Eureka: Season 4 Premiere

Season after season Sheriff Jack Carter (Colin Ferguson) gets his heart trampled on by the capricious and lovely Alison Blake (Salli Richardson-Whitfield). We were happy when they were married with children in that alternate universe. And even though Carter finally got what he had wanted for so long—married bliss with Alison—we understood that he had to sacrifice it all in order to save the multi-verse from the rift that would destroy all the universes (including the one he was pleasantly residing in). But that doesn’t explain why Alison gets to play him so hot and cold in every other scenario they are involved in. He’s constantly the stand-up guy, ready to “be there” when she needs him and he will always “do the right thing” while she just constantly walks all over him while being so damn moody about it (which makes things infinitely worse… the moodiness… it’s no good). When I was a child I used to root for Tom in the Tom and Jerry cartoons because Jerry was always such an abusive jerk. Half the time Tom deserved what he got, but Jerry still overstepped the acceptable boundaries of retribution. In applying this analogy to Eureka, one sees how awful it really is for Sheriff Carter. He’s somehow inherited the karma of Oppenheimer.

The new season premiere of Eureka has Carter in an upswing in his relationship with Alison. They are flirty and in love, but when all hell breaks loose and she has to assume command of General Dynamics in order to avert catastrophe (which happens in some fashion nearly every week, so they should really be used to it by now), Alison reverts to calling him “Carter” again as opposed to the more recently adopted “Jack.” This is cold and professional, and emotionally torturous for our poor Sheriff. Thankfully, she doesn’t go full-on in this episode, but I can just feel it looming on the horizon, and it sets my teeth on edge.

Aside from all that, a lot of really cool stuff happened in this episode. We know from last season that Jack, Allison, Henry (Joe Morton), and Jo (Erica Cerra) have been stuck in an alternate future ever since they “got back” from the 1940s. We also know that they’ve been working on a very sciencey plan to “get back to the present.” The accident prone Fargo manages to shoot himself and Zane (Niall Matter) into space, and everybody has to try their darndest to fix this minor faux-pas that threatens national security and the international space station.

Of course, during all of this, Sara the House (Neil Grayston) and Andy the Cyborg Deputy (Kavan Smith) are on the outs in their relationship, and Zane keeps pushing Jo to tell him why she had his grandmother’s ring. Will Alternate-Zane figure out that Jo is from another universe and that Other-Alternate-Zane was Jo’s special guy? Is it cheating if Alternate-Zane and Other-Alternate-Jo get together? And if so, what’s the deal with Other-Alternate-Henry and his Alternate-Wife who died in the Other-Alternate-Universe? It’s just… Augh! It’s salaciously delicious!

Aside from the Alison/Carter relationship, which, I think is a “thing” if you catch my meaning, this new season is set to please. It’s got dorky mistakes that shouldn’t happen yet do, high-tech fancy-pants-edness, high-stakes government investigations that we all know they will sidestep, relationship drama, and silly characters that just make you smile from their quirks alone. So watch it, but write a letter to the writer’s room too. Tell them to give poor Jack Carter a break, at least when it comes to the love department.