Lower Decks

Although not as amusing as the previous episode (“It’s Not Easy Being Green”) this was another solid episode. Which is good, because things have been hit or miss since Eureka returned from hiatus. I could have done without Fargo’s plot line, about his clunker of a car and its artificial intelligence. But the rest of the episode, focused as it was on the alien signal, was excellent.

In a way, Fargo’s plot tied into a larger plot point about Eureka implementing a new system of super duper self-driving (Smart Asphalt) that, in turn, allows the signal to take over the minds of the town’s teenagers, including Zoe. They build a series of towers in a field using all manner of bits and pieces from all over town. Mysterious. Tess (played by Jaime Ray Newman) determines that the towers are plasma generators, suggesting that they’re being built by someone at Global Dynamic.

Carter and Tess stake out the field in the hopes of catching whoever is building the towers. They’re shocked when Zoe, Lucas and a bunch of other teenagers show up. Before the towers can be torn down, however, Zane reveals that the plasma generator is now something much more powerful.It might be an antimatter bomb. The teenagers, now joined by some adults (including Zane), return to the towers. Eventually, the connection between the Smart Asphalt and the folks working on the towers is made.

But it’s too late.The towers activate, everyone looks on in surprise, and Allison plans to shoot down whatever is coming. Fargo shows up just in the nick of time to explain what’s really going on: it’s not a weapon, it’s a boson cloud exciter! Whatever that means. Then a space ship shows up. And apparently it’s Henry’s. Didn’t see that coming. Actually, it was a little disappointing to learn that the signal wasn’t alien in origin at all. Just another experiment gone awry, in a very big way, it seems.