Keiran McEwen
Keiran McEwenI knew the government was full of aliens, and (depending on who you are) pirating movies before they are released is OK as long as you’re funded by the DOD. Directed by Marita Grabiak, there is a reason Grabiak is best known for a budget-Hallmark flick based on Yellowstone. Her only good credit is “Jaynetown” from Firefly. While Harry Victor and Dan E Fesman wrote the teleplay, Fesmen produced most of the season and later seasons 5 & 6 of NCIS. The story comes from Betsy Landis in her only credit as well as Mr. & Mrs. Smith (2005) producer, Varina Bleil.
“Alienated” is a very shlocky B-plot, bargain bin flick that stretches itself as far as it can and then some. Henry’s (the mechanic and everything else) underling Spencer is having a movie night with “the boys.” In Eureka, that amounts to Taggart, Vincent, Fargo, and eventually Jo. Though early on we’ve got the over-dramatic Deputy angry over her under-qualified Sheriff getting the promotion ahead of her. At least 75 million people didn’t vote for you and were disappointed by internalized sexism manifesting.
After Spencer bounces the film he’s pirated (tsk tsk!) off of a Global Dynamics satellite, the group (including Jo) leaves that night feeling a bit strange. This comes after Jo is frustrated at Jack, who can’t pass Eureka’s simple Advanced Weapons Test. Turns out the satellite used to bounce the film off of was being used in research that would get rid of conventional warfare by using psychological warfare instead (FUN!). By inducing self-paranoia in whatever the enemy is this week, they end up killing each other rather than your military. Something, something, fake news.
I want to say I like parts of “Alienated,” but in that, it is that part of Eureka that doesn’t take itself too seriously. If I were to be reviewing it like I was Roger Ebert, or worse still like Dave Meltzer, I’d be calling it a dud. Then, I’d write very little about it, and (in the case of Meltzer) complain when a woman is in a major role. Being serious about “Alienated” would be stupid, but it almost works for the most part. It does what I’ve said some Fast & Furious films do well: it explains the stupid, unrealistic, only-in-action movies, utter nonsense by explaining it in that world.
“The boys,” as I’ve called them, get progressively more and more paranoid over a senator who is in town to audit GD for another year. A senator who isn’t too happy about GD’s existence in the first place, believing he has enough swing to have all the clearance he needs for whatever the town might be creating. Including a supermassive black hole waiting to happen, or whatever is going on in Section 5 that is itself the power of the sun.
We’re also still in that “Getting to Know ya” phase of Jack to the town. The whole episode is about trust and who you know, with Jack being the new Sheriff in town, he’s viewed (much like the senator) as the outsider. Unlike Kevin Nash, however, he’s trying to do something good for everyone, upholding order in this small town of genius psychopaths who have access to guns more advanced than the infantry. I would say more advanced than the wannabe FBI HRT that tries to save the kidnapped senator from “the boys” too.
Unlike the show where a man will shrink himself, snort drugs, and climb up a man’s urethra to pleasure him, “the boys” in this case just want to cut open and generally kill the senator. Sorry, alien senator that’s in cahoots with Bev. As I say, “Alienated” isn’t a serious episode and it also doesn’t lean too heavily on over-the-top Americanisms to say “Isn’t this funny guys??!?!?!?!?!?” as if it were an SNL skit. There is a twinge of campness to it but it doesn’t lose its North American identity too.
We get a bit more on the show’s arc of “The Artifact,” something that ties into the season arc, but if we’re honest it means nothing. At this point saying “The artifact” is like saying “the giant space wales that we ride into battle to fight the donkey people.” It means so little to us as viewers you might as well throw it in with the rest of the exposition dumping we’re getting for the next several episodes. The place you’ll be throwing it is the bin.
I don’t hate “Alienated,” and I don’t love it either. It is not “Do You See What I See,” “Dr. Nobel,” or “Worst Case Scenario,” It is fine and slightly memorable, but never going to be anyone’s favorite episode of the season. As an episode it is fun, light, and moves along at a good pace, everything you want out of a good episode of Eureka. Ultimately, it is one to watch and maybe keep in a rewatch, but not one you have to keep focused on to make sense of the season arc.
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17 Eureka “Alienated”
Pros
- Very camp and very light.
- Moves us along, even if just a little.
Cons
- Does just enough to get by, and little else.
- I could do without jealous Jo.
