Warehouse 13 airs Mondays on SyFy at 9/8 C.
When we last left off, Paracelsus was defeated, Claudia was ticked at Artie for not telling her about her sister, and Valda returned to the original time continuum with them. Only the Claudia-Artie conflict is continued in this episode and becomes part of the typical Warehouse 13 story structure of having an "A" and "B" storyline. The "A" story has Myka and Pete partnering up with a pair of Secret Service agents they knew from the pilot as they attempt to find who is killing people via spontaneous drowning. Although Myka and Pete recognize these two agents, I don't so someone remind me if they were in another episode. Mostly they are there to be a foil to Myka and Pete, since they are not needed on the case at all. Just call them Plot Device 1 and 2. The mystery itself and the artifact are intriguing but for the most part it is overshadowed by writing anvils being hurled from on high as subtlety hides in the restricted room.
The "B" story was more interesting to me, in that we find out more about Claudia's past and Artie's history with her. Knowing that Claudia would never leave her sister's non-death unexplored, Artie agrees to take Claudia into his memories in an attempt to repair their relationship. Although it only marginally fixes things with Claudia, she does finally get answers and the whole thing ends with not so much of a cliffhanger as an unsettling feeling that things are going to backfire big time in the next couple of episodes. I can see how this season is going to be Claudia-centric, which is generally a good thing for me. Still overall I was disappointed with this episode. While heading back to the normal format, this episode is more designed for shippers than for the overall audience. Others without shipping tendencies like me may find at least part of the episode less than satisfying. Things happen with little build up and the show's dialogue itself proves that out. It feels a bit like rushing to a conclusion they don't need and don't have time to create, taking away from the characters as well as the plot.
Episode Awards:
Grade: C+
Best Scene - Artie and Claudia go back in his memories
Best Quote - Claudia: "Keeping me safe is not your job." Artie: "Yes, it is. It is precisely my job."
MVP - Steve, who if this whole Warehouse thing doesn't work out, could have a great career as mediator
Best Reason to Fast Forward - any talk about changing priorities, vibes, or romance
The "Oh Yeah, Right" Award - Claudia: "I'll leave it alone after this, I promise, but I need to know what happened." Anyone believing that probably fell for Nigerian prince e-mails as well.
Most Heartbreaking - Claudia....
The "Miss Nosy" Award - Mrs. Frederic
Most Used Word - fracking and no, not Battlestar Gallactica frakking.
Best Transitions - stained glass
Artifacts:
Frances Farmer's music box
memory walking bronze baby shoes
silver from the mines of....
Alfred D's.....
Other Quotes:
"And just stick by him." "Couldn't get rid of me if you tried."
"Hopefully we'll find an artifact that will kill us before I have to do it myself."
"I liked it better when you just stared at my boobs."
"I think she's going to be pretty disappointed with her senator's follow-through."
"It was the most humane thing we could do."
"Okay, your life is worse. Congrats."
"Poof, she's gone. How convenient. I wish I could do the same."
"Should I ignore the fact that that just sounds insane?"
Screencaps by
SciFi and TV Talk,
The Trades,
IMDb,
Warehouse 13 Wikia, and
Seat 42F.
About the Author - Dahne
One part teacher librarian - one part avid TV fan, Dahne is a contributing writer for
SpoilerTV, where she recaps, reviews, and creates polls for Sleepy Hollow, Arrow, White Collar, Grimm, Teen Wolf, and others. She's addicted to
Twitter, live tweets a multitude of shows each week, and co-hosts the
Warehouse 13 "Endless Wonder",
Sleepy Hollow "Headless," and
Teen Wolf "Welcome to Beacon Hills" podcasts for Southgate Media Group. Currently she writes a
Last Week in TV column for
her blog and SpoilerTV. ~ "I speak TV."
"And just stick by him." "Couldn't get rid of me if you tried."
I am staunchly anti-shipping so a good part of this eisode did nothing but make me roll my eyes. However, we did get some vital information in the B story, including one powerful memory, and a good idea of where the rest of the final season is heading.
