A Puzzling Scenario

Those of you who follow @EurekaWriters on Twitter might be aware that a hostage situation recently played out in our writers office.  Specifically, the last piece in our 1500 piece puzzle depicting a map of the night sky was stolen and cruelly held for ransom.  Now that the ordeal is over, the story can finally be told.

First, a little back-story.  Puzzles were introduced to the Eureka offices by our intrepid Executive Producer, Bruce Miller.  The idea is that when you're stuck on a story problem, sometimes a little brain break is just the thing you need to let a new idea shake loose.  Working on a jigsaw puzzle is a great way to spend a few minutes not thinking about story, but still keeping the brain active.  We almost always have a puzzle is set up in the kitchen so that anyone can wander through and spend a few minutes indulging their inner OCD.

And so, when beloved assistant Katie Lovejoy departed Eureka for the beginnings of a feature-writing career, she sent a puzzle to the staff as a present.

1500 pieces was a little more complex than we usually go for in our casual work-puzzling but, slowly and steadily, we made progress.

Writers' Assistant Margaret Dunlap: "The puzzle is a great way to hang out in the kitchen and eavesdrop on conversations in the hall...  I mean-- think about the episode we're breaking in the room.  I had most of the sky map section done, and then Amy Berg totally finished it without telling me."

Well, Co-EP Amy Berg almost finished the star map.  Dedicated Eureka puzzlers noted early on in the process that a piece containing a key section of the galactic equator as seen from the Northern Hemisphere had gone missing.  Indeed, when those last pesky pieces of featureless black background were finally complete...

The puzzle remained unfinished.  Teeth were gnashed, garments were rent... well, mostly we assumed that it had fallen off the table and had been swept up by the cleaning staff.  Hey, it was 1500 pieces.  We were impressed we hadn't lost more.

Then, the truth came out in the form of an insidious note:

Could it be?  Was the 1500th piece not lost but... kidnapped?  The first ransom demand soon followed, complete with proof of life:

From the beginning, Amy and our PA Meghan Welsh both had a very good idea who was responsible.  Co-Producer (and known puzzle-hater) Paula Yoo.

So the staff took hostages of their own.  Instead of the demanded $1,000,000, this was placed in the ransom envelope:

Paula-- err, the mysterious hostage taker retaliated:

But then, suddenly, a change of heart:

After much deliberation, the writing staff responded:

I won't lie to you.  It was a hard time in the Eureka writing offices.  Heart-wrenching emails were exchanged in which the puzzle piece attempted to convince us that it had grown to love its captors, followed by more frantic tales of being in mortal fear of its puzzling existence. 

In the end, the "anonymous" kidnapper was ready to play ball:

Happily, the exchange took place with no further incidents.  All is well once again with the galactic equator.   

But if this happens again.  We are fully prepared to go national in our search:

Comments

[Dawn]

You guys are great! It must be a lot of fun to work in the Eureka writing offices. I know it must be a hard job especially since there is a lot of science involved, plus who done its and romance and mystery each week all rolled into one nice little package! So whatever keeps you all sane we appreciate it and adore you all! But seriously Ms. Yoo, what have you got against puzzles? I mean I don't do puzzles but I can't say I hate them. But oh well. Thanks for sharing this adventure with us...your loyal fans.

[VGoob]

Wait. What kind of chocolate was paid? Hmmm?

[Alainarkraus.wordpress.com]

That's awesome ;) Thankfully it sounds like the puzzle piece recovered from the beginnings of Stockholm Syndrome and is now happily amongst its peers once more.

We here at the office in which I am employed fully approve of office shenaniganizing as a manner of building interoffice rapport. I'm not certain if upper management supports us because of their own sense of humor, morale or they are hoping such doings will scare off folks from taking vacation...

[Mister_terrific]

This explains so much about Season 4....

[Sabine]

oh you should have asked me for the piece ... Ravensburg is a town near my place (yeah i actually come from Germany and they produce these puzzles down here)

thank god you found your piece

[CatChester_]

I can't believe you threatened those poor, defenceless bears! They are not just pawns in your power games, bears have feelings too, you know!

[Michael J]

Next time call the FBI...they're pros when it comes kidnappings...or better yet, enlist Nathan Fillion and Stana Katic! Oh yeah, they investigate homicides not mention they work for a competing network. :P

[Andrew Eckhart]

I heart this...

[Ashareem]

You should have put in a call for @EddieMcClintock and the #Warehouse13 crew!

