REVIEW: ‘Primal’ Season 3 - Thank You For More ‘Primal,’ Mr. Tartakovsky

Ryan Gaur
3 minutes ago
4 min read

This review contains spoilers for Primal Season 3.

Primal © Adult Swim — *Primal* © Adult Swim

All Primal Season 3 needed to do was give us more Primal. The show is a consistent oasis of some of the most playfully violent yet technically bulletproof animation America has to offer, perpetually using its unique setting to conjure singular environments and increasingly bloody images. Season 3 represents a reset for its neanderthal main character, Spear, but the flow of creator Genndy Tartakovsky and animation house Studio La Cachette remains uninterrupted, the latter officially stamping itself as one of the most consistently stylish studios on the planet and the former proving that he still has the juice after a disappointing outing with Fixed.

After being killed off and leaving behind a child at the end of season 2, it felt natural for Primal to continue without Spear (if it were to continue at all). Instead, in the opening moments of season 3, Spear is resurrected in a zombified state. Part of this feels a little cheap. The world the first two seasons of the show establishes is so rich, full of early human civilisations, dark magic, dinosaurs and mythical creatures. Surely, there was some avenue to go down by not resurrecting the same character who was given an emotional send off just a few years ago.

Initially, the decision to set Spear back to a mindless state is also a little confusing and frustrating. The character is without all the lessons learned and relationships formed throughout the show’s run, embarking on a solo journey towards nothing in particular in the first episode, making it difficult to reconnect with this shell of a character and buy into him emotionally.

Zombie Spear lacks motivation beyond survival, which begins to reveal some interesting shades the more you sit with in this dialogueless universe. Spear has always been representative of this middle point between man and ape, and now he’s occupying a middle state between life and death. We see him walk off would-be fatal injuries from beasts and men, tunnelling through the pain fast enough to enact swift and bloody vengeance, becoming a God of Death, a neanderthal John Wick, and slipping further away from humanity.

However, bringing him back to his most human side, and recovering what could have been a massive misstep with the character, are the flashbacks. Every now and then we’re taken into a pink and yellow tinted vision from Spear’s mind, reminding him of the connection he once had to his partner dinosaur, Fang. These flashbacks turn into full on surreal dream sequences as Spear inches closer to the person he once was. When his search to recover his past life becomes his focus, the momentum and purpose of the character reinstalled, the show begins to click into a new gear.

Having said that, if this was just a hangout season with zombie Spear going batshit on evil humans and mythical beasts, it still would’ve slapped. The action in this show balances the fine line between being too gory to look at and too cool to look away from. The surreality of the show’s art style allows the characters to strike more exaggerated poses that heighten Spear’s aura whenever he’s tearing out the tongue of a massive crocodile or gouging out the eyes of a great lion.

Genndy has always been someone with an incredible eye for imagery and he uses that skill to both dastardly and emotional effect throughout every episode of the show. That talent was used to less pleasing effect in Fixed where his desire for raunchy humour made for images that left a bad taste in the mouth, especially when paired with the film’s less than stellar dialogue. Primal being a silent show allows for Genndy’s images to speak loudly, and he thrives.

Every frame of this show scratches your brain in just the right way, a magical effect owed to the incredible work by Studio La Cachette. Their style of giving characters and props thick black outlines that squash and stretch so malleably with the action makes everything they do so watchable. There’s an unfiltered roughness that they preserve in their work, as if some of the chicken scratches from early sketches were left in, something that complements Primal’s whole deal extremely well.

To watch Primal is to know you’re in the hands of an animation legend, a relaxed excitement in anticipation of the next frame, knowing it’s going to throw out something fascinating. Genndy lost a bit of credit in the bank from Fixed, but Primal Season 3 sees him get back to basics in a super satisfying way, with a huge helping hand from La Cachette who every animation fan should be keeping an eye on. Thank you for more Primal, Mr. Tartakovsky.

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