Eureka hit an ice patch

Eureka missed the mark a little this week. It's possible this occurred because half our regular cast was missing (Henry was at a conference, Alison was on Mat leave, and Fargo only had some brief appearances but mostly wasn't featured), but I would actually say that it was the writing.

The basic plot - they brought back an ice piece from the arctic and it caused ice to spread everywhere. It was caused by a fungus, and in the end it was fixed in the deus ex machina way that Eureka is known for.

The problem was with Zane. He comes back from the expedition, and he's behaving strangely. Jo keeps commenting on how cold he is. The word is used over and over again, but it takes Jo forever to decide that he's not mad at her or something, but that something is wrong with him. How bad is Jo and Zane's relationship and communication when it takes her so long to realize that he too is encrusted with the ice, though we figured it out the moment he acted strangely and she called him cold.

Also, Zoe has already decided she wants to be a doctor, but when a test tells her to be a robot engineer, Lucas basically coerces her into looking into it. It takes the entire episode for him to decide that maybe what she wants to do is a better path to follow than the one dictated by some stupid test. Geniuses can be so stupid.

The best part of the episode was that Taggart came back. Not only did we learn where he went (he was trekking throughout the world, not just hidden in some lab and ignored for 2 years), but we got to see him and Jo finally resolve that their relationship had been good, but they had both moved on. I love Taggart, and I hope this wasn't just a one episode thing.

Next week is the season finale. I hope things heat up in Eureka, and the plot is explosive, not iced over.

Oh, and I apologize for all the puns.