James Callis on Eureka: "The Ex Factor"

Episode 8, "The Ex Factor". This week: James' final episode on the show. Sniff! In fact, it's today (US time) or tomorrow (my time). I'm almost not feeling like watching it because I want to savour this - yet it sounds like a really interesting episode, so I will probably be squeeing tomorrow. I hope.

Grant meets Beverly Barlowe. We're continuing from the same scene that the last episode ended with; Barlowe has been waiting a long time - in fact she says "we have been waiting", so you can tell it's not just her. In the original timeline, she was working for some evil corporation that had infiltrated Eureka. But I'm not sure what to make of her in this timeline. She's played by Debrah Farentino, who can really do that devious "can you trust me or can't you? Either way I'm very tempting" smirk. She reminds me of Marcia Cross.

Grant is not sure what to think - his smile reads kind of like "I want to show you that I'm no fool, although really I believe you and am freaked out." Another layered expression from James here. Awesome.
And here he's beginning to truly believe her and has to show it, because it's so shocking. Turns out Beverly is the daughter of Adam Barlowe, Grant's old friend. They had an ideal together - they wanted to prevent another nuclear bomb from happening.

You can tell Hiroshima and Nagasaki are still fresh in Grant's memory. (And they would be, since for him only two years have passed.) This is really good and accurate for a 40's person.

Adam has been dead for ten years, but Beverly is continuing his legacy. Global Dynamics are preparing a weapon that would wipe out all electronics for a whole country - "a weapon of control". Grant can't believe this.

Let's stop here for a moment, because I'm very, very happy with this plot. I've been hoping for something like this all season, and my only regret is that it comes so late. This gives Grant an actual personality beyond "guy from the 40's". We learn something about who he truly was - an idealist who wanted to use his inventions for the good of mankind. I think we're moving away from "ethically gray" and more onto what James was describing - a good guy. Grant really cares about the greater good, and he's willing to work for the vision he had about the future.

Don't get me wrong, I loved the whole "Grant quits smoking" storyline and his indulgent side; I love the gentlemand and womanizer side too. But what I've wanted to see is some kind of deeper essence or history to him, and here we finally get that. Thank the gods. This was also a consistently good episode, which I enjoyed even outside of the James stuff. It's true of only a couple of episodes - Founder's Day, The New World, and Crossing Over, specifically. So I've ended up enjoying half of the episodes so far. It's really much better than I had expected.

Now for Fargo's barbecue. He's jamming to the music, which is hilarious, like almost everything Neil Grayston does:

Grant shows up a little late. Henry and Grace are still being awesome, and now they're totally falling for each other.
..but there's a powerful electricity thingy and suddenly their ears are hurting. Awww, look at James touching his ears!!! They are so cute and mushroomy. (I actually had a discussion about this once with M, and she said they are totally NOT mushroomy. This is the kind of quality discussion fans have about him.)

(Mushroom. Just saying.)
They toast for "new beginnings", like Carter gleefully hollers. Here we have something I'm not so crazy about: Carter and Allison being all lovey-dovey and Grant ... not really even reacting to it? He doesn't look happy, but there's no real confrontation, and I wished there would be. Oh well.

Later, the device is tested. Grant comes to take a look, and when Zane expresses concern, he agrees. Nobody else seems to care though.

Cheek hollow FTW! I think he's losing a little weight here, which.. I'd say it's a shame but he looks so damn sexy no matter what. Um, yeah, I'm focusing on the plot here, totally.

(It looks a bit like he's going for her ass here. Heh heh. Oh god, I'm mentally 12. I also giggled out loud when Fargo's hallucination called him "Farto". Hah hah, farts. *hangs head in shame* Let's move on.)

So the machine malfunctions and flings Fargo at the wall. But he's fine! Totally! There's this military guy present who's in charge of everything, and Fargo doesn't want him to end the project. Because Fargo is a total kiss ass and can't stand up for himself. Until the end of this episode. It was kind of awesome, actually.

Grant approaches Allison. I loved this scene so much. Their dynamic is a bit different than in Crossing Over - now Grant has the moral high horse and she has to respect that and really defend her view.

Allison is preparing a way to make the nanobots that helped him quit smoking - attack cancer cells. Grant could look a little more impressed at that. But he's still thinking of the device.

A gratuitous shot of her great gams. (Which apparently means legs. I thought at first it meant buttocks. Live and learn.)

Grant wants to know about the "weapon" they're building.

Allison: "The DED device?"

Grant: "Well, see you're doing it as well now."

Allison: "Doing what?"

Grant: "Avoiding calling it a weapon."

