Eureka: Phased and Confused

"Who was that masked man?" -- Lexxie Carter
"Trouble." -- Jack Carter

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.
This installment had a different vibe to it as there were many different things going on at once. Or, at least it seemed like there was a lot of stuff going on. Perhaps it wasn't the activity that changed the feeling of the show but rather the amount of characters that appeared this episode. Instead of the usual top three (well, top two now that Stark is gone) there were more meaty appearances by Jo, Zane, Zoe (and friends Lucas and Pilar), Lexxie (who had her biggest role so far on the show), Eva, Henry, and Fargo.

There were also a number of story angles, including Captain Eureka, the battle between Lexxie and Jack over Zoe, Zoe's adventures, and some further inroads into the reason why Eva is actually in Eureka. Actually, Captain Eureka wasn't the top story line. If anything it was a plot point that fed into the bigger story. It wasn't a big surprise that it was Chuck under that mask. The way that he fawned over Lexxie it was pretty obvious that he would do anything to impress her.

What Chuck's role as Captain Eureka did was set a scenario for Jack that he doesn't like to get into too often -- personally using Global Dynamics technology. Let me be clear: he'll let others who know how to use the technology utilize it to take care of a situation. When it is on his person it's a different story. Take the embedded communication chip as a perfect example of his dislike for this type of technology (being shocked any time he tried to call someone whose name started with a 'Z' didn't help in this case). However, when someone close to him is in danger, he'll do anything to keep them safe. Even it is means this quantum phasing shifts out of our plane.

And the reason why Jack had to walk through walls? Zoe and her version of the 'Scooby' gang decided to go exploring through an unknown portion of the town. Being that walking two steps in any direction in Eureka can cause bodily damage, taking a tour of a unknown space underneath the high school probably wasn't such as good idea. Then again, Zoe was just a bit miffed at her dad (again) for not allowing her to go to a Yoga retreat that Aunt Lexxie recommended. No shock that it led to a life-saving situation for Jack.

Speaking about Lexxie ... while popular with all the boys in Eureka, she is definitely not in Jack's good graces. Particularly since she has taken it upon her self to step in and be a surrogate mother to Zoe. Granted, Zoe needs a motherly influence in her life -- especially right now as she moves from teenager to young woman -- but Lexxie may be the wrong influence. Where Jack can be rigid at times, Lexxie has that hippie, live life type of attitude. So, there's really no middle ground for Zoe to latch onto. As the episode moved on it seems that Lexxie realized the path she was leading Zoe onto and stepped back a bit to let Jack do his job.

Well, thanks to Zane (who I have seen very little of this season), more was revealed as to why Eva Thorne is really in Eureka. As I thought, the mystery revolves around the films that she discovered earlier this season -- the ones that showed potential atomic bomb tests in the 1930s. After Zane decrypted the locks' combinations I got a look into the underground facilities that Thorne has wanted to get into. Now, it looks like the next piece of the puzzle is being put in place with Eva displaying an old USB port key at the end of the episode.