Tuesday, August 21, 2007

Eureka: Welcome to the world of tomorrow!

I missed the past few episodes when my day job and then vacation intervened, but I had a Eureka marathon earlier today to get caught up, and man, this show just keeps getting better. (Of course I miss the episode when Carter walks around naked...sigh.) And just when you think they're getting into a (still highly enjoyable) rut with the "some crazy invention has gone rogue, possibly combined with another crazy invention, and the whole town is in danger!" plots, they pull out a quality stand-alone episode with a very different focus. Seriously, nothing at all goes awry! Quite possibly a Eureka first.

And aside from the genius townsfolk remaining safe for the night, tonight's episode flexed Eureka's drama muscles, giving comedy a lighter night than usual. There were touching moments and everything! Mad props to the writers in particular for making Fargo more than an accident-prone whipping boy. Much as I love to watch him bumble about, it was sweet to see him trying to get his grandfather, and his family name, the recognition they deserve. As we all learned by watching Futurama, getting involuntarily cryogenically frozen can really mess up your life. Although it can get you cool robot friends too, so it's not all bad. I kind of love that Fargo is Professor Farnsworth in this comparison, by the way.

Carter wasn't his usual jocular self, either, as we finally find out that the reason he's SO nervous about Zoe driving is that his high school sweetheart died in an accident while he was teaching her how to drive. Although with all his haranguing Zoe about giving up caffeine before she could learn to drive, was anyone else expecting his story to end with the girlfriend dying when he spilled hot coffee in her lap while she was driving or something?

Over at GD, I found it surprising that Henry shared with Stark his discovery about Kim's lab being sabotaged. Perhaps he's trying to subtly lead Stark to Beverly, for some reason? Guess he might need help at some point, at any rate, and since he blames Carter for Kim's death and all, he's not likely to turn there for assistance. Intriguing. I'm not sure I'd trust Stark, if I were Henry.

And I'm glad to see that Carter hasn't let Allison off the hook yet for basically causing a giant deadly dream crisis last week--but why isn't he giving Stark the cold shoulder too, seeing as Carter knows he refused to turn the device off? Oh, right, because Allison lied to him and hurt his feelings, while Stark is expected to selfishly put people's lives in danger for his own purposes. Or perhaps because targeting Stark could result in negative attention on Allison's role in the crisis. Or more likely, because Carter's shoulder can't get any colder when it comes to Stark. Hopefully he'll cut Allison a break at some point, though, because I do miss the banter, much as she deserves the silent treatment for now. But way to bring the drama this week, Eureka. A little change of pace never hurt anyone.

0 comments: