Eureka Summer Season Finale

A lot of cyber ink is spilled dissecting "serious" TV show, i.e. The Wire, Mad Men, Battlestar Galactica. I've got nothing against serious, but I've come to a real appreciation the last few years to what might be considered the next level down from the "serious shows," what I think of in my own head as the "comfort food" shows. These are shows that make you happy just watching them, give you characters you want to spend time with. They're always well-acted and well-written, which is really a lot harder to find than you think, especially in the era of godawful reality crap and copy-catty cannon fodder.

This summer, the creative talent behind Eureka did a very smart thing. Several seasons in a lot of shows fall into a rut. Even really great shows can just start following the same grooves around the track after a while. (Burn Notice, I'm glancing your way). But Eureka rebooted with the whole alternate time/changed future arc. It could have fallen flat, but I think it really accomplished what it set out to do. It changed character dynamics, changed relationships, opened up a lot of possibilities for going in directions that wouldn't have been possible otherwise.

The best part for me, though, was the Jack/Allison relationship. I don't know why I care about Jack and Allison's relationship so much, but I suppose a lot of it has to do with the considerable charm of both Colin Ferguson and Sallie Richardson Whitfield, and their obvious chemistry. Also the fact that this has been building very quietly for the entire duration of the series, yet never veered off into sappy melodrama. (I still recall how heartbreaking it was when Jack had to fix time a couple of seasons ago and give Allison up, knowing she wouldn't remember, but he always would.)

This season, when Jack finally told her that he had been head over heels in love with her since the first moment he met her, I actually got a little teary, a little lumpy-throated.

All in all, it was a fun season, and my favorite season finale this year.