ReplyDeleteClaudia so grew on me didn't like her that much in season 1 but she's claimed second behind Pete of course. Really excited for this. It's the last season so the shipping I think kind of hit us in the face last season there was none of that at all but I don't mind, last season and all.
ReplyDeleteI was looking for one show that didn't feel the need to pair off partners. I thought this would be it, so I am very disappointed. Claudia and Artie are my favorite characters, and often Steve, so I am very happy that they are getting a lot of story here.
ReplyDeleteSo I gues the "shipping" part means what I think it means. And I don't like it one single bit. I'm very disappointed that the show felt the need to go there in the final episodes. As you said in the comment section I was also happy to see one show that doesn't have the "will they, won't they" vibe with the male and female lead.
ReplyDeleteI'm very happy if this season is Claudia centric. She and Steve make the show for me.
ReplyDeleteI'm confused. You mentioned that shipping is the reason you didn't like it, but also didn't make mention of it in the actual preview. Like...you never spoke of any instance of it whatsoever. If you're going to cite a reason why you didn't like the episode, at least include an example of it somewhere in your article.
ReplyDeleteAs for the strong anti-shipping attitude in this fanbase, I really wish you guys would stop. I can definitely understand not liking it when shipping takes over parts of the show. I get that. But this show has been strictly anti-shipping for it's entire run. Anti-shippers talked crap whenever anyone wanted something even slightly more intimate to happen between characters, the writers actively started to kill off ships on their show.
Those among us who are shippers only have these last episodes. Throughout the entire run of this series, this is all we're getting. You got all of the previous seasons where characters were shipped by fans, but to the bare minimal on the show itself. You don't see us giving you crap, so why do you feel it is necessary to give us crap.
You're free to have your opinion, and as I mentioned I totally understand it, but all you anti-shippers are doing is insulting us.
Because this is a preview, I am constrained by how much I can say about any episode. In a recap or review I would be free to give specific examples but this is not the case now. I think it is perfectly fine to wish for at least one show to NOT go to shipping. Shippers have taken over practically every other show and it was nice to have this show as a refuge from it. Non-shipping shows are becoming extinct these days so we have to take what we can before shippers take over. You say you only have these last few episodes, but we only have these last few shows. I think it is natural if we try to protect the little we have left. I am sorely disappointed in the direction the show seems to be going, although it is not confirmed in this episode. I am sorry you find my anti-shipping stance as an insult but if I took things the same way you are, then I would be insulted by a significant portion of the online TV world on a daily basis.
ReplyDeleteFrom the interview earlier this week and the general way the episode ends, it very much feels like this will be Claudia-centric. I adore her friendship with Steve as well. At first I was concerned about him being a one-note character due to the human lie detector thing, but they have made him wonderfully well-rounded.
ReplyDeleteI am thoroughly sick of every single male-female partnership having to end up being romantic. It has gotten so tired and cliched that it makes many shows hard to watch. If Warehouse 13 does indeed go the way they seem to be heading, I'll basically only have Elementary to cling to and it will taint all of Warehouse 13 for me. Basically, it will make it so the show will no longer be on my rewatch list this summer.
ReplyDeleteAs I mentioned above, while I can understand why it would annoy you, I
ReplyDeletecan't understand why you have to express it whenever you get the chance.
We have no idea where this is heading. I recall this other show called
In Plain Sight where they spent their entire last season advertising the
hell out of a certain ship, then at the very last minute decided not to
go through with it. This show could do that still.
And besides,
at this point it would be entirely unrealistic if Myka and Pete weren't
interested in each other. They spend almost all of their time together,
the cancer storyline brought them closer than ever before, Pete risked
everything to save her life, and these two have had no significant
romantic attachments since the show began.
I'm not saying those
are things that two friends who are just friends wouldn't do, but only
that it would be really strange if they didn't at least entertain the
idea of becoming more than just friends. This isn't something that just
appeared. Pete's had a thing for Myka for years, and they've become
steadily more flirty with every season.
I could see why
anti-shippers wouldn't like it if it didn't make sense, or if it didn't
grow over time and suddenly happened, but this thing between them has
been growing. Ignoring it entirely would feel really unrealistic to me.
