The third episode of Terra Nova, named Instinct, is pretty much what I expected from this series as things moved along. There’s a dinosaur threat, a family situation, and everything works out in the end.

Stephen Lang as Commander Nathaniel Taylor and Jason O'Mara as Jim Shannon.

The show introduces us to a new character in this episode, Dr. Malcolm Wallace (Rod Hallett), who obviously still carries quite a torch for Elisabeth (Shelley Conn) since their days as students together. Apparently, he was instrumental in getting her to Terra Nova, not knowing that she would help her husband, Jim (Jason O’Mara) escape from prison and come with her. It’s obviously not going well for him, and we get the impression that he’s being cast as a bit of the stereotypical nerd in the show. So yeah; more stereotypes.

What disappointed me most with this episode is that they went away from the Lost-type mysteries that I was hoping for in this show; they didn’t even return to the weird rock carvings from the pilot episode. Instead, the story was basically was basically Alfred Hitchcock‘s The Birds meets Jurassic Park.

There was also a bit of rom-com in there, when Elisabeth and Jim were trying to get it on in their new home, but getting a constant case of coitus interruptus from their youngest daughter and from a bunch of loud-mouth dinosaur birds – well, pterosaurs, really – that we eventually found out had made Terra Nova into their mating ground, forcing Scientist A and Scientist B to create a portable pheromone shooter that led the birds into another part of the jungle out there. Yeah; it’s as corny as it sounds.

Still, I believe the show has promise, but I won’t be excited about it until they run into a polar bear, find a stranded baroque ship in the middle of the jungle, a hatch, a smoke monster or a massive four-toed Egyptian statue. Let’s hope that they’re keeping that for the more overarching plot line of the first season.

How did you like Terra Nova – Season 1, Episode 3?