TV Show review
Review basis: 3 seasons, 30 episodes · through March 15, 2026
October 8, 2019 · 22 min · TV-14 · Returning Series
Woke Score
Lower is better
Review
A caveman named Spear and a female Tyrannosaurus named Fang lose their families and form a bond to survive in a violent prehistoric world filled with monsters and hostile humans from different eras. The series uses almost no dialogue and tells its story through raw visuals, brutal action, and emotion across three seasons. Later seasons introduce a skilled human woman named Mira who joins them, fights alongside them, and later has a child with Spear.
Breakdown
These are the editorial factors and ratings behind our score for Primal.
Woke representation / casting
Mira is a prominent skilled female human who fights effectively with bow and weapons and survives alongside the male caveman and dinosaur. Supporting characters include people from different cultural backgrounds in the anachronistic fantasy setting. These elements are audience-visible but tied to expanding the story world rather than identity signaling.
Woke political dialogue
The series uses almost no dialogue, especially in season 1, and contains no political or activist speech.
Identity-driven story themes
The main story follows loss, revenge, interspecies friendship, and survival in a harsh world. Mira adds a human romance and family element in later seasons, but these serve primal emotional arcs without modern identity-driven messaging.
Western institutional / cultural critique
Conflicts involve violent prehistoric and fantasy-era groups such as Viking-like slavers and Egyptian raiders presented as story threats. There is no reframing into critiques of patriarchy, capitalism, or Western institutions.
Production
Woke character or canon changes
Not relevant
Anti-woke backlash and complaints
Searches and coverage show no meaningful anti-woke complaints or backlash accusing the show of pushing identity politics or DEI.
Creator track record context
Genndy Tartakovsky maintains a low track record for political or identity themes in his body of work. Key writers and producers show craft-focused careers without activist patterns.
