Primeval 3.3: The Two Sides of Dionysus

The wide-mouthed comedy tragedy masks have long been a symbol of the theater. They were designed to represent the two sides of the god Dionysus, as well as the two sides of wine – unbridled joy and bottomless despair.

Those masks are the perfect emblem for this past week’s Primeval episode which began with a bit of slapstick comedy and ended in the ultimate tragedy.

Beware! There be spoilers ahead!

We start off this week with threats from three directions. First we have Helen and her army of Cleaner clones. Perched high on a roof top, Helen orders one of them to jump to his death. Though he hesitates for a moment he eventually follows orders showing us how really cold blooded Helen has become. (I like that about her.)

The second threat comes in the form of news reporter Mick Harper. He’s determined to find proof that dinosaurs are again walking the earth and he’s given a deadline by his editor – get the shot, or get out.

The final threat is almost a red herring in the fact that it appears to be the major issue but turns out to be more nuisance than anything else. A pack of Diictodons, waddley, beaverish creatures, are loose in a hospital and it’s up to the team to round them up. The little beasts love to burrow so they dig their way into the walls, disrupting the electricity in the hospital and scaring the bejeebus out of people when they pop up here and there.

Abby and Cutter end up trapped in the anomaly room with a pregnant woman which, of course, leads to the typical frantic delivery scene as they attempt to round up the creatures at the same time. The baby turns out to be a boy and the mother, at a loss for a name, gazes and Cutter and asks – do you think it would be alright if I named him. . . . Stanley? Well, there’s one cliché avoided!

While Cutter, Connor, Abby and Becker are playing Keystone Cops in the hospital, Helen is worming her way into the ARC using the Cutter clone she cooked up in her kitchen. Lester, Jenny and Sarah each have run-ins with the clone but none of them suspect a thing, which is stupid. Because a) they know Cutter is at the hospital and it wouldn’t be likely that he’d return without the others, b) he’s wearing different clothes and he’s talking like a zombie, and c) because they know Helen has the ability to clone people!

Still Helen and her Cleaner clones get the drop on them and they’re all herded into a storage room without a guard inside to watch them. Apparently, Helen isn’t as smart as she looks. Eventually, Cutter and the others show up and they’re all taken prisoner as well. Helen takes Cutter with her to do the usual Batman / Bond villain, let me talk your ear off before I kill you number.

Now, here’s another spot that made me go, huh? Helen tells Cutter that his work at the ARC will evolve into the creation of those scary future creatures which will eventually cause the destruction of the world as we know it. So now, she’s the big humanitarian that needs to kill Nick for the good of the world. What? If that was true, she could have shot him when she was in his house the day before. Helen’s a crazy woman and I buy that. I don’t buy her having any real interest in the welfare of the world.

What I also buy is Helen’s need to know what that tube-shaped artifact is that came from the future. There’s a quick graphic during the discussion that leads me to believe there is an anomaly inside but I’m not sure. Nick claims to know what it is, but clearly he doesn’t.

Back in the storeroom, the captives use some old audio files of Helen’s voice to construct new orders for the army of clones. After a tense fight scene or two, Connor uploads the file to the PA system and orders the clones to stand down.

Curses, says Helen. Foiled again. She instructs the Cutter clone to detonate a bomb then she runs off. Cutter and his team also escape but once outside Cutter decides to go back in to look for Helen. Oh please! I’d rather think he was really after the artifact. He and Helen go at it one last time and she shoots him in the chest.

Connor, who has gone back in to search for Cutter, finds him and with no hope of saving him, simply sits with him until Cutter dies. Yes, really. Dies.

Now, here’s where I go into denial. You see, this is one of those shows where people can come back and time can shift and all sorts of things can happen to make the dead live again. Add that to the fact that my DVR cut off the very last moments of the episode and I was pretty sure this was a fake out, until I went online and saw that it wasn’t. Douglas Henshall, who played Cutter, has moved on. He left a message on his fansite thanking the fans for their outpouring of support after the episode aired in the UK. (The UK is about six weeks ahead of the US.)

So that’s that. Or is it? I will say that I was surprised by the number of new characters that were added this season, and I guess this is why. I also wonder about a remark Cutter made to Helen, asking if she had cloned Stephen – I hope she did, as I’d love to see that character return and if he’s evil and in league with Helen, all the better.

If you’ve already seen the episodes going forward from this point, please don’t leave spoilers in the comments. Other than that, I’d love to hear your thoughts on this new season of Primeval.

Photo: BBC America