Season Finale Thoughts: Terra Nova

Unfortunately, this review could potentially be titled "Series Finale Thoughts." Have they made a decision yet about renewing this series? I would imagine there's a lot of overhead with a show like this, and since it wasn't a ratings juggernaut, I have to assume that it's an uphill battle. I guess we should keep our fingers crossed, though.

So, with new episodes returning this month, I thought I would discuss some of the season finales that took place while I still have the time. I figured I'd start with Terra Nova. Spoilers after the page break, so click the link below for the full column.

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Out of all the new shows I've watched and continued to follow, Terra Nova is probably the weakest, simply because it expects you to take major leaps of faith, and thus far they haven't really explained many of the bigger issues (the biggest being, "Why go to prehistoric times instead of, say, 2005?) However, I really, really enjoyed the finale. It allowed me to overlook all of the inherent faults and despite being two hours, it went by rather quickly. I don't particularly recall it answering any big questions, but that's not what the episode was about.

I might as well get a t-shirt that has this phrase plastered across the front, but the episode was strong and compelling because I cared about the characters. Honestly, I never felt particularly attached to any of the characters in the Shannon family, but there were several scenes that really hit me. The scene where Zoe comforts Taylor after Washington's death actually had me tearing up. And while Josh has mostly been an ass throughout the season, I couldn't help but cheer when he attacked Lucas for harassing Skye. And Elisabeth tricking that dude into thinking she had infected him? Kinda bad ass. And after a few episodes where things may have seemed tense and distrustful between Jim and Taylor, it was a lot of fun seeing them work together to overcome their foe.

Even the side characters had their moment in the sun. I liked seeing Malcolm assist Jim and the rest of the crew in overthrowing the Phoenix group. And Boyland, who has mostly been portrayed as conniving, was made pretty likable by attempting to assist Josh during his beating. Skye managed to redeem herself by not only setting up Lucas, but also saving Taylor. And Washington's sacrificial death was powerful as well (made even stronger by having Taylor struggle with the decision to not save her).

The closing scene, which implied that there were other instances of time travel, was intriguing, but I'm not convinced it was strong enough to make fans demand that the show come back. I was actually more compelled by the fact that they cut themselves off from the future. I think that's interesting. Let's see what happens, though. I'd still watch next season.