I was never more happy to see a character show up than I was to see Nathan Stark return to Eureka. For anyone who has watched the episode The Ex-Files, you’ll know that his visit wasn’t real, but I loved it anyway. As someone who has always loved the chemistry between Stark and Carter, the byplay was excellent, even if he was just a figment of Carter’s imagination!

Stark is probably dead in this universe too, but I have noted that it’s never been explicitly stated, so although it might not be the smartest thing to do, I’m okay with keeping my hopes up that we see him again sometime. :)

You can download or watch online if you missed it, because it’s an episode that really shouldn’t be missed: The Ex-Files.

Another interesting note (fangirl moment here): Ed Quinn / Nathan Stark goes shirtless in one spot and the episode is worth watching just for that! ;-)

Friday, September 10th is the Mid-Season Finale of the series. Mark your calendar! I don’t’ know about you, but I certainly won’t be missing that one. (Actually, I don’t miss any of them. LOL.)

Oh, and I updated the news and articles page with a link to the video tribute to Nathan Stark where the cast discusses Ed Quinn’s departure from Eureka.

Since those are just static pages on the site, feel free to leave any comments about them on this post! I love talking about Eureka and its people!

Nathan Stark

After the loss of Nathan Stark, I don’t know what I’m worried about. Surely nothing could be more shocking or disturbing than to lose a great character like that. But then I found a tantalizing tidbit of news called Eureka: More Shocks Coming at SCI FI Wire.

“The agenda of the Fixer [guest star Frances Fisher] will come to light,” Paglia promised. “There will be some changes in the roles of the people in our town again. Some big endings and some new beginnings. There will definitely be a cliffhanger aspect to the end of episode eight. And then we’ll dive into episode nine in the back 13 of this season with some big, big questions to resolve.”

Paglia is Jaime Paglia, the show’s creator, so I think he knows what he’s talking about—or I should say I hope he does.

He also says that the first eight episodes of the season (Season 3) are some of the “biggest…in terms of the science of it” and that they’ll “be paying for that in the back 13.”

I don’t mind that, as long they keep the fun in the episodes!

I do wonder about the “big endings” and “new beginnings” though. I sure hope this doesn’t mean another character is on his (or her) way out!

What about you?

Bummer.

I had it all worked out how Nathan Stark wasn’t moving forward in time like the rest of Eureka—so the backwards part I get. I also understand that since Stark wasn’t bathed in the Indigo Light, he wouldn’t be returning to the normal flow of time when he pushed the button to reset the out-of-sync photon that started the whole time loop. There were consequences and he suffered them.

I figured he might be in an alternate time-line somewhere doing just fine. I was sure the day would come when he would show up at some inopportune time to wreak havoc on whatever Carter was up to with Allison. I guess I was wrong. He dissipated. He is gone, dead, destroyed, ended, nonexistent. He is one with the universe. And there’s just a little bit of him left in that logic diamond of Ally’s for the rest of them—us—to mourn over.

Although…this is Eureka. It’s certainly not beyond the realm of possibility someone will invent something that’ll pull all of Nathan’s scattered photons back into a cohesive unit and bring Nathan Stark back to life.

Until then. :-)

If, like me, you’re still worrying over Nathan Stark’s future in Eureka, you might want to read an interesting blog post about the issue.

One of the series writers has written a post entitled “Goodbye, Nathan” that sums it all up nicely. I particularly appreciate knowing that the writers aren’t stupid–they didn’t write Nathan Stark out of the show of their own accord. That’s great news as far as I’m concerned. I can much better understand why they let him go out the way he did, because he was a strong character and I loved the strong ending for him.

Now, all that said, I’ve decided this particular Eureka writer is evil. Just look at this bit from the post.

And now for the answer to the only question you probably care about right now—Is Stark Really Dead?—the answer is YES.

For now.

Why would he say this after thoroughly explaining why Nathan Stark will not be coming back?

Huh?

That’s what I thought. He’s evil. He wants me to hope Nathan will return–or he’s setting me up for Nathan’s return, because maybe there’s some big secret about Nathan coming back that no one will know until it happens…

Sorry, I went off into la-la land again. I really will miss that character.

However, now that I’ve had some time to think about it and separate myself from the emotions of that killer episode “I Do Over” I’ve realized that to bring Henry Deacon‘s character back to greatness, Nathan had to go.

Henry has been relegated to the background lately, because there just isn’t enough room in the show for three strong males. Of course Jack Carter can’t go away, and there’s too much animosity between Nathan and Jack for them to consistently find themselves working together to solve problems. Henry must return to Jack’s side because I love Jack but even I realize Jack needs intellectual assistance with some of the stuff that goes on in Eureka. It’s a town of geniuses, after all.

So, even though I’m going to really miss Nathan Stark, his absence might just make sense for the show. For now.

So I completely freaked. I know–I run Eurekafan.com so I should keep up with the spoilers. But I don’t. I enjoy the excitement of not knowing what’s going to happen and if I did know, then I’m not sure I’d be such a fanatic for the show.

After watching I Do Over, I went on a spoiler hunt, but I didn’t really find anything about the “death” of Nathan Stark and whether or not it is permanent. However I did find this interview, which I’ll post the relevant bits of here and let you assume what you will. With, of course, a few choice comments from me.

The entirety of this interview with Ed Quinn (Nathan Stark of Eureka) can be found at this site: MediaBlvd Magazine

When asked if he saw himself as part of Eureka for the long haul….

Of course you say, “Yeah, I’d like to be a part of it from beginning to end.” But shows change, shows evolve. And sometimes characters don’t evolve with them. So you just go in every day and every season and just try to do your best work and see where it goes. The show is kind of organic and depending on where it goes and some characters can evolve with the show and some can’t. 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.

A bad sign for the reappearance of Stark, in my opinion!

When asked if he had spoilers to share….

“I think the only ones that I’m allowed to talk about…”

Definitely a hint that Ed Quinn knows something he can’t discuss.

But there is a big, big reveal this season that I think will make the first eight episodes kind of memorable, then really send the show off into a different direction.

I have hope. Stark appears to die (or fade away as he is pulled backwards in time — my own personal theory for what happened to him until someone offers a better theory to me) in I Do Over. However, I Do Over is episode number 4.

Does this mean that Nathan Stark isn’t gone for good? Why would he know about the rest of the episodes and where the direction of the show is moving if he doesn’t have a part in it? Am I reaching? I really don’t know that much about how the world goes round in the tv business…

When asked about the dynamic between Nathan Stark and Jack Carter and if it would continue into season three….

Absolutely…. The creators thought that one of the funner relationships was the Carter/Stark relationship….because a lot of the story lines got resolved, the conflict got resolved. In season one, Carter and Stark were diametrically opposed. Carter and Stark just happened to have the competition of the love for the same lady. In season 2, Stark…didn’t have a dark agenda anymore…. So all of a sudden Carter and Stark had the same objective…. In the beginning of this season there is some more of that.

In the beginning says it all.

I think that wraps it up nicely. Decide what you will, but my opinion? Stark is gone.

And I am sad.