S1E5: This week’s theme is potentially the most important one that a show like Terra Nova could ever explore, and is one that I would imagine will be revisited consistently (or at least, it should be) as the show finds its identity: the idea that Terra Nova ain’t all it’s cracked up to be. The future Earthlings who have come back to Terra Nova have treated it as the utopian paradise that would be free from the human corruption that reigned supreme in the 2100s. However, this week’s episode “Bylaw” illustrates the flaws in mankind, and the flaws in the governing system that make Terra Nova just as inherently messed up as any time period that any of its citizens have come from.
“Just because you have a lifetime supply of chicken doesn’t mean you’d turn up the opportunity at a rare bloody steak.” – Malcolm
As did the second episode of the series, this episode opens with a fatal dinosaur attack on a Terra Nova soldier. This time, however, Jim determines that the attack was planned by a human. The dinosaur was lured into an isolated manmade building where it was held captive, set to attack the first person who would open the doors of the building: the young soldier. Thus, we’ve got a murder on our hands.
As Jim investigates the murder, Liz, Malcolm and Zoe nurse the cracked egg of an injured prenatal ankylosaurus. Meanwhile, Josh pursues his quest to get his 2100s girlfriend Cara sent back to Terra Nova by doing ambiguous favors for the bartender, Boylan.
Through investigation, Jim manages to find out that the deceased soldier had a girl on the side—a married woman named Rebecca Milner. Upon interrogating Rebecca, her husband Howard barges in and confesses vehemently to the murder. Jim is not satisfied, however. Howard is incredibly devoted to his wife and marriage, but Jim suspects that Rebecca only married Howard—a Terra Nova lotto winner—to get sent back to the paradise.
“The only way is forward, for the good of the colony.” – Taylor
The confession is enough for Taylor, however, and he institutes banishment from Terra Nova society, into the wilderness, as penalty for Mr. Milner. This brings up an interesting point of discussion that we can hope will not be limited to a single scene in this episode. Liz finds error in a society ruled by a single man making decisions. Jim counters her argument with the underhanded, corruptible bureaucracy that reigned supreme in the 2100s. Whether Terra Nova is better than the future or not, there is a huge issue with the fact that Taylor is more than anything else an autocrat dictator.
But Jim takes matters into his own hands and follows Milner into the woods. He wins the truth from Milner: he believes that his wife is the true murderer, and he only confessed in order to protect her. This Jim truly believes. He brings Milner back to his wife, who insists that she did not commit the crime—for some reason, this is also good enough for Jim. But Rebecca does enlighten Jim unto the illegal gambling that goes on among the soldiers at Boylan’s bar.
With Boylan’s help, Jim and (a furious but willing-to-listen-to-reason) Taylor orchestrate a plan to get one of the other soldiers—one who owed the deceased money in gambling debts—out alone into the woods with them. There, the truth comes out: he is the real killer, and he faces the wrath of Taylor: a couple of kicks to the ribcage and a Terra Nova banishment.
Back in the Josh storyline, Boylan sends the boy and his trusty sidekick Skye into the woods to meet with Mira, leader of the Sixers. Mira has the ability to communicate with the 2100s, and thus can get Cara sent back for Josh. However, she demands of Josh that he return the favor in whatever form she requests sometime in the future—he, of course, agrees. We can only assume this will involve some sort of treason. Or murder. Or dinosaurs.
It is ambitious to take on a murder-mystery storyline, even if it isn’t an entirely gripping one—none of the suspects, nor the deceased, were characters we have ever met or heard of before (nor will we hear of again), so it is difficult to become truly ensconced in the story. That being said, it’s got all the ingredients of your Law & Order episode, so it must be doing something by the book.
However, oftentimes on this show, things are wrapped up far too smoothly. Taylor was wrong about his first conviction, yet he is just as confident in doling out his second, even without hard evidence or a confession. I think the ending would have better served a struggle with doubt in his abilities as a leader and a judge, as Taylor is an interesting character who warrants this development. Plus, instead of focusing on an unhatched dinosaur (even though dinosaurs are rockin’), Liz could have spent her time better by representing (vocally) the flaws in the Taylor ruling system, and in Terra Nova in general. The show seems to have no problem sparking up good concepts, but it sort of tosses them aside as the hour comes to a close, without actually exploring or satisfying the parts that warrant it the most. Hopefully, something good will come of this Josh-Mira-Cara-Skye-Boylan-dinosaurs storyline, and we’ll see the characters deal with some real struggles that don’t just smooth out at the end of the episode.
