Primeval: Series 5, Episode 5 – Dork Review

The central storyline of this year’s Primeval enters its final phase, with an unmistakable example of the species “first half of climactic two-parter”. Dinosaurs are running loose, including the first T-Rex for some time, and, yes, Evil Philip Burton’s masterplan reaches its zenith.

So will he destroy the planet? If so, will the finale be an artistic effort in which I stare at a blank screen for 45 minutes? Would that arguably be better?

Trust Me, I’m From The Future

Firstly, a string of subplots are brought to a bubble, or resolved quickly so we can get on with bringing the nasty scientist to justice. Remember when Matt’s secrets were, well, secret? That’s taken care of between episodes. Connor and Abby’s relationship troubles get marginally more time. April signifies her newfound evil sidekick status by wearing a tighter top.

To be honest, multiple scenes where Matt tells each character he’s from the future would’ve been dull, but surely someone should be more surprised? But I can’t blame them for wanting to leap to the drama, and there’s a lot of exciting stuff here. Clearly this is an expensive episode, with dinosaurs and anomalies thrown all over the screen.

Of course, this doesn’t stop them taking the occasional shortcut. I enjoyed watching Abby and Becker taking on a building “full of carnivorous worms”, represented entirely by a smoke machine for some reason. But the scene in which Ben Miller’s Lester takes on a dinosaur was an episode-stealing moment, which I therefore won’t spoil any further.

Inevitable Series Finale Death Pool

Anyway, the drama ramps up and up, and ends as it had to, really. As soon as someone shows you an evil machine which will “doom the world when it’s switched on!”, you know what’ll happen before the story is done. Still, I admit I’m excited to see what happens next. Surely, after all this, they have to at least kill someone? (Aside from Philip, who seems an inevitable fatality, and the one possible death we’ve already had, as she’s a complete non-entity.)

Sadly, as Ciaran McMenamin is one of the better actors here, I suspect Matt may end up sacrificing himself to save the future, or perhaps successfully avert his own timeline and thus fade from existence. But we’ll have to wait and see. Join me next week for the finale, and feel free to leave any predictions below.

More Primeval on Dork Adore | Primeval: Series 5, Episode 4 – Dork Review

Nick Bryan

Nick learned to read and write at an early age. This has developed into an unhealthy need to either write stories or consume them for later dissection. He reviews film and TV on Dork Adore and The Digital Fix, lives in London and enjoys a nice white beer.

More Posts - Website

Follow Me: