Courtesy of NBCUniversal

What is the measure of a good series finale? Wrapping up story lines, bringing characters to conclusion, leaving things in a place that everyone can feel good about. How about playing on the themes of the series as a whole? How about having one last chance to be bold? How about taking the opportunity to do something unexpected, and redefine the status quo, since at the end of the hour, there will be no status to quo?

Eureka left us exactly the way I expected it would. There were shout outs, call backs, and a montage. Things were wrapped up, but nothing huge happened. In fact, it seemed like it went out of it's way not to be a grand finale, but as the title says, just another day. Maybe that was an enlightened choice for creators Cosby and Paglia. Maybe it was smart, after a season of missteps, to keep things relatively subdued, to let the figurative (and in Jo's case, literal) hair down, and relax.

Things could have been a lot worse. And somethings could have been a lot better. But at the end of the hour, I was smiling. Despite problems this year, and some faltering along the way, I was happy to have spent time in Eureka. Thanks to DVDs, and the suggestion at the end of the episode, all of this has happened before, and all of this will happen again.

Hit the jump for one last, spoiler filled review.

I was worried, honestly concerned, when Allison suggested to Holly that she talk to people to retrieve her memories. I thought it was going to end up being a clip show, and nothing spells creative death then a clip show, at any point during a series, let alone at the very end. How bereft of imagination do you have to be to end you series with sequences from the rest of your series? Luckily we were spared that, Holly became the roving Ms. Exposition, the Eureka equivalent of those two guys from Batman Begins who keep explaining what happening to the water lines. She was annoying, and superfluous, but harmless.

It's clear this was the way Paglia meant for things to end. Maybe not the plot, maybe not these exact characters, but you have to respect someone who obviously had a vision from the beginning of how he wanted things to end. And I'll be honest, I never questioned that the second Carter and Zoe from the pilot were never explained. I never even thought of it. But I'm a sucker for that kind of shot, that kind of set up, and that kind of pay off. That's the end of Back to the Future Part II for me, something that is nice, and fit together, and leaves me with a goofy ass smile on my face.

As to the plot, it's Eureka 101. Wormholes are opening around the town, which leads to the sheriff's truck being destroyed one last time, and the problems get worse, and Carter saves the day. I wasn't certain where they were going with it, and I expected maybe some time travel to get involved, with Carter bouncing to and fro through the shows history. Instead, they went with what appeared to be the time vortex from Doctor Who and his life flashing before his eyes. Which was nice, and provided an out for a line later on, that made no sense.

And as always, the how we got here made no sense. As soon as they showed the Quantum Uplink, or whatever they called it, my eyes were rolling straight around to the back of my head. The scene where Henry's USB stick nearly caused it to overload was embarrassing and ridiculously, and I feel sorry for both those actors for having to put up with a lot of that sort of nonsense in their roles as the know it alls. Poor Joe Morton got saddled with the lion's share of the crap this week anyway, his subplot involving Beverly and Grace not getting near enough screen time to do it justice. I thought maybe he'd laid a trap, and bring Beverly in, but I guess the writer's apathy for that story line was proof all along that it wasn't going to go anywhere. Grace's release was ridiculous: treason is treason, and they wouldn't release her just to get a treasonous senator back. Allison's throw away explanation should have been left on the cutting room floor.

They couldn't help themselves from including a final Star Wars reference when Andy got broken up, which I enjoyed, though Kavan Smith, being the most consistently impressive member of the cast this year, was really chewing on the scenery this week. Carter's line about deja vu only works after he fell through the wormhole, because his memories of that future had been erased, but I'll let them get away with that one. In the tradition of finales, they brought back everyone who had played a major role, including Zoe who was suspiciously absent from this season, and Taggart, in a nice call back to the pilot, though when last we saw Taggart he was leaving town, but anyway. The twins were back in their place at Cafe Diem, and even though the final reveal could be spotted coming a mile off, and why in the name of gods was he using that ridiculous accent, it was nice to see Grant again, if only as a reminder that James Callis is pretty cool. Only Stark was absent, though without time travel there wasn't really a way to get him back, and for some reason I kept expecting Tess to make an appearance.

This will, unless that cross over movie with Warehouse 13 ever happens (I suspect it won't), this is the last time we'll be seeing these characters. And I'm alright with that. Characters should go away when their shows do. None of the main character could support a spin off, because they each rely on one another. What I wouldn't object to would be seeing minor characters make appearances on the other shared universe shows, so long as they made sense. Taggart on Alphas, or Dr. Parish on Warehouse 13, if only because Wil Wheaton was far more interesting, and better in his role, then Holly Martin ever was, and deserves more. In fact, an Area 51 spin off starring Parish would be a hell of a lot of fun. He'd be the Rodney McKay of the Sy-Fy-verse. They could even get Tess to be in it. Why am I on about Tess?

So, in the end, we finally made it to the future fours years ahead as seen in the season one finale. The four has been obsessed with four years in the future, as I've mentioned before. It's long enough for everything to change while everyone looks the same. We've gotten there through time travel, and through computer simulation. And there is perhaps no more appropriate place to end the show they having finally arrived, with everything set right that once went wrong, having taken the slow path to get here. Because things are only worth it if you have to work for it first. And with that, we're done.

The only lingering question: when they were closing down the town, what was going to happen to SARAH?