But I can’t sugar-coat this: what a mind-numbing way to spend an hour. Recapping the storyline doesn’t even matter (hmm, a clue to the problem?). For some reason it was designed as a “flashback” episode, you know the type; and I sat there pondering whether this was the season finale (it wasn’t) or whether someone was about to die (no one did) or whether some huge Eureka-altering event was about to unfold (nope). Near as I can tell, the flashbacks served no purpose other than dragging the episode down, down, down. And I even like to reminisce.

So the story’s about people in town losing their memories, and thus their capacity to function, due to these little “storycatcher” devices that are part of a time capsule project. I suspect the attempt was to juxtapose flashbacks against scenes of people not knowing who they are. But the storycatchers and the time capsule (and the other storyline about the General Dynamics facility preparing for a very rigorous “sonic cleaning”) aren’t important or even really interesting, and neither is the knowledge that this little flub is Fargo’s fault (because many things in Eureka are Fargo’s fault). My attention waned even before the flashbacks started.

(And one side snark about the flashbacks: Why did none of them include crazy Jim Taggert? The teaser for the next episode during the final credits previewed the return of Taggert to Eureka; oh gee, what if there had been a way to remind viewers who that guy was?)

As for the big picture, all you need to know is that Allison had her baby. Lucky for her, labor to birth spanned only about 20 minutes, and Zoe delivered the baby (which everyone must have thought was a crackerjack idea because no one sent for an actual doctor when given the chance).

So I debated between a 1 or a 2 on my rating scale, and settled on the latter, which might be a tad generous but I’ll stand by it. Here’s the saving grace from the lower rating: on this show, we’ve seen worse acting, we’ve seen worse dialogue, and we’ve seen worse story decisions (in each case other aspects, much better done, have kept those episodes from ruin). But a meaningless episode is still, at the end of the night, an utter waste of time.

Reviewer rating: 2 out of 5 S.A.R.A.H.s

We see the arrival of a neural networking specialist (a Dr. Manlius) to deal with accessing data in the computer-Kim; and the dissolving of Kim plus successful download of her data – which surely point to future discoveries (what will GD find in that outer-space intelligence?). We see Sheriff Carter navigating between his friendship with Allison and his attraction to Tess … and romance wins, as we witness the first Jack-Tess kiss. The mysterious “drowning” of several folks from a sudden boost of internal water volume ties right into the Kim storyline (nice dovetail!), and of course Jack’s insight is key to solving the puzzle. Overall, I’m delighted to report that this episode lives up to my high standards for this series. What else can I say? This one’s a keeper.

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

I really enjoy Eureka. Generally, watching the show is a pleasant way to spend an hour on a Friday night – engaging tone, good pacing, interesting characters, a dash of levity.

This episode, for example, was a fine one: the return of Henry Deacon’s unmanned exploration ship brings back 20 years’ worth of outer space data in a Kim container – not really Kim, but an organic computer that looks, talks, and acts like her. (Kim Anderson is Henry’s lost love; that story unfolded in a previous season.)

Henry’s unease is palpable (props to actor Joe Morton). He can’t figure out how to assess – or worse yet, work with – the computer-Kim. Character moments like this are the strength of the show, and Henry’s arc in this episode is great. Also, propelling other character storylines forward, Allison discovers that she’s having a girl, and Jack and Tess go on a meteor-shower-watching first date (their interactions throughout the episode are truly sweet).

The scientific mystery is that people are being electrocuted; apparently the cause is a virus from the spaceship’s organic computer, and now everyone in Eureka is at risk as the virus spreads from person to person. Henry estimates 12 hours before the whole town’s infected.

So here’s the thing: I’m sort of done with events that threaten to destroy Eureka entirely. Let’s please take a break from spinning everything up into THE END OF EUREKA (or sometimes the end of the planet, even). It’s just not necessary, especially in this case. Henry’s story was strong enough to carry this episode. Thrusting the general public into mortal danger is just fluff, and not even close to interesting when it happens every Friday night.

Let me plea for some focus on what you’re really good at – let’s face it, this show is driven by its characters, not its crises-of-the-week. I’d be quite happy with some character drama that advances the overall through line, or even just an unlucky accident that affects one or two folks. So I’ll keep watching, but I’ll keep my fingers crossed that you power down the threat levels.

