Full spoilers follow for Primal Season 3, Episode 6, “Cavern of Horrors,” which is available on Adult Swim now and debuts on HBO Max on February 16.
After last week’s “getting to know you (again)” episode that brought zombie Spear, Fang, Mira, and Fang’s brood back together, this week’s segment dives back into the hunt for Mira’s fellow villagers who – as the opening of this episode show us – continue to be dragged to an almost certain doom, one by one. (Just listen to that guy scream, clawing at the dirt, as he’s pulled into the titular cavern of horrors by one of the horrible hog-things!)
Creator Genndy Tartakovsky has said that one of his mission statements with his projects is no blue skies, no green grass, “nothing normal,” and we see that in action here as the camera cuts to an unnatural blood-red moon before tilting down to our heroes. What a band this group is, now that all of the Red Shirts who had joined Mira’s search party are dead (I still miss those last two looney tunes in particular): We’ve got the wise warrior woman, a smart-as-hell T. rex, her adorable cubs, and a zombie with a heart of gold. Surely these guys can take on the grotesque albino hog-thing and her brood of killers…
And make no mistake: Mira is definitely in charge here, with even Fang defaulting to her (wordless) order for the dinosaurs to stay behind while she and Spear attempt to infiltrate the cave. And even though they’ve been apart all these months, and Spear is, you know, dead, the two still make a good team. I’ve said it before, but Mira has always had the upper hand over Spear and Fang, if only because she’s got more chill than they do. And we see it here again, as Spear is ready to rush into combat in the cave but Mira knows that they need to take a more covert approach to save her people. (Until they don’t.)
This episode feels a bit more violent than usual – which is saying something by Primal’s standards. Maybe it’s because of the presence of that little kid from the village, who escapes the pit of hell for a minute only to happen upon the corpse of the villager who had also just gotten out of the pit, finding the woman bleeding from a hole in her head while the hog monsters eat her insides. Yuck!
As for the reintegration of Spear into the group… man, Fang is still being pretty mean to her old buddy. This leads to a fun sequence where Spear, relying on his improving if still hazy memories, tries to bond with her by bringing her water and then some tasty treats. She’s not having it, but Blue and Red Jr. (that’s what I’m calling her pups) are more than happy to indulge themselves. Those two numbskulls continue to be a highlight of the season.
And so by episode’s end we’ve got another cliffhanger, with Mira badly injured in the aftermath of defeating the hogs. We know she survives because she’s got to go off and have her and Spear’s child in order to get us to the last scene of Season 2! But still, I’m more concerned by what’s going on between Fang and Spear, as the former got pretty rough with the latter after Mira was injured. Are these two finally going to have it out next week, and hopefully come to some sort of peace? I hope so.
Questions and Notes From Anachronistic History
- It’s interesting how able-bodied Spear is when he’s in action mode, running with Mira (and even faster than her), for example. But when it comes to the simple things, like sitting down or getting up, he’s a mess.
- Is it just me or were a couple of the shots of the hog creatures recycled from the last time we were in this cave?
- The hog things can smell Spear, but man, so must everyone else.
- Mira having to stand by and listen while her people are getting chomped on is pretty rough, and the way her eyes start watering in that moment is a nice touch.
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