So we’re on the verge of the first episode of Season 3 of Eureka, the Sci Fi Channel’s quirky little show about life in a town full of geniuses. The first of 21 episodes premieres on July 29 (the season was originally announced as 13 episodes, apparently, but fallout from the writer’s strike actually benefited Eureka — 21 episodes were ordered up: 8 will air before a break, then the remaining 13).

Season 1 had 12 episodes, and Season 2 had 13. To avoid running on forever trying to recap two seasons, let’s just sum up the setting and some details.

How it begins: The pilot and first few episodes of Season 1 brought Eureka’s new sheriff to town. The show opened with U.S. Marshal Jack Carter (played by Colin Ferguson) transporting a fugitive — his 15-year-old daughter Zoe — to California (to her mother’s home). They stumbled across Eureka, apparently a secreted town inhabited by geniuses who do top-secret government research. When a weird accident injured Eureka’s sheriff, Jack was quickly offered the job. He decided to stay, and after a brief stint in Los Angeles with her mother, Zoe showed up on Jack’s door — she decided to stay, too.

Thus the show’s conceit is the story of Jack as fish out of water, a normal guy trying to fit in with geniuses and also build a relationship with his teenage daughter. Season 1 was kind of light on complexity, but episodes were amusing, fun to watch, and Ferguson is really enjoyable. I confess I haven’t yet seen Season 2 (blame the DVD release being delayed until last week!), but from reading up, it sounds like Season 2 grew thicker plots and perhaps more lasting story arcs, as well as some darker turns. Sci Fi promises a lighter tone to Season 3.

Top-secret research plays a big part on the show, and the shadow of Global Dynamics (the big bad research organization) is cast across most storylines, from what I’ve seen.

Rundown of main characters (notice recurrence of adjective “brilliant”):

* OK, Jack and Zoe (played by Jordan Hinson), obviously. Fun to note: They live in a smart house called S.A.R.A.H. that talks in a soothing creepy voice and turned HAL 9000 in one episode of Season 1. (But that’s all OK now.)

* One of the first acquaintances Jack makes is Henry Deacon (Joe Morton), the local mechanic-slash-brilliant engineer with some dark secrets.

* Allison Blake (played by Salli Richardson-Whitfield) is the government liaison between Eureka and the Pentagon, who becomes head of Global Dynamics in Season 2; she has a son named Kevin who has some mysterious — more than genius — abilities.

* Nathan Stark (Ed Quinn) is a brilliant mathematician, head of Global Dynamics at start of Season 1, and Allison Blake’s estranged husband. Because Jack’s clearly attracted to Allison in Season 1, there’s lovely snarkiness between Jack and Nathan in many episodes.

* Beverly Barlowe (Debrah Farentino) is some sort of brilliant psychotherapist who also runs the town’s bed and breakfast (or swanky boarding house, or perhaps brothel) and has connections to a shady and powerful group called the Consortium. In Season 2, her extra-legal dealings land her in detention at Guantanamo, apparently, and she escapes using a teleportation device. Weird.

One more thing to note: There’s an artifact. Introduced in Season 1, apparently it played large in Season 2, with people forming alliances to get hold of and control access to it, whatever it is … space trash, a terrestrial organism, a piece of God. Whatever. I’m sure we’ll learn more.

So tune in! Check your listings — Sci Fi will air Season 2 episodes on July 29 as a lead-up to the premiere of Season 3. And in addition to season promos on the Sci Fi website, you can find a video here of the cast singing “Won’t You Be My Neighbor?”