Eureka: Welcome Back Carter

By Jeff Nieves

Eureka’s mid-season cliff-hanger left off with Jack Carter being redacted (Eureka-speak for “getting fired”).  In “Welcome Back Carter”, the DOD decides that, rather than promoting Jo Lupo or getting a new sheriff, it’s time Eureka has a Robotic Sheriff, Andy.  This was a bit disappointing, as it was such an obvious way to go.  Also, Eureka already had another, far more interesting, robot episode.

That being said, obvious as it was, this ep wasn’t terrible (just not quite satisfying).  When objects such as trees and satellite dishes start flattening for no apparent reason, Carter investigates, even though his job no longer requires it. He spends most of the episode proving how a robot could never truly do his job, and how important he is to the town.

It also turns out that S.A.R.A.H. has been feeding a Eureka scientist ideas, via online dating, and helped him create a device that controls gravity. S.A.R.A.H.’s now using that device to try and squash Sheriff Andy.

This provided for a few comedic moments but wasn’t my favorite story-line.  It was nice to see them portray Andy, our robot sheriff, with human qualities rather than being a stereotypical cold robot, but he was still a pretty boring character.

They could have played up Sheriff Carter’s angst a little more, and made it more dramatic.  The episode “House Rules” had a similar theme (and outcome), but was far more exciting.  Maybe Carter has to take a janitor job to make sure Zoe can go to Tesla, but what evs.

My real problem with the episode was its lack of sub-plot and side characters.  To me, the charm of Eureka lies not in Sheriff Carter, who is a very solid straight man, but in its side characters.  Here, we got very little Fargo, a bit of Zoe (save for sporadic bursts of teen angst), and just enough Henry to salvage the episode.

Finally, the last moments lead us to believe that the serialized story-line of this arc will involve aliens.

Aliens? Really?

I hope this is a fake out, because, while aliens could easily exist within Eureka’s world, it’s feels kind weak, and a bit to easy.  Here’s hoping that next week shows a return to form.

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Jeff Nieves is an assistant to an indie film producer in NYC and aspires to…err…um…something hopefully. Oh, and he likes TV.

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