A week after the cryolophosaurus mission, the time has come for the park's second 'phase 2' mission. This time, the rescue team travels to Devonian period Ellesmere Island to rescue the tiktaalik, the single common ancestor of all terrestrial vertebrates! Meanwhile, back at the park, a team has arrived from Novum to subject the park to an inspection...and amongst this team is a person from Leon's past that he'd very much hoped never to see again.
- Babies Ever After: Shira and Diego's cubs are revealed to have been born sometime before the shutdown in Hell's Labyrinth. And Shira and Diego are both quite devoted Good Parents.
- Big "SHUT UP!": Drew's rather angry response to Alice's attempts at prodding him for information on his past with Cynthia.
- Campfire Character Exploration: Adrian and Alice engage in a major heart to heart at their camp's campfire in the Devonian Period while Drew is asleep. Over the course of it, they both briefly discuss their respective pasts as well as Drew's past history with Cynthia.
- Continuity Nod: When asked by Steve Woodward what sort of problems the park's suffered from during the inspection, Kyle makes note of the time the compsognathus were constantly escaping, Arlo's ill fated early attempts at integration with the larger apatosaurus herd, the enmity between Nero and Dag and their packs, the rivalry between Diego and Smokey, Rocco and Laverne's history of aggression as well as the former's brief escape, Cirrus and Zephyr's rivalry, the antagonism between Terrence and Matilda, the period of aggression between the male dimetrodon during mating season, and the initial difficulty in finding out a proper modern day food source for the titanichthys. And of course, several mentions are made of the events of Hell's Labyrinth.
- Fiendish Fish: The eusthenodon prove by far the most dangerous animals encountered by the rescue team in the Devonian Period Ellesmere Island, and are naturally the apex predator of the area.
- Mythology Gag: This episode shares a name with the dunkleosteus episode from Prehistoric Earth. And much like in that same chapter from the aforementioned fic, Alice very narrowly evades getting caught and eaten by a large carnivorous amphibious fish (although in this case it's a eusthenodon instead of a hyneria).
- Named After Somebody Famous: The male cryolophosaurus is revealed in this chapter to be named after Elvis Presley.
- Papa Wolf: Diego is very much this for his three cubs, to the point that he even stalks in the direction of Fiona and snarls at her while she's leaning down from the railing of his paddock and intently watching said cubs.
- Reformed Bully: Downplayed, but still present in small amounts with Fiona Winters. While she occasionally shows signs of her past dismissive and teasing behavior towards Leon, she also mostly acts entirely professional the entire time she's at the park, genuinely congratulates him and shows pride of him having found new friends at the park (and even seemingly someone who's romantically in love with him), and even reveals that she was one of the board members who explicitly voted for him to be allowed to get hired after Drew first offered for him to be hired.
- Scary Scorpions: Averted in regards to the stylonurus rescued in this episode. Not only are they not true scorpions, but they are all treated with wonder and intrigue by the staff and rescue team rather than fear.
- Ship Tease:
- Leon and Yolanda receive a heavy dosage of hints at a future romance, with even Fiona Winters taking note of the matter and explicitly showing approval of Yolanda loving Leon.
- A small bit of ship tease also unfolds between Jack and Colette.
- Alice and Adrian engage in a major heart to heart over the course of their Campfire Character Exploration.
- Judging by a minor remark from Jack after Fiona takes note of the 'denhammi' species name for the pseudodilophosaurus, it seems entirely possible that Will's romantic feelings for Alice from back in Prehistoric Earth have made the jump to this story.
- Shout-Out: A twofold example in the names of Diego and Shira's two sons, who are named Blag and Ka-Zar, with the latter's name being spelled out in a way that indicates he's also technically named after the Marvel character of the same name. Their daughter, meanwhile, is named Iorunn.
