Eurkea: E=MC...?

As Jo points out in this episode, whenever things go wrong, while she and Carter may put the pieces together, it tends to be the big brains in Eureka who do the heavy lifting needed to avert the latest scientifically created crisis. In this episode, Carter loses that crutch and has to trust someone new, the charming and rakish new comer Zane Donovan.

Donovan is everything Carter is not, impulsive, confident (with women anyway), and all too willing to break the rules. Allison has brought Donovan in to Eureka and enabled him to get away with stealing millions of dollars because he's "the best particle physicist around." This turns out to be rather handy since GD is conducting an experiment that will "recreate the Big Bang" in a contained (and presumably small scale) version. Unfortunately, after initiating the experiment, Allison, Stark, Henry and just about everybody else in town gets dumb, real fast.

Carter has only Jo and the reluctant compliance of Zane to help him solve the outbreak of stupidity before everything goes boom. There's some fun stuff here as Carter adds a GD veterinarian to the team, who is somehow not succumbed to the "stupidity outbreak." Zane proves an interesting foil for Carter, and there's definitely a fatherly streak that comes out in the Sherriff when he tells Zane that everyone needs a community and that he's "smart enough to know that."

There are a few interesting developments with Henry and Carter that seem to come out of nowhere and are bigger than either men realize. While these issues are not resolved in this episode, it's fairly certain that they will materialize relatively soon. Henry is great in his unguarded moment where he's just not smart enough to keep quiet about certain things.

The episode concludes in a way that lays the groundwork for a number of things. There seems to be more progress in the resurging relationship between Allison and Stark, much to Carter's dismay. It also appears possible that a romance between Zane and Jo could be in the near future.

Which brings up a question: where the heck is Taggart? It's been a while since I've seen him, and it was only briefly then. Meanwhile, Zoe is experiencing that being the Sherriff's daughter frightens away all the boys. Carter tries to assure her this isn't a problem until he overhears a boy inviting her to his "lake house" and then exerts as much intimidation as possible.

"E=MC…?" is a fun episode and shakes up the formula a bit. Eureka uses its Sci Fi premise to good effect by giving the actors lots of different situations to play. Whether it's losing their memory, having five years of experience nobody else has, living their dreams, or "playing stupid" I never know quite what to expect from the show. But with this excellent cast, that journey is always worth taking.