Writer: Cameron McAllister
Director: James PayneCast: Douglas Henshall (Professor Nick Cutter), Hannah Spearritt (Abby Maitland), James Murray (Stephen Hart), Andrew-Lee Potts (Connor Temple), Karl Theobald (Oliver Leek), Ben Miller (James Lester), Naomi Bentley (Caroline Steel), Lucy Brown (Jenny Lewis) & Juliet Aubrey (Helen Cutter)
An aquatic creature attacks a young teenager, meaning the team must scramble to hunt down this vicious predator from the future…It’s patently obvious that Primeval is content to just sit back and riff on ideas and situations stolen from better sources, as this week's storyline is essentially Jaws with a rather bizarre side-order of subway horror Creep.
The fourth episode opens with another unintentionally amusing death scene, where a young basketball player is dragged down a flooded manhole after he goes to retrieve his ball (which he keeps hold of during the peril, rather misguidedly), before somehow leaving a sole trainer bobbing on the surface....
The Anomaly Detection Device (ADD) is soon ringing, and Cutter (Douglas Henshall) leads his team to the Isle Of Dogs, where an anomaly has apparently opened up underwater to allow a sea creature to swim through. After discovering some shed skin (indicating a mammal), things turns decidedly Jaws-like after Jenny (scrumptious Lucy Brown) accidentally falls overboard. Cue a shark-like fin racing towards her... before Cutter and Stephen (James Murray) zoom to the rescue in another boat, Stephen firing the first of many rounds into the hapless creature.
Back at ARC, the creature is strung up from a fork-lift truck and Cutter determines that it's actually a future evolution the common shark, equipped with a giant tongue lined with teeth. It also appears to have swallowed a basketball and a shoe… but no sign of that kid, oddly.
As a subplot, Connor (Andrew-Lee Potts) is still hanging around with covert snoop Caroline (Naomie Bentley). This is irritating Abby, as Caroline takes sly delight in rubbing her superiority in Abby's face; like her athletic skills in kicking a combat-dummy in the neck. In a wry homage to Fatal Attraction, Caroline later cements her bunny-boiler credentials by locking Abby's chirpy pet dinosaur Rex in the refrigerator. Is "lizard-chiller" a term?
Cameron McAllister's script also returns to season 2's ongoing plot, revolving around the mysterious soldier who Connor recognized from the first episode's shopping mall. This week, it's Nick who witnesses the same man skulking around, and gives chase across a boat jetty, before finally catching up to the ominous stranger – who stupidly decides to just stand inside a boat's hull, facing away. Mind you, it's a ploy that works -- as Nick is knocked unconscious when the man turns round, and can only surmise later that someone is keeping an eye on them...
The investigation into the "future-shark" continues, with microphones dangled into the water and recording sounds like whale-song. The songs are played back underwater a little later, provoking a different creature (a "mutant walrus"?) to burst out of the water and snatch Abby (Hannah Spearritt) away. Despite a search by divers underwater, no trace of her can be found, and Connor blames Nick for her apparent death.
Lester (Ben Miller) arrives on the scene after the tragedy -- immediately placing Stephen in charge, forcing "failure" Nick to slink off, as Connor returns home to grieve. Fortunately, Jenny has been growing closer to Nick recently, and gives him a tip-off about a flooded warehouse basement close by. Nick heads off to investigate himself, after trying to persuade Connor to join him in Abby's memory...
Here is where the Creep similarities begin; as Abby wakes up to find herself trapped in a sewer's grated chamber, alongside the missing basketballer Lucien. Their captor is one of the walrus-like creatures (known as a Mer on the show's website), and they both try screaming for help before the chamber's water level rises and drowns them.
Connor grudgingly decides to join Nick in the flooded basement, and they hear screams coming from behind a wall. As they knock through the brickwork, Abby is grabbed and dragged underwater, just as they break through to rescue Lucien – who informs them their team-mate is still alive!
Meanwhile, Stephen has been heading the original hunt in the dinghy's, using special submersibles equipped with video cameras, and discovers a strange tunnel. On the other side of the tunnel, Abby is flung out of the water by a Mer, but manages to get away by comically kicking it in the throat (a la that kid in The Lost World: Jurassic Park). And that's just the first much silliness to follow, as a Mer goes to attack Nick and Lucien -- but the keen basketballer gets the better of it by throwing a ball-sized rock at its head!
Stephen sees what's going on via his submersibles' video feed and (seemingly unaware water clogs weaponry!), tools himself up with guns and dives underwater to swim through the tunnel and rescue his friends. The anomaly has since re-opened and Abby has been taken through, so Connor runs (in silly slo-mo, naturally) to her rescue, but ends up being knocked to one side by a Mer creature. Fortunately, Stephen emerges (Rambo-style!) from the water and is improbably able to fire off rounds, slaughtering most of the beasts… and saving the day.
Through the anomaly, in a future-world that resembles the Canary Islands, Abby is surrounded by Mer creatures and facing certain doom, until Connor arrive and runs over to save her. Lying on a ledge above her, she grabs his hand and he tries his best to pull her up to safety, but he just doesn't have the strength. She pleads with him to let her go, lest they both die, but he refuses… finally telling her how much he loves her… just before Nick arrives and pulls them both up to safety. The advancing Mer creatures are then shot to smithereens by Connor and trigger happy Stephen.
Later, with everyone rescued and the creatures all dead, Lester says the government will buy the disused warehouse (as the anomaly is likely to reappear again) but will ensure the area is covered in thick concrete. Abby and Connor arrive home together, but Connor is in two-minds about confirming to her whether his feelings are genuine, but is rescued by an interruption from Caroline to go to the theatre.
As with last week, the episode ends with Lester's right-hand man Oliver (Karl Theobald) talking to another of his operatives (the soldier who punched Nick), only this time… it's revealed there's someone pulling his strings: Helen Cutter (Juliet Aubrey), Nick's irritating "missing wife" who's been a thorn in his side since the beginning of the series. It's actually rather difficult to imagine they ever had a happy and contented marriage!
Ultimately, episode 4 wasn't too bad, although the first half was quite slow and the second half was riddled with laughable moments. The story did benefit from the fact there were two creatures to grapple with, and both were works of speculative fiction -- which gave the episode added unpredictability.
I'm also glad the subplots with Caroline and Oliver are being nudged along, although nothing too earth-shattering happens here, as the focus was mainly on another monster-of-the-week. It was also quite nice to see Nick and Jenny share a moment together, as their friendship defrosted whilst discussing each other's love lives – with regard to their secretive work. Lucy Brown was particularly charming in this scene, as I always sense she's not that happy about running around chasing CGI beasties every week...
Andrew-Lee Potts and Hannah Spearritt are still the most successful at showing a human side in-between all the monster silliness -- primarily because they're the only characters given subplots that deal with their social lives! Nick is stiff and fixated on his job, only finding time for mild flirting with Jenny; Stephen is the all-purpose action man, unless being lured by temptress Helen; Jenny is one-dimensional so far, as we only discovered last week she has a fiancé; while Lester is a limp caricature with an irritating habit of ending every sentence with a puckered grin...
This was quite a typical episode, essentially -- although it does get gradually more enjoyable after the first shark attack. It's just a shame the rather exciting last 15 minutes are ruined by an overwhelming amount of dumb moments in the script and cheesy direction from James Payne.
2 February 2008
ITV1, 7.10 pm
