Primal 3×10 Review: “An Echo of Eternity”

Primal season 3 episode 10, titled ‘An Echo of Eternity’, offered a predictable and somewhat disappointing finale as it retconned the ending of season 2. Sigh!

Even though I found myself enjoying the beginning of season 3 of Primal, I couldn’t help shake off the feeling that the narrative was developing toward showcasing a pivot that I would, frankly, call a copout. Creator Genndy Tartakovsky killing Spear in season 2 and setting the stage for his and Mira’s daughter taking the reins of such a creative animated show was a bold move back in 2022.

However, when news broke that the third chapter was going to bring Spear back from the dead, it gave me pause. I hoped that Spear’s return would occur when his daughter was around the age she was during the season 2 finale. I would have been okay with an undead Spear getting to see his daughter at least once before needing to sacrifice himself (for good this time) to protect her. Of course, in my mind, the upcoming third season would feature a scene where Spear would metaphorically pass the torch to his daughter, cementing her as the new lead for the audience.

But then the first disappointing blow struck when it was revealed that Spear was brought back mere months after his death, meaning that Mira was still pregnant. Being a fan of the show, I accepted said reveal. This time around, I thought the narrative would have Spear meet his baby daughter before he needed to walk over to the land of the undead permanently to keep his family safe, with the narrative emphasizing the fact that one can’t play around with life and death.

However, as the 10-episode season continued, I could feel a twitch in my eye. The narrative seemed to be moving toward a finale that was definitely going to elicit an eyeroll. And, unfortunately, ‘An Echo of Eternity’ did just that.

With Spear realizing his family wasn’t inside the village in the previous episode, the finale showed him flying on his pterodactyl and noticing a battle between two beasts in the jungle. Following the trail, Spear realized that the battle in question had involved Fang, her kids, Mira, and the baby, because Spear’s family had been out looking for him.

I liked how the flashbacks to the fight were depicted as Spear trying to piece together what might have happened to explain all of the blood and destruction around him. The scene where Spear traced a trail of bloody handprints left by his baby daughter did a lot to amp up the intensity of Spear’s search for his loved ones.

Fortunately, Spear reunited with his group. Fang was quite injured after her brutal fight with a panther-like monster. Spear finally getting to give his handmade doll to his daughter made for a nice moment between the two. Also, it helped that Spear had regained his memories and no longer looked like his original zombie form. Spear not smelling like death anymore allowed Fang to accept him. Took her long enough!

Unfortunately, the reunion was short-lived because everybody got kidnapped by the Volcanic people. Due to them not appreciating Spear leaving them, they decided to force Fang, her kids, and Mira to fight to the death right in front of Spear, while holding his daughter hostage.

The sound of a crying baby while Spear desperately tried to stop his family from ripping each other to shreds served as one of the hardest-hitting scenes in Primal. Realizing that season 3 was likely going to retcon the ending of season 2, I did find myself worrying about the characters involved. I wouldn’t have been surprised if one of Fang’s kids was murdered during the battle.

Spear was able to break through to a ferocious Mira by using the baby’s crying to tug at Mira’s maternal instincts. Such a move made narrative sense. This show includes a lot of yelling at one another to get emotions across. However, not having Fang snap back to her senses after hearing the crying voices of her brood didn’t sit well with me. Seeing our lead hero needing to stab Fang with a lava-tipped spear a bunch of times instead made me go “Huh?”. I guess dinosaurs aren’t as emotionally attached to their offspring as humans are? Again, it didn’t make sense to me because we have seen Fang be portrayed as more than just a run-of-the-mill dino. And she’s been very protective of her two kids.

With Spear and his family safe from the Volcanic people, ‘An Echo of Eternity’ jumped ahead to recreate the season 2 finale. However, this time around, there was a major change to canon, and the reason behind my eyeroll at the screen. We saw Spear’s daughter riding one of Fang’s grown-up kids. The second dino sibling was there too, along with Fang. Mira’s there as well. And… drumroll… so was Spear.

Ugh!

Retconning the season 2 finale by having Spear be present during the timeskip came across as Genndy Tartakovsky not having confidence in Primal being led by a female lead. It also felt like a copout that, in my opinion, didn’t respect the audience enough after having the fandom process Spear’s death in 2022, only for it not to matter in 2026.

I do think that if Primal season 3 hadn’t taken so long to release, the chances of such a retcon would have been quite slim. Tartakovsky mentioned back in 2022 that he was going to make Primal into an anthology series or, depending on circumstances, tell more of Mira and her daughter’s story. I wish the show had gone in the initially planned direction instead of what it ended up being.

I’m not saying that the third chapter of Primal wasn’t enjoyable. I can see fans who wanted Spear to have a happy ending being very happy with what was presented. All I’m saying is that narratively, bringing Spear back and then finding a reason to keep him around was a weak choice. And yes, it was disappointing to see a show that can be very brave in certain aspects of storytelling go down such a route.

As of writing this, there’s been no news about Adult Swim renewing Primal for a fourth season. While disappointed, I wouldn’t be against another chapter.

Did you watch Primal season 3 episode 10, ‘An Echo of Eternity’? What did you think of it?

Let us know.

Author: Farid-ul-Haq

Farid has a Double Masters in Psychology and Biotechnology as well as an M.Phil in Molecular Genetics. He is the author of numerous books including Missing in Somerville, and The Game Master of Somerville. He gives us insight into comics, books, TV shows, anime/manga, video games, and movies.

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