Primeval: Series 4 Episode 6

Aww. Cute liddle prehistoric baby hyenas.

This week's episode was much improved, I felt. Perhaps it was seeing an old member of the ARC team come back (albeit briefly) that helped? Or maybe it was those baby hyenas?

At the ARC, an anomaly alert indicates a possible incursion at a stately home. Matt, Abby, Connor, Emily - and some black-clad back-up for once! - head out to investigate, whilst Becker takes the job of hunting down the mysterious murderer Ethan. Whilst Becker and Jess check out police reports from over 100 years ago to see if they provide any clues, the rest of the gang track the anomaly down to the basement of the grand house. Why there were plastic sheets hanging from the ceiling in the basement, and not draped over the furniture to keep it clean, I don't know but it all helped add to the tension when Connor finally encounters one male Hyaenodon...

...and also Jenny Lewis (aka Claudia Brown in an alternate timeline), who is due to have her wedding ceremony in the building the next day.

Meanwhile, Becker tracks Ethan down to an old warehouse near to Matt's apartment and where he is keeping Emily. Unfortunately, Ethan has worked out that he's being followed and so sets up an elaborate (almost comicbooky) booby-trap in the warehouse to trap Becker. It's a good job Jess had brought Becker some Chinese food earlier, because she follows Becker and, in a tense moment involving pressure plates, tripwires, a metronome (?) and two red wires (eek!), manages to disarm the bomb with vocal assistance from Becker.

Back to the main gang who, believing that they've subdued the only prehistoric monster present, are invited to Jenny's wedding. But later that night, when Connor goes to talk to Abby about putting his foot in it earlier with his marriage comments, he spots another hyena. Tracking it down to the basement, he gets trapped down there with some hyena pups whilst the mother prowls around outside. It's amazing how a little bolt on a flimsy door can hold back a huge, monstrous hyena creature. Anyway, Connor ends up trapped down there all night.

Eventually, he does get out and decides to send the pups back to their own time. However, this means unlocking the anomaly, which allows a couple of other hyena monsters through. And they're just in time to disrupt the wedding ceremony that's going on upstairs!

There's a fight, the guest scatter, the wedding seems ruined but after Jenny hits a creature or two down the stairs, the day is saved and Lester presides over the marriage ceremony. Jenny then tells her husband all about what she used to do (with a nice little summary of the series) and everyone is happy.

Well, all except Matt, who we find out was trained for the ARC leadership all his life (in which case, why wasn't he on the team from the beginning?). We also discover Gideon is from an apocalyptic future and Matt's father just before the old man shuffles off this mortal coil. I had hoped that Gideon would actually be older Matt from the future who had come back in time to warn his past self but, alas, this was not to be.

There's also a little bit with Ethan who goes back to where he used to live and an neighbourly old woman appears to recognise him. I wonder if he's related to Danny - perhaps his lost brother from series 3?

Overall, a more exciting episode than the last couple of weeks with quite a few chuckles (Connor's non-marriage proposal, for example) and a couple of hints regarding what's to come in the final episode of this season next week.