucas was able to bring One Arm through a portal in the middle of the jungle speaks volumes about how close he is to reaching his goal. A goal, I might add, that became clearer in this hour as we learned that certain people back in 2149 want to mine Terra Nova for its natural resources. This confirmed a suspicion I shared in my recap of the premiere when we found out the Sixers were sitting on top of some precious iron ore. Is it just resources these shady people are after, though? I doubt it. While resources would be invaluable in a depleted world, it feels like there’s something bigger at stake here.
Random thought from this episode
So this is what Josh looks like when he’s not being a douche!
Big question we’re left to ponder
Is the traitor someone we know or someone we have yet to meet?
