Terra Nova: Taylor is Fierce

by Amy K. Bredemeyer

Taylor never really truck me as an all-around good guy. He may be the leader of Terra Nova and the citizens seem to trust him an awful lot, but I'm not his biggest fan. Especially after the past few weeks, where we've seen how brutal he can be and what sort of tactics he's willing to employ to get things taken care of. This episode was no exception, and certainly furthered the idea that the man cares deeply for Terra Nova and passionately wants it to succeed. This episode taught us that he has killed a commanding officer and disowned his only son for the sake of the colony... and I have a feeling that it's not going to stop there. The man has also proved his cunning ways at this point as well and I hope that he continues to be a good leader... though hopefully a little less brutal!

Terra Nova "VS." (S01E09): Taylor questions Boylan about what he's told the Sixers, but Boylan just keeps reiterating that he's never said anything to them. [which can't possibly be true...] Taylor uses torture tactics to try to get him to talk. [cue the shock and judgment!]

There's a harvest festival in celebration of the day that Commander Taylor came through the portal to start Terra Nova. [I guess that's the best anniversary to celebrate it. But it kinda reminds me of Columbus Day rather than Independence Day... are we celebrating an individual or a society?] Zoe will be playing the lead in the play. [is anyone else strangely suspicious of this? We know that the kid fakes sick all the time to leave school, isn't terribly interested in learning, and is fairly shy. How does someone like that get selected for the lead in the play? And, more importantly, how did Maddy become the director/narrator of it? Are she and Josh officially done with schooling? I'm under the impression that Josh is only working part-time, and we've only seen Maddy doing a bunch of internships, so I'm a little stumped on the system.]

Josh (still grounded), asks Jim in private if he knows anything about where Boylan is. [I'd be a bit suspicious if my son asked me about something like this, but I guess it is his employer] Jim just says that Taylor is questioning him. Jim goes and asks Taylor how the interrogation is coming, and gets to see Boylan. Taylor has spiked Boylan's food, but he gave him too much so it's not helpful at all. [wow... over-spiked... that's definitely a sign that Taylor just does whatever...] Jim questions whether there's really grounds to hold Boylan, and Taylor just says he wants the truth. Taylor has to go deal with a power issue, so Jim gives Boylan some water to sober him up. While Boylan's still out of it, he reveals that there's a body buried by Pilgrimage Tree. So, Jim heads to the lab to use the computers and searches maps. Malcolm finds him and fills him in on the fact that Pilgrimage Tree is where Taylor lived when he first came through the portal. [funny how Malcolm is always finding people who are doing things they aren't supposed to...] As you might have guessed, Jim heads there and finds a buried skeleton, which he brings to the medical center. [how does he manage to do this without anyone noticing or damaging the skeleton?] Elisabeth looks at it to figure out how long it's been buried, some possible causes of death, etc.

Elisabeth figures out that the DNA of the (one-armed) skeleton doesn't match any DNA on anyone that has been on an official pilgrimage. [hello, Big Brother!] She suspects that he came between the 2nd and 3rd pilgrimages, but they didn't know that was possible. [well this is just going to open a whole new can of worms...] Jim goes to talk to Boylan at the bar, and finds out that Boylan helped Taylor bury the body. Boylan was working security five years prior and came upon Taylor with the body. [oh goody. more secrets. hmmm...]

Cr: Brook Rushton/FOX

Malcolm discovers the skeleton that Elisabeth has been working on, and she says she's performing an autopsy. Malcolm brings Taylor right over. [Taylor can always be summoned pretty quickly... have you noticed that?] Jim shows up, claiming he received an anonymous note to check out the tree for a body, so he did. Taylor asks to see the note. [Elisabeth has a terrible poker face.] Taylor tells Elisabeth to keep him apprised of other similar situations. [how long are you considered "new" in Terra Nova? until the next pilgrimage arrives?]

A group of soldiers is going to check-in with a station that's a two-day drive away. [this place just seems to keep getting larger and larger...] Sixers ambush the travelers. The convoy had been put together after Boylan was in the vault, so he can't be the spy. Then, while rehearsing the play, a large dragonfly is found. Turns out, it is what the Sixers use to messenger information back and forth with the Terra Nova spy... like a carrier pigeon. So, since that's out and about while Boylan's locked up, that further exonerates him. [interesting. Now I'm really wondering who the mole is!] Malcolm determines that the dragonfly is being directed by a frequency of a subsonic signature. [fancy!] Malcolm also surgically repaired the wing, so the thing can fly again.

While the festival is going on, Taylor, Walsh, Reynolds, and Malcolm follow the dragonfly to see where the local signal is coming from. The dragonfly goes to the Shannon house, so they arrest Jim under spy suspicion. Taylor puts Jim in the vault to question him, but offers an agreement - if Jim drops his investigation, Taylor would drop his. Jim flat-out asks Taylor why he killed Fillbrook (the name becomes suspected when the character in the play is shown to only have one arm), and he says that he'd have been killed if he didn't, as he wouldn't step down as commander. We then learn that fracture doesn't only go one way, apparently... Lucas came on the second pilgrimage to figure out a way to make the portal go both ways...  people wanted to steal the precious resources in Terra Nova and send them to 2149. [of course! where was I on this?!? I should have seen something like this coming, especially in relation to the Sixers!] Taylor destroyed Lucas' work when he found out what was going on. Two days later, Lucas went OTG, and Fillbrook arrived through a portal out of nowhere, as a coup. Taylor killed Fillbrook in front of Lucas. Lucas pulled a gun on Taylor, and Taylor unarmed the boy, but didn't kill him, though he was a traitor. So, Taylor tells him he cannot return to Terra Nova. Lucas writes the calculations on rocks to taunt Taylor. Taylor then lets Jim leave. [wow. we unpacked a lot this episode!]

The episode ends with Malcolm suspecting Taylor of planting a device at the Shannon house to detain Jim, but he doesn't know why. Taylor doesn't deny that he did so, either. A baby has been born in Terra Nova, with his middle name being Nathanial. [they have fireworks in Terra Nova?]