User Reviews

Purple Haze gives us the residents of Eureka acting strangely (...ok, stranger than on a typical day) and while Carter tries to figure out the mystery of the current crisis we get to enjoy all of the clashing of personalities, spilled secrets, and over the top wacky behavior. The crisis itself, while a decent little tale in itself, takes a backseat to all of the comedic interactions and Carters efforts to save everyone. He once again proves that while not the brilliant scientist that most of the townspeople boast to be, Carter may be the smartest of all. A terrific episode to laugh along with.

This episode opens with two events; first Henry is constructing a new cell phone tower for Eureka; then Carter must intervene when an argument breaks out between Fargo and his neighbour. Fargo can't stand the way his neighbour is playing Wagner's 'Ride of the Valkyries' at full volume to encourage his plants to grow... not to mention buzzing him with a remote controlled crop-dusting helicopter. That evening something odd happens; the citizens of Eureka pass out and in the morning Carter notices that people are acting strangely. It is as though everybody has lost their inhibitions and tempers are fraying... for some reason Carter seems to be unaffected.

This was a solid episode; it got off to a great start with fun nods to 'Apocalypse Now!' and 'North by Northwest' before the main story got underway. Once the main story gets underway there is plenty of humour as the locals start behaving strangely. There is also a sense of mystery about what caused the problem, why Carter is unaffected and how the problem will be resolved. When we do learn the various truths they don't feel too farfetched, within the context of a sci-fi series. The cast do a solid job; clearly having fun playing their disinhibited characters. Overall a really fun episode.

This episode proves how great the characters in the show are (except for Stark).

The characters in the town are not acting right. They don't see it. Carter does, and so do we, the audience. We recognize who isn't in character, because of how strong the characters are.

With one exception. Stark. That man has no character. His sole purpose is to hate Carter and to yearn for the artifact. Luckily, he's not featured much in this episode.

With that said, where some characters shed their inhibitions (such as Allison being more forward with Carter or Taggart's nudism), others just completely change personalities, like Jo acting like a teenage party girl.

Overall, a strong, fun episode.