The second half of Eureka’s Season 3 kicked off with a bang … or really, I guess that should be a crash, or whatever sound things make when gravitational anomalies cause them to collapse suddenly and forcefully.

But first, before we discuss gravity, we should refresh, because we haven’t visited Eureka since September. The episode’s opening provides some “from the last episode” clips as well as not-too-clunky exposition to remind us that Sheriff Carter has been fired, Allison Blake is pregnant, and Henry Deacon is the mayor.

Now, Carter is courting a job with the Department of Homeland Security in Los Angeles. Deputy Jo Lupo has been the acting sheriff since Carter’s dismissal. Carter’s sister Lexi is making weird preparations for a home birth for her gestating twins, and it seems clear that women are not among the creative minds behind this show, because Allison is suddenly very apparently pregnant, while Lexi (whose pregnancy is several months further along than Allison’s and two babies rather than one) still looks not-so-big. (OK, yes, I know that Salli Richardson-Whitfield was pregnant in real life; baby boy, born in January.) But I won’t digress more on the issues I have with pregnant characters on this show; you can read more on that in my review of episode 8.

When the new sheriff shows up, and he’s a robot named Andy, Carter looks pained and Lupo quits on the spot. Then some trees fall, and a satellite antenna/dish too, and then the robot sheriff’s car collapses in on itself — and Carter is thoroughly on the case, unofficially of course. He and Deacon deduce that scary anomalies they call “gravity wells” are forming all over Eureka, and of course it gets worse rather than better before it’s over.

As I’ve come to expect from this series, the episode has humor and wit and decent pacing, making it enjoyable. The storylines are all related, also very pleasing. The gravity problem has been caused by a contraption built by the same guy who’s helping Lexi plan her zero-gravity birth chamber (like I said, weird), and in an odd twist we learn that S.A.R.A.H. (yes, that’s Carter’s house) is really the brains behind this mess. Who knew that S.A.R.A.H. could let emotions get the better of her?

I thought at first this was going to be the typical man vs. machine storyline (“Sheriff Andy fails because he can’t understand human nuances and emotions” or worse, “Sheriff Andy turns HAL 9000 and kills people”) … but no, not at all. The reason I applaud this episode is that it featured a robot who was a good guy, did his job the best he could, and made decisions on the strength of both his intellect and his emotions. In other words, he acted a lot like Carter.

And he found the loophole in the city charter that allows Carter to stick around Eureka after all: the sheriff can’t be fired without written approval of the mayor, and no way is Deacon going to do that.

I will miss Sheriff Andy, although I’m sure glad to have Sheriff Carter back.

Reviewer rating: 4 out of 5 S.A.R.A.H.s