Eureka – Section 5? I hate that section!

Continuing to motor along through season three, this week it was time for introductions to some new players, and the reintroduction of an old nemesis, Section 5. One of those players has something to do with the big mystery of the back half of the season. And the tiny little hint we got regarding that mystery would appear to be driving the wedge between Carter and Allison just a little deeper. Also, as a special treat, this week some 14 year-olds were brought in to write jokes about T.I.R.D.s.

So, those new players. First up, is one Tess Fontana (Jaime Ray Newman), who you may recognize as Eliot’s love interest from Leverage‘s “The Two Horse Job.” My first reaction was to think Tess is mainly in Eureka to serve as a distraction so they don’t have to put Carter and Allison together as a couple. Because, for whatever reason, it seems that’s the choice that has been made, despite the fact that we all know they belong together. While I still suspect that will be a big part of her job description, there is more to it than that.

Not only is Tess brilliant, and a little nutty, she also makes her way to Eureka from S.E.T.I. Add that to the conversation we heard between Henry and Allison involving a mysterious signal, and things get a bit curious. It would seem that Section 5 is once again set to cause all manner of havoc in Eureka. That scene, with Carter overhearing the signal conversation, was an excellent use of his invisibility, for lack of a better term to describe someone who has jumped to another dimension and can’t be seen by anyone in the original one… The signal, and the something that is coming, are our big mystery for the back half of the season, and at this point it’s all very intriguing.

We also met Duncan (Jeff Pangman), the father of Lexi’s twins, and presumably the love of her life. With everything going on in the other story, this one was lost on me a bit. From roping Fargo in to be her boyfriend, to being afraid to tell him, it all felt a little tired. The only real surprise was that he walked out and didn’t give an answer. My best guess is that the two of them will end up together, with the big question being whether that is in Eureka or not. Really, I’m OK with them leaving Eureka.

And then there were T.I.R.D.s (Thermal Imaging Reactive Displacement). That name opened the door for some admittedly low-brow jokes, like “My T.I.R.D. meter is going wild!” or “So, that’s a giant T.I.R.D. catcher?” Still, low-brow as it is, I laughed every time. Even if you couldn’t get on board with the T.I.R.D.s, they did serve as the gateway to the science behind a pretty entertaining story. Johnson’s inter-dimensional travel experiment managed to touch on a whole host of interesting subjects, including p-branes, the Casimir effect, fractals, and Hausdorff dimensions. Click the links, reading is fun!

The resulting effects from the combination of Johnson’s device, and the Drech-man’s various T.I.R.D. machinery were pretty entertaining. Along with the flying car, mailbox, and espresso machine, it also forced Carter and Tess to get pretty chummy right away. That does, of course, offer the expected roadblock for Carter/Allison, but also gives Carter an in as he tries to get ahead of whatever is coming with ‘the signal.’ After all, as he pointed out, pickles usually lead to some GD project.

The stage is now set. We have the players, and we know something big is coming. Now it’s time to sit back and watch it all unfold. Even better, the latest word from Comic-Con is that Eureka has been renewed for a fourth season. The network has ordered 22 more episodes, so there is plenty more fun to be had, even after the signal is dealt with.

Clacked by Brett Love
on Jul 25, 2009 @ 19:28 EST5EDT