| Jack Carter | |
|---|---|
| Eureka character | |
| First appearance | "Pilot" |
| Created by | Andrew Cosby Jaime Paglia |
| Portrayed by | Colin Ferguson |
| Information | |
| Nickname(s) | Monkey |
| Gender | Male |
| Occupation | U.S. Marshal ("Pilot") Sheriff of Eureka |
| Title | Sheriff |
| Family | Lexi Carter (sister) |
| Spouse(s) | Abby Carter (ex-wife) |
| Children | Zoe Carter (daughter) |
Jack Carter is a fictional character and the protagonist of the American science fiction drama Eureka. He is played by Colin Ferguson.
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Carter is a street-smart cop who sees connections where others do not. His I.Q. is 111. In typical Carter fashion, he boasted over "scoring over one hundred percent" to others, not understanding that places him in the slightly above-average standing. However, Carter does claim that he hardly tried. His high school GPA was also revealed to be a 2.8. He tends to focus on his career to the detriment of everything else, which led to the divorce between him and his wife, Abby. Carter's unorthodox (for Eureka) style and manner has led to some friction with Deputy Lupo, although the two share a deep unspoken respect for each other.
As demonstrated in "Many Happy Returns," Carter enjoys baseball, as S.A.R.A.H., his new house's "personality", reveals as she is dispensing beer for him. Another reference to his love of sports is given when SARAH explains her ability to call up many magazines, and the first couple of which are sports magazines. In "Blink," he attempts to recruit a baseball team, much to his later dismay as he learns they play "virtual baseball".
A running plot device used for humor throughout the series is that Carter's vehicle is frequently destroyed in odd and unlikely ways.
Carter's birthday is May 13, 1969 (he is however 46 years old if you count in the "extra" 4 years which we saw a small glimpse of in the end of season 1).[1] (a Tuesday)
Carter and his daughter Zoe stumbled upon the town of Eureka just as Walter Perkins was conducting his tachyon experiments. ("Pilot") When the previous sheriff was crippled as a result of this, Jack took over temporarily and solved the problem. The old sheriff retired and had him promoted to be the new sheriff as he was impressed by Carter's handling of the situation. Carter had wanted a promotion and he finally got one, just not one he expected.
Carter is assigned out of the office of the U.S. Marshals Service, and as current the Sheriff of Eureka, would be a GS 1811, grade 12, with a 25% Law Enforcement bonus. However, since this position is a "promotion" over Carter's previous position, and Eureka being Eureka, it is possible that Carter's pay is actually one grade higher, which would be consistent with the show's overall character. Carter has presumably maximized his experience, and so his pay should be just over $100,000 according to the 2007 OPM pay charts.
Throughout the series, his uncanny ability to connect what others do not see has helped him save the world over and over. He explains to Allison in "H.O.U.S.E. Rules" that the reason why he does what he does, why he chose his job, was to make a difference. And sometimes he feels he can't do that in Eureka.
In the first season finale, it is revealed that by the year 2010 Carter and Allison are married, and she is expecting his child. However, when Carter learns of Henry's meddling in time, he is forced to travel back to 2006 to prevent it. After this Carter had detailed knowledge of the next four years . ("Once in a Lifetime") Carter lost his alternate memories after Henry uses a specific long term memory device to erase the knowledge ("Phoenix Rising"). Carter has displayed some latent knowledge of what happened, as he displayed an interest in a book that was important to him in the alternate timeline, and he had a flash of memory during a dream but dismissed it. However, it is still unclear at this point how much he may remember.
In the episode "Family Reunion" it is revealed he was teaching his high school sweetheart, Angela Fairfield, to drive. They were involved in an accident, which killed her. The police assumed Carter was driving and he was charged with reckless endangerment. (This is referred to in the pilot when Carter first goes to Global Dynamics: at the bottom of his identity scan readout, there is a note of a class 1 misdemeanor.)
