Last night ’s Eureka found the Astraeus crew struggling to readjust , after finally escaping the evil computer pretence . While our Italian sandwich tried to reconcile fable with world , our hanging of disbelief in turn was under threat , thanks to a twain of confutable special core .
Spoilers onward …
“ Friendly Fire ” picks up shortly after the Astraeus crew gets freed from Beverly Barlowe and the Consortium ’s virtual reality version of Eureka . For Allison , Grace , Zane , and Carter , that means trying to draw a blank the unpleasant versions of Jo and Henry they encountered there , all while try on their damned to avoid telling Henry and Jo what they saw . Meanwhile , Fargo is devastated by the dying of Holly , and so he tries out an experimental eyepatch to speed his way through the stages of grief in record time … with predictable effect .
Amidst this relationship drama , some of Dr. Parrish ’s observational fire stoppers — and starters ! — get laid as Fireflies escape from the laboratory , and anything with a power source is now in danger of turning into a blazing nether region . While one is recaptured easily enough , the other keep proceed haywire whenever it ’s around certain townspeople – something that Henry in the end traces to a mysterious side effect of spending time in the estimator pretence .
The main problem with “ Friendly Fire ” is its limited effects , which are decidedly flimsy . I ’m a minute surprised , really , because Eureka is generally jolly good at contort the most out of its canonic cable particular impression budget , often making a little go a very long agency . candidly , I ’m struggling to remember the last time I had this reaction to a special result on the show , and that ’s part why it ’s so baffling for me . To its credit , the show has gotten very dependable at ripping muddle in the universe , and it even take out off that practical flying lizard to my satisfactio , but that deft touch regrettably does n’t extend to the Fireflies .
A expectant part of the problem , I imagine , is the Fireflies — not to mention the apparently CGI fire — have to interact a lot with the cast , and the episode ’s direction is n’t really capable to hide which are the normal , more cinematic shot and which shots are clearly contrive around the CGI . I do n’t really think the Fireflies as written can work on on Eureka ’s budget — I ’m not sure how you could have done this sequence while attempt to somehow shoot around the Fireflies .
I should be careful here , as it ’s not the special effects in and of themselves that I have a problem with . After all , I ’ve spell extensively aboutmy love for classic Doctor Who , and that show had the dodgiest special effects in television story ( well , assuming you ’ve never pick up of Blake ’s 7 ) . I ’m willing to forgive unlikely exceptional core if it ’s in serve of good , ambitious storytelling , and if it ’s reset the show ’s budget would n’t allow for anything better . But since Eureka routinely pulls off special effects much better than this , it ’s hard for me to get preceding .
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Also , aboveboard , “ Friendly Fire ” does n’t do all that well on the other half of that equation , as the sequence never really cohere into a properly compelling story . The Fireflies plot is pretty much your bog standard Eureka runaround , lack any of the small flairs that might make it brook out — even Carter ’s one - liners seem relatively muted this meter around , his hatred of the word “ theoretically ” notwithstanding . Coming off the virtual reality arc ’s mild experiment with the format , this installment find all a moment too ordinary . The show is fundamentally taking a breathing place and resetting after the craziness of the last few episodes , and I frankly care they had just barrel ahead with wherever the show is manoeuver next .
To be fair , the installment also spend a becoming amount of time screen out through the excited side effect of the Astraeus gang ’s time in the simulated Eureka . Returning to real life after being baffle in a gently hellish practical realism is n’t a peculiarly relateable situation , and the author can be forgiven for fumbling a bit as Grace and Allison seek to articulate just on the dot what is so difficult about readjusting to literal life .
Most of this b - news report revolves around how various people experience about Jo — Allison ca n’t quite blank out how the practical Jo took over her kinsperson roles , while Zane and Carter are really not fledged enough to screen out out whether Jack actually has feelings for Jo or not . Based on everything we ’ve seen between Jo and Carter for four season , the result to that last question seems like it really has to be a resounding “ no ” , whatever Beverly Barlowe ’s algorithms might have presage . As such , I ’m not totally sure where that whole subplot was going , particularly since the end of the instalment seems to defuse any luck of an actual love life quadrilateral boot in ( not that I ’m complaining ) . At least Allison ’s interior conflict about Jo is resolved in a way that ties back in with the Fireflies plot – saving a person ’s girl from a blaze away house firing does seem like a good agency to win back their sympathy .
Honestly , the chronicle I was most concerned in here was Grace ’s , which probably got the least attention of the bunch . Her position — in which the virtual Henry tried to kill her , and the she had to more or less kill him — is wondrous mad , and there ’s some nice ambiguity about just why she ca n’t endure to be around Henry . Is it that she feel shamed for kill him , as she says , or is some irrational part of her that ca n’t separate the Henry in front of her from the AI monster that tried to wipe out her ?
There ’s a gracious , quick little moment where Henry asks Grace what she ’s so busy with , and it resound the scenes from premature installment in which virtual Henry tried to distract her from prying into the Astraeus data . While a set of the other characters ’ stories felt like perfunctory soap opera — at the end of the day , these theatrical role are too mature and their relationships too substantial for a computer pretending to tear them apart — Grace and Henry ’s story presented some legitimately intriguing question about just how Grace could hope to move on from such a traumatic experience , specially when Henry is there as a constant admonisher of what come about in the model .
at long last , there ’s Fargo . The opening and closing scenes in which he grieve for Holly are very nice minute , peculiarly the final scene he apportion with Wil Wheaton ’s Dr. Parrish . It ’s a dainty here and now of detente for the two lineament , especially since Parrish never quite stops being a dun asshole , and yet he ’s also there to extend Fargo some much needed help through is heartbreak , thoroughgoing with a bit of theatrical role - playing ( and no , I do n’t see how that could possibly be misinterpreted ) . The quietus of the installment with the heartbreak acceleration piece apply Fargo some of his silliest comic relief in a good farseeing while . Though a lot of it is funny , I ’ll admit I would have prefer to see his heartbreak take a scrap more seriously throughout . Still , it ’s Fargo we ’re talking about here . Maybe I should n’t bicker on this one .
I would n’t call this sequence a wasted hour — especially since this was bring forth long before the cancellation order come in — but I would have liked to have seen something more ambitious , either by kicking off another bow or going all in with the scifi foolery — for those who saw the “ Next Time ” promo , next Monday ’s sequence looks like just the variety of matter I ’m talking about . The Fireflies stuff is n’t bad , but it is forgettable . For those who enjoy Eureka more as just comfort food for thought television , that is n’t so terrible , but the last few episodes have gotten me used to expecting a morsel more . Here ’s hoping for a comeback to form next week after this minor misstep .
Television
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