What’s the Story?
Allison Blake herself, Salli Richardson-Whitfield, makes her directing debut with this tense and dramatic episode of Eureka. Carter realises something is not quite right with Allison but by the time he has established the cause Beverly Barlowe has taken control of Global Dynamics and rendered the citizens of Eureka unconscious. It comes down to Jo and the visiting Zoe Carter to save the day and stop Beverly before she escapes with all of Eureka’s secrets.
What’s the Verdict? Read on after the jump...
After last weeks episode played for laughs, Eureka shifts gears this week and delivers a dramatic, action-packed episode. There are not many shows that could so drastically alter the tone of the episodes each week, but Eureka does this with aplomb here. There was some nice character interaction at the beginning of the episode, particularly between Henry and Zane, a pairing who don’t interact much usually but I would like to see work together more. It was also good to see that Carter recognised something was not right with Allison almost straight away and this recognition really cements their relationship. However, this episode was essentially carried by Beverly/Allison, Jo (Erica Cerra) and the returning Zoe Carter (Jordan Hinson) and what a brilliant job they did too.
I have always enjoyed the sisterly relationship between Jo and Zoe and it was good to see it acknowledged as such in the episode and forcing them to work together was a nice way for them to air their feelings about Zane while not letting up on the action. Zoe really seems to grow as a character with each appearance, she was able to take control where she needed to and it was great to see her recognise and outsmart Beverly.
Likewise, although Jo often thinks she isn’t as ‘clever’ as the other residents of Eureka, she proves once again here that, as Beverly says, she is ‘very good at her job’ and there is nobody you would rather have on your side in a crisis.
Salli Richardson-Whitfield also did an excellent job, getting across to the audience that Allison was different without being too obvious and also making her directing debut. Knowing this, I did find myself paying more attention to the direction than I usually do and I think she did an brilliant job. There are a number of excellent shots (for example, the aerial view of the residents lying strewn across the street) and the transitions between Beverly and Allison were handled well and felt natural and seamless.
Of course, this being Eureka, there were still plenty of comedic moments amidst the drama, Jo’s reaction at finding herself in her own cell was a particular highlight (‘God, I hate irony!’). Watching the episode, the time just seemed to fly by, I felt immediately drawn in and it was great to have Jordan Hinson back as Zoe, who always fits straight back into things like she has never been away. Interestingly, Carter decides to tell Zoe about the whole ‘time-travelling to 1947 and coming back to a different timeline’ thing, which I imagine would certainly be a strange thing to hear!
With Beverly escaping, the exact nature of her plan remains to be seen, but I am certainly looking forward to finding out and I think the show is having an incredibly strong run of episodes.
Which makes the latest news from Syfy even harder to comprehend. I don’t think I can review the episode without mentioning that a statement has been released from Syfy that they are cancelling the show and Season 5 will be its last.
I think this is a tremendous shame as I genuinely do think that the show is better than ever before, it seems to be holding up in the ratings, has a strong and loyal fan base and a very talented group of actors who sound as committed to the show as ever. It is always sad to see a show go but it is particularly annoying that a six episode sixth season was announced and then taken away again so quickly. This should clearly never have happened and I can’t help thinking it a complete disgrace that it did happen. The announcement should not have been made at all if there was even a flicker of doubt and it makes no sense at all to suddenly go back on that. Of course, it has had a good run, but it is terribly sad to see decisions being made for ‘business’ rather than creative reasons. Hopefully the writers will have time to bring the characters stories to a satisfactory conclusion (as I type Amy Berg and Jaime Paglia have both Tweeted that they have been given an extra episode to tie things up).
Thank you to everyone involved in the making of the show and to the wonderful group of actors who have really lit up our screens for the past few years. The show will definitely be missed, it has been a joy to watch and to follow the lives of these characters and I am glad we still have another season of episodes to look forward to.
P.S. There is already a website up at www.saveeureka.com or you can tell Syfy what you think of their frankly idiotic decision at feedback@syfy.com
P.P.S While I’m moaning at Syfy, I might as well say it…’Powerful Mondays’ …is that really the best name we could come up with people? ‘Powerful Mondays?’ :-S
No comments:
Post a Comment