In January an interesting convergence got my attention: two of the shows I was watching for this site, Flash Gordon and Moonlight, each killed off the heroine's boyfriend, leaving the field clear for her to get with the hero -- both on the same night.
I figured it was a January thing: half a season of triangular tension, resolved at midseason so that the back half can build toward taking the two leads to the next level. But the same thing apparently just happened on Eureka: Nathan Stark (Ed Quinn), the ex- and putative future husband of Allison Blake (Salli Richardson), seemed to die only four episodes into the new season ("I Do Over," 3x04).
The difference may be that Flash and Moonlight were both freshmen series, perhaps doubting (in both cases with reason) whether they'd have time to follow a more leisurely arc; Nathan, on the other hand, has been around very nearly since the beginning and has been a thorn in the side of Sheriff Jack Carter (Colin Ferguson) all that time.
The more important difference, however, is that while Joe and Josh, the boyfriends on the two other shows, were made from purest cardboard, designed to be disposable, Nathan -- on the surface an egocentric foil for Carter -- has shown considerable complexity and depth, and has been explored and developed considerably more even than some of the other leads. His apparent death is a real loss for the show.
Is Nathan Dead?
I keep saying "apparent" because there's another rule in drama, especially in sci-fi: If there's no body, he's not dead. (You can call it the Dumbledore Rule: If, and only if, a character dies, there's a body, and he's buried, he's dead.) Nathan wasn't killed and buried: he evaporated into time, in a reasonably neat effect. Where else can you come back from better than time? (Over on Stargate Atlantis, Elizabeth Weir -- though not played by Torri Higginson -- came back from subspace, and coming back from time has gotta be easier.) Also portentous: His last words to Carter were "I'll see you around, Jack."
Those last words, though, are also part of the creators playing this moment for all its worth with the fans. Nathan and Carter started to get all serious and respectful of each other last week, and toward the end of "I Do Over" the gravitas between them got even deeper. And they were totally winking at the fans when the "kick-me" boy, Douglas Fargo (Neil Grayston), offered to perform the risky experiment instead of Nathan. (I could just hear the haters across the country going, "Yeah! Kill Fargo!") And this after Sci Fi had promoted the show with one of those reprehensible "it's the end for one of these characters" spots.
If there's any validity to the Dumbledore Rule -- and as a sci-fi fan I've seen it play out over and over again -- we'll see Nathan again.
The Effect on the Show
Can we verify Nathan's future one way or the other? Eureka's producers have been very tight-lipped about the plot points of season 3, and I've been unable to confirm the nature of Nathan's "death."
On the other hand, there's this interview with Quinn himself, in which he predicted, "I think you'll see this season that there will definitely be some losses of some supporting characters, and an introduction to a bunch of new ones." We've already seen some new faces: Frances Fisher (as Eva Thorne) has an eight-episode arc, and Ever Carradine (Commander in Chief), introduced this week as Jack's interesting sister Lexi, will be in at least four episodes. (Along with Lexi, "I Do Over" had other moments I really liked, including Allison's knowing smile at Carter when Henry, officiating, asked if there were objections.)
In retrospect Nathan's removal was easy to see coming. When I observed that Global Dynamics was now top-heavy with brass, that suggested that the imbalance would somehow be resolved. And from the show's perspective Carter/Allison was literally destined to happen (in that it's already been shown in an alternate future), her impending wedding to Nathan had to be disrupted either before, during, or after.
Assuming Nathan is out of the picture, this means the connections are simplified: Carter and Allison have formed a close bond, she clearly has feelings for him (in "I Do Over" she starts to say, "I'm not going to deny that--" before switching topics), and she's lost much of the hard edge she developed as head of Global. With Henry reformed, Eva the Unsubtle becomes the sole remaining foil/nemesis. But when Eva is done -- and she's apparently only booked for part of the season -- the cast is left without that essential ingredient of drama, the tension-maker. Either a revived Nathan or someone else will have to shift into that role.
The third season of Eureka, for which 13 episodes were ordered, is being built around an eight-episode unit at the top of the season. Whatever else is true, that means we're building up to something, and we're only halfway there. (I just wish this episode hadn't ended with a jarring promo for next week's encounter with mummy curses.)
Killing Off the Third Wheel
Leaving aside Nathan's future, removing the heroine's boyfriend represents, I think, a huge dose of wish-fulfillment: the hero caught in the love triangle always mutters to himself, "If only that joker would just go away" -- and in sci-fi, he does! That's not exactly fair, is it?
My point is that drama and wish-fulfillment are at cross purposes. Drama -- especially episodic drama -- works by denying the hero what he wants, giving him only what he needs, and sometimes not even that. Wish-fulfillment gives the hero everything the writer wishes he had, which is fun for the writer but boring for the audience, who knows they're missing out when the writing tilts things the hero's way. It's the difference between Lord of the Rings and Eragon. Eragon is less interesting than Frodo because he gets stuff he doesn't earn.
In Moonlight, Josh's death left Mick free to romance Beth; on Flash Gordon, Joe's death -- a heroic self-sacrifice, like Nathan's -- left Flash free to woo Dale. The same thing seems to be opening up now for Carter and Allison, barring Nathan's return from disintegration, just like the other two shows. And look what happened to them.
