Eureka: Back on track for the season finale

Oh, man. I know I've been a little hard on Eureka lately, but it was only because I knew the show could be even better. And clearly, I was right. Tonight's episode, the second part of this season's finale, was fantastic! Twists, turns, and some fabulously quotable writing. I wasn't even annoyed that it was all about Artifact stuff! Luckily for us, Sci Fi has ordered 13 more episodes for next summer, so at least we have that to look forward to.

Apparently, a Code Red biohazard at GD, such as the deadly bacteria that it appears Henry did NOT make up (contrary to my suspicions last week) activates a panic room protocol which turns the Director's office into an impenetrable bunker. Beverly and Henry act surprised, which indicates that this wasn't part of their plan. No, they're there to take Kevin someplace where the consortium that Beverly works with will exploit him and his connection to the Artifact while giving him "all the care and attention he needs." And Henry is totally Super-Evil Kidnapper Henry, agreeing that Allison and Kevin can't possibly control and protect all that power. Yikes.

While Allison is trying to convince them that kidnapping her son is probably not a good plan, Akashic field and all human knowledge or not, Stark, Carter and Taggart are trying to break through GD's defenses to get to the bunker. They're in a bit of a hurry, since DoD protocol is to do a "thermal cleansing" if an outbreak of this type can't be contained. The cleansing isn't exactly friendly to organic matter.

Zoe's party has become a command post, seeing as SARAH has a periscope with a backdoor electronic link to the GD system. Of course. Fargo and Zane fight over who gets to play hacker, which gives Jo her quote of the night: "Boys, there's plenty of backdoor access for everyone!" It's the delivery that really sells it. They help Carter and Stark (and Taggart, before he gets sidetracked playing Pied Piper/Jedi Knight to a bunch of lost GD employees) navigate the GD defense system, which seems to be a little aggressive. Like, cooking people with microwaves and shooting at them with lasers aggressive. I loved Carter's quote when Taggart and Stark decide that he should be the one to serve as human bait for the lasers: "Why do I always have to be the someone?!" So true, Carter. So true.

After discovering live, uninfected employees in the morgue (and making a funny zombie joke), Carter, Stark and Taggart realize that the bacterial infection was a ruse on Henry's part. I totally called it after all! After Taggart leaves, Carter and Stark have a little heart to heart. Much as Stark rubs me the wrong way, I do enjoy the generally good-natured dislike and rivalry that these two share. Carter asks why Allison went along with the whole "hiding Beverly and the evidence of her crimes" thing, and Stark responds, "Did you ever think she was trying to protect me?" Carter, with Colin Ferguson's perfect timing, answers, "Noooo...that's not it." Ha! So he figures out part of the connection to Kevin, and Stark fills in the rest, including what he's risked solely to protect Kevin. I'm hearing some death knells for the Allison/Carter ship, you guys.

Aaaat any rate, it seems that the Directors' bunker is also equipped with secret (untested) teleportation devices which read one's DNA and reconstruct it elsewhere, leaving an empty shell body behind. Of course. Henry and Beverly intend to use it to escape with Kevin, but Stark realizes that the device, which he helped to build, could safely separate Kevin from the Akashic field, if only the user had his pre-Artifact DNA code.

After a catfight in which Allison totally and completely kicks Beverly's evil butt, knocking her unconscious, Henry explains that he's not working with Beverly, and that he faked the bacteria thing so that they could use the teleportation device to separate Kevin from the field. WHAT?! Actually, no, that kind of makes sense. Except...why did he even bust Beverly out of prison? And how did he find out about the Kevin thing? And wasn't he being evil all season, what with the Carter-hating and all? Beverly wakes up and tries to convince Henry that they have "all the knowledge of the universe at their fingertips." When Henry refuses to help her, she tries to attack. Luckily, Carter and Stark get there just in time, and with the right information to separate Kevin from the field successfully. He seems good as new, so...yay!

Beverly escapes using the crazy teleportation thing (duh), so I guess we'll be seeing her next season. Stark, though, lies to DoD that she died, and Henry claims responsibility for the whole mess. Which, fair enough. At least for the latter part. They handcuff him and take him away, hopefully to be heard from again, since he's all Not-Evil Henry now. The season ends pretty much the polar opposite from how it began, with Allison, Kevin and Stark more of a family than ever. And possibly WAY more of a family, since Stark re-proposes to Allison. Aww, I kind of liked her chemistry with Carter. And that dry cleaning chick was nowhere to be seen in this episode, so nuts. So that's it for this season, and it'll be almost a year before you can get your Eureka on again. Sigh. On the plus side, it'll make Tuesdays at 9 a little easier on my DVR...