Allison says this is "a DOD facility". (DOD = Department of Defense"?)

Grant: "Yeah, but it shouldn't be, it's not what I... It's not how we envisioned the place to be."

The pain on his face - is it because his friend is dead, or because he feels so bad about this military Eureka? Either way, it's very touching. Grant is passionate about what he believes in. I love this character so much.

Allison: "I distinctly remember being in 1947 and seeing more soldiers than scientists."

Grant: "That was right after the war! We were trying to get this place off the ground!"

Allison: "So you think we should just scrap the whole project?"

Grant: "I think science should be about discovery, not about who can build the biggest gun!"

OMG, I loved this. There are two points of view here, both presented in an intelligent way. Neither one is condescending; Allison is listening to his views respectfully. The best part: this doesn't read like TV talk, it seems like genuine dialogue. It's a conversation. Bravo!

Allison explains that without things like the "device", they couldn't get funding for things like cancer cures. The nanobots, like Allison reminds him, saved Trevor's life too.

Grant: "I see I'm not going to win this argument."

Allison: "I didn't realize we were arguing."

Grant: "I'll let you get back to your work."

Here's a non-James scene I liked so much that I wanted to include it. Because of an energy surge-whatever, everyone who was at the barbecue is seeing a hallucination. A person from their past life, someone they have unresolved issues with. This is the scene where they realize they're hallucinating.

Allison sees Carter's ex Tess, and Carter sees Allison's dead husband, Nathan.

Vince: "What can I get you two?"

Allison and Carter: "...."

Carter: "Do you see someone sitting there?"

Allison: "I see Tess sitting there."

Vince: "Uh.. huh... eh..." *leaves*

Heee! This was a great scene. I loved this hallucination plot overall. It was well executed and fun.

Looking at the device again, James looks very Gaius all of a sudden. Maybe it's the glow of the screens, or the fact that his hair is beginning to grow out.

He suggests shutting down the whole device, because the risks are too high. But the military guy shows up and tells him to go catalogue some books, since he's just a librarian. Oo, burn. -Hey, wait, there's nothing wrong with being a librarian! I don't seem to have any screenshots of Military Guy, but this post is already so big.. OK, just moving on. I'll mention his name though: General Mansfield, played by Barclay Hope.

Grant meets Beverly Barlowe again, and we get to his hallucination: his old friend Adam Barlowe.

..but when he looks behind him, there's no one.

Barlowe: "I was happy to get your call. You checked out the information we gave you."

Grant: "I did. Seems the department of Defense is calling the shots. Douglas Fargo is a good man, but GD needs someone who can stand up to that."

Barlowe: "Eureka used to have a leader like that."

Grant: "Times have changed. I'm nobody now. I don't even have a name."

Barlowe: "We could give you that voice again, Dr Grant."

I really love the dialogue in this episode. Strong, to the point, dramatic but not overly so.

Adam speaks to him: "We failed to make a difference 40 years ago, Trevor. Now we get a second chance." This is powerful stuff. (He's played by Elias Toufexis. Intriguing name.)

Cheek bones FTW again. (That's the very handsome Niall Matter and the hilarious Neil Grayston next to him. I see I'm beginning to slightly fangirl the other actors on this show too, as the season goes on. Not necessarily a bad thing.)

Grant is left alone with the console, and Adam appears to encourage him to action.

You can tell he's thinking and feeling conflicted - can he betray his friends for the greater good? He can, and he types in the code Beverly gave him.

..and the machine goes boom and he ends up injured. Awww!

Awww, don't hurt my James! :( *tries not to think about real-life painful appendix operation*

"You're lucky to be alive," Fargo says. But he's luckier than that - no one guesses he caused this.

On to another great scene between Grant and Allison. She's healing his hand with some kind of... futuristic Eureka device.

Adam: "Sure, with you she's gentle. Me, she kick starts with jumper cables." Heee! I love that he referred to the first episode. I didn't recognize him as the same guy, actually, so it's a good thing he did.

Allison asks if Grant's hurting, since he's shaking.

"I'm fine," he says in a hoarse voice. "Never better." Aww, 40's macho man.

Adam: "You did the right thing, doc." The other's hallucinations are kinda taunting and haunting, and his is much nicer. Which is a nice departure from HeadSix.

Hallucination-Tess tells Allison: "Look at him! He is adorable. A gentleman and he's safe." In the earlier scene she said, "Seriously, you haven't hit that?" Which is awesome, and yes, the viewers wonder about this too.

Grant realizes Allison is seeing Tess again.

