Review: Primal “Terror Under The Blood Moon”

If there’s been any real unifying theme to Primal it’s that each episode functions as a tone poem on some overwhelming feeling. Previous installments of Primal have explored intense emotions like sadness, optimism, and the importance of family. However, this time around Primal’s priority is the haunting uncertainty of fear. Pure, undiluted fear.

When “Terror Under the Blood Moon” begins, Spear and Fang are in a lot of danger, but they’re not afraid. In fact, they operate with a calm level of precision that makes it seem like taking out dozens of enemies is just business as usual for this duo. The speed and proficiency of how this battle plays out briefly had me consider that perhaps the entirety of “Terror Under the Blood Moon” would just be a prolonged fight. Every episode of Primal has featured combat in some respect, but there’s yet to be an episode that purely focuses on the chaos of war. “Terror Under the Blood Moon” is the action centerpiece that fans have been waiting for and right from moment one this adventure is relentless.

A captivating mobile battle is already underway that pits Spear and Fang against dozens of spry raptors. Every entry of Primal has contained some new sort of creature to pit Spear and Fang against. However, this is the first time that it’s another sort of dinosaur. In spite of any superficial resemblances between Fang and the raptors, these dinosaurs are definitely not friends. Spear and Fang trek forward while they simultaneously fend off leaping lizards. It turns out that these raptors are merely the appetizers for this feast. They make for a fun, exciting introduction, but when nightfall comes they disappear almost as quickly as they arrive. The cloak of night brings forward something that’s even more terrifying than these swift predators and that’s when Spear and Fang begin to momentarily freak out.

As the sun sets and the blood moon rises and casts its atmospheric glow on the land, it summons a whole slew of gigantic devil bats to the forefront. These bloodthirsty creatures feel like some boss from out of the House of the Dead series, but their death cries are much worse than their bite. Fang demolishes these beasts with ease and he constantly severs heads like these monsters are some kind of snack. After the difficulty that Spear and Fang faced against the wooly mammoths in “A Cold Death,” their efficiency here is refreshing.

Primal kills it once again when it comes to challenging battle choreography and “Terror Under the Blood Moon” works especially hard in this regard. There are several moments during this fight where both Spear and Fang become airborne due to these winged predators. It’s thrilling to watch these juggernauts get lifted into the sky and resort to quick thinking to get back on the ground. Thankfully, there’s a brief battle sequence set atop one of these demons that’s just amazing, but something even more substantial would have pushed this idea even further. Regardless, it’s still a satisfying battle that doesn’t slow down and remains surprising. On top of the battle theatrics, the whole onslaught just looks beautiful as the blood moon bathes everything in red light.

During a moment of reflection, Spear becomes rather preoccupied with a foreboding monument that has a wealth of skulls carved into it. More than anything else this relic of dread made me think of the obelisk from 2001: A Space Odyssey. Spear regards this structure with the same amount of reverence as the cavemen from that film, but this isn’t some highly advanced evolution tool. Clearly this structure is meant to be a portent of doom that acts as a warning for this environment. Spear hangs onto the monument’s imagery and while he adopts a more careful demeanor, he doesn’t retreat like the dinosaurs that were in pursuit of him.

On the topic of retreat, this playground of predators also houses pale, gaunt Neanderthals who have all accepted a life of hiding in darkness rather than rising against their tormentors. The way in which Spear and Fang liberate this community plays very similar to early episodes of Samurai Jack. There’s a clear trajectory here. Even though all of the episodes of Primal have been relatively simple in terms of story, “Terror Under the Blood Moon” feels the thinnest. That being said, this episode arrives at the right time since the previous episode portrays Spear and Fang as antagonists more than it does saviors. It’s the perfect kind of adrenaline-pumping battle cry that gets you ready for the finale.

Fang takes the lead during the second half of “Terror Under the Blood Moon” and this is the character’s best episode of the series. There’s an especially fun exchange where Fang repeatedly struggles to scale the side of a mountain to reach Spear. It looks like Fang is out of luck here, but then he intelligently tricks the bat demons to do the heavy lifting for him—literally. When Fang reaches the nest of these monstrosities, he encounters a massive spider who’s an even bigger nuisance than these flying demons. A rewarding battle against this arachnid transpires, but the best part of this altercation is how Spear gets creative with the spider’s anatomy and web production gland. This web-assisted escape is just as ingenious as Fang’s strategy to get up the mountain in the first place. I wish that this exit infringed a little more on Spider-Man territory or even involved Spear webbing his way from one bat creature to the next. That being said, what plays out is still very smart and satisfying, albeit less virtuosic.

The final chase that concludes “Terror Under the Blood Moon” nicely parallels the episode’s busy introduction. It’s gorgeous to see the sky slowly fill up with winged predators that encroach on Spear and Fang’s space. The framing shifts from sparse to crammed in seconds, yet Fang and Spear power on because that’s all that they know. Brilliantly, they allow these two separate threats to eliminate each other while they just bask in the carnage.

“Terror Under the Blood Moon” is a busy, aggressive installment of Primal. What it lacks in raw emotion it makes up for with bombastic mayhem. Spear and Fang have never felt more united as a force and ready to take on whatever the finale holds. This may not be Primal’s best episode, but it’s still incredibly fun and delivers bonkers set pieces that are better than we deserve. At the end of the day, you just watched a Tyrannosaurus Rex take out a humungous tarantula. What else do you want?

And yeah, if you thought that was Tom Kenny as Monkey #1 and Monkey #2, you’re right. Crazy obsessive, but right.