Not only do I pick a heat wave, but I pick this episode to sit and eat a very spicy pasta. Great idea! Returning from his time directing “Right as Rayne,” Mike Rohl comes back to Eureka after directing more of Stephen King adaptation, The Dead Zone, starring Anthony Michael Hall. I’d rather mention that than the other crap he did. While co-creator Jamie Paglia takes up writing duties in the first episode of the show’s second season. A season that almost picks up from exactly where we left off.

With Henry not trying to break the universe by saving Tamlyn Tomita’s Kim Anderson, he and Jack need to remember that those four years they lived didn’t happen, and won’t happen. Jack, in particular, is having trouble with that, talking about how this was the day he asked Allison out, and your man Wayne Kwan didn’t burst into flames like a water balloon over your cousin’s face. You see, the whole town is having a sort of Main Street festival to celebrate the fact that they get to act like a former president (hedging my bets) and stare directly into the sun during an eclipse.

All the while, Max Headroom and his fake Australian accent tell of a phoenix rising from the ashes like El Chupacabra was real. That’s before Kevin’s occupational therapist for his autism goes up like a Catherine Wheel that wasn’t properly secured, combusting like a child left in a car without the windows rolled down. The trouble is, Wayne’s been feeling sick for a while and is using Vincent’s Chili to try and temper that illness. Oh, and there is this small thing of Nathan being removed as the head of Global Dynamics, you know, small stuff.

I’ll admit that I’m slightly struggling with this one, as “Phoenix Rising” isn’t overly complicated, isn’t big and bombastic, and it isn’t throwing too many things at the wall; it is just a simple story. After weeks of working on the likes of Russell T Davies’ Doctor Who, that’s refreshing and somehow more difficult to talk about when it comes to its plot points. Where are the needless plot points that go nowhere? Where do the rewrites that feel about as welcome to the writer as blood in a turd come in? Honestly? It feels calming and a little too disquieting.

There is plenty to say that it isn’t an all-time great of Eureka, and I’ll be honest, it’s one that I had completely forgotten about until I watched it. Even now, I’m trying to figure out if I did see this one before. Sticking to a regular formula of Eureka, we’re not so much hammering home that Beverley Barlow is so mysterious, and we’re not being hit over the head too much with those sorts of ideas anyway. There is a bit of setup for a season arc that is closer to spoilers, so I’ll hold off on that for now.

However, the big thing we’re setting off with is Jack and Henry’s time-traveling adventures, which saw Jack being happy and Henry bitterly trying to save his own idea of happiness. I think the trouble I’m having with saying much about “Phoenix Rising” is simply the fact that while you could argue there is maybe a B-plot, it is hardly separated from Carter’s mystery of people doing a Thích Quảng Đức. Henry is still trying to make sense of a world without Kim, despite the fact that she was in all of two episodes prior to this, and in one of those, they weren’t together.

I’ll say it now, I don’t care. From a writing perspective, Cosby, Paglia, Rogers, Schaefer, and Stokes didn’t give me enough time with the two of them to make me, as a view,r care that Henry was in love with Kim. Sure, you’re telling me that they loved each other very much, and blah blah blah, but I’ve not actively seen enough of that to get invested, especially to say that Henry was acting like an anti-hero. Again, his only justification for screwing with the timeline back in “Once in a Lifetime” was telling the viewer how in love these two were.

Meanwhile, Stark is being shoved to the side by the DoD for his reckless actions as the head of GD. Again, I’m left wondering where the line is set in that regard, because ultimately Nathan is being kicked out the door because of the death of Kim but it wasn’t the first death or questionable experiment gone wrong in Eureka (the town). It is kind of the premise of the show that World War 3 almost happens until a man with mush for brains saves us (try the other way), a “Smart” house nearly kills the top people, or a senator is kidnapped and nearly dissected.

Sure, Nathan’s removal as the head of GD and Allison’s appointment as the top boss moves the story along, but at the same time, the plot sort of glosses over some facts of the show to make way for that. However, as I’ve said, both of these stories very neatly thread back into the plot/danger-of-the-week mystery we’re thrown into. So I’m almost hesitant to say either is the B-plot of “Phoenix Rising,” at least in a way that feels meaty enough to be interesting on its own.

Don’t get me wrong, “Phoenix Rising” is a solid Sci-Fi Channel sci-fi episode of TV that does a lot right in kicking off a new season of a show that started on some shaky ground. My biggest gripes with it, more or less, is the idea that I’m supposed to care about Kim after two and a bit episodes, mostly on the actions and reactions of Henry rather than seeing for myself the two of them being a couple. Maybe there is a reason here or there from a production standpoint why it is given the shortcut treatment, but without that context, the plotline weighs down ideas more or less.

I won’t go into the final moments, at least not this week, but where we’re going could be more interesting than the whole Beverly Barlow storyline we had last time out. What I will say is that from names alone, which are all listed in my word processor of choice (sponsor me and I’ll say the name), I can’t quite remember season 2’s episode plot points quite like you can with others. I’m thinking of course about “H.O.U.S.E. Rules,” but also “Best In Faux,” “Phased and Confused,” “It’s Not Easy Being Green,” and of course the peak of the show, “Founders’ Day” and “Do You See What I See.”

Ultimately, “Phoenix Rising” and season 2 of Eureka are off to a good start, with a tone that is still true to the show but aiming to be a little less irreverent and more “we’ve pulled you in, now we’ll do darker plotlines.” This is fine, but at the end of the day, those darker-heavier plotlines need to mean something to me as a viewer. I’ll admit that Henry’s bitterness, as shown early on, his longing for Kim, just isn’t as interesting or strong in my opinion.

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Eureka "Phoenix Rising"

7

Score

7.0/10

Pros

• Finally hitting the ground running with a solid first episode of the season.
• A fun yet simple Sci-Fi Channel idea.

Cons

• I just don't care about Henry and Kim.
• I'd have liked a little more pressure last season to set up Nathan's removal as head of GD.