We all squeeed when we saw it was a Jane Espenson episode!

I missed that! I thought I read that she wasn't going to be able to write an episode this season.

And, I was going to ask why a slap-dash, quonset-hut military installation, backwater town was doing with a jewelry store, way back when it didn't have many of the amenities it does now. But then I remembered that Charlie was growing that diamond. So, is the growing of gemstones for scientific, laser of death purposes Charlie's raison d'etre en Eureka and the jewelry making a happy sidelight, or is the jewelry so brilliant that the scientific lapidariness of Charlie the secondary effect?

YES, this. I meant to make this point. Even if Charlie was growing the diamond for Belle as a sideline, why would he have professionally printed receipts?

Pierre's forgiveness seemed unbelievable; in between morning and night you lose your youth, health, and fifty years of your life, and you just go "living with what he's done will be enough punishment"? There's an entire world of grief that they tiptoed over there. But given that the show is supposed to be more lighthearted than not, I guess that they didn't want to spend too much of their emotional capital on a guest character.

One small thing that I intensely liked: they made a point of Belle not wasting her life while pining over Pierre. No Miss Havisham-ing for her, but dogsledding in Alaska. It reminded me of my great aunt Elizabeth's response when asked why she never married: "It takes a mighty fine man to be better than no man at all."

"It takes a mighty fine man to be better than no man at all."

I don't know. You add a root to the equation and it just might balance out.

Even if Charlie was growing the diamond for Belle as a sideline, why would he have professionally printed receipts?

The screen we watch the show on is too small for me to be able to tell if that receipt had Charlie's personalized business logo on it. I figured that was a generic, $2 at any office supply store receipt that any one with a side business might use. The skill and art of jewelry-making is pretty intense, I'd imagine. At the same time, I can only imagine the level of scientific expertise it takes to monkey around with growing gemstones - especially at that early stage of the game, when it would not be simply babysitting a machine that someone else had designed. Do we handwave Charlie into a dual-genious, something like the Henry of his generation? I suppose it would not be a great stetch of the imagination to believe that Charlie's father had been a jeweler, who taught Charlie that set of skills in his youth. Then Charlie being a genious went off to university, and developed the scientific chops to work on growing the crystals. Bring him to Eureka, and voila, gem-growing, jewelry-making, laser-of-death-supplying career begins.

Pierre's forgiveness seemed unbelievable; in between morning and night you lose your youth, health, and fifty years of your life, and you just go "living with what he's done will be enough punishment"?

But imagine being so eaten away with envy, that it makes you willing to take steps to do that. Charlie's aim was to take Pierre's Great Love away because he wanted it for himself. But he not only did not succeed in gaining that love, but now he has to watch Pierre and Belle enjoy that Great Love. If I had been in Pierre's shoes, I might still want Charlie to go to jail, but I for damn sure would want the chance to flaunt my happiness in front of him. A lot. Putting Charlie in jail mightput a damper on that.

Living well as the best revenge - not every show can really do that with as much flare.

The screen we watch the show on is too small for me to be able to tell if that receipt had Charlie's personalized business logo on it. I figured that was a generic, $2 at any office supply store receipt that any one with a side business might use.

no, it definitely had a logo, and that logo matched the one on the outside of the shop.

Pierre's forgiveness seemed unbelievable

On the one hand, yeah, but on the other, who cares? I'm okay with a show fudging some of the minor elements of the episode as long as it stays true to the main characters, and to whatever elements (tone, sci fi conventions) drew me to the series in the first place.

On the one hand, yeah, but on the other, who cares?

Yes. At first I was in the camp of listen-to-the-sheriff-that's-not-Pierre's-call about going to jail. Then I hand waved it with cryogenics not being attempted murder. He was just giving him an extended vacation. And, most importantly, we wont see the characters again.

But I am pissed about the scientist who stole the work and they were all laughing buddies at the end. That might be a me thing though.

Allison/responsibility

I didn't really grok this until it was pointed out here. I just took it in stride as part of Carter's personality.

That's what I had meant before.

I brought this up one other time when the cups seemed empty, and Colin said that they usually have liquid in them

But cold liquid they're not afraid of spilling! Sadly, mashed potatoes would suffer from this as well...

Sadly, mashed potatoes would suffer from this as well...

I'm telling you, marbles. Might not help the realism of a coffee-having scene, but it would be comedy gold on the DVDs' extras.

no, it definitely had a logo, and that logo matched the one on the outside of the shop.

Rats, there goes that theory. Ok, so Charlie gets brought in to Eureka for his gem-growing skillz so they - GD or the DOD - can have all the Lasers O'Death they want. And encourage Charlie to open a little jewelry shop, because at this point, they have caught the vision of developing Eureka into a place to grow future generations of scientific geniuses. They want to encourage the resident geeks to pair off (and/or send for their sweethearts from the wide world beyond Eureka town limits), settle down, be brilliantly happy and thus innovative and productive while never needing to venture into the aforementioned world. And while they are at it, produce a bumper crop of the world's most terrifyingly smart rugrats. Whereas most towns of 3,000 cannot support a jeweler, the disposable income of the average Eureka resident might make the difference.