Blu-ray Review: “Primal”: The Complete Second Season Genndy Tartakovsky's award-winning series continues to impress animation fans

Genndy Tartakovsky’s Primal is an animated series for adults, and returns for a Season 2 still walking a new path of action and bloody brutality, this time towards something resembling a fantastical Bronze Age world, populated with Celtic, Viking and Egyptian warriors. The 10-episode season continues where Season 1 ended, with the human man Spear and his blue dinosaur companion Fang starting their search for the kidnapped woman, Mira.

The Spear and Fang end up traveling together across the sea in search of Mira and the Vikings who have recaptured her. They eventually catch up to the village where Mira is being held, along with others of her people. The story then follows a path of escape and revenge after Spear and Fang — with the help of Mira — destroy the Viking village, and are then pursued by the last of that clan in search of retribution.

This season incorporates encounters with a more modern human civilization, and even includes an episode featuring Charles Darwin where he is defending his theory of evolution to a group of other scientists.

The biggest difference in Season 2 is the fact that while the new people and civilizations we come across do speak, the dialogue is minimal, with the storytelling still relying heavily on the emotions expressed by the animation and sound design.

Not to give away too many spoilers, but Genndy Tartakovsky has said that Season 2 concludes the story of the adventures of Spear, Fang and Mira, and the announcement of an upcoming Season 3 has already stated that the series will move towards an anthology format. No details yet about what type of stories or characters will be featured.

This is still a show designed for adults, again with many of the episodes diving deep into bloody and gory violence, death and destruction.

This Blu-ray set collects all 10 episodes, and as with the Season 1 set, there is also a “Behind the Scenes” bonus feature titled “Inside the Evolution”, which is a fascinating look at the team’s inspiration for Season 2, how it’s closer to what Genndy had wanted to do with Season 1, and how some canine pets influenced Fang’s behavior.

All 10 episodes from Season 2 are:

1. Sea of Despair
2. Shadow of Fate
3. Dawn of Man
4. The Red Mist
5. The Primal Theory
6. Vidarr
7. The Colossaeus, Part I
8. The Colossaeus, Part II
9. The Colossaeus, Part III
10. Echoes of Eternity

The set also includes a new featurette, Genndy Tartakovsky’s Primal: Inside the Evolution. This new special highlights the team behind the Emmy award-winning show as they share their inspiration behind the second season, and share thoughts on how a four-legged friend inspired one of the show’s most beloved characters.

Genndy Tartakovsky’s Primal Season 2 is available now on Digital, DVD and Blu-ray from Warner Bros and Adult Swim.

For more on the beginning of Primal, see our review of the Season 1 blu-ray.

Genndy Tartakovsky’s Primal follows the tale of a caveman at the dawn of evolution as he forms an unlikely friendship with an almost extinct dinosaur. In Season Two, Spear and Fang journey to a new world to rescue Mira from her captors only to find it is a place filled with savage brutality.