Hey, look who’s finally trying to become a captivating TV show! After weeks of revolving around self-contained, one-off plotlines, Terra Nova began its fifth hour with one of the series’ only intriguing elements, the Sixers — now with motorcycles! (But where did they get motorcycles? No one ever tells us, but keep in mind that these are intriguing people we’re dealing with here.) The disgruntled rebels once again try to storm the Terra Nova community and, once again, fail. So they retreat, but not without leaving behind a present: an undiscovered Fanning sister! Or, rather, Leah, a young, wild-haired Sixer jungle urchin whose parents died in Nü Texas back in the show’s future-present.
And so ends what looks to be the best Terra Nova has to offer. The writers have advanced the show’s somewhat promising plot trajectory more in this episode than in the previous two combined — unfortunately, the same can’t be said for the dialogue. Or the characters (excluding Mira). Or the mysterious, unopenable box, which Malcolm stows away for a later date. But in that box Terra Nova may have found its Lost-ian hatch — and perhaps even its constant, too.