Warehouse 13: "The Ones You Love" Review

Note: Full spoilers for the episode follow.

Wow, that episode sure did get going in a heartbeat. It's rare that Warehouse 13 starts off with crazy action, but within minutes we've got Artie and Brother Adrian fighting it out. And the pace never slowed down after that, giving us more varied, action-packed scenarios in one episode than we've ever seen before. But too much action can lead to sacrifices in cerebral storytelling, and that's exactly what happens here.

Here's the first sign that something was wrong. After Artie and Brother Adrian scuffle for a bit, the dear brother says, “Come, here. I want to tell you my plan.” And Artie dutifully leans in so the dear brother can whisper in his ear. That was the most awkward thing I've seen in TV in a long time. It's just incomprehensibly contrived and illogical.

But it was still early in the episode, so I didn't give up on it yet. Soon it is revealed that Brother Adrian is playing pretty dirty and he's going after the family members and loved ones of the warehouse agents, and we've got the thrust of this week's plot. Meanwhile, Mrs. Frederic and Jinks are off to the Vatican to get to the root of the problem in a story initially seems pointless, but becomes very important later. Still, the peril of the loved ones dominates this story, and the whole core cast of characters gets set on a different adventure. Myka goes off to see her pregnant sister who is stricken by sudden desire to poison her. Jeri Ryan returns to the show as Amanda, Pete's ex-wife. And Claudia rushes to California to save her brother again. To say this episode has a lot going on would be a severe understatement.

In recent past episodes, the writers tried to do too much. There were one too many stories, which left each mini-plot with less screen time than it needed to really shine. You'd think I'd lay down the same critique here, but...you know...although I was all prepared to be the big bad reviewer on this one, it isn't necessary. Despite the many, many stories going on here, I have to say that it works. Each of these little stories is simple enough that it doesn't need much exploration, and the scattered structure keeps the episode from having any sagging parts.

The most entertaining of these stories is Myka's. The sisterly rivalry is hilarious, and culminates in one scene that has Myka physically fighting with her pregnant sister while trading insults from years worth of juvenile grievances. It could have descended into Jerry Springer material, but it's actually tastefully funny. On the other side of things, Pete's story is the more dramatic one for once. Just as it looks like Pete is going to have something very nasty happen to him, quick thinking saves the day. Myka's conclusion that the leather box was the medium for the tattoo was brilliant, and Pete's idea to just lie on the ground and press the box against his back is immediately obvious, but the obvious sometimes escapes Pete so this is progress for him.

Soon, however, the episode got back to sloppy writing. Artie utters the illogical line, “I'm not a murderer. But don't worry; you're never getting out of here again.” Uhm...wouldn't never leaving be something to worry about? That whole sentence should've never left the writer's room. And since when did Leena not listen to a grave warning from Mrs. Frederic? Run, girl! Run!!!

Still, the shocking revelation that Brother Adrian had never actually been there is one of the biggest WTF moments WH13 ever had, but it's surprising because it comes out of nowhere. We didn't have any really hints for this turn of events. While a good plot twist is never seen coming, you do want it to make some sense based on what the viewer has seen. I don't know if re-watches of the previous episodes would really support this development, so I can't give the producers highest marks for execution. But I'll definitely give out extra points for effort, and this plot point does make it easy to segue into evil Artie doing a truly villainous deed; killing Leena.

Leena being dead is sad, but let's be honest – she was the most disposable of the cast members. It's been ages since she had anything to actually do in this series. Her death just means that we may finally have a permanent change in this series. But we've seen disaster averted so many times in WH13 that it's hard to know if this will actually stick. This is one of the times when the show's own history works against it, and the drama we should have is tempered by uncertainty. Despite that, I'll still be eagerly awaiting what WH13 has in store for a follow-up to this week's intriguing events.

Source : ign[dot]com

Warehouse 13: "Endless Wonder" Review

Note: Full spoilers for the episode follow.

I'm seeing a surprising trend so far in this season of Warehouse 13. The zany sci-fi series seems to be trying its best to not fall into a formulaic rut and get mired in its own TV tropes. Every weekly installment has a slightly different setup and approach to the comedy/drama/action themes this series is known for. Sometimes those new ideas work and we get something delightfully refreshing, and other times the ideas fall flat and the episode ends up as a painful reminder that this is the network that gave us such cinematic brilliance as Sharktopus. But more often than not, the show runners get things right and manage to cleverly keep this show's concept fresh and interesting. That's certainly true of this episode.