Best regards,
Lisa

Reviewer rating: 3.5 out of 5 S.A.R.A.H.s

To recap: Eureka’s new traffic control system is coming online (“smart asphalt” – drivers don’t have to drive!), and around town people are reporting thefts of odds and ends. Turns out that someone is building a huge plasma generator in the middle of a field, out of stray kitchen sinks and desk chairs. Sheriff Carter and crew have to figure out what’s going on in that field, and also why the town’s youths are suddenly zombified and apparently responsible for building the big fancy generator. What’s happening, of course, is that the crazy outer-space signal we’ve been following for several episodes has somehow tapped into the “smart asphalt” wavelength and brainwashed the kids into building a giant (electronic? ionic?) “cushion” as a landing pad for the arriving spacecraft.

In some key ways, I found the episode missed the mark. I think on paper the A story (zombie kids) must have seemed pretty somber and compelling – the dialogue includes not one but two references to “Village of the Damned,” which I understand is pretty creepy stuff. As acted/costumed/directed/framed (I don’t know whom to blame), however, it’s kind of tepid. The zombie kids are in no way creepy, upsetting, or otherwise worth serious second thought. Therefore the adults’ reactions seem over the top – Carter moons around and perches on the edge of Zoe’s hospital bed (really?). This ruins any true tension build to the spacecraft landing, although we’ve all be anticipating it for weeks so our interest holds for that reason. On the plus side, the story moves quickly to the arrival of the spacecraft; another compliment to the script, I think.

A second misfire was the use of product placement. Let’s all just agree that product placement is stinky. Let’s also concede that it’s probably more and more unavoidable, as we all hit “fast-forward” on our DVRs to skip commercial breaks. In the first mini-season, Eureka did some novel things with Degree deodorant … and I wasn’t fully on board, but I appreciated the attempt to integrate the product. This show might have a unique opportunity to experiment with product placement, compared to shows with less whimsy.

But I must say, the Subaru product placement – which was basically the B story – in this episode fell completely flat. I’m OK with Deputy Jo Lupo showing off her new tricked-out squad car (which happens to be a Subaru), and it could have been funny to see Douglas Fargo promptly show up with a new Subaru of his own, as he did. But setting all annoying Subaru references aside (who actually says “Check out my new Subaru Impreza WRX” while pointing to their car?), this B story mostly failed because the storyline was meant to be humorous (Fargo’s old car wages a vendetta against him) – and although I value Eureka’s humor, it interfered with the (supposedly) serious tone of the A story. I couldn’t navigate between the two tones; was I supposed to be on the edge of the couch biting my nails, or doubled over with laughter? In past episodes, Eureka has given us serious, and Eureka has given us funny; but here the mix isn’t working. The attempt to do both yields a middling result.

My honest opinion on the Subaru product placement is that if they’re going to do it, they should go all in: when Henry stepped forward in the episode’s last moments to rub grime off the hull the spacecraft, I fully wish he had uncovered a Subaru logo.

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

So: The story’s amusing — Eureka’s bowling rival would of course be a team from Area 51, and these hardcore bowlers would of course cheat in their attempts to win a bi-annual bowling competition. The ringer on Eureka’s team, a biochemist/champion bowler named Big Ed, has created a “pet” microorganism that will destroy the town if not stopped. And this is where Sheriff Carter comes in, teamwork and an exploding bowling ball save the day, blah blah blah.

But it’s essentially uninteresting. Also, the episode includes visual/dialogue homage to a number of movies, but I’m not quite sure why — it doesn’t relate to the story or the characters and instead feels like a cutesy (and pointless) trick. In addition to some acknowledged borrowing from The Blob, I spotted moments from Jaws, Alien, and The Big Lebowski; and I’m sure there were more that I just wasn’t clever enough to catch. I suspect this is meant to convey the lighthearted and self-aware nature of the show, but in this context — or more specifically, without context — it doesn’t quite work for me.

On the upside: The overarching alien story progresses, with some discussion of the mysterious “signal” and attempts by Allison and Tess to get a clear picture of the signal’s source. At the end of the episode, Allison is ordered by General Mansfield to prepare a defense system (against threats unknown and extraterrestrial). Also, Lexi and Duncan resolve their issues and it now looks like Lexi’s leaving Eureka (happily, and with Duncan; which is OK because she’s not really contributing to the big picture). So, things move along; I just could have done without some of the detour.

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

Plus there are developments that move the mini-season’s overarching plot along (the aliens are coming!); I completely appreciate the building of a subtle yet solid story arc. We’ve had Henry making references to a “signal” (starting in the mini-season opener, 3.9, when he talked about an antenna array picking up something he couldn’t quite explain), and newcomer Tess has arrived via SETI (that’s Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence if it doesn’t ring a bell). Allison reveals that the mysterious and highly classified Section 5 has been re-opened (under Tess’s oversight), and this episode ends with Carter confronting her about these signals and what exactly GD might be preparing for (of course, she can’t tell him because Section 5 projects are above his clearance level).

