Eureka being Eureka, nothing is ever sane, and such is the case with the annual Eureka Dog Show coming up. But this is no ordinary dog show; it is all about the robotic dogs that the bored scientists spend all their time tweaking so as to win the prestigious title of “Best in Show”. The competition is fierce and cheating is a given, so when one of the ‘dogs’ literally loses their head when two of the scientists have a spat, Carter is called in to investigate.

At the same time he is called over to a suspected burglary at a scientist’s home, where he develops artificial mucous that would make the robotic dogs seem more realistic, so the other scientists would love to get their hands on it. When Jo takes Dr. Mendel from the lab into his house, leaving Carter to investigate by himself, a localized quake takes place with a small aura of light glowing beforehand, which causes more chemicals to collapse and mix, resulting in a mucous disaster.

This peeves Carter as no one will believe him, so he is referred to a disgraced seismologist, Dr. Hood, for answers. Hood just about pooh-poohs him until he hears about the aura, and that sets him wondering. His wondering ends with him taking his burrowing machine to search for proof of his theory and he ends up in the middle of Main Street, much to the chagrin of Allison Blake and the shock of Carter. Hood basically tells them that there is volcanic pressure under the town and they need to locate it and relieve it.

While Allison is directing Carter to keep an eye on Hood and keep him from doing anything nuts, as he is a little unbalanced, unlike the rest of the town, Allison is shopping for wedding dresses with Jo Lupo when another localized quake strikes and Allison gets stuck in her cybernetically fitted gown. She rushes off to meet Carter and speak to Hood, but Hood wasn’t responsible. Turns out there really is volcanic pressure building under the town.

To shorten a lengthy bit, Allison discovers the pressure event most likely is man-made. The doggie-topsy Carter ordered after two dogs exploded showed that they had Logic Diamonds in their processors, which is a breach of national security, and he and Allison figure out that Tracey, the scientist in charge of the Central Computer and the Logic Diamonds, has been growing them. Carter, Jo, and Hood find them in an old abandoned coal mine, where Hood is injured while examining them. Carter has Fargo amp up one of the dogs, Fifi, to sniff out magma and then Carter, Stark, and Fifi go magma hunting under Eureka to “lance the puppy”. It doesn’t exactly work out the way they planned, but Fifi’s schnozz works and they do manage to get the magma to vent into the nearby lake, saving Eureka.

Why Can't We Be A Couple?

To say the least, the fact that there were cute dogs running around in this episode was a terrific bonus for me. I am a real dog person. I love dogs, and all I wanted to do was reach into the screen and give those cuties a cuddle. What adorable furry friends. Plus, Fifi (what a stupid name by the way) got to be a hero while being a total sweetie-pie. If anyone out there doesn’t like dogs, tough crap. I do. Our family Saint Bernard and Yorkie may not be up to the challenge, but our longhaired German Shepherd will have more than a strongly worded letter for you.

Eva Thorne asked Henry to test some land outside of Eureka for radiation, for a potential hotel site. Like Henry couldn’t see right through that weak request. It totally had to do with the nuke test from ’36. Not that Henry knows that yet, but knowing Henry and Carter, they’ll figure it out. Henry is good to have told Carter. Carter and Henry work well together and they’ll get wind of what Thorne is up to sooner than later, and kick her bony butt to the curb. Plus, it will be good to see profiteering being given the heave-ho from an area of science where it has absolutely no business being.

Stark and Allison getting married is just too weird, and the fact that she’s all googly-eyed over him is squicking me out. What twilight zone have I entered? She went from being unsure and hesitant during the first episode to events of PDA in the third episode. This is totally unlike Allison. It is a case of the body-snatchers, if ever there was one. Mulder, Scully, we need your help over in Eureka. Something is rotten in Oregon. She should not have changed so quickly. Something has to be done. Okay, let me revise that statement. The writers screwed the pooch with this one. They can’t take it back - it’s too far gone. They should be forced to suck back an entire bottle of Screech over a supper of head cheese and pickled pigs feet.

Jo has a softer side, as evidenced in previous seasons when she admitted to wanting to be a ballerina to Carter, so it came as no surprise to me that she wanted to go wedding gown shopping with Allison. Nor did it shock me that she wanted to try on a gown. Every girl wants to try on a gown, just to see what it is like. Jo may think she may never end up wearing one, so why not indulge the fantasy? I think it’s great that she can participate in her feminine side. She’s not just a tomboy, she’s a beautiful, intelligent, funny woman and she deserves to revel in her femininity.

So, just like it took the writers a long time to get to the point of this episode so they could wrap it up, a little untidily if you ask me, I have done the same thing here. Annoying, isn’t it? I guess the writer’s strike really threw them off their game. Hopefully they get it back soon. It was nice to see they didn’t overtly advertise crap during this episode, or I would’ve turned it off and not bothered to write a bloody word. I can take my business elsewhere too, ya know. The cute dogs were the best bit about the episode. Huh. That’s kind of sad.

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