Ya know, I really like Eureka. The writers have created a wonderful little world, full of great characters. And while the stories often lack the weight of their more serious sci-fi peers, they make up for all of that by being incredibly fun. Because of that, I kind of want to give them a pass on this latest bit of “product integration.” But come on, it’s a little much, right? We’ll get to that in a bit. When it wasn’t pimping Subaru WRXs, “If You Build It” also brought a swift end to the mystery of The Signal, complete with zombies, kind of….
So, product integration first. I heard about this a while back through following along with the various Eureka twitter accounts. I was suspicious, but willing to give it a look. And when the car first popped up tonight, I was on board. This made so much more sense than the silly Degree mess. After all, Jo has to have wheels, right? Even better, a Subaru WRX does make perfect sense for the town of Eureka. Unfortunately, they didn’t stop at that.
There are two things that really set off the alarm bells for me, where product integration is concerned. First, and worst, is jamming commercials into the writing. Things like Tabatha commenting, “The Subaru Impreza WRX is an excellent choice.” and Jo running down the performance stats. Sorry, I’m not buying that any of that was the first choice of a writer. Second is the change of direction that finds the camera focused in on the Subaru logo. We’ll notice. Don’t hit us in the face with it. Granted, this wasn’t completely out of hand. But I do believe there is a slippery slope. And if viewers don’t call bullshit on this now, there’s no telling how far it will go, to the detriment of the programs we enjoy.
That out of the way, how ’bout The Signal? Let’s all pause and give a pat on the back to Rose and Gordon, who both called that it was ours, from the past, in the comments last week. Something alien might have been fun, but I don’t think Eureka is ready to go there. I’m happy that they gave up the answer so soon. That answer does completely change the vibe of the show. The signal from something unknown was rather frightening. Now that we know, it’s not so much frightening as curious. Still very interested to hear more.
Getting to that answer was a bit hit and miss. If I was rating the two stories that led us there, I’d give Village Of The Damned Geniuses a B, and Christine, PhD a C. The strange zombie army building “something” was really cool. But I did think it was a little slow with Carter figuring out that the smart asphalt was involved. That was probably the simplest mystery Eureka has thrown at us. It was also a bit jarring that now, all of a sudden, Carter is just part of the team and seemed to be caught up on everything. Just last week he didn’t rate being included. A bit sloppy with the continuity there.
Fargo and Larry, just didn’t really work that well for me. Perhaps part of that was residual annoyance at the Subaru commercials, but I think it could also be that a little Fargo, and a little less Larry, goes a long way. Fargo also had the misfortune of being included in that Verizon spot in the middle of the show. What the hell was that thing anyway? A random clip from later in the episode? At least try. Las Vegas did the same thing, but they used those spots to summarize the first half of the show.
All things considered, it was an okay episode. What are you gonna do? They can’t all be gems. The product integration bothers me, and I’m left worried about where it’s going to go next. On the positive side, it’s still Eureka. It still has all of our favorite characters (except Tag!), and I’m still really curious to see what the story behind the ship is.
Clacked by Brett Love 
on Aug 08, 2009 @ 10:24 EST5EDT
couple of things about this episode … 1. I am glad that I was right … aliens would have been a bad direction to go (the previews make it look like the ship is carrying Henry’s dead asian girlfriend (or a version of her) though I might be mistaken.
As for the Subaru stuff. Eureka is a difficult show to write products into because they don’t go to a starbucks or shop at target, etc …
Since the town is so unique, there are very few things they can do … and everytime they will do this it will seem a bit jarring to the viewer.
In this case though, I didn’t mind how Jo was talking up the car as I have friends who do that. As for Fargo … he idolizes Jo so it makes sense that he gets one too.
As for the car getting all Christine on Fargo … makes sense since Fargo has admitted before that he is socially awkward and with Jo associating it with being a girlfriend it all fits together.
As you said, not every episode can be perfect, but I still thought that this episode was fun … and I really love this show so I am willing to give them some slack … especially since these episodes almost didn’t happen.
Better “product integration” than another long, annoying commercial that interrupts the story line. I can only go to the head so often during an episode.
I will say that the Subaru insert was much easier to digest than the Degree inserts during the first half of the season. Those were uncomfortable.
Ooh, a pat on the back! Thanks! ;)
Though to be fair, isn’t everything that happens in Eureka a result of one of their own experiments? Ryan’s idea of astronauts from the future (in the comments last week) was MUCH cooler.
I hope the Eureka writers have something good in store for us. The show is treading water in my opinion. I would love to see the people of Eureka fight a real bad guy of some sort though I’m not holding my breath.
The product placement didn’t bother me too much. It fit well with the story of Tabitha, which I thought was pretty funny. The story of Tabitha also was very much in character with Fargo. So, overall, none of it bothered me. Product placement has been around forever. In this case, it was pretty blatant, but I almost prefer that to it being more obscure.
If it keeps the show on the air and they do a good job of integrating it into the show and within realistic aspects of the characters and plot…ok by me.
Looking forward to seeing more about the ‘signal’ and what the ship was and is.
The Tabitha story line was similar to when SARAH held the group hostage because she did not want Carter to leave.
I actually liked the Tabitha story a lot more than the Signal zombies. The audience all knew where that was going and how it would end, but had to wait all episode for our heroes to catch up with them. It really seemed to drag.
Jo rattling off her interceptor’s specs to its admirers was very true to life, though incomprehensible to me. I would have preferred it if she were selling us a smart phone or firearm.
Henry wiping the carbon residue off his ship’s American flag emblem reminded me of nothing so much as Captain Kirk and V’GER.
*POST AUTHOR*
You do make a great point about the smart phone. If the show wants to do product placement, they are missing a huge opportunity with everyone having those fancy little Eureka phones.