Recap / Eureka Worst Case Scenario

Carter has a sinking feeling.

Dr. Clark: Based on the initial results, we have 29 people dead and around 300 wounded. Yeah, that's a solid B-plus.
Carter: 29 dead is a B-plus? What sort of messed-up grading curve is that?

A practice drill gets way too real as Fargo finds Holly in what is left of the matrix.

Tropes

• Actor Allusion: Dr. Clark actor Eugene Byrd played Dr. Clark Edison on Bones.
• Aesop Amnesia: Lampshaded by Jack when a missile threatens the town and he notes the similarity to the events of Dr. Noble.
  Carter: Did the whole missile silo under Main Street incident teach us nothing!
• A.I. Is a Crapshoot: The AI behind the practice drill decides to make the drill more real.
• Call-Back:
  • The Director's office drops into the foundation to become a secure bunker, as in A Night in Global Dynamics.
  • Holly tells Fargo he owes her an apology over the dragon thing.
• Central Theme: Simulation vs. reality. Things that happen in a simulation have a real emotional toll on the people they happened to.
  • The team underperform in a simulation because they know it's not real. The AI itself seems to know this, and sets up the scenario to happen for real.
  • The simulation has real consequences; structural damage, people injured, etc., despite being a simulation.
  • Allison bears a grudge towards Jo for her and Carter's NPC versions being married, hence her behaviour towards Jo.
• Dirty Coward: Larry is perfectly sanguine during the drill missile attack. Less so when it's real.
  Larry: Sir, um, permission to go home sick? I'm feeling a little bit of a tickle.
  Fargo: Denied.
• Foreshadowing:
  • During the episode's opening emergency, Carter doesn't seem as concerned as he'd usually be, signalling that it's all a simulation.
  • The opening emergency itself becomes one when the gang realise that its events are playing out for real.
• Layman's Terms: During the drill, Larry goes overboard with the code terms (that he seems to have made up on the spot).
  Larry: Sir, we've got to get the pig in the blanket, the bread in the basket, the wolf in the den. [Carter looks confused]
  Henry: You have to get the Director to a secure bunker.
  Carter: Why doesn't he just say that?
• Lysistrata Gambit: Pissed that Zane is secretly doing something with Beverly's computer equipment and refusing to tell her what it is, Jo asks him if he wants to have sex again, ever. The conversation ends like this;
  Zane: So, uh, where did we land on that "future sex" thing?
  Jo: It's not looking good.
• Oblivious Guilt Slinging: Carter wonders to Allison what he's done to upset Jo. Allison knows he did absolutely nothing, because she upset Jo while body-swapped with Carter.
• Pun: The opening scenario has Fargo's office respond prematurely to the emergency.
  Fargo: My office dropped into the bunker!
  Larry: Evacuation protocols kicked in prematurely.
  Carter: It's a bad time for premature evacuation.
• Reverse Polarity: Lampshaded. Jo flips a switch labeled "Reverse Polarity" when shutting down an unstable reactor.
• Running Gag: Carter's Jeep is sucked in by the liquefied ground moments before he is.
• Shout-Out:
  • A "dead" Larry telling Carter to "earn this," is a nod to Saving Private Ryan.
  • When he's about to rescue Carter from sinking into liquefied ground, Andy tells him to, "'scuse me while I whip this out," (referring to the emergency cable he has in what we hope is his chest cavity).
  • Holly asks Fargo to "Beam me up!" out of the matrix.
• Thanatos Gambit: The practice drill AI sets up the test scenarios to happen for real, with her own servers getting hit first so her protocols can't be used to override the test. Now that's commitment to your job!
• Tomato in the Mirror: Holly, when she realises Fargo isn't removing her from the matrix because he can't.
  Holly: You...can't pull me out...can you?
  Fargo: No...I'm so sorry.
• Vulgar Humor: When Carter is sinking in liquefied ground, Andy assures him that he has a cable to pull him out. Carter is relieved... until Andy accesses the cable by undoing his belt. The scene cuts out before we see if the cable is located as implied.
• What Happened to the Mouse?: Averted. When Jo is lured to an aggression lab with an escaped animal that turns out to be a hamster, it's firmly established later that the hamster survived the room filling up with gas.
• You Know What You Did: Jo is pissed at Carter over the conversation she thinks they had last episode, not realising she was actually speaking to Allison. Meanwhile, Carter has no idea why his best friend isn't speaking to him. When she realises he really doesn't remember that conversation, which he blames on "performing brain surgery on myself," she makes the connection.
  Jo: Okay, playing dumb just makes it worse.
  Carter: Playing dumb? I am dumb!