Eureka 7/9/12 "Double Take"

[Rob Helmerichs]

That was the original season finale. I can see where they figured they could wrap up the series with just one more episode...this one left the story in a place where there's not that much left to wrap up. Instead of figuring out how to keep the show going with the government shutting down Eureka, all they have to do is...let the government shut down Eureka.

[DevdogAZ]

Bummed that the show will be ending with the town apparently being shut down. As someone in a previous thread mentioned, I would have much preferred to have the show just end with the characters and town still apparently continuing on their merry way. That's always a more satisfying ending than some contrived plot that creates a false finality.

As for this episode, we're supposed to believe that the NPCs (did they ever tell us what that stands for?) replaced everyone in the town except Fargo and Allison? What about the security guards? Fargo was talking about it costing millions of dollars to print a body blank. How did Holly and the rest of them have the funds/resources to print hundreds of body blanks for all of these NPCs?

Also, why does Holly get to continue "living" while the rest of the NPCs were archived? What's the difference between her and them?

[robojerk]

As for this episode, we're supposed to believe that the NPCs (did they ever tell us what that stands for?)

NPC stands for "Non Playable Character". It's a game reference for a character that has a set of scripted actions/comments.

[robojerk]

Fargo was talking about it costing millions of dollars to print a body blank. How did Holly and the rest of them have the funds/resources to print hundreds of body blanks for all of these NPCs?
TV Magic, or DoD (taxpayer) money.

Also, why does Holly get to continue "living" while the rest of the NPCs were archived? What's the difference between her and them?I believe her body was just reprogrammed with an NPC version of herself. Considering how they made such a big deal about how her program couldn't be copied, only transferred (rollseyes), I too wonder how they were able to bring her back. Also what about Andy, I guess they could have "reset" him.I wou;didn't get too caught up with the technicalities.
Like did they have an NPC programmed for Holly already, if yes why did we never see her in the matrix? What did NPC Jo do with the military commander? Yeah they could have cloned him, but was there a generic NPC for him?

[kaszeta]

Fargo was talking about it costing millions of dollars to print a body blank. How did Holly and the rest of them have the funds/resources to print hundreds of body blanks for all of these NPCs?

I thought he was saying that the printer itself was millions of dollars.

[Rob Helmerichs]

I thought he was saying that the printer itself was millions of dollars.
No, he was specifically talking about the printing process. "I never would have authorized that!" But the printer already existed, so it wouldn't have needed to be authorized.

[DevdogAZ]

What did NPC Jo do with the military commander? Yeah they could have cloned him, but was there a generic NPC for him?

I thought they sent Shaw on a wild goose chase to look for Grace (saying that she'd used her credit card at some gas station) so that he'd be out of the way.

[lpwcomp]

NPC stands for "Non Playable Character". It's a game reference for a character that has a set of scripted actions/comments.While that is one of the alternatives given by Wiki, it is usually Non Player Character. Not really scripted, just controlled by either the computer or the Game/Dungeon Master. In the matrix-Eureka, all of the characters other than the Astraeus crew were NPCs. When Jack went in, he replaced "his" NPC.

[eddyj]

As for this episode, we're supposed to believe that the NPCs (did they ever tell us what that stands for?) replaced everyone in the town except Fargo and Allison? What about the security guards? Fargo was talking about it costing millions of dollars to print a body blank. How did Holly and the rest of them have the funds/resources to print hundreds of body blanks for all of these NPCs?


Not everyone was replaced. Everyone was kidnapped and plugged in, but there were a limited number of NPCs in created bodies.

[betts4]

I loved it when Vincent said "everyone into the freezer!" I knew that he was evil then!

[DevdogAZ]

Not everyone was replaced. Everyone was kidnapped and plugged in, but there were a limited number of NPCs in created bodies.

I suppose that's possible, but I sure got the impression that everyone who was plugged in had been replaced. Weren't they trying to replace everyone so that people outside the town, such as Shaw, would have no idea what had taken place? If so, they'd have to replace everyone. They couldn't just have some of the people disappear.

Also, there were dozens of "people" chasing Allison and Fargo when they ran to the cabin. Obviously there are more than dozens of people in the town, but I got the sense that they were trying to portray the fact that everyone who had been plugged in had been cloned.

[Rob Helmerichs]

I loved it when Vincent said "everyone into the freezer!" I knew that he was evil then!
I was amused that all these geniuses thought that being locked in a freezer was a good thing... :D

[robojerk]

I was amused that all these geniuses thought that being locked in a freezer was a good thing... :D

No street smarts....

[betts4]

And I found myself liking Allison this week. More like old Allison.

I also liked the touch of them bringing back the 'older' Jenna. That made it all the more creepy, but how exactly did they do that?

[lpwcomp]

As with most TV shows, inconvenient problems that would interfere with the plot are ignored. I fail to see how they had either the time or the resources to create all of the bodies they actually showed much less the entire population of Eureka. Not to mention that the matrix computer was shut down and taken away. Where have the NPCs been hiding that escaped the purge and what were they planning to use to recreate the matrix?