Allison: "What about you? You were at the barbecue. You haven't said anything about who you're seeing."

Adam: "The guy whose life she saved sixty years ago."

Grant: "Tall leggy blonde, slinky red ress." (L)!!!

Allison: "An old girlfriend?"
Grant: "I could tell you about her, over drinks..." but then Carter walks in and his Hallucinatory Nathan goes, "Who the hell is this?" Heee!

I loved loved loved the BSG reference. I was hoping he'd refer to Gaius at some point. What I like most about it is that it was done subtly, and not in a way that shouts "I PLAYED GAIUS BALTAR IN BATTLESTAR GALACTICA!" Very organic and fitting for the episode. Good job, James. And writers.

And look at them smile at each other!

So Carter and Allison go into the woods to figure out what happened - turns out the whole hallucinatory energy surge thingy was a distraction, so someone - or some group, more likely - gets to smuggle the device out of Eureka.

But who could it be? Someone in the inside must have helped them out. Grant looks suitably guilty but nobody notices...

Back at the Depot, he's furious. They used him! All they wanted was to snatch the device.

Beverly admits that they kept some parts of the plan secret. "Plausible deniability, Doctor Grant, that was your mantra."

They needed the weapon for its power source.

"We've rebuilt the bridge device. This is a chance for you to do what you intended to do 63 years ago: change the world. We're sending you home."

Wow. OK. So this could be really good, or really bad. My concern is that they just reboot everything back to the original timeline, in which Trevor Grant never even came to 2010. In that case, his role would have been a bit...null and void? I really hope they will at least remember Grant. Since James said he might do a few more episodes, that could mean he's still in the timeline and in their lives in some way. I'm really intrigured and nervous about the next episode, and can't wait for tomorrow when I get to see it.

James Callis on Eureka: "Crossing Over"

OK, so I don't know what's going on, guys. It's like I ordered "Deniselle's Fetish Special" at Café Diem and they brought me just what I want. In this episode: smoking! Defying attempts to make him quit smoking! Even more chub! And even a possible weight gain reference. Did they steal this out of my brain or something? Also, James is hilarious, and in nearly every scene. The notable non-James plot this week is Allison Scagliotti aka "Claudia Donovan" visiting from Warehouse 13. I was sure it would be dull for me since I don't watch that show. It was, instead, a lot of fun. Fargo and Claudia have great personal chemistry. In fact, I'm pretty sure I'd watch a Fargo/Claudia spinoff. And Allison was a big squeeing James-fangirl at the panel, so I love her already.

But I'm here to write about James. Everybody's calling him "Charles" by now, but I seem to stick by Grant, not sure why. (Probably because I like Trevor way more than Charles.) Before we see Grant, Carter talks to Henry; he kissed Allison, but "now Old Spice is here with his stupid hats and his 'Ooh, smoking is so cool', and it's complicated." He should totally change his Facebook relationship status. And I love the nickname Old Spice. Not enough to use it, but still, hee!

Allison was last seen getting a double espresso for Grant, because he's going to quit smoking! So of course, when the scene cuts to him, he is smoking...

...and jamming to "Car Wash". It looks hilarious either way, but it's somehow funnier because it's "Car Wash".

Henry comes in and tells him that smoking and asthma don't go together. "It's ok, I don't have asthma," says Grant. "Charles? I do," says Henry. Duh, Grant. He puts it out and apologizes: "Old habits die hard." (How about old spice?)

He jams again: "Working at the car wash, baby!" He manages to look SO lame. Henry asks if he's catching up on the lost decades of music.

"70's music is OFF THE HOOK!! Ya know what I'm sayin'?" LOL!!! :D More of this, please!

Now they try the bridge device. Do they get the engine to run? Grant seems nervous.
They do!! Yay! I love James' "youthful excitement" look. It makes him look like a boy.

But then, as usual in these scenes, Henry's wife Grace shows up. This is all kinds of awkward because Henry can't remember their life together at all, it happening in an alternate timeline. In this episode, he tries to tell her but can't, and I keep yelling: amnesia! But this isn't a soap so I doubt they'll use it.

Grant excuses himself. Note the mischievious look as he turns the music back on. Hee! I love these little touches he adds to his performance.

Cue piano music. It's James, and he's playing really well. If that really is him playing, and I think it is. I'm not going to go all overboard and say he should be a pianist, but you know, I'd pay to see him in concert. I love that he gets to show his love of music in this role.

He's also smoking while playing, really enjoying the cigarette. This always looks particularly sexy. Allison walks in.

She says, "Wow... nice office." I thought she was going to say "Wow, you can play the piano." I love how they gave him an office that's kind of vintage, to help him feel at home. Also: suspenders!

