Contributor: Gregg Wright
The nice thing about this episode is that it doesn’t follow the conventional plot archetypes. A piece of technology does go haywire and threaten the town, but it exists as more of a side-effect of the larger plot: the preparation for the manned mission to Titan, via Earth’s first spaceship capable of faster-than-light travel, the Astraeus. This is essentially what every episode, thus far, has been trying to accomplish in the second half of the season. Zane and Fargo’s space flight in “Liftoff” served as a successful demonstration of the FTL drive, which led to Dr. Holly Marten’s arrival, which led to the Astraeus being given the go-ahead.
As Vincent puts it, the whole town has “space fever”, and I can hardly blame them. Fargo and Dr. Marten have put out a call to the citizens of Eureka for applicants to join the crew of the Astraeus. And since Eureka is a town populated almost entirely by scientists, pretty much everyone wants to go. One of the subplots focuses on Allison’s conflict over whether to go or to stay with Carter and Kevin, which may have actually been first introduced back in “Liftoff” when Allison mentioned her attempts to contact NASA as a girl. Carter catches on that this would be a big deal for Allison, and tries to encourage her to go. By the end of the episode, she’s decided that she’d rather stay. My prediction is that the implant in her brain will kick in at some point and she’ll changer her mind. I think the Consortium wants her on that mission as a tool for some purpose.
No Deputy Andy this episode. Speaking of which, you know who I’d like to see on the Astraeus mission? You guessed it. Deputy Andy. To be honest, I can’t really think of a character I wouldn’t want to see on the Astraeus mission. There seem to be enough seats on the Astraeus to accommodate all of the regulars. Imagine Vincent as the ship’s cook, Carter, Joe, and Andy handling security, Henry, Zane and Dr. Marten as science officers, Allison as chief medical officer, and Fargo sitting in the captain’s chair (“Make it so.”). I’d watch a whole season of that. Heck, I’d watch a whole show like that. “Eureka in Space”! Idle speculation aside, it’s clear that the possibilities are endless. So far, I’m enjoying the build-up to this mission. But considering the Consortium’s involvement, things could easily go in a some very unexpected, and potentially disappointing directions.
I was glad to see that Zane and Jo are still in a complicated phase, and that the lingering issues between them were not glossed over. In fact, the further development of that relationship fits in reasonably well with the episodic threat to Eureka. Jo has started sleeping with Zane, but she’s not ready to admit to an emotional element. The events of the episode expose Jo’s real feelings for Zane, which she doesn’t want him knowing about yet. This timeline’s Zane was, initially, exactly like the previous timeline’s Zane was when we first met him. So all that progress Jo had made with him was seemingly lost. However, the potential for Zane to change is still there, just as much as it was in the old Zane. Zane has always had a good side, and Jo seems to bring it out in him.
The threat assessment eye implants were one of the cooler inventions that I’ve seen on “Eureka”. They’re a visually interesting idea, which is taken even further in the holodeck-like virtual reconstruction scene. Being able to pause, rewind, and replay events in slow-motion, and then walk around and examine them, is an intrinsically appealing concept (particularly when it comes to explosions). It makes for good special effects moments, and is a good way to visually demonstrate the gravity of the various threats facing “Eureka” during these high-risk times.
Now that I think about it, I vaguely recall hearing about an upcoming Stan Lee cameo at some point, but I’d since forgotten about it when Lee appeared this week. Lee certainly seems to enjoy his increasingly frequent cameo appearances. Unfortunately, this one wasn’t one of his best. The “Hulk” references are exceedingly blatant, which I suppose might be the point; a joking nod to the audience. But I would have preferred something more subtle. Lee’s cameo in “Thor” put a smile on my face, but didn’t drag me out of the experience like this one did.
Wil Wheaton seems to be making a career out of playing arrogant douche-bags. I think he’s hilarious in this type of role, so I can’t complain. I can proudly say that I went from being a hater to being a fan well before he started guesting on “The Big Bang Theory” as a twisted version of himself. Despite playing one of the more loathed “Star Trek” characters, behind-the-scenes, Wil is a genuine geek and an all-around great person, and I feel bad for subconsciously basing my impression of him solely on his “Wesley Crusher” role. Wil has written a lot of interesting material about his life and his thoughts on geek culture, which I’ve probably only read a small fraction of through his blog.
The Fargo and Dr. Marten pairing would make sense, I suppose. In fact, one might imagine that Dr. Marten was created with that purpose in mind from the very beginning. Fargo does need a girl already. Julia Golden was apparently a very brief love interest (who, in this timeline, never even met Fargo), and Claudia Donovan doesn’t really count as an actual relationship. I will say that I didn’t find Felicia Day as irritating this week as I did, though she still seems to be exaggerating her performance a little more than I’d like.
Even at its furthest distance from Earth, Saturn could be reached by Astraeus in less than an hour-and-a-half traveling at the speed of light (which they will surely exceed). So the six months will be spent almost entirely on Titan itself. In case you haven’t already noticed, I’m very pleased with the introduction of this plot thread and its potential implications for the overall direction of the season. The greatest manned space mission in human history is occurring in approximately 140 days, and the Consortium is up to no good. Henry seems all but confirmed to go on the mission (which will hopefully not just be a convenient way to get rid of the actor for a while, as has been done with Jordan Hinson already). I’ll be pretty disappointed if, for some reason, the mission ends up getting scrubbed, or isn’t shown at all. Though, I suppose the budgetary constraints must be taken into consideration.
Rating: 8/10
