The warehouse is all flustered when Artie decides to break up current partners and pair Myka with Steve and Pete with Claudia.  Claudia is not happy.  She feels that since she saved Steve, they should be together.  Artie is worried about Claudia and wants Pete with her to watch her.  His first concern has to do with her going against what he said and using the metronome to bring Steve back, but also there is the vision he has had of Claudia stabbing him.
 

 
Writer: Drew Greenberg
Director: Constantine Makris
 
The warehouse is all flustered when Artie decides to break up current partners and pair Myka with Steve and Pete with Claudia.  Claudia is not happy.  She feels that since she saved Steve, they should be together.  Artie is worried about Claudia and wants Pete with her to watch her.  His first concern has to do with her going against what he said and using the metronome to bring Steve back, but also there is the vision he has had of Claudia stabbing him.
 



Myka and Steve are sent to go after an artifact that seems to make sick people well.  This doctor has, for some unknown reason, been very successful the last few months at helping severely troubled patients get well again.  Steve wonders why they have to stop an object that seems to be helping people.  Of course nothing every just helps…there is always a negative side. But the doctor’s office is clean. Is it the jazz club that a lot of her patients frequent?  As luck would have it, yes. They follow the lead and find a jazz musician (Sam Huntington) who is using a cigarette case that allows him to take on other people’s pain.  He felt it helped with his music, but it was killing him.
 



Pete and Clauda go see Hugo!  The ex agent has an artifact he wants to give them. Bobby Fischer owned these marbles.  Hugo’s son, Brady wanted the marble to help focus to write a paper.  Now, something really weird is going on.  But it doesn’t stop when they “diffuse” the artifact by placing it in the bag.  This is because it isn’t all there–Brady had “lent” out some of the marbles, and now they have to collect them before the people given the marbles start lashing out in drastic ways to win. 
 
And on to a little mythology update…


 
The continuing storyline about the destruction of the warehouse and the evil created with the stealing back of the 24 hours brings Brother Adrian (Brent Spiner) back to the warehouse.  He has something up his sleeve. Artie’s strange behavior hasn’t gone unnoticed and Brother Adrian plays a hunch.  He figures out that yes, Artie is the one that stole back the day.  Artie tells him that even with the evil unleashed by the change, this world is better due to the loss of hope in the other timeline.  He explains that he did talk to Brother Adrian in the previous timeline.
 
For three seasons, there was relatively little mythology with Warehouse 13.  A snippet here, a snippet there, but the Big Bad of Season 3 which was a shadowy figure until toward the end of the season set a ball in motion that now is becoming  a real backstory to the show.  
 

As the Regents feared, Walter Sykes’ (Anthony Michael Hall) end game was far more devious than simply breaking into the warehouse to steal the Collodi bracelet. Sykes’ plan included blowing up the whole warehouse.  In the Season 3 finale, although Sykes’ is killed because the door is shut before he can get fully through to the other destination, the bomb is not discovered in time and the warehouse is destroyed.  The only reason why Artie, Myka and Pete survive is because H.G. Wells creates a forcefield and sacrifices herself.  Because Mrs. Frederic is linked to the warehouse, it’s destruction means her end as well.  One of the items in the warehouse was Pandora’s box.  It was also destroyed in the destruction, as was the only thing left in it…hope.  Without hope in the world, chaos starts breaking out.  Mass suicides, the stock market crashes, and so on.
 
Artie knows they can somehow use McPherson’s watch to set back the time.  The artifact needed to make it work was located in the vaults of the Vatican.  Artie is able to get the piece and use it despite the terrible warning regarding the danger of using it that Artie receives from Brother Adrian.  Having lost not only H.G. and Mrs. Frederic, but Pete as well during the artifact’s retrieval, Artie cannot be dissuaded from using the artifact.  With the clock set back 24 hours, Artie is able to find another item in the warehouse that can be used to diffuse Sykes’ hate bomb.  Sykes is stopped, cracks his head during the altercation with Pete and dies.
 

Another Sykes fatality, happening before the warehouse bombing, was Agent Steve Jinx (Aaron Ashmore).  Unfortunately, the watch couldn’t bring them back far enough to save Jinxy, But Claudia, after learning about the metronome keeping one of Sykes’ thugs alive, decides that she will use the metronome to bring back Jinx.  Arty will not go along with this, but Regent Jane (Kate Mulgrew) helps her.  
 