It started with a different type of opening that throws us in the midst of Pete and Myka investigating cases with people growing taller inexplicably. Of course, inexplicable in this series always lead to an artifact, and soon our intrepid agents are on an adventure full of misdirection and red herrings in an effort to find out what's causing these people to stretch. The first 10 minutes of this episode are definitely packed with plenty of varied material, and this format marks a slight departure from the usual WH13 fare that usually starts us at the warehouse or Leena's place. Still, the main plot is classic Warehouse 13 material. We have Pete providing frat boy comedy relief, and Myka doing her insanely detail-oriented detective shtick. But there's a new addition to the mix with Deb Stanley, a spunky exec at a pharmaceutical company (that's a phrase I'd never thought I'd type, but here we are). She's played by Danielle Nicolet, who is actually quite a capable actress and she fits in seamlessly with the unique Warehouse 13 madness. She also, somewhat surprisingly, fits right into Pete's bed. Deb is nosy as hell, and smart, and just a little manipulative. Apparently those qualities just happen to make for a good new warehouse recruit. It seems we've got a new team member, and that's quite an unexpected development. Once again the series is tweaking its well-known formula, and so far I have to say it's working really well.

There's a scene where Pete introduces Deb to the warehouse and its secrets, and it's one of the best Pete scenes in recent memory. Eddie McClintock performs expertly as he details the fact that "there's always a downside” with artifacts, and that it's not a simple matter of using these artifacts with the best intentions. It really sums up the whole essence of the series, and it leads back to Artie's current predicament, and also perhaps serves as some foreshadowing if Deb gets caught up in the allure of artifact power.

While Pete and Myka are off doing their usual thing, Steve and Claudia confront Artie about his issues with artifact theft which sets up a nice B-plot that sends the rest of the warehouse crew on a mission to turn the tables on Brother Adrian and start fighting back. The episode includes an exciting Warehouse agent manhunt as Jinks, Claudia, and Artie try to track down their artifact thief. Overall, this was great stuff. There are some super stupid moments though. When Artie actually confronts Brother Adrian and simply lets him walk away I literally yelled out, "WHY!??!". Artie had him dead in the sights of his Tesla, after Adrian presumably just set off a trap to kill Jinks and Claudia, and Artie just lets him saunter out of the room? Then it turns out that Jinks and Claudia are just fine and set off the tripwire on purpose. Uh...what? This happens off-screen, so we don't know exactly what went down, but imagine something along the lines of "Oh hey Steve, look! It's a tripwire! Let's back up, throw something at it, and see what happens". Doesn't quite seem a logical plan considering they didn't know exactly what that tripwire would do.

Gripes aside, things did end fairly nicely. The episode wraps up with an appearance of our girl H.G. Wells, just to put a cherry on top of all the crazy action we had here. Wells hasn't been a factor in this season so far, but we've got plenty of time left for her to take a prominent role again and Jaime Murray is always a welcome sight. And let's take a moment to really appreciate how rare it is for a sci-fi/sci-fantasy series to have a predominantly female cast. It may be cheesy at times, but Warehouse 13 is remarkable in its own way and I'm excited to see what comes up next.

Source : ign[dot]com

Warehouse 13: "Personal Effects" Review

Note: Full spoilers for the episode follow.

I'll say one thing about this new season so far: it certainly hasn't been boring. Warehouse 13 has found a formula for keeping the viewer's interest piqued throughout a whole hour of television and dropping big hints about the future storyline.

Right from the start, this episode had lots of callbacks to old elements of the series. There was a picture of the Civil War re-enactment Jinks and Claudia went to, and we had the return of the "dead agent" vault. I really like it when this series is self-referential because the writers have come up with an impressive amount of clever ideas over the years and many of them could deserve a little extra screen time. The premise of this story refers back to the huge cache of artifacts that Sykes had and what happened to it, which was one loose end from last season that is neatly tied up here.

This story gets into the warehouse agent action very quickly. Within the first five minutes we've already got Pete and Myka busting into Sykes' house to grab, bag, and tag Sykes' old artifacts only to find that someone else got there first. It turns out to be a dude named Jessie who is portrayed by this week's guest star, Brian J. Smith from SyFy's ill-fated Stargate Universe series. He was a good casting choice since he's got a fair amount of experience with sci-fi stories and acting with CG special effects. He also has this innocuous boy next door charm that's perfect for this role.

Brian's character has a typical background for a Warehouse 13 antagonist: he's not really a bad guy, just a desperate person trying to figure out a way out of a tragic situation when an artifact lands in their lap. Or in this case, a box full of artifacts that he quickly scatters across a North Dakota town via the local pawn shop. Then the crux of this episode becomes an artifact scavenger hunt. What's more interesting than chasing one artifact? Chasing a box of them!

This is a brilliant move on the part of the writers. We get a gaggle of varied artifacts, placing our man cast in a bunch of different situations that bring excitement and that unique Warehouse 13 humor. The best joke of the episode was Artie's, “A jew and a black woman walk into a country club...”. That was beautiful, and made even more perfect by the fact that it's usually not Artie that comes up with these quips. Then we have the lady at the country club with the 9-iron was a hoot too. Some of the jokes weren't such a hit though. When Jinks goes “I'm gay”, and the lingerie clerk girl is all “Oh my god, do you watch Revenge?” I just shook my head and tried to ignore the extreme levels of cheesiness. But that's Warehouse 13 for you -- it straddles that thin line between cute quirky fun and groan-inducing camp, but it's always at least trying.

