Rage of the Ape-Men

**Rage of the Ape-Men** is the fifth episode of *Primal* and the fifth episode of the first season.

## Synopsis

An oasis of peace only leads Spear and Fang to be captured by an aggressive tribe of ape-men.

## Plot

Spear and Fang are travelling through a jungle when they come across a beautiful, quiet oasis. While Fang takes a drink (and humorously runs afoul of a swarm of butterflies), Spear attempts to go fishing; to his surprise, the local fish are unmoved by his presence and literally swim into his hand. He easily picks them out of the lake one by one; after eating two and tossing one to Fang, he begins amassing a large pile for consumption. He shares his bounty with Fang, but makes the mistake of looking away to admire the scenery; when he looks back, his reptilian companion has devoured the entire pile. He smiles at her sheepish expression before sitting down at the beach to enjoy a rare moment of tranquility.

Noticing one of Spear's handprints in the sand, Fang leaves a footprint beside it as a sign of camaraderie. Her contentment is short-lived after an earthworm pulls itself out of the sand, giving Fang a flashback to her and Spear's near-death experience in a snake-infested flash flood. Spear tries to calm the female T-Rex down, showing her that the worm is harmless, but she refuses to listen. After devouring the worm, Spear goes for a swim in the oasis while Fang lounges on a nearby flat boulder.

After coming up for air, Spear notices Fang resting on the boulder. He dives back underwater and swims towards her perch with likely mischievous intent...only to notice several shadowy human-like silhouettes approaching the boulder. He quietly surfaces and climbs up the rock to find Fang missing; only a trail of footprints and disturbed sand indicates that the creatures from before have dragged her into the forest. He nears the forest in order to search for the missing dinosaur, only for something unseen to knock him out cold.

Spear wakes up to discover that he has been tied up with vines and is being carried away through the forest by the humanoids, one of which knocks him out again. By the time he wakes again, he finds himself tied up alongside Fang, both being suspended over an open arena at night. The edges of the arena are filled with members of a vicious tribe of ape-men with a taste for brutal gladiatorial combat. A chimpanzee-like ape clad in animal furs and carrying a wooden scepter commences the ritual by drawing a circle in the arena so that five burly ape-men resembling gorillas can gather around it. The Ape Shaman climbs up a tall boulder, stands next to a large stone bowl, and announces the start of the fight by slamming the butt of their scepter into the stone.

As the five combatants begin combat, one ape with a tooth necklace (identified as Krog in supplementary material) quickly emerges as a leader in the fight, swiftly pummeling one opponent and breaking another's arm. The shaman taps their scepter to mark each elimination as a particularly large warrior brutally smashes another opponent into the ground; the smaller ape-men cheer wildly as Spear looks on in horrified bewilderment. After finishing off the previously-pummeled gorilla, Krog and the giant ape face off; the former emerges victorious by using his smaller size and superior agility to outmaneuver his opponent, throwing the giant to the ground and viciously beating him bloody.

With a champion crowned, the ape-men begin lowering Fang into the arena as the Ape Shaman offers Krog two boons: a choice of three animal skulls (a Tyrannosaurus, a mammoth, and a Triceratops) and the black ooze from the bowl next to them. Licking his lips in anticipation, Krog kneels at the base of the shaman's perch as his leader lets a single drop of the ooze fall from the bowl and slither down a trail carved in the rock. Within moments of drinking the ooze, Krog undergoes a fearsome transformation; his size increases dramatically, his muscles bulge, his fangs grow, his eyes turn blood-red, and his skin gains an unnatural greenish hue.

The newly-empowered Krog roars fiercely as Fang is dropped into the arena. She quickly breaks her bonds and charges at the ape, only to be sent reeling from a single back-handed strike. As Spear watches in horror, Krog places the Triceratops skull over his head and unleashes a brutal beatdown on Fang, headbutting her across the arena and easily shaking off her attempt to bite his arm. Realizing how much danger Fang is in, Spear begins struggling to free himself as Krog continues his assault, breaking Fang's right leg and hefting her over his head to smash her into the ground.

The ape-man is about to deliver the killing blow when Spear breaks free and charges at him, slamming a fist into Krog's right eye before being thrown away. In an act of desperation, Spear begins climbing up to the Ape Shaman's perch, intending to drink the same ooze that empowered Krog. As the spectating ape-men begin climbing in pursuit, Spear easily tosses the Ape Shaman to their death and begins drinking the contents of *the entire bowl*. Krog is distracted from his attempt to finish off Fang when the other ape-men pile onto Spear in an effort to beat him up before the ooze's effects take hold.

