Warehouse 13 - 5.05 - Cangku Shisi - Preview

Warehouse 13 airs Monday on SyFy at 9/8C.

When we left off Claire had been snatched by time portal jumping Benedict Valda, whose nefarious plans were yet to unfold. As this episode picks up, Claudia and Artie race to where Claire had been held but there is no trace of her. They use the durational spectrometer to find out Valda's still around to their dismay and realize that Valda has been staying in his room in the dead agent's vault. There's something vaguely creepy about that place to begin with. As the team tries to find Valda and stop him, Valda uses Claire as his own personal weapon to broker a deal and become master of the universe. This episode has all the requisite hallmarks of a stellar Warehouse 13 episode - humor, heart, brains, and a lot of action. In fact cut out the last 10 minutes and it would have made a close to perfect series finale, which had me confused since there is 1 more episode to go. They must have one doozy of a finale prepared if it is going to top this one.


Highlights:

Mark Sheppard's return as Valda - He makes an awesome villain in any circumstance but he's especially clever here. I admit I am thoroughly prejudiced towards Mark Sheppard, but he does a stellar job in this episode. I'm glad they've made him the last warehouse enemy.

All the action - There is barely time for the audience to breathe, much less the characters, as they race from one place to another trying to save the world…again. The plot is mostly tight with only a few shipping slowdowns thrown in to stop the forward momentum.

Warehouse (and Mrs. Frederic) back story - I think I learned more about the warehouse in this episode than in an entire season combined. I've always been fascinated by the underpinnings of the warehouse and this left several questions answered. Plus we get to a part of the warehouse never discussed before, as far as I can remember.

Smart Pete for the Win - I always enjoy when Pete gets to use his brains and he does so in a huge way here. In fact, you could say that Pete's smarts save the day.

Other notable events: Pete pantses Myka, agent down, the return of MANY artifacts, steampunk eyewear, and a twist I didn't see coming.


Episode Awards:


Grade: B+ (with a full letter grade demerit for the shipping. Without it, this would have been one of my favorite episodes of Warehouse 13.)

Best Scene - working towards the twist

Best Return - Mark Sheppard

Best Reason to Watch - lots of information on how the warehouse works and a new part of the warehouse

Best Reason to Fast Forward - shipping nonsense

Least Surprising - Claudia's plan

Smartest - Pete's great plan

Best Physical Reaction - Pete to spiders

Biggest Aww Moment - **** cries

Best Character Interaction / Best Hug - Artie and Steve

Best National Treasure - the bar


Artifacts (Used or Mentioned):  There are 15 artifacts in all

Brigadier General Laverlong's elephant walking stick
Chuck Yeager's record
Donner party jar
Durational Spectrometer
Hiram Abiff's setting maul
Julius Wilbrand's lab coat buttons
Ship's wheel
Sir William Perry's inuksuk
Spine of Saracen
Sticky string


Best Quotes: 

Fed Ex and takeout
"Bring your favorite teddy bear and a night light. Come on."
"Don't let your feelings for her be your blind spot."
"Don't you have access to Wikipedia? Look it up."
"If I put my back any more into it, my kidneys are going to explode."
"No, there's no plan D."
"Outsourcing, huh? This guy gets more evil by the minute."
"Right. There it is. I knew there was some bad news in there somewhere."
"Velma, Daphne, let's go."
"What happens if we destroy it?" "Happily accepting guesses on that."


Screencap by SpoilerTV

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."