Carter was fired from his position as sheriff for not following government orders in the episode "From Fear to Eternity". At the end of the next episode, "Welcome Back, Carter", he learns that he cannot be fired without the written permission of the Mayor and resumes his duties as sheriff thanks to Henry and the new sheriff, a robot named Andy who realized Carter truly was the right person for the job after he saved the town again. Andy admitted that in calculating Eureka's odds of survival, he believes that with Carter as sheriff, Eureka has the best chance.
In Episode 1, Season 4, (Founder's Day), after Carter, Allison, Henry, Fargo, and Jo are transported back to 1947, he and Allison kiss "just for luck" right before being transported back to 2010. Upon returning, however, Carter discovers he is still in a relationship with Tess, and therefore may not pursue a relationship with Allison. Further in the season, however, Carter rejects Tess, and she pursues a job in Australia.
In Episode 7, Season 4 (Stoned) he tries to ask Allison on a date but she mistakes it as just a get-together and their date never happens because of townspeople being turned into stone. At the end of the episode, he confronts Allison about their relationship and she explains that she doesn't want to lose their friendship. After Jack walks out of scene, apparently willing to accept Allison's logic, he runs back to her and kisses her passionately. Allison reciprocates and there is an indication that they might begin a romantic relationship.
In episode 8, Carter and Allison both have hallucinations. While at Jack's house, they discuss the matter. Jack seeing Stark while Allison sees Tess. With Allison telling Jack she's scared of losing Jack like she did Stark and Jack telling Allison that he's "head over heels" in love with Allison and has been since he met her, the hallucinations disappear. Jack asks Allison if she'd like to have dinner. Allison replies that she was thinking breakfast and heads up the stairs in Jack's house leaving the viewer with the presumption that they finally have taken their relationship to the next level.
Carter is divorced from his wife Abby (Olivia d'Abo) even though he continues to wear his wedding ring. At the end of "Primal", Carter removes his wedding ring, an indication that he is finally ready to move on from his failed marriage. However, in the episode "Purple Haze", he is once again wearing his wedding band. This is most likely due to the fact that "Purple Haze" was originally intended to air before "Primal".
His teenage daughter, Zoe Carter, has used brushes with the law in order to get his attention. (In fact, it is one of these brushes that brings Carter to Eureka.) Recently, Zoe has moved in with him and SARAH after running away from her mother, but in the Season 3 finale, she leaves Eureka for college, though she does return in several episodes.
While the two do joke around a lot, his deep and protective love for his daughter Zoe is proven on many occasions, the most risky being when he took a prized World Series baseball bat to a small nuclear core in order to disable it and prevent a weapon from killing her.
Carter also has a sister named Lexi, who first appears in "I Do Over". She differs greatly from Carter in that she is much more outgoing, energetic, and slightly less level headed than him, which leads to somewhat strained and awkward relations between the two siblings. However, during the course of the time loops, Carter discovers that Lexi is pregnant, and that she came to Eureka to find some stability in her family. After this revelation, Carter's feelings toward Lexi soften significantly and he warmly welcomes Lexi to Eureka.
He dislikes the nickname Lexi has for him - Monkey.
Address: 3 Coriolis Drive
In "Many Happy Returns", Carter begins living in a "Super-House" named S.A.R.A.H. (Self Actuated Residential Automated Habitat), located in an old fallout shelter. SARAH was designed by local scientist Douglas Fargo (who designed the voice of SARAH after his own) on top of an older AI, BRAD which was built on a war games program. As is the case with everything in Eureka, S.A.R.A.H. has a few quirks. One evening, she locked Carter out because he was late for dinner without calling ahead. In Purple Haze, Carter and his daughter Zoe are unaffected by the pollen as S.A.R.A.H. regulates their air supply. In H.O.U.S.E. Rules, S.A.R.A.H. determines that, with Henry leaving town and Carter threatening to, the entire town was in danger, leading her to lock several key Eureka citizens (and one pizza boy that was later killed) inside. Carter then had a manual escape hatch installed. In Fear From Eternity, S.A.R.A.H. arrests Zoe because her DNA has changed due to exposure to a rare radiation. Carter shuts S.A.R.A.H. down and Zoe is released safely. S.A.R.A.H. is later fixed so that she cannot arrest Zoe.
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