Unfortunately for them, it's already too late; Spear suddenly mutates into a giant, turquoise-skinned beast-man that throws his attackers off of him before leaping into the arena to confront Krog. The mutated ape-man finds his attacks ineffective against the empowered Spear, who proceeds to punch him across the arena. Despite losing his skull helmet, Krog charges back into battle...for all of five seconds before Spear rips off his arms and beats him to a pulp with them.

After a moment of stunned silence, the ape-men swarm into the arena, intent on bringing Spear down with sheer numbers. However, Spear has become far too large, powerful, and enraged for them, easily slaughtering every ape-man in reach. With fury giving way to terror, the remaining creatures attempt to flee, but Spear is relentless; he leaps after them, sending them flying with his landing before continuing his massacre.

The following morning, Spear climbs out of a pile of ape-men carcasses, covered in their blood and reverted to his normal state. Even he seems shocked at the carnage around him as he brushes the blood off his face, but his attention is drawn to Fang, still lying on the arena floor where Krog last threw her. Spear runs to her and tries to rouse her to no avail; fearing the worst, he can only fall to his knees in despair beside his lifeless companion.

## Characters

* Spear
* Fang
* Ape-Men
	+ Krog
	+ Ape Shaman
	+ Ape-Men Champions

## Errors

* The bodies of the defeated/killed Ape-Men champions seem to vanish between shots; the arena is completely clear of blood or corpses when the mutated Krog faces Fang.
* After Spear punches Krog in the eye, blood visibly stains the corresponding eyehole of his skull helmet; however, the blood vanishes from certain shots, such as when Krog roars at the mutated Spear or when the skull is shown spinning through the air after Spear hits Krog.
* When the lesser Ape-Men react to Spear climbing up the shaman's boulder, one of them has their body colored the same shade of white as their fur. This is most noticeable at the end of the shot, when the ape-man in the foreground leaps off of their perch.

## Trivia

* This is the first episode of *Primal* to be rated TV-MA.
* Krog's fight with Fang may be inspired by *King Kong*, which typically features the eponymous ape defeating a tyrannosaur in battle. However, this fight reverses the typical roles by having Fang as the sympathetic beast who bonds with a human, while Krog is the savage monster.
* Spear's transformed state greatly resembles the Incredible Hulk of Marvel fame. The major differences include the extremely pronounced forehead and the bluish skin tone - ironically, Krog's transformed state has a more Hulk-like greenish hue.
* Some of Spear's more brutal Ape-Man kills resemble the Glory Kills from the 2016 reboot of *DOOM* and its sequel, *DOOM Eternal*.
* This is the second episode to show clear continuity between other episodes, the first being "River of Snakes". Firstly, Fang is shown to recall her traumatic experiences during "River of Snakes". Secondly, this episode is the first to have a proper follow-up episode; "Scent of Prey" begins immediately after the events of "Rage of the Ape-Men".
	+ At this point in the story Spear has become truly friendly and nurturing with Fang. He even takes it in stride how she ate most of the fish he had caught, as opposed to the events of the "River of Snakes", wherein he got angry with her for eating most of his hunt. Conversely, Fang becomes more protective of Spear as the show progresses.
	+ In Season 2's second episode, "Shadow of Fate", Fang has learned to be far more welcoming of new friends and is more cooperative when hunting or gathering fruit.
* This episode marks the first appearance of a basic civilization in the *Primal* series. The Ape-Men, as savage and cruel as they are, have developed several hallmarks of civilization, including ritual combat, tools, and an implied means of establishing hierarchy aside from strength alone (the powerful gorilla-like warriors are a class beneath the frail-looking Ape Shaman).
* In true *Primal* fashion, Spear's size seems somewhat inconsistent after he drinks the black liquid and transforms. When he and Krog first charge at each other, they're about the same size, but when Spear roars at Krog after shrugging off his blows, he seems to be about half again the size of the ape. They return to being similarly-sized when Spear meets Krog's charge and grabs his arms, but then Spear looks *twice* as big as Krog as he rips them off and begins beating him to death.

## Gallery

 "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"