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 4 OTHER PARANORMAL INVESTIGATIONS Eleventh Hour Millennium Fringe The Lost Room
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ENDLESS TERRORClaudia takes on Paracelsus for control of the Warehouse, but he escapes back into time and creates an alternate universe. The team have to find a way back to stop him. Picking straight up from the end of the last season's cliffhanger, this episode doesn't hang around tying up all its loose ends. There is an awful lot of plot to get through and it all seems a bit rushed in order to cram all the things in that need to be dealt with. This is the last season and it's a short one, so stopping to smell the flowers is not an option, but this really does move too quickly to make the most of its incidental pleasures. The alternate universe created by Paracelsus is quite fun, especially when a couple of old friends pop up, with major differences in social connections. Old enemies appear as well, but don't get enough time on screen. On top of that, there's another old warehouse that would have been fun to explore a bit more, not to mention the female agent who took Pete's eye. There really could be mileage in a series exploring all the old Warehouses. Everything is nicely tied up at the end of the frantic sprint, but a coda completely unties it all again in the name of a future plot arc, which does make all of what went before a bit redundant. TopSECRET SERVICESPeople are drowning on dry land. Pete and Myka investigate whilst Steve helps Claudia learn more about her sister. The artefact storyline is a pretty straightforward WAREHOUSE 13 story, though it does have a nice twist that makes Pete and Myka reassess their situation for at least a second. The backstory to the death of Claudia's parents and the mysterious fate of her sister is a little more interesting, but after what happened to her brother does seem to be stretching the family's bad luck a bit far. TopA FAIRE TO REMEMBERPete and Steve investigate mysterious happenings at a medieval fair whilst Myka agrees to help Claudia get her sister out of a coma, with disastrous results. The medieval fair brings out the best in Pete, giving Eddie McClintock plenty of opportunity to show off his comic timing in a plot that is otherwise predictable in the extreme and not all that interesting. The Claudia's sister storyline is also pretty predictable, but at least has the saving grace of being nicely played. A fairly average episode. TopSAVAGE SEDUCTONAn old flame of Pete's walks back into his life when her grandmother is sucked into a recently-ended Spanish-language telenovela on her television. In the meantime, Claudia and Steve take on a case in a college fraternity that is destined to reveal more of Steve than he could have wanted. This is hands down the most fun WAREHOUSE 13 has ever been. The telenovela strand is absolutely hilarious. Seeing Myke, Pete and Artie overplaying their parts in the Spanish storyline is a laugh-a-minute. The telenovela storyline is insane even before adding in the personality-swapping aspect (along with its own 'ole' sound effect). Casting Sonia Braga in a cameo role is sheer genius. Supporting that is the personality-splitting artefact story with Claudia and a not gay/super gay Steve. Good/bad split people are a common genre trope, but this is, at least, a twist on it. Not enough time is given to the strand to do it justice and we would easily have given it up for more telenovela goodness. There's even a moment to give Pete some news he really ought to have already known. If you only ever see one episode of WAREHOUSE 13, this is definitely the one to watch. TopCANGKU SHISIAn enemy from another timeline returns with a plan to use Claudia's sister to transfer the warehouse to a new location where he can exert total control. This episode is just a re-run of the MacPherson and Paracelsus storylines. A bad guy wants to use the contents of the warehouse for his own evil ends. Where the other storylines played out over whole seasons, this has just one episode, so it's a fast-paced but shallow retelling. It does, at least, provide the resolution of Claudia's sister storyline. There is also some fun to be had at Pete's dealing with his feelings for Myka and a cliffhanger ending. TopENDLESSThe warehouse is moving. There is no way to stop it. As an exercise, the agents are to each place one defining memory in the warehouse's time capsule. The last episode of WAREHOUSE 13 is a collection of flashback clips? At first glance this is disastrous news, but it turns out the memories aren't ones the audience has seen before. This means a coherent plot is jettisoned in favour of a series of set pieces that allow the cast of characters to examine their feelings as the show comes to an end. Mawkish then? A little sentimental perhaps, but for viewers who have been with the show since the beginning and bought into the characters it's a chance to say an emotional goodbye. The bar is set high right at the outset as we are treated to a full-scale Busby Berkley dance number inside the warehouse. It's laugh out loud funny and makes the point that nobody's seen anything yet. We then get ninjas, Agatha Christie denouements and a bit of FANTASTIC VOYAGE. The character moments are touching as well as funny, though Myka's realisation that she loves Pete is a bit rushed through. This truncated last season hasn't allowed time for those feelings to be explored successfully, but at least there is some sort of resolution, as well as a last-gasp hint of a possible sequel show. That's unlikely, but why not? WAREHOUSE 13 is a show that never quite reached the heights its concept allowed for, but which was generally fun and entertaining, peopled by agreeable characters to spend some time with. In the last three episodes, it has shown exactly what was possible. It's nice to see it go out on a high. Top |
