Eureka 1.09: Primal review

AIR-DATE: 12/9/06

Written by: Johanna Stokes and Martin Weiss

Directed by: Colin Bucksey

Starring: Neil Grayston, Robert Clarke, Shayn Solberg, Christopher Gauthier

Synopsis
Fargo invents a
device which bridges the gap
between human brains and
computers. It’s Stark who’s linked
up to it, which really isn’t the
best time, as Allison’s just issued
him the divorce papers, so he’s
very depressed. At the same
time, Taggart is using nanobugs
in his veterinary work but they
escape and people start to go
missing. Taggart and Jack search
for the little critters in the service
tunnels, but they soon realise the
nanobugs are replicating Stark
and their mission has been
activated by Stark’s
megalomaniacal dreaming. They
work out all they have to do is to
send a low-level sound out of a
powerful amp (helpfully
introduced in one of the fi rst
scenes by Zoe’s musician friend)
and they’ll dissipate for some
reason. So they do. And then it’s
off to bed.

Review
Eureka would be so
much of a better series if it
concentrated on the quirky
characters and situations more
than the tedious technobabble.
But here we are, virtually in Star
Trek: Voyager land, only with
more likeable characters and
slightly funnier lines. It’s a bit of a
cheapy episode this, even by
Eureka’s thrifty standards and
the full drama of the situation is
never really realised. We’re nine
episodes in yet the series seems
still determined to walk as lightly
as a bar of Milky Way.

And the less we say about
that deus ex machina ending
the better…

Dialogue
Allison: “You
dream about world domination?”
Stark: “Not all the time.

Steve O'Brien