from Ancient Greek εὕρηκα (heurēka, “I have found”)

I have found my affection for the TV show Eureka only recently. When I first borrowed the DVD, I had no idea what to expect, because “a town full of geniuses” is a pretty vague description. But I was positively surprised when, while watching, I discovered that this is fully-fledged fun-to-watch Science Fiction.

Eureka is best described as a mixture of Torchwood, Doctor Who and Buffy the Vampire Slayer. The lead character is Sheriff Jack Carter, an average guy who accidentally stumbles upon this sleepy Oregon town and ends up being the sheriff. His ensemble includes his teenage daughter Zoe, his deputy the “Military Ma’am” Jo Lupo, Department of Defense liaison Allison Blake and a huge and colorful cast of crazy scientists. Those scientists are employed by the big “antagonist”, the company Global Dynamics. That’s where groundbreaking discoveries in scientific (and military) research happen, but also ground-shaking catastrophes – and Sheriff Carter is the guy who has to solve them with his everyman knowledge. Usually he is assisted by car-/spaceship mechanic and forensic Henry and by accident-prone nerd and Buffy-fan Fargo.

The things that happen in Eureka resemble things you might see on the three shows I compared it too – with the big difference that their cause are not aliens or demons, but regular (yet mastermind) human beings. So there actually is no “big bad evil” in the show, just science gone haywire. The plots are written in a humorous style and performed by actors who are clearly enjoying their job, which results in a show that is just heartwarming to watch.

As usual in the genre, there are the occasional episodes which seem, mildly said, “massively inspired” by plots from other shows. But instead of being copycats, the writers include nice little nudges to their inspiration, making it rewarding to watch for fans of the original stuff. Buffy the Vampire Slayer is mentioned and hinted at frequently, sometimes even with blunt lines like “I think Eureka might have been built on a Hellmouth”. A time-travel heavy episode enjoyed repeating mentions of “Doctor Who” – “Oh my god, I love that show!”, as did one with living statues. And with James Callis having joined the cast recently, there naturally had to be a nudge to Battlestar Galactica in the episode where everyone is seeing hallucinations – his was according to him “A tall, legged blonde in a slinky red dress.”

Eureka doesn’t have the mind-blowing brilliance of it’s inspirations. But I think that if you are, like me, a huge fan of BtVS, Doctor Who and Science Fiction, you will greatly enjoy this show. I enjoyed it so much that I watched three seasons of it within a month. Eureka does have, like any show, plot holes and unresolved plots, but it doesn’t make it less enjoying (as is the case in some other shows). I’m very curious where they are going with the current season and what the future (and maybe also the past) will bring for Eureka.