Greg and I watched the most recent ep of Eureka last night (I say last night because it's after 5 in the morning) and I thought I'd drop in here and see if I can't make hanging out in this thread a habit.
It's funny to read everyone else's responses, because the particular thing I handwaved is that Zoe is always somewhere important when things are happening.
When Eugenia and Jack are talking in the park, and she explains how Irvin used to talk to her about the universe, I didn't find that incongruent with her being with him at the end. I assumed he was using that as a metaphor, to explain to her how important she was to him, and that she didn't actually need a science lesson.
A show has to resonate emotionally for me to really like it. This one has been good at getting the laughs, and it's made me really happy to see it. I love the faces, and the way they all talk to one another, the interactions between the various characters, but when Jack kissed Eugenia, the look on his face was so perfect. Even afterwards, while they talked, there was a tenderness on his face.
I was primed by the kiss, but I seriously fell in love with the show during the old geek power walk. I know I'm a pushover, but I laughed and laughed, and there were tears in my eyes at the same time. I love that Thatcher was able to swim back up to reality and take on the problem, return to his Eugenia; that he brought in his "crew," that the solutions were so simple, but incomprehensible. I loved, loved, loved everyone's reaction when the machine stopped. old geek crew one, with his little dance, and the hugs, and the crazy--and then, "did someone cut the BLUE WIRE?" and the look on Henry's face. Awesome.
I assumed the death ray was built under the main street because it was Eureka and Eureka's safe. The outlying fields might be someone's farm, or belong to someone outside the government. If the MAD ray had to be somewhere, better for it to be within the city limits. I didn't think about it much, though. I just loved "Death RAY? It's a death ray?"
I didn't find it incongruent that Fargo was given an office in the basement. The previous episode, he'd done a favor for Stark, and Stark knew he owed Fargo, and vice versa. Stark told Fargo he'd done a great service with his research. It seemed perfectly reasonable to farm Fargo out somewhere with a storage closet as an office, selling him with the, for want of a better term, corporate speak, than to give him a real job or improve his working conditions in any tangible way since Fargo seems to screw up more than he does right.
I also don't find it surprising that the death ray was lost. It seemed to me that there have been hints that Eureka had been funded more easily in the past, especially Global Dynamics, and that if a scientist was considered one of the great minds, he could easily find a corner to potter about in and get paid for it. It looked to me as if the paper was z-fold paper fed with the traction holes, which would indicate some age, though it's not been 40 years since people stopped using it. Still, having tried to deal with government bureacracy myself, I can imagine things getting lost, misfiled, erased or otherwise folded, spindled or mutilated from yesterday, much less more than 40 years previously.
As for Fargo and turning on the machine; I'm an idiot. I would have done the same thing to see what it would do. I wouldn't assume that it would start things immediately. I would have assumed that turning the keys would allow me to start something, or, since it was in the back of a basement storage room, do nothing at all, but the thrill of the moment before the keys were turned, that possibility, would have been worth it.
So, haven't posted much about the show because, for whatever reason, actors, writers, humor, timing, I don't have a lot of judgement about whether or not it's really a good (meaning coherent and scientifically accurate and realistic) show. I love it for the crazy people who could all be Buffistas. Except maybe (continued...)