In the midst of all this action are a couple of dropped hints about the overarching plot points that are going to drive this season. Artie accidentally almost spilled the beans about his trip through time, and it's becoming clear that Claudia and Jinks now share a voodoo kind of bond that makes any damage to Jinks happen to Claudia. This is surely a side effect of the use of the metronome, but it'll be interesting to see how this plays a part in Artie's strange visions of Claudia stabbing him with a dagger.

There's another aspect worth mentioning: the special effects. After a step back last week, this episode comes back strong in the CG department with a number of clean and challenging effects. Thunderstorm effects can be tricky to pull off with a low budget, but I was pleasantly surprised to see that everything came out nice and pretty here. The sets and props work well too. The aftermath of dropping an armored truck through a hole in the ceiling of a warehouse was nicely done.

The only area where I feel this story dropped the ball a bit was the emotional impact of the story behind Jessie's motivation. The "I've got a sick family member and need to pay the bills" idea has been used many, many times in Hollywood and it is beyond cliche at this point. Jessie's ultimate sacrifice is still touching, but one wonders if a donor's heart would still be useful after a lightning strike. Still, overall this is a fun episode with lots of great material, and the flaws don't really detract from an otherwise enjoyable hour of TV.

Source : ign[dot]com

Warehouse 13: "A New Hope" Review

Note: Full spoilers for the Warehouse 13: Season 4 premiere follow.

Warehouse 13 has grown up in many ways. It has more action, the characters have transcended their archetypes, the special effects have improved dramatically, and the scripts aren't afraid to raise the stakes and put the lead cast into mortal danger. This season premiere proves again that this show just keeps getting better.

When last season left us with the destruction of Warehouse 13 and the death of Mrs. Frederics and H.G. Wells, it was shocking and amazing. But Artie has a habit of conveniently having a artifact handy, and it wasn't hard to guess that the watch that survived last season's finale was going to make everything right again.

So this episode starts off kind of on the wrong foot since we know what's going to happen. Artie and his team will of course reverse time, undo past wrongs, and all will be well so we can continue the season. Despite the inevitable time reversal, one of the reasons this episode works is that past events have shown us that this series isn't afraid to inflict dramatic physical and mental harm on its cast. Jinks, H.G. Wells, and Mrs. Frederics all bought the big one in the past few episodes. And the opening of this episode shows a hopeless world and everything going to hell in a handbasket (expertly narrated by news personalities Ed Schultz and Lester Holt - thanks, NBC!). It's enough to make you forget that things are supposed to end well here.

Along with Schultz and Holt we have Brent Spiner, who will be forever immortalized in geek lore as Data on Star Trek: The Next Generation. He makes an appearance in a role that doesn't really show off his talents. But SyFy says the Brother Adrian character will be around for at least six episodes, so Spiner has time to grow into the character and hopefully produce something special.

The pace in this story is face and furious which creates exactly the kind of urgency this season opener needed. The stakes are incredibly high and the tension is strong, but it's all tempered by the usual Warehouse 13 humor. As usual, this episode has a number of cheesey moments. If you're a fan of the show you've surely gotten used to this by now. This series has always used old TV tropes (the rapid-fire clue guessing game being one of my most hated), but it doesn't lean too heavily on them and the humor has gradually gotten better over the years as the writers and actors molded these characters. Pete Tebowing was perfect for the character, and the dynamic between Claudia and Artie is hilarious and feels perfectly natural.

The second half of the story is a lot darker though, and this again shows how much this series has matured. It can be all lighthearted and irreverent but still hit hard. A battle with the bad guys leaves Pete on the ground choking on his own blood, and dead. This scene is potently dramatic, with Pete spending his last words asking if he'll remember dying once Artie fixes everything. Yes, we all know Pete can't die. But the writers tucked in a clever little plot piece: Artie will remember everything, and it's going to haunt him.

The end wraps up everything nicely, and as an added bonus Sykes, our villain from last season, gets a moment of peaceful redemption. Add to that the apparent pardon of H.G. Wells and all does indeed seem to be back to normal, except for the foreboding words of Brother Adrian and the strange vision of Claudia poking a dagger-sized hole in Artie's chest. This season's villain may be Claudia herself, and that could make for lots of drama.

This is undoubtedly a great start for WH13. So far this is already looking like the most complex and thrilling season of the series to date. It's rare for a sci-fi show to start hitting its stride so late in the game, but it can't be denied that Warehouse 13 is better than it's ever been.

Source : ign[dot]com