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Eureka Ep. #5.03 – “Force Quit” concludes a three-part story arc

Eureka Ep. #5.03 – “Force Quit” concludes a three-part story arc

 

 

 

Eureka, Season 5, Episode 3, “Force Quit”
Written by Terri Hughes Burton and Ron Milbauer
Directed by Mike Rohl
Airs Mondays at 9pm ET on SyFy

The three-part arc that has found the Astraeus crew trapped in a virtual world comes to a predictable conclusion this week as the crew is rescued.  Though the impending results are obvious, “Force Quit” is still an exciting episode that moves at a rigorous pace.

Beverly comes to Eureka to help Carter, Henry, and Lupo find the captives.  Carter taps into the Matrix where he must cause a system overload that would help Henry and Lupo trace the signal and find the crew.  Inside the Matrix, Carter convinces Zane, Allison, Grace, and Fargo that he is the real Carter and they are trapped in a virtual world.  They work together to blow up the virtual Astraeus, causing a spike in the Matrix that crashes the system.

Each of the previous two episodes have predominantly featured one of the virtual characters being extra creepy.  It was Andy two weeks ago and Carter last week.  Following suit are this week’s disturbing scenes with Henry.  Like Kavan Smith and Colin Ferguson before him, Joe Morton provides an excellent performance as the virtual Henry that is very different from the character he has portrayed for the last several years.  The virtual world has given Smith, Ferguson, Morton, and Erica Cerra (Lupo) a great chance to show their range as actors breaking the familiarity viewers have grown accustomed to over four plus seasons.  Though it is satisfying that the crew is rescued, it would have been fun to experience a few more episodes with the dark versions of these characters.

With the story arc coming to a close, Eureka will probably revert back to the case-of-the-week formula the series usually follows.  There may be some adjusting with the aftermath of the virtual world ordeal though.  Members of the Astraeus crew are likely nervous around Deputy Andy, as Grace is with Henry, and Carter is freaked out by Lupo after kissing the virtual Lupo and seeing her naked.  The biggest adjustment will come from Fargo, who must accept the fact that his beloved Holly was murdered.  Maybe a darker Fargo will emerge as he finds a way to avenge her.

The leftover pieces of the virtual world storyline will probably take a back seat for now, but hopefully they’ll be addressed in the future.  This mainly applies to Beverly and her enslavement of Senator Wen in a virtual prison.  The government may blame Eureka for the disappearance of Senator Wen while Carter tries to track down Beverly and prove Wen is evil. However, for now, the misadventures of Eureka’s population will be the main focus.

– Christopher Laplante

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