Keiran McEwen
Keiran McEwenAnd so it begins: “FARGO!!!” Directed by Jeff Woolnough, Woolnough is best known for two things: Three episodes of Battlestar Galactica and that annoying and horrible early episode of Stargate SG-1, “Emancipation.” It was not an episode that aged well. It is also the last of Dan E Fesman’s Eureka run as he goes on to write NCIS. While his co-writing partner Harry Victor is staying on for “H.O.U.S.E. Rules” later in the season, there is very little that Victor has done since.
In an effort to teach Zoe without actually having to do anything himself, Sherrif Carter puts her to work at the OAP daycare center, assuming she’ll be humiliated by having to wipe an old woman’s wrinkly crack. Ahh, the 2000s understandings of actual work people have to do for little pay and little gratitude- lovely. Carter’s questionable parenting aside, Fargo is finally getting his own office at GD, which is so far down you could high-five Satan. Given the number of defense contracts GD has, I’m sure there is an elevator to hell somewhere.
Turns out that Stark gave Fargo the wrong office space about 5 miles underground because we keep only a few things down that far: The Catholic Church’s “supplies,” the federal reserves of cheese, and all that tech to keep the über wealthy safe so they can destroy what’s left. Pressing buttons, Fargo sets in motion Chris Chibnall’s ideal episode, one with a big clock hanging over it until the end of the world. The difference is I like “Dr. Nobel,” and not just because it comes from the Nobél region of France; otherwise, it would just be a sparkling Moon-based nuclear holocaust.
It has been America’s favorite past-time in the prior three-four decades, reminding us that the Cold War was a thing. If only we had the same energy about World War II and the Nazis. Despite my dislike of Carter’s very 2000s divorced TV dad’s way of parenting and my sly comments about GD’s defense contractor work, I quite like “Dr. Nobel.” It is strange, fun, mostly light, and unlike the other episodes of Eureka: it is fairly good at finding its feet. I’ve said it before, and it is the case throughout the season. I think Eureka is still finding its feet.
Not the best episode of Eureka, far from it, but it’s certainly one that falls more in line with how the show intends to proceed for the coming seasons. With Zoe becoming friends with granny Doris, we get more of Zoe in the central plot and actively providing some help. Probably the most calm out of everyone, aside from Antony Holland’s Dr Irvin Thatcher. It turns out that one of the greatest minds in history, Julius Baltar, has had his brains turned to mush. The square wheels on the padded van go thunk, thunk, thunk.
He just so happens to be the guy who was part of a major project that Fargo just reactivated, bouncing death-ray nuclear bombs off of the moon as a means of deterrent. Ok, I’ll say it if no one else will: a deterrent only really works when both sides know it is there, more so when common people know it is there. To bastardize the LBJ quote to fit here, “If you can convince the lowest man he’s in danger more than the rich…” then he’s probably going to fight against whatever you tell him to. This is practically the story of the Fallout series.
If you can look past the idea of a secret superweapon hidden underground and no one knows about it, then yeah, it is a pretty solid episode that mostly works. Granny snogging aside. With Thatcher (not that one) trying to chew mushy peas and drink well-done steak, the team needs to figure out either how to turn off the countdown clock to impending nuclear war or get the doddering old guy into working, mentally. Turns out the faux-dementia was brought on by Dr Thatcher not winning the Nobel Peace Prize. Yet, somehow Stark did – ok, second unbelievable moment.
I’m not saying Eureka is always dancing the line of reality and doing so in a way that’s “believable,” in fact I think the opposite. I think the show’s ability to do something out-of-the-box, like host a fake Nobel Peace Prize ceremony with a holographic crowd for an old man to save the world, is its strength. I am saying the show needs to find its feet, which I think it eventually does, but Eureka and its production also know already that it isn’t supposed to be a super-serious, hardcore sci-fi show. As I have said, this isn’t a show that could be made now.
Being a person on the internet, you’ve seen the comments over the MCU and everything else: If it isn’t pitch-perfect to half a billion people’s ideal of what a character should be, then it isn’t good. Worse if it is a woman in a major role that isn’t sexualized, and she doesn’t fit a weird beauty standard. Eureka and “Dr Nobel” is everything modern TV isn’t. It has conveniently attractive people for mid-budget American TV, but it isn’t cutting-edge, boring drama with action and comedy as an aside to be a catch-all entertainment piece. It is just fun, instead.
Ultimately, “Dr Nobel” might not be the Doctor-Donna, but it is a funny, breezy episode of a show that is aimed at being that very thing. Despite the world-ending events, it isn’t too heavy, it isn’t too dark, and it isn’t weighed down by an arc that’s quite dull. The old fella’s charming, Jocelyne Lowen’s Doris Stokes is delightful, and I think most importantly for Eureka going forward, Colin Ferguson’s Jack (parenting aside) is the show’s Jean-Luc Picard, The Doctor, Ben Sisko, Ted Lasso, and so on. He’s that lead you want to be friends with.
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5 Eureka "Dr. Nobel"
Pros
- Jack solidifying himself.
- Jo's got a gun, got a gun. Jo's got a gun!
- The start of everyone's refrain: "FARGO!!!"
Cons
- A bit flimsy of a premise if you think too much.
- No we need granny snogging?
- Can we get out of Carter's parenting issues already?
