Anomaly (Primeval) - Prediction and Control

Prediction and Control

Helen Cutter has claimed she knows the locations of the anomalies before they open and has hinted that she can control them. Yet the evidence she's provided for her claims has proved contradictory.

At the end of the first episode, Helen – who is presumed to be trapped in Permian era after having passed through an anomaly – is seen from a distance and leaves Nick Cutter a living specimen of an ammonite, while in the second she is encountered by Stephen Hart.

This implies that she can create them as there is no other explanation as to how she can get from period to period. This is underlined in the fifth episode, where she appears and disappears, presumably through another anomaly, as she clearly couldn't have come through the sky anomaly.

It is revealed in the third episode after she is tracked down by Nick that she was staying away because she did not want to reveal the secret of the anomalies to the world, something she knew Nick would be compelled to do. In the same episode she claims that she has "the key to time". She later tells Lester that she is aware of where the anomalies will open before they actually do.

However, in Episode 1.6, she 'used' the team to find the Permian anomaly that leads to the future, suggesting that she can't control them or locate them after all (although it is stated later in Series 2 that she was eventually able to reach the future via an anomaly). In the opening scene of Episode 2.2, one can briefly see a device in her bag that resembles the handheld anomaly trackers later made by Connor Temple. And at the end of Series 2, she is shown in command of multiple versions of the same man, perhaps hinting that she has gained sufficient control of the anomalies to use time travel to create multiples of people. It is eventually revealed in Series 3 that this cloning is not a function of the anomalies themselves, but that Helen used the anomalies to steal cloning technology from the future.

In Episode 2.1, Nick Cutter correctly theorised that the anomalies cause radio interference on the 87.6FM wavelength. He passed this knowledge on to Connor Temple, who creates the Anomaly Detection Device sometime before the beginning of Episode 2.3. This new equipment allows the home agency to track any new anomalies within seconds of them opening. Connor also created handheld anomaly trackers to be used by the team in the field. He also mentions he is working on making them more compact. Both these devices show great accuracy; allowing the ARC to track the anomalies much more efficiently.

Early in Series 3, Nick Cutter constructs a physical 3D model which allows him to predict the location (though not the time) at which some anomalies can be expected to occur. This "matrix" appears to work, since it accurately predicts the abandoned house anomaly in Episode 3.2; however Cutter is the only person who understands it, so his death (as well as the fact that the model itself was damaged in the ARC explosions) effectively renders it useless. A running storyline in this series concerns a mysterious artefact from the future, which is eventually revealed to be a device capable of projecting a similar predictive matrix as a light show. Although this demonstrates that Cutter's idea was correct, the problem of interpreting the matrix remains. Helen Cutter eventually learns to interpret it and uses it to trace a route through the anomalies to Site 333, where she poisons the "First Family" in a failed attempt to halt human evolution.

It is possible to contain and even move anomalies using magnetic fields (e.g. by surrounding an anomaly with a "cage" constructed of magnetite), even when the anomaly is closed. It is also possible to temporarily prevent the passage of objects through an anomaly by the application of an electric current. Connor Temple uses this discovery to create a device which "locks" anomalies by "reversing their polarity". Repeating the process returns the anomaly to its natural unlocked state. A "locked" anomaly appears as a glowing sphere, in contrast to an unlocked anomaly which appears as a round but ill-defined mass of shards.

In Series 3, it is revealed that Helen Cutter possesses a handheld device which can be used to open and close anomalies at will. The device is capable of having the locations of anomalies downloaded to it from a console in the future version of the ARC, implying that it was invented there in the future.

In Episode 4.7 Connor uses a device that can indicate the time period on the other side of an anomaly, for example dating one to exactly 1867.

In Episode 5.1 Philip Burton shows Connor his "New Dawn" project, and explains that he plans to use the anomalies as an energy source to provide the whole world with free, clean energy and asks him to work on this, secretly. Meanwhile Matt Anderson tells Abby that "Something goes wrong with the anomalies in this era. I'm here to find out what it is, and if I can, stop it."

In Episode 5.3 Connor discovers how to create an anomaly.