Eureka Recap: I Do Over

Folks, here’s the day Carter didn’t want to see take place: Alison’s wedding to Dr. Stark. And man, it seems like people are trying extra hard to drive the knife in. Stark asks Carter to be sure and bring Stark’s wedding gift for Alison, the necklace from last week’s episode. Of course, Alison and Carter have to work. The Fixer has decreed that 12 people need to be downsized to keep Global Dynamics in the black. Happy Wedding Day, Alison! You get to hand out pink slips to soon to be disgruntled employees, one of whom is certain to put the entire town in danger. Just call it a hunch.

MEGA-SPOILERS AFTER THE JUMP! SERIOUSLY, SOMEONE DIES!

SCI FI Channel Photo: Liane Hentscher

Of course, Alison and Carter have to work. The Fixer has decreed that 12 people need to be downsized to keep Global Dynamics in the black. Happy Wedding Day, Alison! You get to hand out pink slips to soon to be disgruntled employees, one of whom is certain to put the entire town in danger. Just call it a hunch.

One of the folks they have to fire is maintenance guy Leo. Carter gets hit with a bright blue beam and figures that’s enough, it’s time to get to the wedding. It’ll be over and done with soon, right?

Oh, it gets better. Alison asks Carter to give her away at the wedding. That is just mean. Seriously, who walks their ex down the aisle? That may be the most implausible thing in the whole episode. But now its over and done with – well, it isn’t. Carter wakes up in the shower like he did the day before. Cuts himself shaving like the day before and has the same argument with Zoe he did the day before.

Soon enough Carter figures out he’s in a continuous loop. His sister, who’s come to town in an underlying storyline suggests he’s being given a chance to tell Allison how he feels. He does and even plants one on her and she tries her best to let him down, telling him he’ll always be a friend. Man, Carter does not paid enough for this abuse.

Like a good detective, Carter chases down all possible options including the town’s new atomic clock (which will replace Leo) and The Fixer. She’s up to something shady alright, but time manipulation is not it. Whatever she’s looking for is under the ground and as we learned last week, gives off a form of radiation that is not supposed to exist yet.

After much trial and error Carter figures out the soon to be fired Leo tried to meddle with time. Of course, Leo offs himself accidentally trying to fix the problem. That’s the death we were promised, right?

Wrong. It’s Nathan Stark who dies setting the timestream right and Carter has to break the news to Allison. I have to confess I did not see that coming. I’m still not sure I believe it. I mean, the man did die within two feet of a continuous time loop. The same thing happened to Captain Kirk in Star Trek:Generations, although Kirk got resurrected in a Trek novel he wrote. I will skip the obligatory Shatner ego joke – oops.

I don’t buy Stark being dead at all. I suspect this will give Alison and Carter time to grow close again and some way Stark will come back. Just another triangle development, me thinks. But they did a good job of swerving us in this ep. Leo’s death was a classic red herring, they promise somebody dies and then it’s a character we don’t care about. Fargo volunteered to fix the loop instead of Stark but got turned down.

Loops have been an important part of some of the most beloved genre shows. Supernatural did one last year where Sam kept trying to save Dean from dying over and over. In Stargate’s Window of Opportunity, Col. O’ Neill and Teal’c are trapped in a loop for nearly a year, giving the Gaters a chance to show their comic chops. And golf into a Stargate.

Readers, what are some of your favorite “Groundhog Day” episodes?