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A Town Called |
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Season Overview
Jack Carter - Colin Ferguson Allison Blake - Salli Richardson-Whitfield Zoe Carter - Jordan Hinson Jo Lupo - Erica Cerra Henry Deacon - Joe Morton Nathan Stark - Ed Quinn Douglas Fargo - Neil Grayston Beverly Barlowe - Debrah Farentino Jim Taggart - Matt Frewer 
OTHER SCI FI COMEDIES Season 1 Season 3 Season 4 Season 5 OTHER SCI FI COMEDIES Chuck Red Dwarf Hitch-Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy 3rd Rock From the Sun 
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SEASON OVERVIEWEUREKA is a town housing all the geniuses of America with all the resources that they could possibly want to carry out their research. As a result they are always one step away from blowing up the world and it falls to the perpetually bemused Sheriff Carter to prevent that from happening. Welcome back to EUREKA's second season and it's a case of if it isn't broken don't fix it. The episodes are mainly standalone nonsense stories that allow freedom for the characters to fill out their quirky natures and the comedy that arises is almost solely derived from the characters rather than the situations that they find themselves in. Those situations are often familiar, having been cribbed recognisably from other sources, but the stories aren't the thing that make this show work. That's down to wonderful cast having fun with their wonderful characters. Stand outs this time around are Noche De Suenos for its Zorro fantasy sequence, E=mc...? with all the clever people turning dumb and Maneater with all the ladies getting hot for Sheriff Carter. For the first time, though, there is an underlying story arc that drops hints right throughout the season before coming seriously into play in the final two episodes All That Glitters and A Night In General Dynamics. This is a darker story that fortunately doesn't undermine the fun of the more normal silliness. EUREKA is just about the only sci-fi show running at present that is all about having a laugh and for that reason alone we can't wait for season 3. TopPHOENIX RISINGThere's some fallout to be dealt with following events at the end of Season 1. People are starting to spontaneously combust and there's no telling why or who is going to be next. EUREKA is back and it's good to say that it hasn't changed a bit. It is every bit as goofy, silly, funny, witty and charming as it was the first time around. The characters are as great as they were and the actors have as much fun playing with them. The only thing that's not up to scratch is the plot, but this is the conclusion of the previous story so there is stuff to be dealt with. Even so, our favourite town of geniuses (genii?) is back and we couldn't be happier. TopTRY, TRY AGAINIt's Allison's first day as head of Global Dynamics and things have got off to a shaky start. Fargo found a strange device in his pocket and switched it on. Turns out it doesn't work right and is going to destroy the whole place unless they drop it down a very deep hole and throw a nuclear weapon in after it, which means killing Fargo. Now we're back to normal and this is a fun story that makes the most of the quirky characters and witty writing. There's never any doubt that Fargo will be saved, but it's not always the destination that counts. In EUREKA the journey is often the fun. TopUNPREDICTABLEThe weather's going a bit crazy in Eureka, throwing down giant hailstones, only raining on half the town, snowing only moments after a heatwave. That's the least of Carter's problems, though, as his ex-wife shows up in town and wants to talk about their daughter's future and his deputy demands a promotion, even though that would take his job. Another witty and funny episode, but there are hints of storms on the horizon. Henry wants to continue his dead girlfriend's work and Allison wants him to, even overriding the town's resident psychologist. Henry is also onto her, catching her in a lie. Allison and Nathan seem to be getting on better which has confused Carter when his ex-wife seems to like the new version of her ex-husband a lot more all of a sudden. There is a classic moment when Henry translates the weather-modification expert's gobbledygook down to 'icy funnel of death' for Carter. Moments like this are why we dearly love this show. TopGAMES PEOPLE PLAYCarter is still having problems dealing with Zoe's anger over his and his ex-wife's agreement that she should go back to LA. Suddenly, people start disappearing all over the town. As Carter tries to figure out what is taking them, he starts to wonder if the fault lies in himself. OK, there are shades of the Star Trek Next Generation episode Remember Me in this story and even viewers who haven't seen that will work out what's happening in seconds, but EUREKA isn't about the stories and never has been. It's about the characters and the interplay and there's still more than enough of the witty repartee to go around. Add to that a wonderful moment between Carter, Zoe and their house just before the end credits. TopDUCK, DUCK, GOOSEIt's the day of the school science fair, a day that normally strikes fear into the heart of all sensible adults in Eureka. When a meteor takes out Carter's car and is followed by a zero-g toilet it becomes clear that all the space junk in orbit is about to descend on the town, unless Carter can figure out why. Another silly plot with lots of wonderful moments (Taggart and his geese are an endless source of amusement) and lots of snappy dialogue, but there is even a point to make about the consequences of peer pressure and of early success in life. Fortunately, the message is allowed to play out without being hammered out in any way, shape of form. The fun is the thing and that remains both paramount and in good supply. TopNOCHE DE SUENOSWhen Carter shares his dream about going to work naked (yes, you know the one) with other people it's extremely embarrassing, but when a man dies during a dream shared by several other people it is far more serious. Carter needs to find out what is happening