'Eureka' - Welcome Back Carter

This review may contain spoilers.

As we traipse down the yellow brick road, while hearing the tinkling sounds of the whistling melody, we are welcomed back into the cheery world of Eureka. The air is clear, the mood upbeat and everyone is bustling busily with activity. All is right in Eureka -- except one thing: Carter has been fired as town sheriff. Not one to sit in despair, Carter quickly lands another promising job with the Department of Homeland Security and we meet Sheriff Andy, the robot-drone sent to replace him. Sheriff Andy is quite literally a sheriff-in-a-box and quickly ends up a butt of jokes with such noms de jure as Robo-Cop and Tin-Man.

But, as Eureka quickly finds, Carter is irreplaceable for when faced with certain death, Sheriff Andy declines to take the risk. Apparently, his programming permits him to refuse to accept any responsibility that puts him at personal risk. Yet, that is the very essence of being sheriff in Eureka: to put yourself in peril in order to protect the residents of Eureka. This is something Carter understands innately.

In “Welcome Back Carter,” we are cutely distracted by the mystery puzzle of the week regarding some nasty gravity-wells and torpedoing pinecones, but the true moral of the story is: what does it take to be a sheriff of Eureka? Comparatively, both Carter and Andy are tall, handsome, and smiling charmingly, but Andy vastly surpasses Carter in intellect, physical prowess, and durability -- for, as demonstrated, Andy can be squashed like a bug and still walk away from it. But Jack’s intuition and understanding of human nature is what sets him apart from his metal counterpart. With the first falling tree Jack sensed that there was a bit more than random oddities targeting Eureka and, despite pressure to stay away from investigating the cause of the random acts of gravity, he pursued the truth to find the true culprit -- even if it meant it was someone under his own roof.

The whole adventure was a bit like pulling back the curtain in the Wizard of Oz and finding not a magnificent magician, but merely an old man pulling the levers. For what do you do when you realize the all-knowing Oz is but a faulty bit of computer programming? Whether it was the revelation that Sheriff Andy was too afraid to put himself in harm’s way or Sarah’s petty revenge plot to insure Carter and Zoe could not leave, it is disturbing to see how mere machines had adapted human personas and were acting on their own perceived human emotions.

And, in the end, it could be said that “all’s well and end’s well,” but can that be true after revealing that machines have feelings too?

What Worked

It was great to see the whole gang of familiar faces greeting us after such a long hiatus: Jack was dancing around Allison like a butterfly not sure where to land; Allison was glowing from her pregnancy and indulging in the pregnancy perks; Zoe was bemoaning about having to leave Eureka; Henry was fiddling with some kind of gadgetry to escape his political duties; Jo was gloating over the thought of attaining her life-long dream of being sheriff; Fargo was being Fargo; and Vincent was whipping up delectable treats in the Café Diem kitchen. The inherent charm of these adorable characters always warms my heart and it felt good to be sharing my summer with them again.

Having survived the past two season’s walk on the wild side with Henry being the dark villain and the tragic loss of Nathan Stark, it was nice to see the show return to is positive and glowing roots. “Eureka” was always at its best when it embraced its happy-go-lucky spirit with an under-current of evil lurking on the fringe. Plus, it was the perfect way to peak our interest at the end with the line: “There’s something out there and it’s heading straight for us.”

What Didn't Work

One of the stronger relationships on the show has surprisingly turned out to be Jo and Zane, and thus to not showcase them seemed to be a glaring omission. Additionally, Jo’s character seemed toned-down as it seemed out of character for her to be so complacent in the face of such a dire circumstances. Where was her “I’ll grab my guns and be right there” attitude? To see her relegated to a two-dimensional side-kick is beneath the character and needs to be remedied immediately.

Giving Credit Where Credit Is Due

"Welcome Back Carter" was written by Bruce Miller and directed by Matthew Diamond. “Eureka" stars Colin Ferguson, Salli Richardson-Whitfield, Joe Morton, Jordan Hinson, Erica Cerra, Neil Grayston, Chris Gauthier, and Ever Carradine. "Eureka" airs Fridays on Syfy.

I have seen it,was ok but nothing to write home about.Perhaps it took sooo long for them to bring it back. GTO

	Author	Topic: 'Eureka' - Welcome Back Carter (Read 87 times)
0 Members and 2 Guests are viewing this topic.