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Episode 2.3

From Primeval Wiki

Series 2 Episode 3
Creatures: Smilodon
Broadcast: 26th January 2008
Series: 2
Episode: 3
Setting: ARC
Blue Sky Park
Preceded by: Episode 2.2
Followed by: Episode 2.4
"There's one problem. The sabretooth may well have killed the guy, but it sure as hell didn't dig a trench ten feet deep and bury his body."
―Nick Cutter


Contents

[edit] Synopsis

A Sabre-tooth Cat rampages across Blue Sky Park, but the team come to suspect human involvement behind the creature's attacks.

[edit] Plot

Connor has perfected a device called the ADD, or Anomaly Detection Device, designed to pick up new anomalies when they open, but it appears to fail when words reaches the ARC that at Blue Sky Theme Park, a paintballer has been mauled to death after straying too far from his friends. The team investigates and Cutter comes to believe that the attack, although horrible, could be relatively conventional: the animal to blame could be a rogue big cat. Cutter and the Deputy Manager of the park, Valerie Irwin, insist that the park should be evacuated, but Jenny and Peter Campbell, the Park Manager refuses, believing it would draw too much attention from the press. As Cutter, Abby and Stephen go in search of the animal, Connor is left to look after the safety of the holiday-makers. He disgraces himself when he shoots at what he believes to be an attacking animal, but turns out to be the manager dressed up as the furry park mascot, while unbeknownst to him, the real menace is lurking nearby...

Abby takes aim...

The team begin to comb the nearby woodlands for the animal: in the search, Stephen discovers Valerie lost in the woods and offers to take her home, showing great reluctance in evading her questions regarding their work. Meanwhile, whilst waiting for a train, the unfortunate Campbell is attacked and killed at a railway station; Stephen, who is with Valerie, hears screaming and rushes to investigate. He sees the huge animal but is forced to let it flee as he has to protect the terrified Valerie. He is convinced it is too big to be any modern-day species of big cat - it must be a creature from through an anomaly. But with no firm evidence and no clear sighting, the team are baffled.

A train spotter, however, has recorded the whole attack and to Jenny's fury, is about to upload pictures of the creature to the internet; while she manages to pay him off to prevent the media fallout, Cutter is more concerned by what he finds on the pictures - the creature is a Smilodon, or sabre-tooth cat. There can be no doubt - this is an ancient creature: it could only have come through an anomaly. The team are left baffled as to why the anomaly detector failed to work. The team prepare to set traps to catch the creature: however, Valerie reappears and becomes visibly agitated by what they are planning. Stephen is concerned, but Cutter and the others dismiss it as stress and shock over everything that has happened.

While Cutter and Abby dig a pit trap for the creature, they find the mutilated body of a man buried in a shallow grave. The man was clearly mauled by the Smilodon, but more perplexing is the fact that someone must have known about the Smilodon's attack in order to explain the corpse's burial. Before Cutter can work out the implications of this, the cat attacks them, drawn by the scent of the fresh meat they have put out as bait. While Abby fends the Smilodon off with a mechanical digger, Cutter is forced to escape on an zipwire slung between the trees, only to find the gigantic cat following him below. As he finally lands in easy reach of the cat's claws, Abby gets a shot with a tranquiliser gun, missing but scaring the creature off.

Back at the grave site, Cutter finds a photograph in the buried man's wallet, showing Valerie, the man (evidently her boyfriend) and the Smilodon as a cub. If the Smilodon came through the anomaly when it was a cub, and the anomaly had now closed, then it would explain why it didn't register on the Anomaly Detector. Cutter sets off to search for Valerie. Stephen and the rest of the team spot her car heading off in another direction, but it turns out to be a diversion. Cutter, while searching her house, is cornered by Valerie, who traps him and sets the Smilodon on him, believing it was created in a horrific experiment and that Cutter and the team had come to destroy it: she also confesses to hiding her boyfriend's body after the creature killed him in an unfortunate accident. Cutter warns her that the animal is more than capable of killing them both, but Valerie asserts the cat has imprinted upon her as its mother, and won't harm her. She then flees, abandoning Cutter to his fate.

Valerie's secret

After a desperate race through the house with the Smilodon in purusuit, Cutter manages to escape the house and arm himself with a pitchfork. As the cat gets loose and comes after him, Valerie puts herself between Cutter and the raging beast, trying to defend it: berserk with bloodlust and hunger, it turns its fury on her, and deals a fatal blow. Just before the Smilodon can kill Cutter as well, the team arrive and Stephen shoots it with a tranquiliser, taking the Smilodon out: sadly it is too late to save Valerie. In the aftermath, Stephen and Cutter argue: Stephen regarding how many more people like Valerie will die before knowledge of the anomalies becomes public, while Cutter accuses Stephen of having told her what they were doing. Stephen denies the accusation, but retorts that he wish he had spoken.

Back at the ARC, Oliver Leek informs Cutter that the Smilodon died being transported back to the ARC. Cutter can't believe him, as the cat was perfectly healthy. Leek suggests shock, or an overdose of tranquilizer, but when Cutter asks to do his own post-mortem, Leek refuses, saying that the body had been destroyed to stop the spread of disease. However, the ADD goes off, indicating there is an active anomaly: the team go to investigate, though Connor laments the fact it will interrupt his plans for a date with Caroline.

It is also then revealed to the viewer that Caroline is working for Leek. In a secluded area, Leek pays Caroline for more information on Connor and Abby, for his own purposes.

[edit] Cast

[edit] Errors

  • The Smilodon was bigger in the show than it is in real life.
  • Could have been a result of the protection Valerie gave it.
  • At the end, when Leek gives Caroline her payment, blank pieces of paper can be seen in along with the bank notes.
  • Leek could have been trying to scam her.

[edit] Appearances

[edit] Characters

[edit] Locations

[edit] Creatures


[edit] Organisations

[edit] Reviews and Ratings

Please use this space to write any comments or reviews about this episode. Add your rating out of ten as well. Thanks!

[edit] External link

  • Episode Guide on itv.com [1]
Series 2
Episode 2.1  • Episode 2.2  • Episode 2.3  • Episode 2.4  • Episode 2.5  • Episode 2.6  • Episode 2.7
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