before the town erupts. We love this show at the Sci Fi Freak Site and this is a perfect example of why. The plot's totally stupid, but the dream sequences are absolutely delightful. Carter kissing Allison at last, but under the critical eye of a time and motion expert is a very funny, but even that pales into insignificance against the wonderful Zorro pastiche featuring Deputy Jo, Nathan Stark and Fargo. Pure bliss. Long live EUREKA. TopFAMILY REUNIONRoutine maintenance on the cryogenic units turns up a supposedly empty unit that is occupied - and the occupant is thawing out. It turns out to be Fargo's grandfather and he claims that not only was he pushed into the chamber deliberately and that his life's work was stolen from him. An old, old story gets the EUREKA treatment to become a very ordinary episode with no surprises at all. It ambles along aimiably enough with plenty of the quirky humour that we love in the show, but is the least memorable we've seen. The subplot about Carter's mystery woman is suitably touching. TopE=mc...?An experiment recreating the initial moments of the big bang is running close to blowing up, taking the whole town with it. Unfortunately, every one of the geniuses that might be able to contain the experiment has regressed to extremely low intelligence and the only physicist left is a wild and reckless criminal. Right back on top form, this is an inevitable story (what if the clever people weren't clever?), but it plays out beautifully with lashings of humour and the very entertaining sight of Stark, Henry and Allison acting stupid. It all plays out with the usual quirky nature. TopSIGHT UNSEENChemicals and radioactive materials are going missing all over Eureka, but nobody is seen taking them. This is because the missing ingredients make a potion for invisibility. Carter gets himself exposed to it and unless a cure can be found he's going to be invisible for the rest of his life. Even worse, the rest of his life might be a matter of hours. It was inevitable that we would see an invisibility story sooner or later (no pun intended) and here it is. It's pretty much standard stuff for EUREKA, which means that it's charming, funny and entertaining, but doesn't quite reach the heights that the show is capable of at its very best. TopGOD IS IN THE DETAILSThe small and virtually unattended church of Eureka sees a sudden and radical increase in its congregation when strange a biblical punishments start happening. Zoe is struck dumb, Alison starts to glow like a jellyfish and the water in the aquarium is turned into blood (or something like it). Is God punishing the godless folk of Eureka or is something more human at work? There's an unaccustomed melancholy at the heart of this episode of EUREKA that taps into Henry's ongoing sadness and both humanises the story and dials down on some of the quirkiness that normally informs the show. The solution to the problem is pretty obvious from early on, but then that's nothing new. The running stories of Allison and Nathan's son Kevin and his link to the mysterious Artefact and Henry's determination to see his lover again are heavily hinted at as well. TopMANEATERThe environmental control system of Eureka is going crazy and the man who usually fixes it is nowhere to be found. Carter has also become irresistible to women, something that is amusing at first until the women around him start to go crazy and threaten violence. It's all to do with spores, spores that have just been blasted into the air all over the town. It's a story that isn't exactly original (it's been used in BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER at least twice for a start), but it's always fun when it's done well and it's done well here. The sight of deputy Jo snogging Carter is a laugh and then the almost catfight between Allison and the female biologist (Lex Doig from ANDROMEDA) over the sheriff in front of Stark is really funny. There's plenty of scope for poking fun at the characters and it's only a pity that they didn't find a way to shoehorn a scene with Zoe's reaction to her dad's super attractiveness. That we would have liked to see. TopALL THAT GLITTERSA statue on Main Street turns to gold for no reason that anyone can find. When other things start to transmute as well, the town starts to think of the cash, but when all the metal starts turning to corrosion, everything is in danger of collapsing. There are two stories running in tandem here. The first is the usual EUREKA| nonsense about the transmutation of gold and it has all the quirky charm that we have come to expect from the show. The second is the revealing of what is really going on with Kevin and the artefact and why Beverly sabotaged the experiment that killed Kim and what Henry is going to do about it all. That's darker and more edgy and sets up a season finale as several key staff members are placed in life-threatening danger and sealed off from everyone else. Really good stuff. TopA NIGHT IN GENERAL DYNAMICSAt the end of All That Glitters, Allison and her son Kevin were locked in a panic room with the duplicitous Beverly and the desperate Henry. They want to take him away so that nobody has access to what he knows, to the power of his link with the artefact. Nathan Stark and Sheriff Carter re-enter the General Dynamics building and have to go head to head with the sophisticated defence system in a desperate race to save them. It's the season finale and the show abandons some of its quirky fun nature for a more action and suspense oriented plot. There is a real threat in the security system's attempts to kill Carter and Stark whilst the shady goings on in the panic room are genuinely sinister, not least because Henry is acting seriously out of character. This means that the episode is a lot less harmless fun and a lot more edgy and dangerous than usual. Whilst it's well done, it really doesn't feel like the EUREKA that has charmed us over the past two seasons. We have to hope that when it returns it will revert to the silliness and charm that has beguiled us to this point. Top |
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