Eureka Episode 2.12 All That Glitters (1)

Shoppers in downtown Eureka are startled when a decorative iron statue of Pythagoras suddenly turns to pure gold. Sheriff Jack Carter's investigation eventually leads him to Christopher Dactylos, the statue's egotistical artist. Dactylos gives Carter an odd lecture about medieval alchemists and their dreams of turning metal into gold, and then he retreats into his underground laboratory.

More objects downtown begin to turn golden, including utensils at Café Diem and even a bracelet that Zoe's new boyfriend, Lucas, just gave her. Although some people think the town has hit the jackpot, Henry discovers that the metal is changing composition because of a bizarre quasi-bacterial infestation. He warns that, as load-bearing steel beams turn into softer gold, buildings will collapse. Worse, the bacteria soon mutates, becoming a strain that corrodes gold until there's nothing left but a rusty shell. Eureka's entire infrastructure is in danger.

Jack and Henry trace the bacteria's origin to Zoe's bracelet. Lucas tells Jack that he made the bracelet in an advanced art class at Dactylos's studio. Jack again confronts Dactylos, who admits that he has tested ancient alchemical procedures on metal in his studio. By making Zoe's bracelet out of that special metal, Lucas unwittingly unleashed the Alchemist's Curse: a metal-based plague that tricks its maker into believing he has succeeded in creating gold, only to betray the maker by mutating into progressively more dangerous forms.

While Carter is distracted by the crisis, Henry, Stark and Allison intensify their obsessive, secret and conflicting quests to understand the mysterious artifact that killed Henry's beloved Kim and gave Allison's son Kevin special powers. Stark uses his covert connections to sneak the spy Beverly Barlowe back into town, hoping that she can be persuaded to share her knowledge of the artifact.

Allison, Stark and finally even Henry talk to Beverly privately. She tricks them into revealing their secrets to her, stokes their mistrust of each other and demands ethically questionable favors in exchange for her knowledge. By dealing with her, these three top citizens of Eureka are heading down a potentially dangerous path.

For now, Jack needs Henry and Stark to help defeat the Alchemist's Curse (which they suspect may also have ties to the artifact). The metal corrosion is becoming catastrophic. The massive Global Dynamics edifice itself is groaning and shaking, near collapse. Even if Henry, Stark and Jack can contrive an antibody for the bacteria and crawl into the unstable building to administer it, the bacteria may soon mutate into something worse - something that targets people.