Eureka S1E11 - H.O.U.S.E. Rules

I think we’ve all had a day when we’ve woken up and thought we’d rather stay home, eat Froot Loops, and drink beer rather than go to work. I personally wouldn’t put the beer on the Froot Loops, but I get the sentiment.

This is what happens with Sheriff Carter in this episode of Eureka. He arrests a scientist whose dangerous behaviour causes an explosion at GD, only to have Allison immediately let the guy go. Fed up with never being able to properly do his job, Jack decides it’s time to take a few ‘sick days’. Due to some events in previous episodes, Jack is not the only one feeling some resentment in Eureka.

While Jack is lounging on the couch daydreaming and looking up the cost of beach houses around the world, S.A.R.A.H. (Self Actuated Residential Automated Habitat), his AI-run smart house (way cooler than current ‘smart houses’, and only mildly creepier) assesses all the data available to her. She doesn’t like what she sees.

S.A.R.A.H. becomes convinced that disaster is brewing in Eureka. Her solution? Contrive to have all the key players make their way to Jack’s house. She puts out fake calls to Henry, Allison, Beverly Barlow (among other things, she’s the town therapist), Nathan Stark, and Fargo, who all show up at Jack’s door in turn. Once everyone is in place, S.A.R.A.H. locks them in so they can air their grievances and move on.

There’s also a pizza guy present because, why not? As it happens, Pizza Guy is wearing a red shirt. Infer what you will.

Naturally, it turns out S.A.R.A.H.’s program was built on top of some kind of combat AI which eventually takes over. Now, if everyone can’t learn to get along, they’re going to die. After all, no episode is complete without mortal peril.

What irks me about this episode:

Some of the characters are a bit too petulant in this episode for my taste. Especially Henry, whose main complaint seems to be that he can’t have total intellectual freedom without any checks or balances, or need to justify where his paycheque comes from. I’m all in support of scientific, creative, and academic freedom, but learning to play well with others is just part of being in human society. Nathan (not the most likeable character, but he has his moments) actually does a good job of putting Henry in his place on this point.

What I like about this episode:

I like the basic premise of just locking all the people who aren’t getting along in a room until they sort it out. Not really practical (or legal) in real life. I also suspect in real life it might backfile horribly. But when this happens on television everyone comes out having had their catharsis and ready to forgive.

And despite his occasional moral superiority, Henry is still one of my favourite characters.

This is also just a fun episode. One of those, ‘there was a problem that we solved, but that created a bigger problem, and then solving that caused another problem, etc’ type of episodes.