Well now, that didn’t take long. After the drawn out mystery of Eva Thorne, I’m a little surprised that we got to the bottom of “The Signal,” and the ship, so quickly. Of course, having those questions answered doesn’t put the story to rest. There is still a lot of mileage to be had with the return of Kim Yamazaki (Tamlyn Tomita). Or, rather, with the appearance of Kim 2.o. Her presence opens a lot of doors for where things can go in Eureka, and provides the launching pad for a great Henry story.
Starting with the ship, it seemed like they were stretching the whole “Eureka genius” thing about as far as it will go. I mean, the nature of the show offers a lot of leeway, but this was testing some limits. The Columbus, being built 20 years ago by Henry and Kim? Yeah, okay. The software adapting to survive and sending a signal that created the little construction zombies? Ummm, uh huh. Detecting a virus and building a complete replica of Kim from a skin cell? Wow. I guess we’re taking the red pill.
I know, we’ve seen all manner of crazy from this show. And, to be fair, I did go along for the ride, and enjoyed it the whole way. I’m just pointing out that things are getting crazy, with extra toaster ovens. Still, while it is pushing some crazy TV science boundaries, I do really like the appearance of Kim 2.0. It made for a really good scene between Carter and Henry, where Jack again battles to stay just ahead of the curve where his surroundings are concerned while Henry is forced to deal with the loss of Kim all over again. And it all paid off really well as he came to grips and decided that he and Kim 2.0 should work together. I’m really looking forward to more of that story.
It should happen, because I could see Kim 2.0 sticking around for a while. Her vast untapped riches of knowledge are the perfect starting point for both conflicts, as new things are discovered and experimented on, and resolutions. Those data stores were responsible for my favorite bit of crazy science this week as well — gravity field distortion readings taken from beyond the heliopause that show four earth like planets within ten light years. Heliopause! I had no idea what that was, but it’s a fascinating topic.
The other bit of the story, and the most pressing danger this week, was the virus. I have a fair few obsessions, and one of them is Mr. Neal Stephenson. If you’ve read his book Snow Crash, it had to come to mind when the junk hit the fan. Eureka was on the verge of an infocalypse, and didn’t even realize it. Fortunately, before Raven showed up with a nuclear bomb, Carter had the answer with the plasma generator. That was actually my favorite scene, as everyone looked on in shock, and Carter responded, “What? I pay attention.” That gag never gets old.
So, with the one caveat that we have now pretty much signed off on anything goes for the writers, it was another solid episode. The big mystery of the season has already been answered, but Kim 2.0 brings with her plenty of potential for more stories to tell. I’ve no idea what’s coming next, other than more flirting for Carter and Tess, but I’m looking forward to whatever it is.
Clacked by Brett Love 
on Aug 15, 2009 @ 11:00 EST5EDT
I liked the episode but was a little annoyed that they had Fargo hold back his gadget (generator?). Yes, the character can be a nudge but it felt out of character in this instance.
Not sure if I feel any chemistry between Carter and Tess.
This particular information virus was only spread biologically. It was actually the cure when they hacked the brainstem directly through the visual cortex to rewrite everyone’s immune systems that was exactly Snow Crash. Only used for good and not evil. I understand your point, though.
The Columbus‘s bio-computer using its onboard repair systems to grow a clone from a sample of DNA was actually the most believable part of the episode for me. After all, any mad scientist can do the same thing in their basement with kitchen supplies, and the clone didn’t even have Kim’s memories, only the computer’s. It’s a much greater leap to accept the Signal zombies, or Kim’s every cell being converted from stock human to a compatible information storage medium.
As to the 20 year-old project, that would put Columbus around the tail end of the Reagan administration, when Eureka’s budget was no doubt unlimited. Our reusable orbiters were already publicly known then, so imagine how advanced the black budget space program was! We also knew that Henry and Kim had worked closely together sometime in the past, and the level of discoveries Eureka was making as far back as the 1930’s.
I suppose that if they could bring back Kim, they could bring back Stark as well.
I know that Eureka is Eureka, but it does annoy me a bit when they descend so deeply into the technobabble.
Yeah, I think this is Eureka’s first ass pull resurrection. While watching this, one guy I was with kept thinking they were going to kill RoboKim2.0 by the end of the episode again just to prove that they could. We were pleasantly surprised that they did not. Of course, they had this huge problem of “Resurrected Kim should be 20 years younger, but then we can’t bring back the actress, oh crap….” that they just kinda had to ignore there. *shrug* What can you do, they can’t use Eureka technology in real life.
You know if they can ever talk Ed Quinn into returning, they’d come up with a very interesting way of bringing him back…
In sci-fi, they often grow a clone to adulthood very quickly before decanting so as not to limit storytelling possibilities. In this case, it’s not even an identical clone, as she’s been modified to be a computer, so the explanation could easily be that the Columbus grew the clone to match Kim’s last-recorded appearance twenty years ago, after which she aged normally.
That wouldn’t be a problem for Ed Quinn, who doesn’t age.