Couldn't agree more!! I thought Warehouse 13 was the one show who could actually pull it off. Even Jack Kenny said that Myka/Pete have more of a sister/brother vibe than anything else. So I was very confident. It just seems like a cheap plot that was thrown in last second for the finale which makes me even more disappointed.
ReplyDeleteI disagree completely. I think that Myka and Pete have over the years moved to a more familial relationship instead of a romantic one. This feels completely out of nowhere and quite frankly like fan pandering. There's little time to actually build up a relationship so everything about this episode with them feels flat to me, an anvil falling out of the blue. I would be ecstatic if they don't end up going there and I am happy to hear that Mary and Marshall did not end up together on In Plain Sight. I will probably finish those final seasons now.
ReplyDeleteI was confident too. Perhaps this episode will be the extent of the shipping hints and we can conveniently forget about it. If this is all there is to it, then it won't be too bad. The problem is whether they are going to go any further or not.
ReplyDeleteLet's just cross our fingers!!
ReplyDeleteI'm not a big fan of shipping and I love the friendship/coworker pairing between Pete and Myka but I guess if the writers are going there were stuck with it till the show ends then its going to happen anyway. I will say that at least they had a chance to wrap up the show Eureka style since they knew it was the last season and weren't ended mid season with no notice( at least I think Eureka had some warning). Maybe they are trying to do a Carter/Allison style pair up with Pete and Myka in the last few episodes. They were friends and world savers all along like Carter and Allison and now they are finally acting on their feelings. Which I am still not a huge fan of but maybe they will use it as a chance to wrap that storyline up for the finale in whatever the characters fates are. Goodness it still kind of annoyed me to write that. Why? Why can't they stay funny, hard working friends. You made it this far writers without being romantic!
ReplyDeleteGranted I haven't seen the episode you wrote about yet but yeah I agree I think the writers are just pandering to the romance shipper fans of the show now by going oh and since the show is ending lets throw these two crazy kids Pete and Myka together because why not. If they had done it maybe a season or so ago and transitioned then maybe I could be more enthused about it because I don't necessarily despise the thought of them together and they would have had time to cover it happening back then but were down to 5 episodes. If there going this pairing route seriously they have little time to do so and it will feel very rushed.
ReplyDeleteThat's the whole thing. It Pete/Myka don't make sense in a romantic way. They have been portrayed strictly as a brother/sister type of relationship even stated by the creator of the show. They were disgusted by the thought that they had sex in one episode. And just because Pete has made an effort to save Myka doesn't mean it has to be romantic. None of the actions both did, implicate a romantic nature. Well unless you really ship them you could interpret a lot of things as romantic even when it's not supposed to be. This is what happened on this show. There was zero romance between the main characters yet people just couldn't help themselves and tried to force something between them just because they are opposite sex lead characters. It makes me wonder it people ever get tired of the same plots on TV shows. Obviously they don't.
ReplyDeleteThe point is many people were hoping that this was the one show who wouldn't give in to shipper pandering. It's true we still don't know how it plays out in the end. But even considering it is the wrong path in my opinion.
I am very grateful that we are getting an ending as well. Not every show I watch has gotten that privilege so when they do I try to be thankful for anything we get, even if it's only 6 episodes like this one. I do hope they leave it a little open-ended though because I love the idea of maybe a holiday special movie or something just to keep the characters alive.
ReplyDeleteWhat fan pandering? I think that accusation is thrown around way too much with no basis in fact. The Pyka ship is VERY small. Only a small number of shippers wanted Pyka to happen. Almost the entirety of the shippers for this show wanted Myka and HG. I can say that with absolute fact. Hell, I'm pretty sure that Claudia and Pete are a bigger ship than Myka and Pete. I'm not even joking. That exists.
ReplyDeleteAs to be a matter of fact, from what I've been reading, a lot of the fandom also don't ship Myka and Pete. This is one of those few shows where the non-shippers far outnumber the shippers. So who exactly are they pandering to?