For these aspects, plus its general lightheartedness, the episode gets a 4 (sorry to spoil the rating so quickly). I mention this because I debated marking it down due to the complete bungling of the B story setup.

The B story starts like this: Allison and Lexi go maternity shopping, and Lexi buys an odd maternity shirt (“Invis-Apparel”) that we’re supposed to believe is a great purchase because when you’re wearing it, you don’t look pregnant. I shouldn’t even have to write the rest of this paragraph: This is highly insulting, on multiple levels. First, if you know the character of Lexi you’d probably agree with me that she’s just the type to embrace pregnancy and motherhood and would LOVE to be and look pregnant. Why on earth would she purchase this maternity wear? Also, of course, this insults women in general, implying that women don’t want to look pregnant (fear of being overweight, I presume). I was really taken aback, and it jarred me out of the viewing experience.

The setup is important, because what happens in the episode is that Lexi’s abandoned boyfriend shows up — Duncan, the fellow she fled from when she learned she was pregnant. Yes, it’s key to the storyline that Lexi doesn’t appear visibly pregnant, forcing her to decide whether to reveal the pregnancy to Duncan. And when she does, I love his reaction; he is caught off guard, says he needs to think about this, and takes his leave. Lexi’s story is realistically unresolved.

But who among the Eureka brain trust couldn’t take 5 minutes to conjure up a better setup for this storyline? How’s this: Lexi is given the maternity wear to test out, and she makes it a funny experiment, a practical joke (she’s a playful person, right?) … and then Duncan walks in. Doesn’t that feel better, and in character for Lexi?

This fumble of the setup is perfectly bad TV writing; I feel compelled to conclude that Eureka needs a serious infusion of female creative advice. I’m not even trying to sound like a crazy feminist here, but that maternity-wear logic completely flops. The show’s creators are men, and recent episodes have been written and directed by men. No doubt women are in the mix somewhere: please, speak up, speak up! (Dear Mr. Paglia: I’m happy to submit my resume.)

In hugely good news, SyFy announced at Comic-Con that it will pick up Eureka for a fourth season — 22 more episodes ordered.

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

Right away Lupo gets near-electrocuted — so that’s something! — and then we see her acting foggy and even rather giddy as she tries to solve likely-connected cases of equipment sabotage and theft (a missing genome spectrometer and intramuscular electrode array, for those keeping track of the show’s special brand of science). She quarrels with boyfriend Zane Donovan, arrests someone named Larry on a suspected motive of wanting to steal, and vamps her way through a sexpot rendition of “Makin’ Whoopee” that includes a big kiss for Fargo … so it’s clear that SOMETHING IS GOING ON (perhaps like me, you could intuit by this time that multiple Jo’s are walking around).

When a third theft occurs (a valuable serum from the General Dynamics infirmary) and the new “biometric DNA monitoring” security system pins all three crimes on Jo, she cleverly unravels the mystery: a scientist-gal named Julia Golden stole Jo’s identity (via the Face/Off approach to problem-solving, except dependent on DNA+electricity rather than surgery) so she could make eyes at Fargo. Then the DNA mixup goes horribly wrong, Julia can’t fix it, and both Julia and Jo face imminent danger from misfiring cells and unraveling DNA. There is a happy ending (of course), but not before an oddly melodramatic scene in which it appears that Julia will die so that Jo can live (complete with exploding lab equipment and touching last gasps) … but then it works out OK. (I guess when lab equipment explodes during a risky DNA experiment it’s still quite usable, at least one more time.)

Frankly, this episode includes all the elements of what makes a bad Eureka episode — disjointed story, explanations of the crime and the science that don’t quite work, melodramatic moments — and yet it was still entertaining. Jo’s journey and the strength of her character made it enjoyable (as did Sheriff Carter’s interspersed scenes; he’s just plain funny). When you think about it afterward, the misfires are obvious — the whole Julia Golden story doesn’t work (from motive to opportunity to action: WTF?). But the credit to Eureka (the show and the town) is that in the case of this episode, the sum is greater than the parts.

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

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

Thursday, June 4
The Listener (NBC), 10 p.m. – Paramedic Toby Logan is a telepath!

Sunday, June 14
True Blood (HBO) – Season two of the hit vampire drama.

