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
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