In one case,
a character returns as an alternate universe version of
herself, a year or two before Fringe stunned everybody
with that possibility here in the U.S. So far in what BBC-America
refers to as Volume Two - it's Series Three in the UK but
Season Two in the U.S. -- Primeval throws its cast
up in the air a few times. Just when you think you know
where it's going, it's gone to the left.
The exception
there, advertised on the cover of the DVD, is in the welcome
addition of Jason Flemyng. He's just big enough an actor
that when he appears in his first episode, and this show
has never really done stunt-casting before, it's obvious
that he will return and some twists and turns will put him
on the ARC team.
Flemyng has
a tad more charisma than original series lead Douglas Henshall,
whose Nick Cutter always seemed aloof and always arbitrary
in relation to other characters. Though he drives a crucial
arc in the series, it was hard to get excited about him
leading the team; Flemyng plays a lot more viscerally.
And that's both
the show's strength and weakness. It is a cool idea
to fight dinosaurs (and other creatures) as a premise, and
the team assembled has a nice collection of quirks. The
biggest stretch in Volume Two might be Laila Rouass as an
Egyptologist who joins the team on the theory that mythical
beasts throughout history are probably the results of anomalies.
But this is a series that pushed Andrew-Lee Potts' comic
relief paleontology grad student into an electronics genius
because they needed one, so you can't think too hard about
characters' qualifications.
Aside from their
colorfulness, most of the cast are cartoons, and Primeval
never quite makes its characters gripping. They're fun,
but their emotions bounce around depending on the needs
of any given episode, never particularly consistent or logical.
Thus the show
stands on its mythos, which is reasonably clever. This season
introduces a couple of different ongoing antagonists, worthy
opponents of the ARC team. And despite the inconsistencies
in characterization, overall this season stands a lot more
strongly than the first.
