Eureka: Crossing Over

...in which Claudia Donovan arrives from Warehouse 13, just as objects from the past begin materializing all over town.

So, after several weeks primarily spent exploring the emotional and psychological fallout from the timeline changes, this week we largely focused on some unexpected physical side effects of time travel. It turns out that when Grant hitched a ride to the future, exotic particles began building up in his system in response to him being out of his proper time. Then, after he and Henry reconstructed the core of the bridge device and briefly activated it as part of their ongoing wormhole research, the exotic particle development accelerated and began tearing Grant apart at a molecular level. Moreover, it turned him into magnet, drawing objects from 1947 to 2010, threatening to collapse the past and the present and presumably annihilate the universe. Fortunately, Allison and Henry were able to safely purge the exotic particles from Grant’s system, saving his life and, once again, averting catastrophe. The only hitch is that, now, Grant is permanently bound to this time.

This was a pretty intriguing disaster, and I loved that it was a direct consequence of the time travel debacle, as well as Grant and Henry’s attempt to repurpose the bridge device. It’s too bad their wormhole research went so horribly awry that Grant and Fargo subsequently decided to mothball the bridge device in Warehouse 13. I’m going to miss Grant and Henry conducting experiments in his garage. They have a nice dynamic, and the research gave Grant a sense of purpose. Now that he’s lost his project and has accepted that this time and place is truly his home now, I suspect he’s going to really double down on his efforts to woo Allison. Sigh. As charming as Grant is, do we really need yet another roadblock for Allison and Carter? I know Carter is highly entertaining in snippy, jealous mode, but we’ve been doing this a long time now. It is clear that they are meant to be together --- remember “There’s no time, no space, no way that we don’t end up together”? That was Season 1! --- so let’s just get to it already. Enough with the unresolved sexual tension. Hopefully, Carter will take Jo’s advice and get off his ass and do something about Grant making a play for the woman he loves. Fingers crossed!

On the emotional fallout front, Grace’s return from her conference escalated the pressure on Henry to come clean with her about what’s changed. I really do not envy Henry his current situation. He’s falling hard for Grace and wants to pursue a relationship with her, but he knows he’s not the man she married and he can’t, in good conscience, become intimately involved with her while only pretending to be the husband she thinks he is. But how can he tell her the truth? It would violate the agreement made by the Eureka Six and put them all at risk of being discovered and “sanctioned.” Moreover, revealing the truth could leave her “stuck holding onto a past with a me that no longer exists” and destroy any chance he has of building a future with her. Grace just wants her partner and her husband back. How is she going to feel if she learns that man is gone forever? It’s quite the pickle. I think Henry has to tell Grace the truth, even though he might lose her if he does. He has learned all too well the cost of lying to your friends and loved ones, and I firmly believe he recognizes that if you don’t have honesty in a relationship, you have nothing. He can’t truly build a future with Grace based on such an enormous lie, and he knows that.

In other developments, we got a funny, small moment between Jo and Zane, which featured the return of Military Ma’am and his accusations that she’s passive-aggressive. This, in turn, led to a really nice moment between new roomies, Jo and Carter.

Jo (wistful): “I catch these glimpses of who we used to be. And then they’re gone. [Pauses.] Are we having girl talk?”
Carter: “Nooo. We’re having guy talk.”

I’m so happy that Carter and Jo becoming professional equals has really allowed us to explore the friendship between them. I’m starting to think that even the weakest episode can be redeemed by a real moment of pathos and humor between those two. Great stuff.

Where ‘Crossing Over’ really fell down for me was the appearance of Claudia Donovan from Warehouse 13. I adore Claudia, and thought the idea of her crossing over to Eureka was chock full of potential. She’s a technology wizard and well accustomed to all manner of freaky business, so she seemed like a natural fit for this town. Unfortunately, instead of Claudia getting to really shine when disaster struck, she got to discover a missing tree ring and have a few brief moments as Carter’s snarky sidekick, before being shuffled off to a minefield to play romantic foil for Fargo. As noted in my season overview, I found the Claudia and Fargo flirtation nauseating. His nervous fawning was way over the top, and the whole thing was generally just very awkward and uncomfortable. At least I got some laughs out of her greeting Carter, Zane, and Jo with “Whassup, bitches?” and her later wishing for something really freaky to happen. Overall, I just wish they’d focused more on Claudia as a smart and capable young woman, instead of as a hot, geeky chick for Fargo to drool over.

Other Thoughts

I did enjoy the way the title worked on several levels. I’m always a sucker for a clever title.

Nice to see Carter confiding in Henry about kissing Allison and his frustration with Dr. Old Spice hitting on her, and Henry venting about his dilemma with Grace. I’m so glad those two are just friends again, without all the angry, bitter, mind-wiping subtext.

Claudia: “Jo, right? Doug said you were a major babe who kicks major ass.”
Jo (unimpressed): “Did he?”

Henry has asthma?

Henry: “Excited?”
Grant: “A little nervous. I know I can’t use the bridge to go back, but there’s something poetic about using a relic from the past to explore the future.”

Claudia: “But this is Eureka, right? I was kind of hoping to see something insanely weird.”

I really enjoyed some of the musical touches this week. Grant rocking out to ‘Car Wash’ and playing the piano was nice. And I enjoyed the ‘40s music when Henry and Grace were working on the car, then dancing at the end.

Fargo (re: Claudia): “She’s awesome, isn’t she?”
Carter: “A little shy though. Needs to come out of her shell.”

Loved Grant’s various reactions to Allison’s nanobots and their negative reinforcement programming. I got quite the chuckle out of his initial hope that the bots scrubbing his system meant he could just keep smoking, as well as him later deciding he needed a cigarette so badly that whatever pain the bots inflicted was worth it.

Between Fargo, Grant, and Grace there was all kinds of none-too-subtle flirting going on in this episode.

Grant: “Call me old-fashioned, but I prefer to eat my food, not drink it. Hey, Vinnie! Can I get a steak, potatoes, eggs, butter, two fingers of Scotch?”
Vincent: “A man’s order, if ever there was one.”

I happened to catch the subtitle on Military Ma’am this time: “Girls Just Wanna Have Gun!” Hilarious!

Grant: “I think it could be a quantum chromo dynamic confinement anomaly.”
Carter: “See, you’re just stringing words together!”

Claudia: “I do inventory, not bomb disposal!”
Fargo: “What do you think my job is? The Hurt Locker?”

Grant: “Looks like I picked the wrong day to quit smoking.”

Final Analysis: Not as strong as the last several episodes, but still several good character moments and a nice continuation of the season arc. I just wish Claudia had been used better.

Screen cap credit: rawr-caps

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

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