WAREHOUSE 13 |
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Pete Lattimer - Eddie McClintock Myka Bering - Joanna Kelly Artie Nelson - Saul Rubinek Mrs Frederic - CCH Pounder Claudia Donovan - Allison Scagliotti Leena - Genelle Williams Steve Jinks - Aaron Ashmore 
OTHER WAREHOUSE 13 SEASONS
Season 1 Season 2 Season 3 Season 5 OTHER PARANORMAL INVESTIGATIONS Eleventh Hour Millennium Fringe The Lost Room
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A NEW HOPEThe warehouse has been destroyed, taking HG Wells and Mrs Frederic with it. Artie, though, has information regarding an artefact that can turn back time by 24 hours. It comes, however, with a curse attached. Following the annihilation of the Warehouse, things have to be straightened out, which means a great big reset button in the shape of a time-turning-back artefact. Cue lots of globe-trotting (the US to France to Italy in less than 24 hours without a reservation? Good going guys.), a smaller than usual quip quota and a guest appearance by Brent Spiner (STAR TREK - THE NEXT GENERATION). It's all a bit contrived and without the usual joie de vivre. Still, now that's out of the way hopefully things will get better. TopAN EVIL WITHINPete and Myka go in search of an artefact that is capable of making people attack an innocent person in a mob. Claudia, meanwhile, uses the metronome to restore Steve Jinks to life. There's much more fun in this second episode than the first, but there are also worrying signs that the show might have run its course. For one thing, the whole investigation into the mob-creating artefact is a bit tired and deja vu. It's a nice toucht that it's a result of HP Lovecraft's Cthulu mythos, but that's not enough. The user's motive is weak and doesn't stand up. A woman crushed in a crowd would get some serious attention and it didn't look like that much of a crowd anyway. Claudia and Jinks' story is more interesting, with the ramifications of bringing a person back to life and an interestingly blank vision of the afterlife giving things an edge. TopPERSONAL EFFECTSThe team split up to chase artefacts that were in the evil Sykes' personal collection. There are sunglasses that confer invisibility, a violin that fires energy bolts and a pipe that can cause tornadoes. Where did it all go wrong. With the team expanded, there are three stories going on at the same time and almost none of them are worth the effort. Artie and Leena's violin adventure barely registers, clearly something that just keeps them out of the way. Claudia and Jinks go after the invisible peeping tom (Oh so original - not). This leaves the tornado-blowing pipe for Pete and Myka. It starts off OK, but as soon as we know why the young man is using it to rob banks, it all descends into completely unbelievable schmaltz. Where has the light and fun touch of the show gone? Can we have it back please? TopTHERE'S ALWAYS A DOWNSIDEPete and Claudia try to track down some marbles that are threatening the lives of young people at an exclusive school whilst Myka and Jinks look into a very sick jazz musician. Artie, meanwhile, learns that he has a new and powerful enemy. This episode is really rather downbeat as a jazz musician tries to kill himself in order to make his music better and schoolkids are forced by the pressure of their parents and school to push themselves to very dangerous levels. Where did the fun go from the show? Where are the jokes and the lightness? Even Artie's ongoing season plot arc is downbeat, although it's also the most interesting aspect of the show with yet another recurring visit from Brent Spiner. TopFRACTURESMad Alice escapes from the looking glass and sets about having a good time, jumping from body to body and generally creating havoc, threatening Artie's date with his doctor girlfriend. It isn't often that the team face off against a real villain. Usually, the artefacts are the villains and the Alice in this episode has been created by prolonged imprisonment in the looking glass, but she is a memorable pyschotic character and a real threat to Artie and those that he loves and that makes the episode more immediate, more dangerous and much better than most of the ones that have gone before it this season. With real threat comes real tension and the body-jumping means that Alice can be in any body. This is just what the show needed to boost it. TopNO PAIN, NO GAINMyka suddenly becomes very, very pregnant whilst she and Pete are investigating an ice hockey player who can play through any injury. The Brotherhood set their plan against Artie into action. Making a character (usually female, but not always) heavily pregnant overnight is a well-used plotline and there isn't really a whole lot new added by this version, but it at least marks a welcome return of the wit and fun that used to infuse the show. This script is much lighter and playful than of late and Claudia's glimpse into the world behind the Warehouse, the artefacts and Mrs Frederic is an interesting expansion of the show's mythology. TopENDLESS WONDERPeople are growing taller, but Pete and Myka are on the case. So