Terra Nova Episode 1.03 Instinct

Two Terra Nova soldiers making a nighttime supply run through the jungle suffer a flat tire. After radioing this in, they exit the vehicle, hear a strange noise, and something attacks them from above!

Back inside Terra Nova, Josh, Maddy, and Zoe Shannon are getting survival lessons. Later, the Shannons get ready for bed. As Jim and Elisabeth are about to get intimate, they're interrupted by that same strange noise from outside the compound's walls.

The next morning, Commander Taylor forms a search party for the missing soldiers and orders Jim to get a medic to accompany them. Meanwhile, Elisabeth discovers that her old college classmate, Malcolm Wallace, is now Terra Nova's chief research scientist. When Jim comes to recruit Elisabeth for the mission, Malcolm is surprised to see him.

During the search, Taylor asks Jim to determine who inside Terra Nova is funneling information to the rebel Sixers, but when they find the vehicle, both soldiers are dead, and whatever killed them wasn't the Sixers.

Meanwhile, Josh and Skye wander through Terra Nova's marketplace, find a man selling a guitar, which Josh strums, but he can't afford the "60 terras" asking price.

Jim discovers a claw on one of the bodies. Taylor wants to know what killed them by tomorrow. Elisabeth will be working all night on this, so Jim will be taking care of their children.

As Jim struggles with dinner, he's surprised by Maddy's asking how to tell if a boy likes you. Later, Elisabeth reports that the wounds and claw don't match any species in Terra Nova's database. When Jim asks Elisabeth if she'd previously dated Malcolm, she says yes, then deflects further questions.

Once again, Jim and Elisabeth's attempt at intimacy is interrupted by that strange noise. When Jim and Josh investigate, Jim's attacked by flying reptiles - pterosaurs - and determines that's what killed the soldiers.

After examining Jim, Malcolm wants to draw up protocols for interacting with these creatures, but Taylor orders the compound locked down, then confirms to Jim that Malcolm lobbied for Elisabeth's passage to Terra Nova.

Malcolm tells Elisabeth that this prehistoric jungle is a treasure trove of potential information and reminisces about their past, noting Elisabeth's eternal optimism. After learning about the time fracture discovery that enabled the colonization of Terra Nova, he now agrees with her, saying that they can both make a fresh start.

Meanwhile, the man in the marketplace declines Josh's offerings of recordings and a historical baseball cap in exchange for the guitar; instead, he eyes the platinum necklace that Josh is wearing. Josh refuses to trade. Skye realizes that the necklace is a present from Josh's left-behind girlfriend, Kara, which Josh confirms. But his memories are interrupted by another attack by hundreds of pterosaurs.

When the pterosaurs suddenly depart, Malcolm places a dead specimen in cooler. He believes that they're part of a non-annual migration and they're only the first wave.

Taylor, Malcolm, and Jim examine data from research balloons that are taking atmospheric readings and discover that there are millions of pterosaurs out there. Taylor remembers previously finding thousands of eggshell fragments while digging a geothermal well, which made the soil so fertile that they built Terra Nova on that site. Jim and Malcolm theorize the pterosaurs were born here and are returning to spawn because it's their breeding ground.

After Malcolm matches the eggshells' DNA with the dead pterosaur, Taylor and Jim head out to capture live male and female specimens so that Malcolm can determine how to repel the coming horde before nightfall tomorrow.

Taylor and Jim return with the captured reptiles, and Malcolm and Elisabeth extract a pheromone sample. If they can synthesize this in bulk, which will take hours, they might be able to lure the pterosaurs to a new breeding ground away from Terra Nova.

As the Shannon children and Skye lock themselves into the family's new house, Maddy's would-be love interest, Reynolds, volunteers to guard them. Jim tells Maddy, "That's how you know a boy likes you." Jim then sees Elisabeth to the lab - and flocks of pterosaurs in the sky.

While Elisabeth and Malcolm work furiously to synthesize the pheromone, Skye bets Josh 60 terras that they won't survive the night. The pterosaurs attempt to enter through a vent.

Just as Elisabeth and Malcolm complete their work, the pterosaurs break though the vent, which hits Reynolds in the head and knocks him out. The Shannons flee to another room, dragging Reynolds with them, but miss seeing Zoe, who hides under a table.

As the attack intensifies, Jim calls Reynolds and gets no answer because he'd dropped his phone. Zoe hears Jim's voice and reaches for the phone, but a pterosaur blocks her path. Josh hears the phone, returns, and shoots the beast. He scoops up Zoe and tells Jim everything's OK.

Taylor and Jim exit the compound in a vehicle that's spewing a cloud of synthesized pheromone behind it. When the pterosaurs follow, everyone comes out of their houses, and Skye gives Josh the 60 terras and a kiss, causing Josh to finger his necklace.

Taylor and Jim return. Everyone's happy the plan worked. Malcolm believes that the pterosaurs will hatch, migrate, and grow to maturity, then nine years later, return to their new spawning ground. He has also named them after himself.

Jim and Elisabeth return to their home, find the children are asleep, and Elisabeth pulls Jim into their bedroom.