(Good thing I’m hypercautious and copy my text before posting!)
Even if we don’t discuss anything else about this episode, I had to post to say,
Hahahahah, I had to pause the TiVo to ROTFL!
Seriously, though, I thought this episode was pretty great - I loved the expansion of Allison’s character, and Salli Richardson-Whitfield really brought home the worried/hopeful/desperate/guilty mother for me. Seeing her see Kevin as a normal kid in his dream was heartbreaking. And why did she lie to Stark about the end of the dream?
The plot was pretty good; if not for the Law of Conservation of Characters, it would have been a really excellent puzzle.
Oh, and regarding the love triangle, I thought it was funny that both men seemed to accept that Stark had “won” the water heater issue. Except both missed the fact that Allison invited Carter over to her house to “fix the water heater,” which she knew full well he had no prayer of helping her with. I don’t blame her - Colin Ferguson can come fix my water heater anytime.
And to the Water Heater question - Carter invited himself over to fix the water heater, Allison started to tell him he wouldn’t be able to, and then thought better of it. (Meaning I think she didnt want to tell him that it would take a ‘really smart person’ to fix it.)
It will be interesting to see if the characters “remember” the events of this episode later in the season. There was really too much s**t stirred up for it all to be believably forgotten by next week.
It won’t be forgotten. They talked about the arc at Comic-Con this year, and they seemed to have everything pretty well in hand for character development.
Another thing I liked about this episode was the fact that Henry didn’t ride up and save the day. He did a little analysis and that was it. He was getting over-used as the deus ex machina. Let somebody else save the day every once in awhile.
I don’t know. Most of it didn’t seem like the sort of thing that would have much lasting impact on the main characters. There was a lot of fuss and wrangling, but most of it could be shrugged off as “just a dream” once everyone calms down. Maybe not forgotten, but at least forgiven, once any real-world repercussions are sorted out. (Were Zoe and the other girl actually suspended, or did they just dream they were? If so, it had to be on the basis of the teacher’s dream, since neither student should have been a projector, right?)
Some of it could come back to bite them later, though. I think the big one is that Carter remembered the scene in Henry’s garage where he got zapped. Henry was apparently not one of the projectors, and no one else was there, so that scene had to come from Carter. That may mean his memory of events related to the alternate-timeline is not completely gone.
I was refering more to the revelations of the dreams than to the influence of the artifact. There would have been a lot of hidden thoughts and desires revealed that the average community wouldn’t just forget.
But then, the whole issue of the psychologist (Beverly) getting on the radio and spilling everyone’s issues last season just went away.
He hasn’t been quite as pivotal in the last two episodes, which I agree is a healthy trend. In the previous episode, the solution was Carter’s inspiration, implemented chiefly by the two girls. Henry condensed Carter’s handwaving into a goal, and he set up the interface between Sarah and the gadget, but he didn’t build a magic-save-us-device or anything. His role in the fix could have been divided between Allison (understanding Carter-speak) and the telescope guy (setting up the interface).
I wouldn’t say it went away. Allison, in particular, remained very bitter toward Beverly, although she seemed to ease up slightly after a while. We also don’t see as many scenes of her in session with people after that, possibly an indication that she lost a lot of people’s trust. We also don’t know just how many or what kind of beans she spilled before she was stopped–it may be that most of it was somewhat embarrassing, but not the sort of thing that would make it impossible for people to work together. Some of it might even have helped, in a backhanded sort of way. For the most part, though, I think people were trying to pretend it never happened.
I’m really fuzzy on the whole acetylcholine thing, and unfortunately didn’t record the episode. Can anyone explain how that worked? Not the part about flushing it out (I doubt anybody can explain that), or how there was an acetylcholine meter sitting around. Just why the levels were so elevated.
Presumably something in the process the network was imposing on the projectors’ nervous systems triggered increased production, or suppressed production of acetylcholinesterase, an enzyme that breaks down acetylcholine. This is the handwaving pseudoscience part–I would guess this was supposed to be because the process was forcing an excess of neural activity on the subjects, and their nervous systems were trying to compensate for the extra load.
Acetylcholine is a neurotransmitter. It has varied effects, depending on which receptors it’s interacting with–it induces contraction in skeletal muscle tissue, reduces contraction in cardiac muscle, and triggers increased activity in the central nervous system and glandular system. Some of the same receptors are also sensitive to nicotine, so some of the symptoms of elevated acetylcholine levels might resemble the effects of nicotine. Other acetylcholine receptors are sensitive to a compound found in deadly nightshade–again, an excess of acetylcholine might mimic some of the symptoms of a dose of nightshade.
As for why this would be a problem…well, sarin and VX nerve gas work by inhibiting acetylcholinesterase. Suffocation–like the truck driver suffered–results from an inability to relax the diaphragm.
I’ve finally figured out why I like Eureka so much. It delivers on the thing that attracted me to SF in the first place – the sense that ANYTHING might happen from episode to episode. It’s essentially a town full of mad scientists seen from the perspective of Sheriff Andy of Mayberry. The goofy intro captures the spirit of the series very well, I think.
The thing is, because the show hasn’t focussed on any particular kind of mad scientist or invention, it has amazing potential. Although the characters and setting are fixed, the kinds of problems the characters face each week are literally unlimited in variety and scope.
I’m hoping the writers don’t get too locked into Doom of the Week inventions from the Semi-Evil Govt. Lab each week. An invention doesn’t need to promise worldwide or citywide destruction, or even be particularly harmful, to be interesting. I hope the writers will balance the dramatic with the whimsical as the series continues.
Painkiller Jane has been cancelled. There was a time when, given a choice between cancelling Eureka and Painkiller Jane, the suits at SciFi Channel would inevitably have cancelled Eureka. Looks like somebody at the SciFi Channel is learning – or has been replaced.
I’m a little confused. I saw the episode, and I follow Eureka closely, but did I miss something? I don’t understand where the humor was in that. Color me whooshed.
I guess the perceived humor might be derived from “poached eggs and sausage” suggesting testicles and a penis. The fact that it was spoken by a computer with the voice of Fargo trying to sound like a girl makes it creepier. (Why the Hell don’t they fix that voice?)
I managed to screw up taping it Monday; my tape cut off close to the end, as Carter was getting into the decontamination chamber that filled with fluid. I take it the procedure worked? (Though it’s a little hard to believe you could flush all the acetylcholine out of a person that way.)
I enjoy the show for the characters, and yet it irritates me. Sometimes I wish it were written by an actual science fiction writer. Sometimes they use big, scientific-sounding words while clearly not knowing what the Hell they’re talking about. (For instance, for the Science Fair episode, somebody really should have at least gone to Wikipedia to check out “geosynchronous orbit” and “reentry”.)
I’m also starting to think the U.S. Government, in the fictional world of the show, is incredibly evil for sitting on the technology in that town. Stark casually mentioned that the water heater is a “fusion water heater”. Does that mean that the scientists in Eureka have cracked the fusion power problem? If so, it would be really nice if they’d share it with the world, since it would solve the vast array of problems associated with our civilization being powered by fossil fuels. Just a thought.
I hope to catch it later in the week. I’ll make an effort, it sounds like it’s worth it.