Copyright © 2011 by Sarah Stegall
Warehouse 13
SyFy, Mondays 9PM
“3… 2… 1”
Written by Bob Goodman
Directed by Chris Fisher
Warning: this review contains some spoilers. If you’d rather not know what the episode is going to include, bookmark this page and read it after viewing.
“People never believe what you’re capable of, do they, Helena?” —Vincent Crowley
When Warehouse Agent H.G. Wells (Jaime Murray, Spartacus: Gods of the Arena) was introduced last year, I figured SyFy was setting her up as a spinoff. Then she went psycho at the end of the season and was confined to a “limbo prison”. Now she’s back, at least in holographic form, to help Myka and Pete find an artifact from Biblical times. And I’m wondering if SyFy is getting ready to resurrect this character to full time status, maybe even warm up that spinoff idea. She’s such a strong character, with so much more screen presence than “New Guy” Jinks, it’s hard to believe the producers would pass up such a juicy opportunity.
“An ancient ram’s horn that emits a blast of such power that it pulverizes everything in its path.” —Artie
The mystery this time is so baffling that Myka insists on calling in H.G. Wells. Pete violently resists this idea but is overruled, because people are dying in mysterious ways. Apparently someone has found and is using Joshua’s trumpet, as described in the Book of Judges in the Bible. There, it is said to have brought down the walls of Jericho; now it is killing people, turning them into sand (not salt?) with a burst of sound. I like this idea of super-sound being used not only as a weapon but as an energy source, although it’s hard for me to get behind the idea that a simple ram’s horn would do the trick. This artifact is not just old, however, it is almost a legend in Warehouse lore, having evaded the attempts of several generations of agents to bag it and tag it. This story follows three of those generations’ attempts: H.G. and her partner Wolcott in 1893, Jack Secord and Rebecca St. Claire in 1962, and Pete and Myka (and H.G.) in the present day.
“England must use the Warehouse to her advantage!” —Vincent Crowley
Each era has strong characters and its own plot. In 1893, H.G. is a woman ahead of her time, wearing pants in Victorian London and inventing a spaceship. Her Warehouse partner, William “Woolley” Wolcott (Gareth David Lloyd, Torchwood), doesn’t quite understand her but he does admire her, and the two of them make an excellent team. H.G. determines that the victims of the Trumpet’s blast were all targeted by a mole in the Warehouse, and that mole is quickly revealed as the nefarious Vincent Crowley, who just has to be named for the notorious Aleister Crowley. Crowley has stolen the Trumpet as part of his plan to use the Warehouse artifacts to strengthen the British Empire. H.G. foils him by launching the Trumpet into space in a homemade rocket. The sequence where it takes off, in all its steampunk glory, powered only by sound, is a truly awesome moment in Warehouse mythology.
“It looked like a spaceship and it ray-gunned a cow.” —Peggy
In 1962, the spaceship crashes to Earth in a barn in Ohio. It is now unstable and likely to “go off” at any opportunity, which it does, vaporizing a cow, a man named Varley, and assorted farm objects. It nearly vaporizes a couple of teenagers, who report it to Warehouse agents Secord (Chad Connell, Degrassi: The Next Generation) and St. Clair (Alex Paxton-Beesley, The Listener). During the interview, Rebecca makes friends with young Daniel Varley, whose father was vaporized by the artifact. Her warmth and sympathy do much in just a few seconds to establish her as a kind and lovable person, one we will recognize decades later in the Warehouse episode “Where and When”. This couple, on their third appearance in Warehouse 13, prove to be even more endearing. This time we get to see them after they have admitted their mutual love, but before Jack’s tragic end. In this “honeymoon” time, they bicker like sweethearts, an echo of the Pete/Myka banter but with a sexual undertone. There’s a bit of Scully in Rebecca and a lot of Mulder in Jack, as they try to shoot their way out of a confrontation with the malevolent trumpet. The way that Trumpet followed them, blasting everything in its path, was truly scary.
“This time you’re gonna hear me.” —Daniel Varley
When Pete and Myka revisit the Ohio barn in the present day, they discover two things in the trunk of Jack’s rusted car: his fedora, and a copy of Astounding Stories magazine. And may I just tip my fedora to the writers for this homage to the longest running continuously published SF magazine? Although my inner geek is reminding me that the title was changed to Analog Science Fact and Fiction in 1960, so Pete was apparently not holding a 1962 issue of the magazine. Nor is it likely, as she claims, that there was an H.G. Wells story in that issue. At any rate, this clue connects them to young Daniel Varley, as the present-day investigation finally links up to the 1962 version. Pete and Myka find the adult Daniel in possession of the horn, trying to send a signal to a star he believes houses the aliens who stole his father. He does not care that there’s a stadium full of 40,000 baseball fans in its deadly path. Only when H.G., in her holographic form, apologizes for the pain she has caused him and his family, does he turn off the machine.
“She’s not one of us.” —Pete
This was a brilliant resolution to the story, which gave us not a crazed scientist or malevolent terrorist as our villain, but a broken man still mourning the beloved father he lost over forty years ago. It also gave us a grand resolution to the moral ambiguity of Helena Wells, while resolving the tension between her and Pete, who still resents her treachery. It’s a first-class standalone story, the kind of creative and ambitious writing I love to see on television. Nor is its charm entirely due to the writing; the directing and editing were top-notch. Rather than take an easy path, moving chronologically from 1893 to the present, the story jumps around among three eras. Yet the transitions between times was perfectly done; not once was I lost or confused in this otherwise tangled tale.
“You got to ride in the cherry-picker!” —Pete
While I would be content with an artifact-of-the-week formula for this show, apparently the writers are not. They are pulling out all the stops this season to give us even more offbeat, unusual, and bizarre stories, along with new ways of telling them. This story, ranging between three time periods, had no room for the usual B-story; I really enjoyed the integration between the stay-at-home Artie and Claudia and the field agents. Best of all, the banter between Pete and Myka is at its height again. I loved it when Pete commandeered Jack’s fedora. It’s a nice touch to link the Warehouse agents across time, and adds considerably to Pete’s flair. I hope to see the fedora again.
“It needs more power.” —Daniel
Rumor has it that SyFy is planning to extend Warehouse 13‘s run to a fourth season. It is one of the cable’s highest-rated shows, maintaining a steady 2.5 to 3 million viewers per episode. The first four episodes of this year have average 0.8 in the 18-49 demographic, which is good news for a small cable channel. The current season will end in early October, but there is a good chance for another holiday episode like we had last year. With great episodes like this, Warehouse 13 has a bright future. Who knows? We may even get a spinoff. H.G. Wells, Time Agent, anyone?