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Eureka: All That Glitters

... in which ordinary metal begins turning into gold, just as a familiar face returns.

Well, this episode sure injected some major momentum into the series-long Artifact arc. At this point, I’m not really sure how I feel about Beverly’s return, what we learned, and where it’s all headed. I’ve got more questions than answers right now, and mostly I just want to dive right into Part 2 to start making some better sense of it all.

For starters, what the hell is going on with Beverly? The last time we saw her, she was running off with multiple passports and a gun for a “debriefing” because Allison cleared Henry to work at GD. How did she end up in DoD custody at Guantanamo Bay? Why did they have reason to suspect she knew anything about the Artifact? Did her contact betray her? Did she expect this to happen? Is that why she left the recalibration device for Henry?

At this point, it seems that she and the Consortium are trying to prevent the masses from having access to the Akashic Field because we, the people, aren’t ready to handle the collective knowledge of the universe. She’s probably right on that point. As the saying goes, power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely. She’s probably also right that Henry, given all his resentment towards “the machine” for turning noble ideas into weapons, would be the one person in Eureka who would understand why she’d try to prevent anyone from gaining access to the field.

But she’s dead wrong if she thinks Henry is going to kill or kidnap Kevin to protect her obligations. I just don’t believe he’d do that; not if there was a way to safely separate Kevin from the field. Unfortunately, she seems to be asking Henry to do just that, and I don’t really understand why. She already noted that the field’s energy would likely kill Kevin, like it did Carl Carlson. So why not just wait for that to happen if she wants him dead? If she just wants his access cut off, why not help Stark in his efforts to separate Kevin from the field? She knows that’s what Stark is trying to do, but didn’t seem terribly interested in helping him accomplish this goal. Why not? Is she afraid that Kevin will be able to re-access the field in the future and thus continue to present a potential threat if allowed to live? Or do she and the Consortium want his unique abilities for themselves? Maybe, in her mind, the masses aren’t ready for the responsibility of controlling the knowledge in the field, but she and her cohorts are. Sigh. Hopefully, we’ll get a bit more clarity in Part 2.

As for the rest of the episode, happy as I was to see Michael Shanks, I didn’t really find the Alchemist’s Curse disaster-of-the-week all that compelling. While I appreciate the thematic continuity between the two main stories --- “The crime of trying to control nature; the age-old struggle between man and God” --- and think the curse (ahem, security algorithm) was a pretty cool idea, this latest threat to the town wasn’t nearly as intriguing as what was going on in Stark’s lab. I kept wishing they’d stop spending so much time on Zoe, her boyfriend, and metal fatigue and get back to the real meat of the story. That said, I did enjoy the mini pissing contest between old rivals, Stark and Christopher. Oh, to see a real showdown between these two someday!

Other Thoughts

I could not have cared less about Zoe’s party plans --- why the hell she thought Carter would ever agree to let her have a sleepover party with boys and no adult supervision is a real head scratcher (has she met her dad?) --- but I liked that it gave Big Sister Jo a chance to come to the rescue for both Zoe and Carter.

Yeah, I’m still not feeling the Carter-Callie thing.

Zoe: “This is the most humiliating thing you’ve ever done to me.”
Carter: “Well, give me time. I’m sure I’ll top it.”

Henry: “Nathan, I can help you.”
Nathan: “No. You can’t.”
Why the hell not?!!!

This is the point that I truly can’t wrap my brain around. If Stark isn’t some future version of himself that has a damn good reason for not trusting Henry, I don’t understand why he can’t let Henry help him with Kevin. (And, so far, my crazy speculations about the Consortium being lead by future versions of Henry or Stark don’t appear to be true.) Does he think if Henry knew, he would want to exploit Kevin’s knowledge and power, even if it meant risking his life? He can’t possibly think that. Henry would not risk the life of his friend’s son. Not after losing Kim.

You know, it just occurred to me that even if Stark doesn’t have future knowledge, Henry most certainly does. His consciousness jumped back from a point four years in the future to save Kim, yes? So why doesn’t he remember how all this played out before? Even if the flow of events have changed relative to his original timeline, Beverly sabotaging Kim’s computer and Kevin tapping into the Akashic Field should have been the same. Those events occurred or were set into motion prior to his consciousness changing, right? So why does he not seem to remember these key bits of information? Did he not find out about Kevin and Beverly the last time he lived through these few months? Argh. The possibilities and confusion stemming from time traveling consciousnesses make my head hurt.

Jo and Zane making out in the closet was really funny.

Given that Stark thinks the cure for the curse might also be the key to finding a cure for Kevin, I wonder if that’s the reason why Kevin was so insistent on getting that formula to Stark.

If Henry didn’t tell Stark about the bacteria mutation does that mean it isn’t real? Does he just want them all to think there’s an external threat to delay any efforts to save Allison and Kevin?

I liked the different music over the end credits. Very ominous.

Final Analysis: An intriguing episode to kick off the season finale. The Alchemist’s Curse plot didn’t do much for me, but things are really kicking into high gear with the series arc.

Jess Lynde is a highly engaged television viewer. Probably a bit too engaged.

6 comments:

  1. One of the reasons I like Eureka is that it's complex enough to lend itself to analysis like yours, Jess. When I first started watching it a few months ago, I zipped through the whole thing. Your reviews are so good that you're making me want to rewatch the series.

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  2. Thanks so much, Billie. To borrow one of your phrases, what a lovely comment! I really appreciate it, and am glad you are enjoying the reviews.

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  3. You're so welcome, Jess. You know as well as I do that a review is work, and retro reviews are just as much work but don't tend to get as many comments as current reviews. And I've been feeling guilty that I can't make more substantive comments about your retro Eureka reviews because I zipped through the series so quickly and have only seen it once. But I'm definitely reading and enjoying every review as they're posted, and I know I'm not the only one.

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  4. I totally understand that it's harder to comment when the material isn't very fresh in one's mind. Or when the review poses a bunch of questions and you already know how things turn out!

    I'm hoping when we start covering new episodes this summer, and everyone's viewing at the same rate, that we'll get some more comments and discussion.

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  5. "we'll get some more comments and discussion."

    I'm only good for lake-related trivia, unfortunately. Nice review though!

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  6. This is more to address the "why doesn't Henry know about this stuff?" Part of it is the timeline is different. In the "2010" timeline Henry maneuvered himself into becoming the head of GD while pushing Stark out. Figure as head of GD he likely took multiple steps that prevented some of the disasters we've scene (while possibly precipitating others). Also he took possession of the surviving piece of the Artifact for his time travel. It's possible that by doing that he prevented both the Phoenix deaths and Kevin's connection to the Artifact somehow.

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