[Hunter Green]

NPC stands for "Non Playable Character". It's a game reference for a character that has a set of scripted actions/comments.
Actually it's non-player character. It's a character played by someone other than a player. In tabletop roleplaying games like D&D (which is where the term originated) they're played by the Gamemaster. In computer games they're played by the computer.

Last week they could barely scrounge up enough processing power for Holly, and now they can run the entire town's worth of NPC-standalones. I guess that's Moore's law for you.

I wonder if they're going to find a way to address the show's initial scene with Carter and his daughter seeing themselves driving out when they drove in.

[RGM1138]

Actually it's non-player character. It's a character played by someone other than a player. In tabletop roleplaying games like D&D (which is where the term originated) they're played by the Gamemaster. In computer games they're played by the computer.

Last week they could barely scrounge up enough processing power for Holly, and now they can run the entire town's worth of NPC-standalones. I guess that's Moore's law for you.



Well, not to mention that they have a digital printer that will conveniently squirt out human body forms for the NPCs to D/L into.

Hey, can I have a Liv Tyler clone since the technology is so handy?

[eddyj]

It is not a digital printer, it is a bio-printer.

And I want a Liv clone too.

[kmccbf]

Last week they could barely scrounge up enough processing power for Holly, and now they can run the entire town's worth of NPC-standalones. I guess that's Moore's law for you.



I sort of had the understanding that the NPC's had the computer that Beverly's group was using somehow. I'm not sure how, but that was the impression I got. Since that was all it was being used for there was plenty of power. The reason they had trouble scrounging up the power was most of their computers weren't set up for the type of program as that computer and those that could be made to handle the program were in use for other functions.

I'm not totally convinced that they will shut down Eureka. At least I hope not. That would be a really sad ending.

[lpwcomp]

I'm not totally convinced that they will shut down Eureka. At least I hope not. That would be a really sad ending.Maybe they'll just kick all of the "real" people out and revive the replacements.

[DevdogAZ]

I sort of had the understanding that the NPC's had the computer that Beverly's group was using somehow. I'm not sure how, but that was the impression I got. Since that was all it was being used for there was plenty of power. The reason they had trouble scrounging up the power was most of their computers weren't set up for the type of program as that computer and those that could be made to handle the program were in use for other functions.

I'm not totally convinced that they will shut down Eureka. At least I hope not. That would be a really sad ending.

Didn't the computer Beverly's group was using get confiscated when they were caught? Part of it was taken to GD which is where Zane and Fargo discovered that Holly was still in there, but then that part got taken away as well.

[kmccbf]

I didn't say it made sense! That was just my understanding :)

Actually, I thought the whole thing was confiscated, I just figured that they had gotten it back somehow.

[Church AV Guy]

As with most TV shows, inconvenient problems that would interfere with the plot are ignored. I fail to see how they had either the time or the resources to create all of the bodies they actually showed much less the entire population of Eureka. Not to mention that the matrix computer was shut down and taken away. Where have the NPCs been hiding that escaped the purge and what were they planning to use to recreate the matrix?
That original computer could not keep the simulation running properly with only one extra person plugged into the system. How will it EVER function with the whole town plugged into it? It would completely break down!

[Bierboy]

Line of the series from Carter --

"I've gotta kick my ass..."

[Bierboy]

...I wonder if they're going to find a way to address the show's initial scene with Carter and his daughter seeing themselves driving out when they drove in.

I'll be sorely disappointed if they DON'T address it. That would be very appropriate...keep Eureka going, but Carter leaving to meet Allison in SF to live "happily every after"......**barf**.....

[jschuur]

Maybe they'll just kick all of the "real" people out and revive the replacements.

The NPCs wanted the 'real' people back in their pods, so they could work in the virtual world and harvest their work, as per their original programming. This suggests that the NPCs weren't smart enough to do the actual research, just smart enough to create enough physical bodies to coral everyone in and let the real human intelligence do the hard work.

Obviously this leaves the Beverly angle unaddressed, but I think their whole motivation was just to follow their original programming. We don't have a clear indication that Beverly has escaped the confines of her prison and was able to control the NPCs at all.

[Mr_Bester]

The NPCs wanted the 'real' people back in their pods, so they could work in the virtual world and harvest their work, as per their original programming. This suggests that the NPCs weren't smart enough to do the actual research, just smart enough to create enough physical bodies to coral everyone in and let the real human intelligence do the hard work.

Obviously this leaves the Beverly angle unaddressed, but I think their whole motivation was just to follow their original programming. We don't have a clear indication that Beverly has escaped the confines of her prison and was able to control the NPCs at all.

I thought Beverly was on the loose after she put Senator Wyn into the fake cell in the computer...

[jschuur]

I thought Beverly was on the loose after she put Senator Wyn into the fake cell in the computer...
Err. Right. I got my antagonists mixed up.

They could make Beverly even less evil in the finale, by delivering the actual masterminds of the people behind the Astraeus hijacking and general espionage.