Even though Sykes was killed, he had collected an arsenal of artifacts that had all been moved from the warehouse before the siege.  The warehouse agents did find the artifacts stolen from the house Sykes had set up as a hideout after the warehouse bombing.  We assume that is all of them, but would Sykes really put all of his eggs in one basket?  I don’t think we’ve seen the last of that mess.
 
More importantly regarding a continuing mythology, however, are the ramifications to Artie and to the world regarding this evil that was created by using the artifacts to set back time.  Brother Adrian found out in tonight’s episode what it was that he said to Artie, and why Artie chose to do it anyway.  Artie is getting flashes of Claudia killing him and he is very worried about what this means about Claudia.




In episode 3, Steve figured out that if he gets hurt, Claudia feels it. In his current “undeceased” state, Steve is bound to the warehouse and to Claudia.
 
And without any further ado, the analysis…




The focus currently seems off Myka and Pete currently, as we seem to be veered toward the plight of Artie. Anyone he tells about the time travel and stealing the 24 hours is in danger.  Because of this, he has kept it to himself, telling only Brother Adrian when called out on it.  This most likely means Brother Adrian’s life is in danger.  Artie is getting visions of Claudia killing him.  He has no idea what happens or why, but it fueled his decision to have Claudia and Pete together on this one.  He wanted Pete to watch her.  Pete wasn’t there when Claudia has the spell with Hugo.  Claudia didn’t know what that was about, but we know that it was because Steve was being hurt–or more accurately–jazz player guy was trying to “unhurt” him.
 
We see a lot of “cause and effect” going on in this episode.  A recurrent theme closely linked with the idea of Artie using the artifacts, a big “no no” no matter how well intentioned, to save people he loves and to stop wrongs that were done.  Steve is being kept alive by an artifact.  Understandably Steve wonders why people are so ready to get rid of the artifact that is fixing people’s mental health.  He’s being kept alive by an artifact.

But we are supposed to see that the artifacts ALWAYS lead to badness.  Take a look at Sykes himself–the Collodi bracelet gave him not only the ability to walk, but made him a great athlete.  Unfortunately, because the agents didn’t get the artifact away from him soon enough, the damage was done–the bracelet made you need it, obsess over it, incapable of love.  
 
Yet even knowing this, Claudia insisted on using the metronome to bring Steve back, no matter what badness may come from it.  She didn’t even bother to look into them.  She didn’t know that this bond between herself and Steve would happen. She also didn’t understand that now Steve is essentially an artifact himself and will never be able to leave the warehouse employ.  We know that if something happens to Steve that Claudia feels it.  This makes me wonder if it works the other way as well…
 
What I find especially interesting about this is that it is showing an element that I felt like Friday the 13th the series waited too long to really flesh out, too.  Friday the 13th: The Series was a cute little show that aired in the late 80’s.  Here is a link to a little blog article I wrote on it.  http://newenglishwoman.blogspot.com/2012/03/ramblings-ona-guilty-pleasurerevisited.html Warehouse 13 treats the artifacts in a very science fiction way–not making them about religion.  In Ft13th:tS, they were cursed objects that were originally sold by someone who had sold his soul to the devil.  But the particular similar thing I found that seems to be coming somewhat into play, besides the obvious about retrieving evil objects, is that they attract people. People fall under their thrall and are essentially compelled to use the object.  I felt that one of the big shortcomings of Ft13th:tS was that the writers didn’t do an adequate job over the first two seasons showing that these objects were not easy to walk away from.  They tried to make up for this in the third season, but I felt that was too little too late.  In Warehouse 13, here we are in the 4th season and now various warehouse personnel are finding themselves incapable of walking away from abilities of objects.  Of course also on W13 they have been careful about not touching the objects, so at least there is that. I suppose it is also another level of showing what you are willing to do or give up for people you love…
 
The episode was enjoyable, but I hope that they get back to more Myka/Pete focused episodes…



 
And because it has been bothering me since the beginning of season 3, I have to ask–WHAT ARE THEY DOING WITH MYKA’S HAIR?  Because I just can’t figure it out…
 
This was my first review of an episode of Warehouse 13, and I watched the whole series over the span of the last couple weeks, so if you have any insight, comments are most welcome!
 
 

 

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