is an investigator for a drug company that might be involved. The introduction the investigator puts a little wrinkle in this story, but not enough to make it stand out at all. It's all more of the same and the show really needs something to shake it out of the rut that it has fallen into. TopSECOND CHANCEPete and Myka investigate why people who work at a steel mill are rusting to death whilst Claudia and Jinks visit his mother to resolve his resurrection problem. The steel mill investigation has a nice twist to it, but is otherwise more of the same and thus rather uninspired and uninspiring. Meanwhile, the trip down Jinks' memory lane is too schmaltzy and predictable for its own good. Seeing Pete get beaten up in the boxing ring is quite fun though. TopTHE ONES YOU LOVEBrother Adrian's reign of terror against Artie is transferred to Myka, Pete and Claudia's families. Meanwhile, Mrs Frederic and Jinks learn the truth about what is going on. The story arc that has been running through the entire season comes to a rousing revelation and, despite the three family-threatening artefact ministories it is is this that really raises this episode above the less than stellar season norm. Pete's burning tattoo is the the most fun whilst Claudia's is throwaway and Myka's just fills out time, but it is Artie and Brother Adrian in the warehouse that is the main event here and the cliffhanger ending is a killer. TopWE ALL FALL DOWNNow that the great evil that Artie released by turning back time to save the warehouse has been revealed, the race is on to stop an ages old terror from being released to destroy humanity. The game is up and there are no more mysteries. This final episode is an action adventure across the globe, racing against time and an enemy who knows their every tactic. The plot moves at a terrific clip and has some niece artefact use and twists along the way. There's a prophecy to be fulfilled and it's all pretty good fun. If only it had an ending rather than a cliffhanger. TopTHE LIVING AND THE DEADWhilst Myka and Pete go back to Europe in search of a cure for the sleeping sickness that will soon start to decimate the world's population, Claudia and Steve enter Artie's coma-struck psyche to try and bring him back. Back after the mid-season break and there is a lot of mess to clear up. The simpler side of things is finding an artefact to reassemble the orchid that afflicted the world. This thread is business-as-normal WAREHOUSE 13 and brings in James Marsters (BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER as a professor who is other than he seems. This thread is light and fizzy and is given the added urgency of the countdown to worldwide fatalities. It also does raise the question once again of how these people travel so quickly across the globe when a transatlantic flight isn't a twenty minute trip. The darker thread is the inside of Artie's head. He's in a very bad place, understandably, and doesn't want to come out to reality because reality is a place where he killed Leena and did some very bad things. As a result, his mind sets up a set of barriers to keep Claudia and Steve out. This is old, old stuff, but it fits with the events and the characters so well that the lack of originality doesn't grate too much. TopPARKS AND REHABILITATIONPeople are being sucked into the ground and the link might be an old ecoterrorism ring. Pete and Claudia investigate whilst Myka and Steve try to help Artie out of his depression. It is nice to see that the loss the Warehouse team has suffered isn't being brushed straight under the carpet and that the show is being given the time to investigate it a little. So, whilst Pete is doing what Pete does, Claudia is getting sage advice on regrets and dealing with them. On the other hand, Artie is resisting Myka and Pete's attempts to help him and they are resisting his resistance. The depiction of the artifact classification device and how it is used to deal with Artie's turmoil is nicely done, if a little obvious. If an explanation is given as to why a lamp would bury people alive then we missed it and the ecoterrorist thing is a little underdeveloped with the real bad guy obvious right from the beginning. Nice Yogi Bear references though. TopTHE BIG SNAGPete and Myka are blasted into the story of a 40s noir book whilst Claudia and Jinks try to get Artie out of the Warehouse with a missing cars case. Shot in black and white, the main strand of this story is achingly unoriginal from start to finish, but there is just enough of the Warehouse 13 charm to get by on. It certainly doesn't hurt Joanne Kelly looks fabulous in forties fashion. The more important strand is Artie's dealing with Leena's death, or more precisely his not dealing with Leena's death. The missing car story is dull and uninteresting. Nice Yogi Bear references though. TopTHE SKY'S THE LIMITPete and Myka investigate people falling out of the sky in Las Vegas and think that a stage magician is doing the real thing. Claudia and Steve travel to England and Artie deals with his hurt. We'll pass right over the Claudia/Steve in the world