[Mamanoagain]

Ironically I have a very similar story, with a different result. My daughter Judy was always different than the rest of us, and her affinity for puzzles was well know. I know it may sound absolutely crazy, but by the time she was 8 years old, she could no longer find a jigsaw to satisfy her. I found, and gave her for Christmas, a 1500 piece puzzle of the New York Skyline at night. She started the puzzle on Christmas day of 1990 and had it finished by New Years Eve, accepting no help from any of us and threatening our existence if we got near that table. Sadly, as the last of the pieces fell into place, Judy had started counting, and she was positive a piece was missing. We assured her, on and all, that we would never do such a thing as cause a piece to fall...
On the morning of New Years Eve we awoke to Judy sitting at the table. A table where once the family had gathered daily for meals, that had now become her own private territory where none may come within breathing distance. She was sitting there staring at the puzzle, and as we started to approach her right hand rose into the air, palm facing us. I tentatively asked "Is it finished?" to which I got a cold stare. "No," she said, "There's a piece missing, and if I ever find out who did this to me, I guarantee you, they will pay for this day, oh yes, they will pay."

Judy has never forgiven us for either purchasing a puzzle with a piece missing, or accidentally losing a piece. We don't talk about it, because if we do, she will very carefully point out that just because she has not yet found out the truth, does not mean she will not, one day... I have bought her 3-D puzzles such as the Titanic, and even Notre Dame Cathedral for the PC, but she still remembers only the missing piece of the New York Skyline at Night, and yes, it was a piece of sky. We had the glue, you see, she was going to glue it and save it forever...
Thank God your puzzle was spared the fate of being left unfinished.

[Brian le Golem]

You people have been very lucky. I believe there's a novel by George Perec in which character deals with the solving of a unique and complex jigsaw puzzle. After a few hundred pages, the main characters realises that the ultimate, last piece of the brain-smashing puzzle, made by a now deceased puzzle maker...does not fit.

[mad]

I enjoyed this very much.

I have the same kind of puzzle with an ancient map on it. Took us 4 days to complete it. Very addictive.

[goldenpanther587]

*stands and applauds* An excellent tale!

[Account Deleted]

Thank you so much for finally putting the whole story down for us to read. This is just hilarious! It sounds like you all must have a lot of fun with each other. Hope your future puzzles don't have to go through this same harrowing experience, tho.

[Thestormsurfer]

Nice use of "Cracked".

[Pam_cee]

The kidnapped Puzzle Piece drama had me in tears (laughing). Glad it's back safely and ‘physically’ unwarped. Hopefully it's adjusting well to its current surroundings after being spoiled...I mean...brainwashed by its captors.

[CE_Stragos]

This is an awesome story. Your office sounds like a very interesting environment to work in.

[Breannarose1]

glad everything worked out. :D

that was an awesome story. gave me a good laugh.

[matt]

at least now we know what to send SciFi execs whenever they decide to cancel the show (yes I know that's not how they spell it anymore)

[damnedyankee]

This must be why the suits move VERY quietly when passing the writers' room...

[Emma Vieceli]

ahahha, you crazy guys ^_^ I loved reading this!

[Mike]

Stella Artois?? Lucky puzzle piece.

[Jconstantino42]

My comment is in reply to mamanoagain's comment posted on 8/12...So...sadly that story is very tragically true...I still remember that puzzle and it's been twenty years this christmas...I don't why I always know when a puzzle piece is going to be missing...I feel like Rain Man..."10 minutes till Wapner," lol..."235 toothpicks"...and 1499 puzzle pieces...I still tell people that story and I'm 28 years old now and they just don't understand why it bothered me so much but when you're 8 years old and you work that hard on something only to be forced to leave it unfinished...no closure...OMG!!! What if that's my unfinished business when I die and I'm doomed to walk the earth for all of eternity cuz I never got to finish my puzzle...Sadly I haven't a puzzle since that one that has really challenged me but there is one that I've been wanting that is 18,000 pieces but it's $150 and I don't want to spend all of that money and time just to end up missing one piece, so that just goes to show you how emotionally scarred I am from not being able to find the piece...But the way that your story worked out gives me hope lol...Plus you're story was absolutely hysterical...I wish I could work in a place where people have that great of a sense of humor...Thanks, Judy

[Heather]

OK, so the puzzler took the time to snip the letters out old school and glue them to the page, and the writers typed out their responses? Slackers!!

Glad to hear that piece, er, peace, is restored. =D

[anna]

I love Ravensburg puzzles, but who had all that time to cut up all those little pieces? A slow week or??? Hope the plushes weren't traumaitzed for life ???