Eureka Season 3 Premiere - A Review

You may have been wondering where this was. Truth is, I watched it both times Tuesday night (following the marathon) and took notes, but with everything else going on, I simply forgot to write it!

So here we go:

SPOILERS ALERT!

Taking a cinematic cue from... the cinema, season 3 of Sci-Fi's Eureka opens with a wide, constant-motion shot that was nicely blocked and cinematically choreographed. While regular viewers are sure to cringe at what amounts to information dumps from basically every major character, it's an effective way to initiate new viewers and catch them up on the ongoing storylines. And there are plenty of those in Eureka. I prefer a smoother narrative, but this would not have served well at engaging new viewers.

While narratively weak, this blatant exposition did serve the debut well, tying-up loose ends quickly and allowing the show to focus on the one-shot plot for the opener. And it was a pretty good one. Written by series creator, Jaime Paglia, it reestablished the first season's general playfulness, while including all the interpersonal conflicts and sci-fi aspects that overshadowed the second season.

I'm no fan of the whole "arc" movement which has caught-on so heavily in comicdom these days, but it came from television. And since Eureka is making its way into comics this year and holding steadily on the Sci-Fi Channel, I figure this is as good a time as any to voice my opinion on the matter:

There are two types of stories: plot-driven and character-driven. The best blend them seamlessly, with plots driving the characters to develop and characters' reactions to plots changing the direction of the story. "Arcs" are plots - plain and simple. IMO, plots should serve as the starting (and sometimes central) point to a story, not the story itself. But it has become de rigeur to rely on these "arcs" too much in today's scripting - in both fields - and the word going in to season three was that "The Artifact" arc was finished and new arcs would be starting.

The only real "arcs" I recognized here were the engagement of Stark and Alison and the Fixer's mysterious role in GD and Eureka, in general. To contrast and make my point, we have watched Carter and Zoe's relationship develop while continuing along the same line for almost three years now (her stubbornness and natural, teenage rebellion against his attempts at traditional fatherhood, after being absent for much of her childhood). It's a powerful, relatable dynamic and one that has continued to transition smoothly throughout the run of the series. Instead of forcing storylines to open and close in "arcs," they are much better handled in this fashion, though it does not facilitate drawing-in new viewers because of the amount of history involved. (Of course, the recaps that begin each show help.)

Eureka is the perfect, tailor-made, story concept as far as a show goes - one of the best in years, and far and away the best the Sci-Fi Channel has ever even come close to. It has vibrant characters who drive plots and these plots drive the characters to react, developing the entire milieu along the way. The second season became muddled in all of the ongoing storylines and development, often placing the humorous and science fiction aspects on the backburner in what appeared to be an attempt at making it more palatable to the mainstream. The third season opener, even with its embarrassing (though well-orchestrated) expository opening sequence, brought Eureka back to where it should have been all along.

Now, rerun the first season already, Sci-Fi!

© C Harris Lynn, 2008