Review

An outbreak of giant spider-like creatures, Solifugae from the Carboniferous period, leads the Primeval team down into the London Underground to discover a second time anomaly. Stephen quickly learns that the spider things aren't their worst discovery of the day as he is bitten and quickly goes into a coma. Oh, he does take time out to voice some feelings toward Abby.

Nick Cutter and, surprisingly, Connor, with some help from special forces, head on into the underground tunnels to try and obtain some of the venom Stephen is succumbing to in order to save his life. There was some previous tension between Nick and Connor so Connor is out to prove himself. Some big questions get asked in this episode: was Helen Cutter down in the tunnels? And if so what does her message to Stephen mean? An excellent episode ensues. Ready to try and untangle the web episode two spins?

Cilla Ware shows that her first venture into the Pilot Episode of Pimeval was, as we suspected, a little bit on the getting used to the gig side, as she nails episode two. Ware is on fire with tension-laden scenes, quick cutting as the pace requires, and some pretty nifty scene transitions. All together a very solid effort behind the camera that had me nodding my head in approval. If episode one was pretty good, with a few minor hiccups, then episode two is excellent and gets Primeval well underway, (was going to say “out of the station” but that would be just too trite even for moi).

Backing up the Director is a fine script by Adrian Hodges, going solo on this episode. We get a lot more tension happening between the characters, though the various attractions are happening way too fast, and a nice twist when we discover exactly what caused Stephen's visit to the hospital. Add in Helen making an appearance for no explained reason and you really can't fault the episode. There’s a nice addition of some banter between Connor and his friends Tom and Duncan. You are probably never going to hit this level of geekdom outside a Star Trek convention, or possibly the ScaryMinds bunker if we are really on with a discussion about a Dr Who episode. Oops, this is Primeval; forgot the “Who” word isn't considered polite around Primeval circles.

Okay that covers everything, let's finish this fandango ... only kidding folks; am still rambling on here.

One of the major developments of episode two is how the characters act in a totally human way, and more importantly, exactly how you would expect them to act outside the influence of the ministry. Connor, conspiracy theorist extraordinaire, simply can't keep things to himself and drops cryptic clues to his friends about what he has been up to in his spare time. As Connor says, this is simply too big to keep to himself. Naturally his friends think he is having a laugh, and set up a practical joke involving a night in the woods and a fake dinosaur. Actually, the night-time stake-out is pretty well handled with the hint it may be a real dinosaur, to the thought that the dino looks real fake, till the exposé that it really is a fake one. I was grinning over the scene and marked it down as an instant recall for Primeval fans. When Professor Cutter discovers Connor's night-time high jinks, he immediately fires Connor from the Scooby Gang. Now before everyone gets upset, Cutter's reaction is also understandable. He's the dude who wants to announce the presence of anomalies to the world but is constrained from doing so by Claudia Brown and James Lester of the Home Office, or whatever the department is; hey, we don't spend weeks researching every fine point of episodes around the office here. Naturally he isn't going to be the most considerate person on the team when it comes to the public becoming aware that monsters actually do exist.

Abby – lads, you really want to see this episode – turns out to be harbouring Rex the Coelurosauravus fugitive from the Permian. Remember she is a “Lizard Girl” and doesn't want Rex returned to the hands of the scientists who wanted to “study” the small reptile in the first episode. I was actually approving of her actions, and hey, if it means her apartment needs to have the heat turned up I'm all for that in future episodes. Not that I was perving on Hannah Spearitt in her knickers or anything. Maybe she could invite Lucy Brown over for cocktails or something. Okay, stopping right here and now before I hit the pun machine and really offend some readers, yourself excluded of course.

Now before I go much further, better address one question that I'm sure a lot of readers are asking themselves: “Dude, giant spiders? You have to be kidding me, that sounds like bollocks”. Well besides my well documented get down and jiggy with it love affair with movies dealing with giant arachnids attacking various people (if you want to throw on an Eight Legged Freaks and The Kingdom of the Spiders double at your place I'm there citizen), it has a perfectly logical scientific explanation. The spider things, not true spiders apparently, come from the Carboniferous period. This period in the Earth's history happened just prior to the Permian era. The late Carboniferous period saw a surge in oxygen levels to a point 36% higher than present levels, allowing for far less effort on the respiration front, hence the rather larger insects and arachnids the episode deals with. Am eternally grateful for climatic change to be honest, and yes there was a mass extinction at the end of the Carboniferous period. Now besides adding to your education – the public system is going to love us, the Fundos (religious fundamentalists) hate us – I'm not doing a Connor Temple here. Got my entire background to the episode from Walking With Monsters and Wikipedia. So there you go; the episode writer did his research and who are we to disagree with various scientific forums – let’s leave that to the Fundos.

Simply an excellent hour of television mayhem that had me getitng all excited for the rest of the season

Once again the Walking With ... team were pretty spot on with their CGI efforts in bringing the various beasties to life. Giant spider things dropping off the ceiling in numbers had me gripping my chair while still giving a rebel yell.

A slight plot hole, however, with one development in episode two. The special forces squad can't fire their weapons in the spider colony because of the high concentrations of oxygen… uhmm, what about Stephen's naked flame burner thing? Not buying into the anomaly itself argument; the spider things are put off by light, maybe the anomaly is on a different spectrum to normal light?

Of note, Dominik Scherrer hits it out of the ballpark with his scoring for this episode. Really added to the tension in some scenes and nailed the visuals Cilla Ware put on for us. Loved the music and got down and funky with it.

Primeval hit a high note with episode two and ramped things up from the first outing. Always up for a giant spider outing, and Director Ware nailed the requirement here. Specially loved the twist in the tale, and also how various characters are reacting in the aftermath of some pretty implausible stuff they were presented with in episode one. Icing on the cake was the attraction various members of the Scooby Gang are feeling towards each other, and the enigma Helen Cutter presents us with.

Episode two of Primeval garnered the first of two controversies that have surrounded the show in 2007. Surprisingly, it's all over Hannah Spearritt prancing around in her knickers. My best guess here is that the problem arrives on our doorstep due to Primeval being marketed as family entertainment; surely the feminists aren't up in arms. Considering the kids can see a hell of a lot more even in PG13 outings, one wonders exactly what the problem is. Heaven forbid if James Murray gets his shirt off in a future episode, that thud you will be hearing is members of the Moral Majority fainting and hitting the floor. My advice is to take the carrot out, go with the flow, and get with the programme in the modern era. Maybe we have a real anomaly opening a pathway to the 1950s or something. More on the second issue next review.

Excellent episode of ITV's new hit series. Season three is on the corporate table even as we speak. Well-constructed, good tension and drama, and once again well put together. Primeval has already found its pacing, plot arcs, and is heading into being one of the best of British television for 2007. Go check out the subway this episode, it's going to creep up on you.