Series 1 of Primeval was unabashedly episodic in structure. Each week the team would be called in to deal with some dangerous creature from another time - unsurprisingly often a dinosaur, though there was an refreshing absence of Rexes and Raptors - and would have the matter dealt with by the time their 45 minutes was up. Ongoing arcs were low-key: basically just the developing relationships between the characters, and the background question of "what happened to Cutter's wife?"
However, the series ended with something of a cliffhanger, which immediately creates an expectation that there will be more focus on continued stories in the second season. And that indeed is what we get. While every episode still features the team - which undergoes some changes due to the aforementioned cliffhanger - going out and tackling some beastie from another time, it soon emerges that someone is interfering with their operations. Who is it? What are they up to? And how does Cutter's wife fit into it? These are questions that will come to dominate the season.
I'm of two minds about this changed focus. On the one hand, it's good to see that they're stretching the original premise. On the other, I found the actual arc they chose to go with to be a bit rote and predictable. You're probably not going to be all that surprised by the answers to most of the questions above, and where you are surprised it'll probably be in an "I thought you'd do better than that" kind of way.
Fortunately the creature elements of the show remain a highlight: whether it's deadly scorpions from the Silurian era or a mammoth running amok on a motorway, Primeval delivers fun monster action. So if that's your bag, the show still has you well and truly covered.
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