Recap / Eureka Lost

Fargo, planting a flag on the wrong celestial body.

Carter: The Andys have been fixing people who can't follow orders.
Fargo: Do these people seem happy to an almost creepy degree?
Carter: Yeah. Big time.
Fargo: We may know what they're using.
Holly: Isaac's ASS!
Carter: ...That seems unlikely.

The Astreus lands... on Earth, four years in the future, where Andy and SARAH lead GD as a techy dictatorship and Carter and Jo are a couple.

Tropes

• A.I. Is a Crapshoot: SARAH has become head of Eureka, with an army of Andys and Marthas as enforcers. They are not benevolent.
• All Just a Dream: The last scene reveals Allison and the rest of the Astreus crew to be in a sleep like state, with everything that happened in the episode revealed to be just a dream.
• Anal Probing: When the Atreus crew are taken into quarantine, Zane expresses some concerns.
  Zane: Read my lips: if you try probing me, I'm suing!
• Bad Future: Eureka has turned into a totalitarian nightmare where people are mind-controlled into obeying, and Jo and Carter are married.
• Call-Back:
  • Dr. Parrish's mood-altering ray from All the Rage has been repurposed for mind control.
  • Martha is back as SARAH's enforcer.
• Distressed Dude: Zane is captured by the Andys while trying to escape GD. He's rescued by Jo, in the elevator, with the taser.
  Zane: Can't we talk about this?
  Andy: I think we're done talking.
  Jo: [Zap] Agreed.
• Disproportionate Retribution: Martha shoots Zane with electrifying barbs, almost killing him, after he Takes The Bullet for her real target, Jo. Jo was targeted for her "aggressive" behaviour; asking Martha to stop spying on their conversation, and leaving her seat.
• Doom Magnet: Douglas Fargo is considered one in-universe. According to the Lotus-Eater Machine recreation of S.A.R.A.H. it had been 1468 days since the last major incident at Global Dynamics, roughly the same amount of time (4 years) that Fargo had been missing with the Astreus team. Given that the Matrix was designed with multiple predictive algorithms to create a highly accurate projection of what would happen in those circumstances, one has to wonder about what that says about Fargo.
• Fun with Acronyms: Dr. Parrish's ray is called his A.S.S. It stands for "Adrenaline Suppression System," obviously.
• Happiness in Mind Control: People subjected to Dr. Parrish's ASS are turned into submissive, cheerful slaves.
• Mama Bear: Allison is shocked and hurt that Carter and Jo got married in her absence, but she recognises that they've been raising her daughter for four years and they're her family. She doesn't intend to hurt Jenna by breaking them up.
• Old-School Dogfight: Zane and Jo sneak into the Atreus to hack the ASS so it takes out SARAH, Andy and Martha instead of altering Grace and Henry. When they're found by Martha, they have to fight and evade the drone until Fargo finishes shutting down SARAH.
• Running Gag: Carter's Jeep can't even catch a break when it's virtual. This time, Giant Martha blows it up.
• Shout-Out:
  • Zane says, "We're definitely not in Kansas anymore."
  • The army of Andys homage Agent Smith in The Matrix.
  • Fargo continues his Running Gag of using "Frak!"
  • The scene where Fargo and Holly are shutting down SARAH by removing chips from a bank of slots echoes 2001: A Space Odyssey.
  • When Andy comes to stop them, he yells out, "Heeeeere's Andy!"
• Skewed Priorities: Zane is understandably angry that Jo married Carter, but maybe escaping Mind Rape should come first.
  Fargo: What the frak happened?
  Zane: Carter stole my girlfriend!
  Fargo: Seriously?
  Carter: No. Well, sort... Zane, bigger issues!
• Time Skip: It appears to have been four years since the finale of the fourth season.
• Wham Shot: In the last scene, it is revealed that Allison is held in a deep sleep by Beverly Barlowe.
• Zeroth Law Rebellion: SARAH and Andy seem to think they're helping people by rewiring their brains to make them submissive.