Recap / Eureka The Real Thing

Now there's something you don't see every day... even in Eureka.

Fargo: You don't know what kind of dragon bacteria that thing has under its nails.
Holly: Doug, let's look at this logically. A: My arm totally hurts. B: It hurts because it was scratched by a dragon. C: Dragons don't exist. Therefore...
Fargo: Therefore what?
Holly: I don't know. That's why it's so cool!

Back in the real Eureka, Carter, Henry and Kevin encounter resistance in their search for the Astreus, while Jo is still on her walkabout.

In the matrix, the team has to fight a dragon. But the beast isn't nearly as dangerous as the question of where it came from.

Tropes

• Call-Back: NPC!Jo notes "Another day, another dragon," echoing the real Jo's line about runaway robots.
• Chekhov's Gun: The holographic reconstruction of the Astreus' disappearance that Carter is obsessively watching. He shows it to Henry and Jo after realising Wen is The Mole; as everyone else panics, she smiles.
• Canon Discontinuity: This One Time at Space Camp... established that Jack hid a key in the jail cell in case he gets locked in there, but when he and Andy are arrested he doesn't mention it.
• Due to the Dead: Wen orders Holly's body disposed of "respectfully and securely." Somewhat undermined by the fact that she murdered Holly.
• "Eureka!" Moment: Andy gives Carter an idea while trying to help him accept Allison's disappearance.
  Andy: There has to be a moment when you give up hope. When you forget about what's up there, and you focus on what's down here.
  Carter: Down here... down here!
• Even Evil Has Standards: Beverly protests Wen's murder of Holly, and continues looking uncomfortable as Wen orders the body disposed of.
• Foreshadowing: Dekker states that any of the Astreus crew who realise they're in a simulation will be "retired." This clearly suggests that Tonight, Someone Dies, but it's unclear who as rendering issues and other inconsistencies put different characters in a position to potentially work it out. It's Holly.
  Grace: Doesn't seem real, everything that's happened, does it?
  Allison: No.
• A Glitch in the Matrix: While the Astraeus crew are plugged into a computer simulation, they see some odd things, such as Vincent walking through a counter and a dragon de-rezzing. The very presence of a dragon is a big glitch, spawned from a random flight of fancy. The glitches are caused because the simulation was designed only to account for the Astreus crew, but Allison got whisked along at the last second, creating an extra burden on the program.
• Great Escape: Carter and Andy have to escape the jail cell when Carter realises the Astreus is on Earth. Carter has a few ideas that are shot down, but in the end Jo just beats up the guard and lets them out.
  Carter: We gotta get out of here. Andy, Andy! Break open these bars!
  Andy: Uh, these bars are hardened carbon nanotubes, boss. I'm not gonna be able to break these.
  Carter: Then we do something else. [Looks at the floor] Dig, robot, dig!
• He Knows Too Much: Holly is murdered when she realises the crew are in a simulation.
  NPC Carter: I wish you didn't say that.
• Journey to Find Oneself: Jo is on one, culminating in her going to her childhood home. The woman who lives there now has a lot of messages to her from Carter.
• Lysistrata Gambit: Used by Holly when Fargo smugly pulls an I Told You So after the dragon she refused to believe in is captured. He instantly shuts up.
  Holly: You never want to have sex again, do you?
• The Mole: Senator Wen is revealed to be Beverly's mole.
• Obstructive Bureaucrat: Wen closes down the search for the Astreus, demands all equipment be returned, arrests Carter and Andy for "borrowing" equipment from a base and finally tries to shut down the search orchestrated by Kevin. Because she's The Mole.
• Sarcastic Confession: Played With. Andy Cannot Tell a Lie, so when he's caught keeping lookout for Carter during the heist, he just sincerely tells the truth about what he's doing to the two soldiers who laugh, thinking he's joking.
• Shout-Out: The dragon looks very much like Toothless from How to Train Your Dragon.
• Spanner in the Works: Allison's inclusion in the abducted group means the simulation is dealing with one more person than it was designed to, which leads to the rendering issues and a freakin' dragon that lead Holly to realise it's a simulation.
• Time Skip: A minor one, it's been a month since the events of the premiere.
• Wham Shot: Senator Wen kills Holly after she figures out she's in a matrix.
  Senator Wen: You said twenty one was a problem. Now you have twenty.