Sunday, June 21
Merlin (NBC), 8 p.m. – A 13-part miniseries about the legend of Camelot.

Sunday, June 21
Impact (ABC) – The moon is about to crash into Earth! Can David James Elliott save us?

Wednesday, June 24
The Philanthropist (NBC), 10 p.m. – Rome star James Purefoy is a billionaire vigilante.

Friday, June 26
Virtuality (FOX), 8 p.m. – Ronald Moore’s sci-fi show about a crew headed for a habitable world who are also filmed for a reality show back on Earth.

Saturday, June 27
Doctor Who (BBC America) – The stateside showing of the 2008 Christmas special “The Next Doctor” and other specials begins here.

Sunday, July 7
Warehouse 13 (SyFy), 9 p.m. – Homeland security agents protect supernatural objects.

Wednesday, July 10
Eureka (SyFy), 9 p.m. – Ten more episodes to complete season three.

Monday, July 20
Torchwood (BBC America) – 5-part miniseries of the Torchwood crew battling aliens and government conspiracies.

Saturday, July 25
Being Human (BBC America), 9 p.m. – A vampire, werewolf, and ghost try to live normal lives and share a flat in England.

Tuesday, July 28
Angel of Death (Crackle.com) – The DVD feature-film edit of the hit web series written by Ed Brubaker and starring Zoe Bell hits store shelves.

Curious about other shows? Got more info? Let’s get a discussion going below. What do you want the podcast to cover this summer?

We had an outside contractor (a Dr. Hendricks) arrive in town to help Eva Thorne seal off the underground military facility, using remotely-triggered canisters of some sort of super-strong polymer foam (“instantaneum”) that hardens instantly and of course is nearly impenetrable/indestructible. And we had Zoe waylaid by the same disease that killed those people whose bodies Thorne whisked out of the underground facility (the cause: that purple goo, called Element X and apparently a by-product of the atomic bomb testing that was done there).

It was great fun to watch Sheriff Carter, Allison Blake, and Henry Deacon working quickly and secretly to solve the mystery of the bunker bodies and the Element X-triggered rapid-aging illness. Plus Carter’s big run-in with Thorne was a charged moment (and made us feel so very smug) — he went over her head by calling General Mansfield, the tip-top brass. (Altho that move completely backfired for Carter at the end, in a nice twist.)

We also watched the re-ignition of the Jo Lupo-Zane Donovan romance, but not before they almost came to blows as they struggled to literally get away from each other (temporarily joined at the ankles by an exploded canister of instantaneum). I like to see Jo get more screen time; she is underused.

And what a ride for Eva Thorne. As we suspected, she was alive and grown up back in 1939 (she’s now 107 years old), and she was part of the experiment in the underground facility that went so horribly wrong. We learn that it was always Thorne’s plan to seal the facility off for good from prying eyes (and seal herself in to perish, to boot).

When she and Carter became trapped there, and not only their lives but the welfare of the entire town is threatened (as Element X seeps into the water supply), it’s a pivotal moment for Thorne, and she breaks. A compelling crisis in plot that triggered character change and growth for both Thorne and Carter, it was nicely done, and surely not only Carter but also the viewers came to feel sympathy for her position and her actions. So it’s a no-brainer that they would sneak her out of town at the end of the episode, rather than arrest her and turn her over to Mansfield.

Curveballs at the end: Allison is pregnant, and Carter is fired by Mansfield (“Eureka no longer requires your services”).

In addition to all those story points, the episode was just fun to watch, for these reasons: There was only one storyline (everything serviced Plot A), and the fast pacing matched the growing tension. Carter was rather punchy (anyone else notice?), adding humor and lightening the tone in a really nice way to keep it from feeling all too cataclysmic.

My quibbles? Allison is pregnant? How unimaginative, and lame. (Why is it that whenever a crisis in story is needed for a woman, she turns up pregnant? But OK, that’s a rant for another time.) Plus we already have a pregnant character on the show; why do we need another one? I can only hope that either (1) this will lead directly to the return of Nathan Stark (Henry: “If only I had some of Stark’s DNA, I think I could bring him back.” — of course, I’m sure they could have found his DNA in another manner by now), or (2) there will be some wildly clever storyline that requires two pregnant women to solve, and Lexi and Allison will save the day.

I think the tentative air date for the next episode is January (shooting for the back-half of the season was slated to start mid-September, so it will be a few months at least). Meantime, let’s take the break to ponder what storyline could possibly require two pregnant women to resolve, what other Eureka job Carter could actually do (none), and what the appropriate bounds of product placement really are.

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