“Within” was a generally pleasing episode of Terra Nova — especially considering what came just before — as it laid out the groundwork for what will hopefully be a riveting season finale. The story wasted no time, and right from the start, took us back (for the first time since the series premiere) to the portal terminus, the place where the time fracture endpoint in the Late Cretaceous has been “fixed”. In just a couple of sentences, we learned why the members of the eleventh pilgrimage or anyone else coming from 2149 would be expected at that very point. What followed was a story structured to bring an end to the spy subplot and get that out of the way before the next stage in the settlement’s story.
In the previous episode, we discovered that Skye was the Sixers’ spy. I didn’t particularly like how that was brought about, but I welcomed the development, because some level of complexity is always good in any character, especially in those like Skye who seem to have more potential than the others. The show, contrary to what was common practice in the first half of the season, picked up where we left off with Jim Shannon’s investigation taking center stage and quickly producing results. Skye was generally used much better than in the previous episode, torn between her desire to save her mother and her wish to protect the settlement. However, it is a pity that the farewell scene with her mother (when they decided she had to stop spying for the Sixers) was either too short or not emotionally charged enough to justify everything Skye had been through.
