The Primal Theory

**The Primal Theory** is the fifteenth episode of *Primal* and the fifth episode of the second season.

## Synopsis

A night of horrors reveals the true nature of man's origin.

## Plot

The Primal Theory opens in an unusual manner, establishing the date and location as England in 1890. A scientist named Blakely is being driven by cart to an elaborate manor house in the countryside where fellow scientists Charles, Giroud, Bertie, and the house's owner Lord Darlington are waiting for him.

Charles is delivering a lecture to the others about evolution, primal instincts, and how modern man is not so different from their primitive ancestors - although the others do not take Charles' thoughts seriously, and crack jokes. Their meeting is interrupted by the local Constable who warns the men of an escaped inmate from the nearby insane asylum, warning them to stay alert and indoors.

Lord Darlington later counters Charles' theory, agreeing that humans descended from Neanderthals but heavily disagreeing that modern humans can revert to a primitive state, claiming it goes against everything they stand for and that it is "pure lunacy". A loud noise upstairs draws their attention, which is seen to by the butler, Stevens. A second, louder noise which causes ceiling plaster to fall is heard, but is brushed off as the butler having amended the situation.

As the men resume their conversation, a drop of blood lands in Bertie's drink, revealed to be dripping from a crack in the ceiling. Sensing a disturbance, Darlington, Charles and Giroud venture upstairs to investigate, only to find Stevens' corpse being eaten by the escaped inmate. The inmate is alerted to the trio's presence, forcing them to flee downstairs, wherein they use furniture and swords to fend him off. Giroud and Bertie are both killed during the scuffle, leaving only Darlington, Charles and Blakely to fend for themselves.

Barricading themselves in another room, they hear the dying screams of the house's cook, Ms Kensington, before the beast breaks through the window behind them, forcing the survivors to flee to a room filled with melee and ranged weapons. Darlington loads a revolver in order to shoot the convict, who has now pinned Charles to the floor, but misses the shot as the inmate has managed to climb atop a tall cabinet. Darlington fires at him multiple times but is unable to hit the man as he proves to be extremely agile.

The three men arm themselves with several firearms and begin searching the house, hoping to find and kill the convict before he can do more harm. He appears once more, but his extreme agility proves difficult for the men to shoot him, allowing him to overpower and injure Blakely, who he uses as a human shield. The man charges at Charles, but is warded off by Darlington, who finally manages to graze the mad-man's shoulder with a rifle shot. They decide to leave Blakely on the ground and pursue the beast back into the lounge, where he ambushes the two from the ceiling.

Now having lost their firearms, Darlington challenges the convict to a fist-fight, where it is revealed by a fallen plaque, that Darlington was an Oxford Boxing champion back in 1858. Darlington uses his boxing prowess to land many strikes upon the beast-man, but is eventually caught in a choke-hold until Charles distracts the man by charging at him with sword and shield in hand. Lord Darlington then arms himself with a bow from the wall and forces the man to flee into the greenhouse by landing a few arrows in him.

Charles and Darlington follow him into the greenhouse, where a lengthy fight ensues. During the fight, Charles is beaten heavily and has a large chunk of shoulder bitten off by the beast-man, while Darlington is recovering from almost being drowned. Darlington rushes to the scene wielding a large bone, mirroring Spear's actions. The storm causes a large tree to breach the greenhouse, which provides some respite and Darlington a new weapon - a spear. He uses this opportunity to rip his shirt off and strike from above, now almost completely mimicking Spear's own behaviors.

An enraged Darlington uses the remainder of the spear (which broke during the fight) to inflict many deep stab wounds on the beast-man. Darlington finishes off the Mad-Man in an eerily similar way to how Spear defeated the Alpha Rex - with a killing blow to the head. Charles then excitedly exclaims that his earlier theory was true. Darlington says nothing, only stares and contemplates the events of the evening.

## Characters

* Lord Darlington
* Charles
* Blakely
* Bertie
* Giroud
* Stevens
* The Constable
* Mad-Man
* Dalton (mentioned)
* Miss Kensington (mentioned)

## Trivia

* Many things occurred in this episode that did not occur in past episodes.
	+ This episode marks the first time the English language is used in the entire series.
	+ The episode also marks the first time any established date or location is named.
	+ This is the first episode where neither Spear nor Fang are shown in any way.
	+ This episode depicts firearms for the first time.
* The climax of this episode pays homage to several scenes from "Spear and Fang":
	+ The inmate mirrors a stance made by Spear during his fight with the Alpha Tyrannosaurus.
	+ Darlington mimics the stances of Spear on multiple occasions, even arming himself with a spear.
	+ The scene in which Darlington kills the Inmate is almost identical to the scene when Spear killed the Alpha.
* There is an additional victim of the Inmate, the cook Miss Kensington, who is presumably killed off-screen with only her voice heard.
* When Blakely picks up the samurai helmet, to the left side of it is another helmet which is an Easter egg to "Samurai Jack", another Genndy Tartakovsky show.
	+ Although that helmet displayed in Primal has a different dog figurine on it than the one Jack originally wore in Samurai Jack.
* As Lord Darlington begins fighting Mad-Man in melee combat he progressively removes his tuxedo and his undershirt, the latter of which he tears off for the climax of their fight in the greenhouse. The undressing of his torso also mirrors *Samurai Jack*, wherein the eponymous character would have his haori damaged during battle, forcing Jack to rip the remainder of it off, further illustrating the battle sequence's intensity.
* The episode draws inspiration from the genetics movement of the 19th century England. In addition to referencing the evolutionary debate between humans and animals of the time, the characters Charles and Darlington allude to the famed biologists Charles Darwin and Cyril Darlington, respectively.

## References

 "Sea of Despair" • "Shadow of Fate" • "Dawn of Man" • "The Red Mist" • "**The Primal Theory**" • "Vidarr" • "The Colossaeus, Part I" • "The Colossaeus, Part II" • "The Colossaeus, Part III" • "Echoes of Eternity"