Keiran McEwen
Keiran McEwenIf we’re fair, Eureka has never had fantastic direction, and Michael Robison is no exception. Directing 11 episodes of Eureka, as well as 1 episode of XIII: The Series, Robison’s latest work is mostly Hallmark Channel flicks. The story for this episode comes from Z Nation showrunner Karl Schaefer, and there isn’t much to say about his work other than an episode of Monk. The teleplay, however, was written by Transformers (2007) and Catwoman (2004) writer, John Rogers. Rogers co-created small shows called Leverage and Jackie Chan Adventures, as well as co-creating DC character Jaime Reyes/Blue Beetle.
With a somewhat double cold open, Sheriff Carter, Jo, and Henry enter Café Diem to confront Mr Oliver from Reaper but as they do, Jack shoots Henry. From there we go back 24 hours to explain what led to Jack shooting the town’s mechanic, a rocket scientist, and… It would be shorter to list the things Henry isn’t. To cut the head off of a horse before the race of getting ahead of myself begins, time is passing and people are forgetting what they did before that very moment before time elapsed. Did you get the point of the title already? Good, it isn’t a great episode.
While Henry’s old friends (and lover) Kim and Jason Anderson are working on a top-secret project, Sheriff Carter is trying to wrap his little stupid head around education in Eureka. Oh yeah, Zoe showed up at the end of “Many Happy Returns” and I was happy because I always like Zoe, well most of the time. Turns out as a way to skip some boring classes, she’s become a theater kid, but like most things in Eureka, even Shakespeare has been weirded up. Including a young future Vice President called Putnam. I swear, that kid is wearing more eyeliner than Elvira.
Between wanting to drop-kick the pretentious kid and not being bothered with the magic time-travel/forget-me-not man, “Before I Forget” falls rather flat. Thankfully both are only around for a single episode, with Eureka almost entirely getting into the swing of semi-episodic storytelling now. When it comes more to the fore, there is an arc playing out but most episodes are fairly standalone with minor clues or hints. A bit like Series 1-4 of Doctor Who; there is a Bad Wolf on the horizon, but sometimes we’re in a church with a character’s dead parent hitting on his daughter or Satan is calling, ya know normal stuff.
Back to Eureka though, I think what sort of makes the timey-wimey bit a little bit flat is that it is set up as a mystery: “How did he do it?” Then the how isn’t as satisfying as it should be. The why is even less so. Everything is a magnificent scientific marvel to gawk at in Eureka (the town), including Kim and Jason’s latest thing: A set of body armor that repels kinetic energy. Basically, it stops bullets in mid-air with science-y magic. It’s also supposed to be fire-proof to the nth degree (literally), but that bit doesn’t work yet.
From here there is a lot of typical, paint-by-numbers, comedy-drama stuff that Eureka is known for throughout, but none of it has a signature charm. The story of Henry and ex-kind-of lover Kim has a bit of charm to it, Jack’s every-man dumb-dumb perspective is certainly endearing, and how Zoe gets into the whole school play thing is delightful. The selfish, self-centered, oh look Bev is with another mysterious character who is shady. The self-righteousness of Jason, however, is from page 1 of How to Write a Villain. Putnam is from How to Write a Pretentious Kid; 2000s Edition.
I think what maybe puts me off about “Before I Forget,” alongside the genre story itself, is that Andrew Airlie is a man with THAT face. The type of face you cast in TV drama to say you have a villain of the week who’s conventionally attractive but TV’s idea of a nerdy guy, a bit like casting Michael Emerson as Wilzig in Fallout after his time in Lost or Person of Interest. Similarly (I guess), it would be like casting Ray Rise as the literal Devil; Unless someone does a Zachary Levi, I might cover Reaper at some point.
Where I think I’m walking my point to is that, while Walter Perkins from “Pilot” and “Many Happy Returns” is not a bad person, he did a bad thing. He did a thing that affected others with the paradox/”time bubble” making machine, which turns him into a ghost, as well as creepily copying his wife’s DNA and creating an entire human. He isn’t framed as a villain, he’s framed as a scientist who didn’t put in place the safety rails that stop you from saying everything should be AI, what could go wrong? He’s smart, but dumb.
Jason Anderson has no redeemable qualities other than his conventionally attractive older-man look. He has a special device that for the most part is framed as him stealing people’s lives: He stole the device, he stole Kim from Henry, he’s stolen every advancement from Kim by taking the credit, and he’s breaking laws like speeding in Eureka. He doesn’t stumble into the device’s powers by accident, he’s actively horrible from moment 1 to his final in preparation to test his suit on himself.
Also, I don’t like Putnam because he’s the type of person to put a twist on Shakespeare to make the pretentious even more unbearable. “Bless thee, Bottom! Bless thee! Thou art translated,” and other Poncy nonsense, it is nothing more than a midsummer’s nightmare to be forced into suffering the bastarized scribbles of a 17th-century landed-gentry. Rule of thumb, if there is something with Shakespeare, I probably hate that part. Even if you try to sci-fi it to be aliens and cybernetics.
Ultimately, the idea of a short-term memory-wiping device is fine, there might even have been a film series about it, but its execution isn’t great. Now that I think about it, “Before I Forget” feels more like a second episode written last minute, while “Many Happy Returns” felt like a second part to a season opener. No “You Don’t Know Jack,” but all the same, this isn’t one for the rewatch any time soon. “Before I Forget” is fine and honestly nothing more, it’s the passing grade on average, but in line with the metaphor, I’m a harsh teacher.
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23 Eureka “Before I Forget”
Pros
- Henry's bits with Kim are good.
- Jack's every-man perspective being solidified.
Cons
- I'm going to go back in time and kill Billy S.
- Jason Anderson isn't a particularly good, full character.
