The Night Feeder (episode)

## The Night Feeder

*For the eponymous character, see The Night Feeder (character).*
**The Night Feeder** is the ninth episode of *Primal* and the ninth episode of the first season.

## Synopsis

Spear and Fang are followed through the night by a never-before-seen terror.

## Plot

In the dead of night, a Smilodon roams the forest in search of prey. It picks up a scent and begins growling at an unseen creature among the trees, only to be swiftly and violently attacked. Camping nearby, Spear and Fang overhear the assault; they momentarily ready themselves for battle, but stand down when the apparent threat fails to appear.

The following morning, Spear and Fang travel deeper into the forest, where they stumble across the Smilodon's brutalized corpse. Fang is extremely agitated, to the point where she briefly flees into the woods; she takes one sniff of the carcass and roars at it with fierce intensity. For his part, Spear is more puzzled than concerned, examining the remains for a while before he and Fang continue onward.

When night falls, the mysterious creature becomes active again, stalking a passing herd of ceratopsians. One stops to drink from a stream before sensing something amiss; it turns to face the threat, only to be swiftly slaughtered. The rest of the herd flies into a panic as they're picked off one by one; once again, Spear and Fang hear the noises from their campsite. As the ceratopsians continue to be massacred, some attempt to ward off their assailant with a defensive formation; this only leaves them more vulnerable, as the unknown creature cleanly slices right through one of the dinosaurs before resuming its slaughter. Visibly disturbed by the sounds of carnage, Spear grabs his namesake weapon and moves to join the battle, but Fang physically blocks his path and roars in his face. After a brief argument, Spear reluctantly stands down, leaving him and Fang to try to get some rest as the screams of the herd echo into the night.

Once the sun rises, Spear and Fang go hunting, quite on-edge after the events of the previous night. They are startled by a tiny theropod as it hunts for insects, which Fang sends running with an annoyed roar. Hearing the cries of crows, Spear climbs a tree and spots the birds gathering to scavenge the results of the previous night's slaughter. He and Fang begin moving further from the carnage when a brutal wind storm hits; they take shelter behind a rock when they hear an unnatural screech. They briefly believe they are being followed by the creature, but Spear sees that the noise originated from a tree branch scraping on a rock.

Later in the day, the duo make camp, observing a large fly being eaten by a mantis before settling in for the night. Despite their best efforts to keep an eye open for their unknown pursuer, they soon fall asleep around the fire; moments later, the flames are put out by a strong gust of wind. As the last embers die, the creature's call awakens them; they take up defensive stances, but their nerves get the better of them when they hear something crashing through the underbrush. The pair sprint deeper into the woods, reaching a lower region enveloped in fog. As they stop to catch their breath, the unseen creature catches up, barely missing them as it slashes through the trunk of a massive tree. It gives chase to Spear, who barely stays one step ahead as it tears through several more trees in pursuit of him.

Following the trail of destruction, Fang manages to get a bead on the creature long enough to actually take it by surprise; however, it seems to slip away, leaving the confused dinosaur's face covered in foul-smelling black sludge. She quickly shakes it off before running in the opposite direction as Spear, both of them roaring to try and confuse their unseen assailant. Unfortunately, this only provokes it to let out a deafening screech, leaving both man and dinosaur reeling in pain as it closes in on the former. With nowhere to run and Fang too far away to assist, Spear can only grab his weapon and flail it around in blind desperation...

...until he strikes a rock by pure chance, creating a spark that sends the unseen creature reeling back with a cry of terror. It quickly recovers and lunges once more, but Spear strikes the rock again, this time causing a small fire that sends his attacker fleeing entirely. Realizing that the monster has a weakness after all, Spear contemplatively ignites the head of his spear as Fang rejoins him, ready to turn the tables on the mysterious killer.

The next night, the unseen creature frantically flees through the forest as Spear and Fang terrorize it with sparks and burning trees. They eventually force it into a clearing, with a Fang-riding Spear setting the perimeter alight to keep their foe from escaping back into the woods. The creature barely has time to take in its burning surroundings before Spear throws his flaming weapon into its chest, causing it to burst into flames and revealing its true appearance: a large dromeosaur-like theropod with long arms and massive claws. Spear and Fang watch disdainfully as the beast is completely immolated, putting an end to its reign of terror over the forest.

## Characters

* Spear
* Fang
* Triceratops Herd
* Smilodon
* Night Feeder

## Trivia

* A glimpse of the episode first premiered at the 2020 New York Comic Con X MCM Comic Con Metaverse.
* This is the third episode of the series to carry an TV-MA rating due to the graphic scenes. It's also the third consecutive episode where Spear and Fang confront an explicitly supernatural threat (following "Plague of Madness" and "Coven of the Damned"), as well as the first one where they manage to fight back and defeat said threat themselves.
	+ This episode has several parallels to "Plague of Madness" in particular, including a scene of Spear and Fang finding a brutalized corpse with a strange scent that alarms Fang, a slaughter of herbivorous dinosaurs, and a chase sequence through a forest. The main antagonists of both episodes - the Night Feeder and the Infected Argentinosaurus - also contrast each other, with the specifics being noted on their pages.

## References

1. ↑ Adult Swim The Making of Genndy Tartakovsky's *Primal*

 "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"