Review: Primal “Kingdom of Sorrow”

Overview:

Adult Swim has dropped the latest episode of Primal‘s third season, “Kingdom of Sorrow.” Our dead protagonist soon learns that nature isn’t necessarily his friend as he continues his journey.

Our Take:

Calling back to last week’s episode, there are once again shots showing the beauty that survives in nature. However, things take a disgusting turn, with flies crawling on animals’ eyes being one of the less gross moments. Of course, this is meant to hint at what’s to come when Spear arrives on the scene, still a mutilated corpse, clothed only in shadows.

It becomes clear that nature is no friend to our zombie protagonist. While in the wild, he finds himself at the mercy of a giant worm. Granted, hungry worms are bound to be a nuisance when you’re a hungry corpse, but you don’t always expect something straight out of Beetlejuice. Things get especially intense when Spear is dragged into a field of thorns, even losing more of his brain. Fortunately, the rising sun scares off the beast, allowing Spear to claw his way to safety, albeit covered in battle scars.

Things take a turn for the surreal when, while walking beneath a blazing sun, Spear is haunted by strange mirages. This leads to an emotional moment when Spear is haunted by a vision of his past, living self. The simple scene has little movement, with past Spear almost looking like he’s about to cry as he gazes on what he has become. The nightmare gets intense as both Spear and his alter-ego are seemingly destroyed by a rain of fire.

Spear then finds himself in the ruins of some sort of temple that has been taken over by a pride of lions. Things get more and more intense as Spear learns the big cats have both quality and quantity on their side, leading to a showdown between Spear and a massive gray lion. Fortunately, ghosts of the past seem to have put some dog in Spear, and he is able to save himself with his namesake weapon, taken from a fellow cadaver. Things get so intense, the other big cats decide it’s best to back off. It’s made all the more chilling since they mostly bared their fangs like mindless beasts beforehand.

However, fighting already seems to have taken its toll on Spear, with bones now being visible through his green skin from the episode’s final fight. One has to wonder how long he can last as he is. On the other hand, it’s not like he can get any more dead.

Overall, this episode is intense. It also seems like little details will eventually pay off in later episodes, which should tell viewers to pay attention to the little details. That said, one thing that should be mentioned is that this episode probably isn’t the best for cat lovers, considering Spear at one point takes down a lion by beating him to a bloody pulp with a dead lioness.