Terra Nova: Episode 6 – ‘Bylaw’ (contains spoilers)

Terra Nova: Episode 6- ‘Bylaw’ (contains spoilers)

Creators: Greg Silverstein, Kelly Marcel

Director: Nelson McCormick

Writer: Paul Grellong

Starring: Shelly Conn, Jason O’Mara, Landon Liboiron, Noomi Scott, Stephen Lang

Reviewed by: Matt Wavish, official HCF critic

As the show continues with its lack of Dinosaurs and desperately attempts to build a plot worth talking about, Episode 5 ‘Bylaw’ see’s the first episode which gets the colony involved in some emotional events, and also Terra Nova’s first murder. I must say the opening to this episode was pretty strong, with the ‘victim’ entering a post placed outside Terra Nova, only for a vicious Dinosaur to come from inside the building, attack and kill him. Turns out the young soldier was well liked amongst his friends, and was also sleeping with a married woman. In other news, Elisabeth and daughter Zoe attempt to save a Dinosaur egg, Josh works at Boylin’s bar and the cost of getting his girlfriend back from the future has gone up after a meeting with Mira.

The main focus of this episode though, is the murder and how Jim’s detective work comes into play as he does not believe the killer, who confessed, is guilty. The so-called killer is the husband of the woman who was cheating on him, and we get a sorry sob story of how his life fell apart after winning the lottery. I presume it was supposed to tug on the old heartstrings but it doesn’t. Taylor is now met with the difficult decision of either imprisoning the man, or obeying the rules he laid down that any murderer in Terra Nova will be banished and left to fend for themselves in the jungle. The plot juggles wit what is right and wrong, and Jim and Elisabeth begin to really irritate as they question Taylor’s rules and Jim decides to investigate what has happened behind Taylor’s back.

Josh also continues to irritate almost as much as the lack of Dinosaurs with his fumbling, annoying face and hair as he works for the local dodgy fella Boylin. Boylin is actually becoming a very interesting character, with his thick Australian accent adding some much needed characterisation and fun to the far too serious cast. Boylin has a natural likeability, even though you know you should not trust him, and he is a refreshing change to the wooden crap everyone but Taylor is delivering.

As with every episode thus far, the story pretty much wraps up at the end of the episode, and it is painfully obvious just how things will turn out, so don’t waste your time trying to be clever in stating the obvious ending, it really is THAT simple. A sense of wanting to get the audience involved does start to appear in this episode, and the plot, simple as it is, does get you involved as you too begin to question what the best justification should be for the killer. Maybe this is a sign of better, more interesting things to come?