EUREKA Doesn’t Go There – Again

EUREKA
Season 4, episode 18: “This One Time at Space Camp”

[all photos: Eike Schroter/Syfy]

Inconceivable!

The second episode in a row where Wallace Shawn is a guest star, and he doesn’t say it!

Inconceivable!

After the numerous shout-outs to “Star Trek”, with one for The Lord of the Rings thrown in for good measure, the Syfy shows are racking up geek points with the more recent episodes. And with Aaron Douglas showing up as well as Shawn, Felicia Day, Ming-Na and Wil Wheaton – it’s a wonder someone’s head didn’t explode from the convergence of intellectual properties…

But still, to have Wallace Shawn on a science fiction show known for shout-outs and call-backs, and to not have him even acknowledge The Princess Bride is … well… dare I say it?

We get a lot of resolutions to on-going story lines in this one, and a lot of flashbacks. But they’re organic, so I’m not going to complain much.

So, Carter and Allison (Carlison? Alliter? whatever…) have put in an appeal to the DOD to review their case, since last week Warren Hughes denied their relationship official status. So this week, they get to review the case with the supervisor, which happens to be… Warren Hughes! Just got a promotion, in typical “Eureka” fashion, and Carter’s left wondering why he’s the only one in the room shouting “conflict of interest!” Hughes is using memory-reading headsets (the same ones from Demolition Man? Nah…) to gather more information on how well Carter and Allison work together, to see if it jibes with his initial assessment. And when Carter’s headset gets splattered with coffee and zaps Hughes, I knew that was going to be our McGuffin of the week – something to do with displaced memories.

Senator Wen is using those same devices in the final interviews with the Astraeus candidates to learn more about what makes these people tick. Which gives us the flashbacks for Fargo, Zane, Jo, and Parrish. I wasn’t surprised that Fargo and Parrish have known each other since they were rivals at Galaxy Camp, even though it was just a little too convenient for my taste.

For Zane’s part, we get the stereotypical bad boy setup/excuse: his dad was a deadbeat or something that kept him from showing up, so Zane turned to larceny and hacking and whatever bad boys end up doing. Just once I want to see the bad boy have a normal childhood, and just decide to be bad. Why do we always have to excuse it with outside environmental forces?

Meanwhile, the Astraeus project is drawing to its inevitable moment when they push the button and fire up everything to make sure it works, and — well, it’s “Eureka”. What do you think? Of course there are problems. Firstly, the engines won’t shut down, because someone shot an “arrow” into it and locked up the system.

And then Carter gets lured into the decontamination chamber the… same way he lured Zoe’s cat into the shower when it turned invisible.. And hey! Someone stole the guard’s uniform just like Carter did when they were in the past.

Someone is living Carter’s memories. Who could it be?

Yes, Mr. Hughes has somehow managed to get Carter’s memories imprinted on his own neurons because of the neural recorder zapping his hand (not sure how the science works on that one, since he never put it on his head…), and now he’s zipping in and out of Carter’s memories, reliving moments from previous episodes (thus giving us organic flashbacks). Including the part where he drives through a hologram instead of going over the cliff. Except, you know, the hologram’s not there anymore, so they’ve got to stop him before he actually goes over the cliff.

It gives us some very nice character moments, and provides plenty of places for Carter’s comedic reactions. And Henry gets some good facial tic moments, too, as he goes with Carter to get Hughes back to the lab, where Grace has a fix ready.

In the meantime, we’re bouncing in and out of the Senator’s inquiry using the same neural recorders, which don’t get hit with coffee. Though it was good to see Aaron Douglas again, I could have done without the stereotypes presented in the flashbacks. All of these characters have a lot of depth to them, and for their childhood stories to all be cliches, was a little hard to take.

Jo has had such a great arc in maturing from shoot-em-up hothead deputy Lupo to the GD head of security, and that’s reflected in her relationship with Carter and with Zane, especially. She’s much more grounded as a person, and it goes a bit cheap that she was the typical tomboy without a mother in the house, having to compete with three brothers, yadda yadda … While it perfectly justifies her history and attitude, and very nicely gives her closure on the Astraeus project, it seemed like something I’ve seen before.

Same with the others. Fargo and Parrish as science fair rivals? Seen it. Lonely misunderstood Zane turns into bad boy Zane? Seen it.

Turn it on its head a bit, “Eureka” writers. Instead of Fargo getting the girl and the mission, let him have one or the other. What choice would he make? And how will his going to Titan affect the “Warehouse 13” crossovers? If there are any more, that is…

It was a fun episode simply because Wallace Shawn is just a fun character actor to watch. And the resolution to the whole Cartison dilemma was an organic and natural outgrowth of his time steeped in Carter’s memories. But hold on. If the neural recorder just transferred memories that could be undone by Grace’s thingamajig, why would emotions carry over in the first place? Getting a bit wonky with the science, there.

But then, this is “Eureka”.

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