TERRA NOVA: Occupation/Resistance Season 1 Finale Review

The first season of Terra Nova is complete and humanity’s rebooted future can breathe an unpolluted sigh of relief, for now. But how convincing were the character motivations; did the story do enough to make us believe in the central conflict; and was the insertion of the Badlands mystery enough to get us excited for a potential second season? All will be revealed in our review of the Terra Nova season finale — “Occupation/Resistance”.

THE GOOD

Well, it certainly felt like a finale, in terms of action and scale. The visuals and SFX were pretty good, although the slow-mo explosions were contrived by half.

I’m glad we got to see inside one of the much sought-after domes (world building!). It was also informing to hear Lucas talk about his very-close-shave with the Nykoraptor, bringing a small dose of Terra Nova reality to his ‘mustache-twirling’ business partner. So much relied on his ability to survive..like father, like son.

The overarching story was progressed and we learned more about the central conflict, while the mythology expanded slightly with the little “Badlands” tease, building a tentative bridge into the (potential) second season. The execution of the central storyline leaves much to be desired but credit where it’s due for at least turning the ship around and sailing in more seriable waters.

It was good to finally get to the root of the father/son beef as it delivers context. For me, Lucas is the most interesting and complex character on this show. Without his energy and general madness driving the wider and personal conflict, I think we’d have a far poorer story, which doesn’t bare thinking about. Unfortunately for him, though, it’s back to being cold, hungry and scrawling glyphs on rocks.

If future humanity depends on the Shannons, then let’s just end it now. They are talking robots (theory!) that say stuff without having much connection to it. BUT, I did find some interest in seeing them stow away from Terra Nova, the reverse of what took place in the pilot.

THE BAD

Let’s talk about Kara shall we? Oh, wait, she died. RIP, I guess. A contrived plot element in a sea of contrived plot elements. While contrivances exist when story is written, Terra Nova’s are just so on the surface. I don’t really care that Kara died, she was nothing to me, but I care that I had to sit through Josh’s whining for that. On the plus side, no more triangles! Ka(ra)-Boom!

Perhaps I was hoping for too much when I hoped that Lucas’ employers, the Pheonix Group, were more than mustache-twirling bad guys. That’s pretty much how the show depicted them. Now, that’s not to say some people aren’t just bad or corrupt, particularly where power is concerned, but I’m not sure how interesting that is to watch. The various Phoenix representatives were so one-note, so incredibly surface-level in their motivation and characterisation, that it was almost like they were plucked from one of those old cartoons. Maybe there is a far more interesting, complicated motivation at hand, but the show has made little effort to illustrate this. I think it would make far richer (heh) storytelling if the Pheonix, or at least some of their members, wanted to plunder Terra Nova to SAVE the future – that would complicate things in a positive storytelling direction. But at any rate, it comes down to this: if you’re going to have one-note bad guys, at least make them interesting. LOST did it with Martin Keamy, so it’s not impossible to get away with it.

I honestly feel that the 3-day time-jump was a convenience as opposed to a genuine effort to inform the story. Perhaps it’s both, and there’s nothing inherently wrong with that, except the story side of things was badly undercut by the fact that Jim, Taylor’s right hand man, the Sheriff Indeed, is allowed to wander around the colony as and when he pleased. I was surprised at how lax Lucas, Mira and the PG were in securing the colony. All in all, this scenario wasn’t very believable, largely because the ‘bad guys’ were made to look incredibly silly so that Jim could ‘save the day’.

On the surface, this was an entertaining 90 minutes, but it doesn’t really hold up to much scrutiny. The plotting, character motivations, and even the dinosaur action was contrived. As with the season in general, the storytelling didn’t come from an internal, organic place — things just happened to move things from A to B, characters became invincible because it was written, and logic was brushed under the carpet.

It’s obvious that the show caters to all age-groups. On the one hand, attempting to defragment the viewing audience by creating a show that the whole family can watch together, is admirable. But how successfully has the show pulled this off? Not very, in my opinion, and the finale didn’t do anything to change that. While not a flawless piece itself, ABC’s Once Upon A Time has done a better job at creating a “family drama” because at least there’s more nuance and character development, while the mystery and hook of that show is embraced. And there’s an annoying kid character in that one too, but it is thick with cheese. (kiss of death, I know.)

The Phoenix Team rolled into Terra Nova without their own medical and science people? It’s akin to going on a space mission without an astronaut, or going through a time-portal without a scientist.. Again, surface-level contrivance. And it could have been saved too, if something was made of their underestimation of what they were getting into, but the Story Torch was pointed elsewhere.

Rather than cram the events of that took place in the finale into one episode (albeit 90 minutes worth), I think it would have played a lot better if it took place over a number of episodes, building towards a crescendo, rather than having one rather chaotic installment. For me this goes back to the show taking to long to weave into the central dilemma — too many random stories and not enough ongoing development to hold the thing together and cement the characters to the core concept of restarting humanity. Having characters show their concern for these concepts in the last episode is not particularly compelling or believable to me.

SURVIVAL NOTES

We got hints of it in the previous episode, but Lucas became even creepier in the finale — referring to Skye as his sister yet clearly showing his feelings (which are seemingly located in his pants) in other ways.

Skye’s mom sure has recovered quickly. And of course Skye was a heroine redeemed in this episode, which is silly by half. She caused so much mayhem, yet it was quickly brushed under that over-worked carpet.

Wash (RIP) went out on the episode’s best, most convincing line, telling Lucas: “You have your fathers eyes” — before he executed her.

Mira can’t be happy with how things turned out. Relegated to a bit-part role and her ticket home in tatters. Oh well, to the Badlands, I guess. And who the hell named it the ‘Badlands’? Should we be thanking Taylor? Is there a ‘Goodlands’ tucked away somewhere, or is that too on the nose?

I see Riley and her fellows didn’t get killed by Lucas’ portal-blast in the last episode? Which is good, because otherwise we would never have gotten to see her magic bomb disarming skills. If she returns next season at least we’ll have a better handle on her character, but for now it seems rather convenient.

But why didn’t Lucas just set up another bomb instead of throwing a tantrum?

Taylor putting map-coordinates on bullets was a long shot that I struggled to swallow. I guess Lis needed her ‘moment’.

It takes a war for Josh to understand why Daddy fought against the population control guys (who, thinking back, were just as assholey as the Phoenix Group). I struggled to connect with this moment, but I do quite like the intention behind it. What a shame the show didn’t delve deeper into the Shannons struggles with the repressive laws from which they fled but caught up with them. Can humanity ever escape the future? Now there’s a central question for season 10.

What did the Shannons learn this season? I’m not convinced they learned anything. They said a bunch of stuff, but it’s all arbitrary. Still, I’m not going to say I wouldn’t want a second season without examining what exactly this would entail. If the show gets canceled I’ll be disappointed for reasons I’ve already stated on Seriable. But if FOX pull the trigger on another round, I think some big storytelling decisions need to be made, and the second season marketed accordingly. We’ll see, folks.