Warning: Spoilers for Jurassic World Dominion!

While Jurassic World Dominion didn’t get everything right, the sequel does deserve kudos for steering clear of one major Jurassic Park and Jurassic World franchise mistake. Jurassic World Dominion earned massive box office returns and mixed reviews. The critical write-ups called the sequel overloaded and often faintly ludicrous, but some reviewers also noted that Jurassic World Dominion would likely be a fun time for fans of the franchise.

Not only did Jurassic World Dominion finally complete Alan Grant’s abandoned character arc from the original Jurassic Park, but the sequel also learned from the mistakes of the franchise’s earlier outings. While Jurassic World Dominion didn’t fix every issue with the series, the sequel steered clear of one frustrating storytelling mistake. As a result, Jurassic World Dominion ended up wasting less screen time on one pointless subplot.

Related: Is Jurassic World: Dominion The Last One?

Both Jurassic Park and Jurassic World's respective sequels split up their central couple between movies, a frustrating decision that Jurassic World Dominion fortunately avoids. Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom wasted a lot of screen time by breaking up Claire and Owen when viewers always knew they would end up back together, while the otherwise underrated Jurassic Park III let down innumerable fans by definitively breaking up Ellie and Alan offscreen between movies. The overstuffed plot of Jurassic World Dominion might have featured some seemingly pointless detours. However, the sequel did avoid this particular time-wasting storyline by immediately establishing that Claire and Owen were still together and as strong as ever.

Owen and Claire look concerned in Jurassic World

In a winking reference to the franchise’s frustrating history with romantic pairings, one of Claire’s co-workers asks her early on whether she and Owen are still “whatever you guys are.” The scene seemed like a setup for yet another Jurassic Park/World movie wherein the once-happy central couple would rekindle their rocky relationship again when they were forced to work together, making it a welcome surprise when Claire confirmed that Jurassic World Dominion’s Owen and her were still as strong as ever. Given how many subplots the busy Jurassic World Dominion featured, the sequel could not have afforded to add in another temporary breakup from its central duo.

Not only that but the fact that Claire and Owen were a happy couple and even surrogate parents to Maisie Lockwood meant that Alan and Ellie’s reunion was all the more bittersweet. While the couple ended up together at the end of Jurassic World Dominion, this was only after spending years apart since the end of Jurassic Park III. Jurassic World Dominion ended that Jurassic Park story gracefully, but only because the sequel avoided the pitfall of adding another unnecessary conflict by breaking up its leads. Seeing Claire and Owen repeatedly reaffirm that they were committed and happy together throughout the life-endangering action of Jurassic World Dominion was a welcome break from the franchise’s historically messy romances and a nice surprise in a sequel that was otherwise reasonably criticized for playing things safe.

More: Jurassic World Dominion's Perfect Original Cast Return Was Impossible

Want more Jurassic World Dominion articles? Check out our essential content below...