But of course, she has to nag him about the smoking: "Don't make me call Martha to put that thing out." Hee, Martha!! (i.e. the surveillance robot from episode 2.) "It's my last one, have a heart," Grant says. He says smoking is "such a sensual ritual", which may be an attempt to flirt with her and distract her from the whole quiting thing. She doesn't fall for it: "No, emphysema, cancer, heart disease." (Well, it may still be sensual and enjoyable to him, right?)

Grant: "You doctor types really got away with sucking the fun out of life, you know that?"

Allison: (pulls the cigarette out of his mouth): "Well, these things will suck the life out of you if you don't quit. You've gotta start thinking about your future."

Grant: "You're right. And from where I'm sitting - it's looking pretty inviting."

I don't know about you, but that was one hot scene in my book. Allison pulling the cigarette out of his mouth and him trying to suck on it still = HOT. I'm not sure, however, about the whole health aspect. Not a fan of tough love (and does he even want to quit?) In case someone's interested, I got political about it on LJ, here.

Allison injects some sort of device into Grant. "What is this torture device?" he asks. Allison says it has nanobots that "purge the nicotine out of your system". That sounds practical. Grant thinks so too: now he can just smoke and they will "scrub him clean"! Hee.

..but it sends a huge jolt of pain through him as soon as he inhales. Ow!

Is it just me or is Allison annoyingly smug/sadistic in this scene? She doesn't even warn him that it's going to hurt. I mean, she's gorgeous but would you really want to date someone who treats you like this? Grant does.

He gets to his favorite topic: now that you're torturing me, please at least go out with me. Pleeease? (He's a little more suave than that, but that's the gist of it.)

*PUPPY EYES* How could she not go on a date with him?! She promises to consider it. I would have been all over him by now. Maybe she has better self control, or maybe she's just more into sheriff Carter. To each her own. (But I mean come on.)

OK, so then a scene very important to ME. Lupo has a super health smoothie at Café Diem, and Grant walks in and looks derisively at the smoothie, and Lupo lists all the healthy stuff in it.

And then she says, "You look like you could use one." And - wait what? Was that a reference to his weight gain? First I thought I was reading into it, but then... she does look straight at his gut. And the coat is really tight on him. Much tighter than it was the first few episodes (remember, he had the vest on and could still button it up). What the frak is going on here?

So... Either James gained weight during filming (donuts?!), and they decided to have fun with it. Or they put him in a fat suit because they're building up for a big weight loss episode. I'm not sure how to read this. It doesn't LOOK like a fat suit, but if it's not, why would they have him in a tight suit and, in the next episode, in this super-tight parka? It's like they're emphasizing it: look how chubby! I'm going to assume the universe doesn't exist only to make me horny, so there's gotta be some reasoning behind this. Right?

Either way: GUSH! DROOOOL! *evaporates in fat fetish glee* *tries to come back together to finish the post in a sensible way. We're not even at the A plot yet.*

EDIT: Apparently he was just suffering from appendicitis and had a swollen abdomen. Awww. I feel kinda bad for going on about it. Kinda sorta. Actually how was I to know and, like M said, "he makes appendicitis look good!" So maybe it's all good. James' post here. 

..moving on, Grant says, "Like a hole in the head! Call me old-fashioned but I prefer to eat my food, not drink it." He sells it well, but to me, "Need x like a hole in the head" and "call me old-fashioned but" are specifically modern phrases. But whatever.

Grant orders "a steak - potatoes - eggs - butter - two fingers of Scotch." (And you know it's TV because café owner Vinnie doesn't ask him how he wants his steak, what kind of potatoes and eggs. But the point is that these foods are BAD for you, and possibly referring to his weight gain as well, but I can't be sure.)

Vinnie is pretty excited: "A man's order if ever there was one!!" (Edit: I didn't know Vinnie was gay. I think he has a total crush on Grant.) Lupo smugly lists all the bad things in his food: "Cholesterol, starch, salt AND liquor. You'll be dead before dessert." Grant realizes something's missing from his heart attack special: "Dessert! -Coconut cream pie." Lupo, grossed out: "No wonder the life expectancy for men your age is 20 years shorter." (Is that men in their late 30's or men from the 1940's?) Grant is unphased, like he still can't really believe all these health rules. I wouldn't blame him; it's a lot of information to take in in such a short time! "They've been telling me everything that makes life worth living is going to kill you." "Pretty much," agrees Lupo.

Grant's solution to this, and pretty much everything: "I can't take this, I need a smoke."

