calmPrimeval is a marvelous series from Britain's ITV that follows a team of scientists who investigate anomalies in time and deal with the prehistoric and future creatures that travel through them. The first series of Primeval consisted of six one-hour episodes, and was quite superb, offering a plethora of interesting and dynamic concepts, and raising interesting questions as well that held the promise of additional series of the show to follow.
Last night's second series opener starts off where the first season ended, with the last anomaly's problems being dealt with but Professor Nick Cutter returning through the anomaly to find that things have changed. The first episode makes it clear how things have changed, with an impressive new futuristic looking Anomaly Research Centre (ARC) being highlighted, and raptors in an art deco shopping mall as the main problem for our heroes to deal with.
What bothered me the most about the new episode, and this may be a problem for me for the new series that has just begun, is that Nick Cutter looks like a stylish Welsh version of Steve Irwin (you remember the famous Croc Hunter, right?) and the series having an almost Torchwood feel to it that, honestly, didn't impress me all that much. There are other issues that bothered me quite a bit, to be honest, notably the Claudia Brown/Jenny Lewis switch,and the manner in which some of the stuff was handled, but the episode was definitely entertaining, and raised a few questions.
Overall, I liked the episode for the most part, despite the niggling things, but felt that the series has made a serious mistake this early on introducing a whole "organised" element to the plot. I'm looking forward to the next few episodes of the series, but...
...I really do wish the DVDs were available for a Canadian market! :(