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'Eureka' - 'A New World' Recap
by Jason Hughes, posted Jul 17th 2010 7:00PM
(S04E01) In the finale of the two-part season opener, we spent some more time exploring this strange new reality created in the events of the last episode. More importantly, we got a definitive answer as to which world our cast of time-tossed heroes would be staying in.As we saw last week, there were both good and bad changes in the lives of Jack, Allison, Fargo, Henry, and Jo. However, upon further exploration the very fact that everything in their world has changed means that these people really have no idea what's going on. They don't know what they've accomplished, what relationships they have with the people around them, and apparently even what conversations they had just prior to their return.
It certainly made for some fun exchanges throughout the hour. As we saw briefly, Dr. Grant also jumped ahead to this altered 2010, and this week we learned more about him.
I was genuinely surprised to find out that Grant had intentionally switched jackets with Jack back in 1947, and that he'd reconfigured the device to ensure he could join the gang on their trip back to 2010. Only, he was going to sacrifice Jack in the past for a glimpse of the future.
Honestly, though, I'm not even sure I could blame the guy. What would you do if given such an opportunity?
As we got deeper into this world, more and more potential for interesting and fun future episodes were established. Allison is apparently the Chief of Medicine at Global Dynamics now, which left room for Fargo to ascend to the position of Director. Even more intriguing, the Fargo that was in this time line must have been a real hardass, as Tess was stunned when he apologized, and everyone is very respectful and submissive around him. I expect plenty of surprised looks as the Fargo we know and love interacts with them, complete with all of his goofy mannerisms.
Tess is back in charge of Section 5, where the temporal device was housed so Henry could continue working on it, and Deputy Jo Lupo is now the Head of Security at Global Dynamics. That left an opening at the Sheriff's office, and one of the more pleasant surprises of the episode.
Sheriff Andy was an android brought in to replace Jack, and I always thought there was a great deal of potential in the character. To see him walk in as Deputy Andy brought a smile to my face. And his potential began to manifest itself immediately when he deduced that Jack was questioning him about the past because he'd jumped back in time to 1947, and was now in an altered time line. Brilliant! Oh, he'll be a lot of help in future cases.
We got a scare when Andy took a lot of hits of lightning in the climax, and I worried for a bit that they were going to destroy him, but it looks like he will in fact be sticking around.
In fact, we'll all be sticking around, for better or for worse. I'm not sure if we'll ever find out how the temporal device got destroyed, but this reality is the reality now, and everyone had better get used to it. It should be interesting seeing Henry try and pretend to be married to a woman he hardly knows, while Jack has to figure out all over again if he and Tess can work as a couple. Only this time, he has to do it while she's moving in and thinks things are going great.
As for Dr. Grant, he's most likely thrilled to be stuck in the future, though I'm not yet sure how they're going to integrate him into the town without revealing who he is. In a way, Dr. Grant will be our new "everyman" for the wonders that happen in Eureka, as Jack was in the earlier episodes. Sure, he's a brilliant scientist for 1947, which will give him an edge up, but he's still amazed by cell phone technology, much less the kinds of things the citizens of Eureka come up with week after week.
It's always risky to mess with the time line in an established show like this, but it looks like the writers have been pretty careful this time around. There may be more secrets to reveal regarding other changes that may have happened, but they've already opened up infinite storytelling opportunities, while staying true to the characters at the heart of the show.
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