I must say it's utterly sexy how he smokes here. Maybe it's the look of pleasure on his face or the general sexiness of I don't even know, you guys!

In addition to being a hedonist, Grant seems to have some masochistic tendencies, because he says it's worth the pain. But he looks more like "Ahh, the pain!" I think a device like that might actually get you addicted to the smoking-pain cycle.

Lupo is indignant that he's lighting up: "Second-hand smoke is terrible..." but then she doubles over and falls into Grant's arms.

At the hospital, Grant tries to be helpful: "Listen, I still think it had something to do with that swill she was drinking. They called it a 'smoothie'." :D :D Hee! It's not the smoothie; it is, in fact, a gigantic bullet inside Lupo. Which is pretty weird considering she wasn't shot. She's saved, but turns out the bullet is from... the 1940's. Dun dun dun!

Also: a couple of trees just grew out of the GD floor, a 40's plane showed up at Café Diem, etc. Our time travelers are trying to figure out what happened, and hear about Henry and Grant's tests with the bridge device.

Grant defends himself: the device doesn't have THAT kind of power! Then he coughs terribly and says quitting smoking made him feel worse, rather than better. And he goes out for some air...

And next thing we know he's being CGI'd something fierce.
After some science babble, it turns out he's the magnet that's pulling all those 1940's things to him. And if they don't stop it, the two times will collapse into each other. What? How does that even work? The CGI here is meant to represent how Grant is falling apart one molecule at a time. I think. (It looks kind of pretty, with the light and the colors.)

Aww, at least take the pants off him! -Um, not sexually. Just that they look really tight and uncomfortable. Ahem.

Grant coughs blood and a 1940's nuclear missile appears in the room. Grant says that his body will be stuck here even if he dies, and he will continue to pull in stuff from the 40's. They realize that the only way to do this is to somehow neutralize Grant's molecules or whatever, close the wormhole or whatever, science babble bla bla, and Grant will be stuck forever in the 2000's. He thinks about a few minutes, and is willing to do this. It's really kind of heroic. See this, all the people on Twitter saying he's ruining the world again? He's SAVING it. Hero!

I took quite a few screenshots but feel like I can't use most of them. I cannot stand to see James in pain. He just plays it so real. *shuts eyes* *grimaces* *moans* then after a while, he ups the ante: *shuts eyes much tighter* *grimaces harder* *moans harder* Honestly, it's just... real and hurts to watch it. In these scenes, I was hoping he wouldn't be quite such a good actor.

But you know, they use the nicotine patch nanobots to purge the 1940's out of his system - it makes less and less sense to me, but whatever - and it works. Here's two screenshots, I think from when he wasn't yet in terrible pain:

(Trust me, he looks even sicker in a few other screenshots. This one is already almost too much for me.)

And here he is lying there, all healed. Asking Allison out again. He really has a one-track mind.

Awwww, stroking a sick puppy (L) Just do it already, you guys!

Later, Allison meets him at his office. "No, I said get home and rest," she scolds. He hides the stock pages he was looking at (why now?) and says he's just "dotting the i's, crossing the t's, making this transfer permanent." Allison is compassionate now: "You must miss home." Grant says his home is here now: "I'll always have memories of those people." Umm, what people? I wish we'd gotten something of a backstory, but OK, I hate to gripe when we got so much of him int his episode.

Grant tells Allison that now that she saved his life, the least he can do is buy her a drink.

"OK, one drink," Allison agrees.

Grant: "One? What, are we gonna share?" Hee!

But they agree to go on a date, finally. So we'll see if they ever get there, perhaps in next week's episode. Either way, I'm loving the brown shirt on James. It's a good color on him.

This just in: according to a Comic Con int, James is doing 9 episodes (and possibly a few more after). So we're ... five episodes into his story. I hope we get a little more of Grant in the episodes to come; I really enjoyed this one, but Allison hasn't even had that date with him yet, and they've been foreshadowing it since episode 1. We don't know very much about Grant in general, and if he's only going to stay for four more eps, I'm hoping for VERY Grant-heavy. James mentioned 7,8, and especially 9 are going to have more Grant, so we can look forward to that. Am I whining too much? I didn't expect to like this role at all and I've loved every minute he's been on screen. So maybe I should just be happy.

I'm consciously omitting 404 "The Story of O2" for now, because it had very little James and I was disappointed. Grant had some cute interaction with Kevin and Allison, but he didn't really get to DO much - he was just there to observe things happening to others. I'm really relieved, though, that his whole role hasn't been like that. Next week: if noting else, James in an amusing-looking parka!