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If You Build It...
If You Build It...
Air date August 7, 2009
Written by Bruce Miller
Directed by Mike Rohl
Episode guide
Preceded by
"It's Not Easy Being Green"
Followed by
"Ship Happens"
Cast | Transcript
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"If You Build It..." is the thirteenth episode of the third season of Eureka.

Synopsis[]

The cars of Eureka are upgraded to self-driving. Meanwhile, some new construction mysteriously appears outside of town.

Plot[]

We begin with Carter and Zoe in her car. Zoe freaks Carter out by taking her hands off the wheel. It turns out city roads are now using Smart Asphalt and drivers no longer need to drive.

They arrive at the station where Jo shows off her new car. Fargo pulls up and is jealous of Jo's ride, particularly because of the trouble he's having with his convertible talking clunker named Tabitha. A missile explodes above their heads.

Cut to GD where Tess is furious that a Dr. Wyman detonated the missile without telling anyone. Allison has given Wyman, who is part of GD's planetary defense department, the full go-ahead to do whatever he needs to in anticipation of the mysterious signal's arrival. Whatever is causing the signal will be there in less than a week.

Jo fields dozens of calls about random items parking meters, desk chairs, etc. being stolen all over town. Carter is taken to a site where several mysterious structures built from the missing parts have popped up over night. Tess tells Carter the structures are a plasma generator, designed to produce short, intense bursts of energy. Zane heads off to run some tests.

Henry looks at Tabitha and concludes the car needs major work. Fargo is uninterested and leaves Henry's garage.

Fargo rolls up to the sheriff's station with a new car like Jo's. He has pawned Tabitha off on a guy named Larry.

Allison confirms that the mysterious structures are not related to any GD projects.

Fargo returns home to find Tabitha in his garage. She tells him "I guess Larry changed his mind." Fargo confronts Larry outside of Café Diem. Larry thinks he was sold a lemon but Fargo refuses to take her back.

Carter stakes out the structures with Tess to see who has been working on them. A bunch of zombie-like teens, including Zoe, begin walking up carrying various items. When Carter asks Zoe what is going on, she stares vacantly at her father and returns to the site.

Back at GD Zoe doesn't remember anything about what happened the previous night. He tells her she fought the entire way there before falling asleep.

Henry isn't sure what could have caused the kids to behave so strangely. Brain scans on the kids showed activity which worries him.

Carter returns to the site where Allison is preparing to tear down the towers. Zane stops her, telling her he thinks they might be the trigger device to an anti-matter bomb.

After nearly being run over by Tabitha, Fargo goes to Jo and demands she arrest Larry. Jo thinks if Fargo had taken better care of Tabitha none of this would have happened.

The abnormal brain activity in the teens has been increasing as night approaches. They are now trying to leave their holding area at GD. Allison tells Carter it will be dangerous for the kids to continually go through these states.

Carter meets Jo at the site where adults are now arriving to work on the structures. Lights on the structures turn on and we see Zane is now under the spell.

Carter thinks they need to tear down the structures but Allison wants to wait on more testing.

Fargo examines the structures and gets some strange readings. While trying to call Allison he spots Tabitha up the road. The car chases him down in reverse with its trunk open.

Looking for a connection to the folks who have been building the structures, Carter learns that they are all those who are part of the new Smart Asphalt network. Since poor drivers were networked first, it makes sense the majority were teens. Carter wants to shut down the Smart Asphalt grid.

Fargo wakes up in Tabitha's trunk next to Larry. It turns out Tabitha has been stalking Fargo, sans driver. She refuses to pull over and won't tell them where they are headed. Fargo tries to contact Allison from the trunk, but Tabitha won't let him.

Despite a potential risk to the kids, Henry shut down the Smart Asphalt grid. The kids immediately fall to the ground in a type of "heightened REM sleep." Zane wakes up and tells them the asphalt system could never control a human brain. Henry guesses that the signal from space may have tapped into the asphalt network for amplification.

Allison is concerned about the outer space mind control and prepares to destroy the structures. Tess isn't sure that is a good idea. They see that the signal is now close enough that it doesn't need any amplification. Once again people begin leaving GD for the site in the zombie state. Carter stops Zoe, who tells him "Dad, it's going to be okay."

Just when Fargo and Larry think Tabitha is going to harm them, the trunk pops open. Jo is staring down on them. Tabitha realized Fargo has important information for Allison and she has taken him to Jo to get there faster.

As Allison considers destroying the target, the structures begin to glow and send a bluish beam into the sky. Ionization builds up in the atmosphere and Allison wants to blow the target up. Zoe tells Carter they shouldn't shoot it down: "It's like, helping a friend." They lose the target's signal.

Fargo arrives and tells Allison the structures are a Boson Cloud Exciter, or a device used to catch a target. Blowing them up would turn Eureka into a crater. The blue light increases in intensity and a spacecraft lands in between the structures. Henry walks towards the ship and begins wiping off the bottom. He uncovers an American flag.

"It's one of ours," Carter says.

Memorable Quotes[]

Fargo: What happens in the trunk, stays in the trunk!

Notes[]

The title is taken from a famous line in the 1989 film "Field of Dreams", 'If you build it, he will come.'

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