For Eureka’s second show of the season, the crisis of the week involved the “disappearance” of a research scientist from a sealed biosphere (quote marks used because the man didn’t actually disappear — he started turning into a snake). But really, that story doesn’t matter (I’ll explain below).

Here are the things to comment on: (1) characterization and (2) advancement of big-picture storylines.

Characterization: In this episode, characters were used well. Jack’s friendship with Henry was nicely highlighted. Jack and Allison were uncomfortable in close proximity, and Allison and Nathan were a committed couple. Fargo and Vincent made a great pair, adding humorous intervals to the sheriff’s investigation. Deputy Jo Lupo had a nice little cameo. Eva Thorne was snarky but also smart.

Ultimately, the crisis of the week was a throwaway (forgettable snake man and a sort of dumb first-love teen sidebar), which is regrettable but not an obstacle to enjoying the show, because the characters were so well played. A real strength of this episode.

Big Picture Developments: Eva Thorne has not only pardoned Henry Deacon and returned him to town (yay, because I love actor Joe Morton), but also uncovered some sort of top-secret government film footage from 1938 that looks like mushroom clouds over Eureka. Interesting! The town history posted on the Sci Fi website describes Eureka being conceived and created by Harry Truman and Albert Einstein after World War II, so perhaps Thorne is onto a bigger, darker secret of Eureka’s pre-history…

The episode also unveiled the new consumer research products lab at General Dynamics, where “research meets commerce,” according to Thorne. This is interesting; and I haven’t yet assessed the product placement (Degree deodorant) because I think it might warrant its own post/analysis at a future time – once we see how this plays out. The show is not at all subtle with this experiment: not only commercials but also a segment on the show claimed Degree was “made in Eureka,” and the Degree logo stares at us from box labels and lab coats at General Dynamics … from a quick poke into fan blogs, I can see that this has highly irritated many fans, but I’m willing to wait and see what they do with it. I appreciate that they’re trying something different with show sponsors and product placement — to me, the self-aware way this has been executed fits into the show’s overall playful tone (but I would agree with the complainers that there needs to be a limit).

Reviewer rating: 3 out of 5 S.A.R.A.H.s