It's been awhile since I've seen anything that made me feel that I was in the presence of something truly special. It's kind of akin to how watching a Wes Anderson film can make me feel, except with significantly more violence. Primal is genuinely different for me in that it's hard to watch, impossible to not watch, I can't stop thinking about it, and my ovaries are exploding all over the place. That more or less sums up how I feel about season one.
Primal embodies its name well: a caveman and a T-Rex become the best of friends after they both experience agonizing tragedies. Their bond is what ultimately makes it so watchable. They embark on life-or-death situations every five minutes, and reprieves seem few and far between. These two need a vacation. To say that it's a brutally violent show is an understatement at times; this show is not for the kiddos. By the end of each episode, I felt as if I'd been dropped out of a tornado, but, you know, in a good way. Still alive, and ready to be eaten by another twister.
Bonus points: there's no dialogue in the first season, and it works. Granted, I generally dislike talk radio, talk shows, people who talk too much, and especially when I talk too much. Talking is overrated.
The second season is where Primal takes a turn. I blame the humans. Humans ruin everything. We have Vikings, who are the worst, and Irishmen (maybe?), who are pretty cool, and people from basically everywhere. I wouldn't have been surprised to see modern day hipsters walking with the dinosaurs. Hey, this show was never historically accurate, and there's nothing wrong with that. That being said, the uniqueness of season one faded for me here. Too many civilizations end up overwhelming the storyline, and it seemed as though there was a nearly constant barrage of human cruelty, mainly in the latter half. While season one boasted a ton of action and violence, it started to get old here. We get it: brief happiness, lots of death and suffering, misery, some hope, and boom, repeat.
The real tragedy of Primal is its ending in season two. I won't spoil anything, but in my very strong opinion, they fucked it up. I don't know how they did it, or what was going through their heads, but my friend and I were equally baffled. For a show that did so many things right, you would think they'd be able to land the ending pretty easily. While I'm not mad about the entire finale, there's a scene and a sequence of events that is just...nonsensical. Am I being too harsh? Possibly. You'll know it when you see it.
Overall, I highly recommend Primal if you can stomach it. There's probably going to be a third season, although from I understand, it will be a lot different.
Season one: A
Season two: B
I love T-Rexes so much. If I could adopt one, I would. Give me some dino babies, please.
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