We talked to Cerra about "Your Face Or Mine," where she got to portray two different characters — Lupo, and Julia, the scientist who turned herself into a duplicate of Lupo. Cerra took on a huge challenge in this episode, tricking the viewers into thinking that there really were two Jo Lupos — as if she'd been duplicated in a transporter accident like Captain Kirk. But even though Jo had a challenging time being in charge, she'll still be brash and confident as ever. "She'll just be a little more cautious."

And Cerra says she'd welcome the challenge of having to play mad scientist, even if it meant she'd have to tackle the tongue-twisting technobabble that people spout on the show. (And now that she's said she dreads using technobabble, she's sure the producers will write her a script where she spouts nothing but.) And she says there have been lots of jokes behind the scenes about whether Jo is really a human being or a robot, since she's so strong. "That would be really fun," she says. So fingers crossed we get to see Mecha Jo at some point!

We also spoke to genre veteran Joe Morton, who plays Henry Deacon. He says being the mayor won't really change anything for Henry. "Henry will always be Henry," and really the mayorship hasn't come into play too much, except for allowing him to reinstate Jack as Sheriff... But the good news is, Henry has a love affair coming up — which may or may not be with a human. And Morton gets to sing a song.

And finally, we talked to Neil Grayston about Fargo breaking out of the "annoying" nerd stereotype and becoming more of a relatable character. The show is about a town full of super geniuses, so Fargo will always be nerdy, and he'll never be swaggering around picking up women with his giant biceps. But he's excited to be exploring Fargo's character a bit more. He also talks about the dangerous stunts he does on the show:

And he talks about the "awful" filming of last weeks' episode, "It's Not Easy Being Green," where he had to be colored green from head to foot. He was in a freezing trailer, half naked, where he got covered with green goop from head to foot. "You have to keep it wet, so I had to be wet in the cold — naked — and I couldn't sit on anything or do anything, or it would get onto it." So basically they had to keep putting more green goop onto his half-naked body. Which has got to be somebody's fetish...

Eureka's on Syfy tonight at 9.

Show co-creator Jaime Paglia looked back at Nathan Stark's place in the series:

Nathan Stark appeared in episode two of our first season (“Many Happy Returns”) and his character experienced a lot of growth in his 30 episodes. He went from being head of Global Dynamics, Allison’s ex-husband, and Carter’s nemesis, to losing his job, winning back the girl, and, ultimately, making peace with Carter in their competition for Allison’s affections. I loved watching his character suffer a great fall, then slowly climb his way back to the top. We got to see Stark in a different light, which for us as writers (and, hopefully, for you as the audience) only deepened our connection to him. Stark was a guy you loved to hate, or hated to love, and his legacy will live on even as we bring in new characters and dramas for our heroes to contend with in the next half of the season.

Many thanks to Ed Quinn for his commitment to making Stark the best he could be.

But, wait; he's really gone? It's not a Battlestar Galactica-esque fake-out in order to bring the character back later in the season? Curtis Kheel, who wrote the most recent episode, doesn't seem to think so:

As for whether Nathan Stark will make future appearances in “Eureka,” there are currently no plans. However, like I said, on “Eureka” you never know when someone might show up again from the dead. We realize that some fans are upset about the loss of his character, but I can assure you that the legacy of Nathan Stark will continue to be a part of our series. He will not be forgotten.

Now I really can't tell if they mean it or laying it on a bit thick in hopes of convincing us that they mean it. Either way, it doesn't stop them teasing what's lying ahead for the show's "season 3.5". Back to Paglia:

With Stark gone and Eva Thorne’s secret agenda soon to be revealed, we are now immersed in what we affectionately refer to as Season 3.5, the back 13 episodes of our 21 episode order. I can promise you that there are big surprises in store... Part of the challenge that we face is crafting a new mystery/mythology for the back half, and this one is unlike anything we’ve done so far.

Luckily, they have some unexpected help, in the form of a new writer joining the show: Joan Weiss, who worked on Journeyman and is therefore alright with us. Show stars Colin Ferguson and Joe Morton will also be taking on new roles in the final 13 episodes of the season, both trying out the director's chair to see how it feels. And, as for that new mythology mentioned above? Perhaps it has something to do with this seemingly random tease:

Oh. And if anyone has information on Mary Perkins, please call the number on the right. The Department of Defense has identified her as a “person of interest” and wants any traces of her whereabouts reported immediately.

Calling the number listed (202-640-3864, if you're interested) may take you on your first steps of a possible Eureka ARG. Here's hoping that Degree For Men isn't the ultimate answer.

[Eureka Unscripted]

In case you can't hear our question because the sound is a little fuzzed, we asked whether Eureka would be getting darker this season, resolving some of last season's issues and then starting a season-long plot arc. The new season of Eureka starts tonight on Sci-Fi channel, so catch Morton there and find out what's in store for our favorite non-nerdy mad scientist.

He conveys an awful lot just with a look or smile. Even though he's being stalked by two alien cops, Morton manages take on a local drug lord who is killing kids with bad heroin — and find love. Director Sayles brought you the award-winning Lone Star, as well as at least a dozen other great indie flicks. But Brother from Another Planet is one of my favorites — especially because Sayles turns the usual Jar Jar Binks crap on its head with an alien who really is alien, even though he looks like a black guy.