of English horse racing storyline because its depiction of the British at play is offensively broad and stupid and might just lose a few fans in the UK. Pete and Myka's investigation in Las Vegas is perfectly fine, but it is really just more of the same as the pair try to figure out who has the artefact before they run out suspects. Even the presence of Joel Grey as the old performer fails to liven things up. The bright spot, though, is Artie finally coming to terms with his pain. Saul Rubinek can do this is his sleep, but at least it gives him something a bit meatier to play than just lovably grumpy. TopINSTINCTHG Wells calls on Pete and Myka to help when an artefact starts to disrupt her carefully-constructed new life. The Warehouse threatens to tear itself apart. It's great to see Jaime Murray back as HG Wells and it is just a shame that the story around it is so dull. It would be much better if they could just get her back as a regular agent. The subplot about the incipient disaster in the Warehouse is silly, but a good deal more fun than the main one. On the whole, a fairly average episode. TopRUNAWAYAn investigation into a prisoner breakout at a prison brings Steve back into contact with an ex-boyfriend. Claudia and Artie must locate an artefact before it makes Artie permanently deaf. Another fairly dull plot is enlivened by having Jinx run into an old boyfriend, but the investigation itself is really dull and the effects of the lava in the underground car park are not great. Claudia and Artie discovering their relationship once again is barely any better either. Jamming in a celebrity singer at the end also screams a little bit of desperation. TopWHAT MATTERS MOSTPete and Myka investigation artefact-related deaths in an exclusive gated community. Artie and Claudia help a homeless boy who is having visions. Steve bonds with the new team shrink. The Pete and Myka storyline is cookie-cutter WAREHOUSE 13 and really not all that interesting, although Pete does get some nice lines. The scene where Pete admits to his past sin gives Eddie McLintock something to get his acting chops into rather than his usual comic schtick and he makes the most of it - one of his best moments. What really mattes most here is the last couple of minutes when we learn of two plot arcs that are coming into play. One isn't all that clever, but the other comes completely out of left field and adds a serious dose of reality to proceedings. TopLOST AND FOUNDWhilst Myka wonders how to tell Pete about her cancer, Artie takes them both on a quest for treasure. Claudia discovers that she has been duped. Forget the pirate gold nonsense that is going on here, the important thing is the relationship between Pete and Myka as she struggles with telling him the truth and he, of course, comes up with the goods. This is Joanna Kelly's chance to do a bit of thesping and she isn't found wanting. Events back at the Warehouse are not what they seem and the arrival of a new guest star will make fans squeal happily. TopALL THE TIME IN THE WORLDThe evil Paracelsus has bronzed Claudia, Mrs Frederic is failing and Artie is about to find that there is more to the Warehouse than even he knows. Wow, there is a lot of plot going on in this penultimate episode of the season. The usual 'chasing and artefact' storyline sees Myka and Pete chasing Paracelsus and learning the truth about why he is so dangerous. Mrs Frederic's decline is shocking and shows just how significant CCH Pounder has made the character with relatively little screen time. Anthony Head's turn as bad guy Paracelsus isn't anything special (though BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER will get a thrill seeing him and James Marsters sharing screen time again) until the end where some vital information about him is uncovered. Like most penultimate episodes, this is setting up the big season finale and so isn't all that satisfying in its own right. The cancer subplot is being hammered home with no subtlety at all and characters that have provided the plot arc are now suddenly redundant. Next week's episode will decide whether this has been worth the effort. TopTHE TRUTH HURTSParacelsus is located and then captured by Pete. Back in the warehouse, he promises Pete that he can cure Myka's cancer, which the doctors will not be able to. Artie has some upsetting news for Claudia. WAREHOUSE 13 has one short mini-series left to wrap things up, which explains why this episode feels more like a cliffhanger set up than most of the previous finales. It is obvious that we are never going to get anywhere near a resolution. Pete is nowhere near stupid enough to be taken in by Paracelsus' claims to be willing to cure Myka, but the plot needs him to be and so he is. It's unfortunate. Claudia turning to fight for the warehouse is the only in-character move going on. Artie telling Claudia about an evil sister renders any threat to Claudia in the big fight to come redundant as she will obviously be needed to deal with that plotline later. Sadly, there is too much that is misjudged and as a season finale it's a bit too flat. Top |
