(S03E06) "Who was that masked man?" -- Lexxie Carter

"Trouble." -- Jack Carter

After a week off of the schedule Eureka has returned to complete the second half of its summer season. So far, the third season of Eureka has been interesting. Both the "death" of Nathan Stark and the introduction of Eva Thorne and her mysterious mission have turned this show slightly on its heel. What they can do in the next three episodes to move the underlying stories ahead is unknown right now. So we'll just have to watch and wait, wont we?

(S03E04) "Ohh, dude." -- Jack Carter, on learning he would have to memorize a formula for the next time loop shift.

Boy, I do loves me a Groundhog Day episode! No, I don't mean an episode of a show where they pull a helpless groundhog out of its hole in the cold of winter just to "predict" what's coming up in the next six weeks. I'm talking an episode that features some sort of time loop where a character or characters relive a particular day over and over again. As they go along they learn from the mistakes they made in previous loops. Eventually, through some way that usually isn't understandable, the time loop is closed and things move forward. It's been done on past shows like Star Trek: The Next Generation and The X-Files.

Now, Eureka joins their ranks with another Groundhog Day episode. At first, I was looking forward to the episode. And, as it progressed, I really enjoyed how the story expanded and how Carter put the pieces together. Then, came the solution and....Oh, no no no no no! (SPOILERS AHEAD)

(S03E02) "This is the best season yet!" -- Fargo, speaking about the ongoing adventures in Lab 27.

Now that the storylines for this season have been established by last week's season premiere, and the gratuitous product placement has been introduced, Eureka moved ahead with an episode that was straight out of a Sci Fi Channel original movie. Except, you know, more entertaining. Not that those Sci Fi movies aren't entertaining, mind you. You have to have a very broad imagination to make a movie about Noah's Ark holding evil spirits bent on destroying the world.

But, I digress. What makes Eureka a refreshing change of pace in the science fiction genre is, while everyone in the town is brilliant and talented and unique in their own way, they are human. In other words, they have their own personal feelings and foibles. Yet, in Eureka, they are able to all work together to keep the town what it is. And, when someone or something comes around to throw off the balance these geniuses react.

The word of the day at the Eureka panel on Saturday was 'awesome'. For some apparent reason everyone on the panel ended their sentences with the word 'awesome'. That, and a mention about doing their scenes in towels. That was actually an on-going joke coming from a revelation that the stars and writers presented to the audience as something that will be coming up during season three.

Of course there's more than just certain people walking around in towels coming up n the new season, and the panel let the audience in on what they would see when the show premieres this Tuesday. You can find out as well after the jump.