Monsters of Television

“The wings of Daedalus. Good call.”

Warehouse 13 doesn’t go out with a bang so much as it just kind of goes out. “Reset” excelled where the show usually does but failed to hit with the same “umph” that a finale should. Cool artifacts, quirky characters and entertaining banter are all present and normally what I say to sell a person on the show. Unfortunately, pay-off may not be a characteristic I include.

The HG storyline was exciting from the beginning. The “is she evil or isn’t she?” game was interesting and flirted with tediousness without ever fully committing. I was excited to see what her season long long con would produce. Alas, the journey was far better than the destination.

Think of the most cliché, boring and unoriginal plan an evil doer can come up with. Did you say world domination? Shit. Ok what’s the second most cliché, boring and unoriginal plan? Destroying the world so it can start over. Exactly. That’s HG’s plan. That is what genius author and inventor HG Wells wants to do. Using the original weapon of mass destruction (OG WMD), the Minoan Trident, HG planned to cause a volcanic eruption that would bring about another Ice Age. Why? Cause society sucks and the world needs to restart.

Ugh.

Now the story for the finale may be disappointing, but the episode itself wasn’t bad. Had this been a regular episode it would have been pretty cool. We learn that Alexander the Great started the Warehouses to store the Trident as the first artifact and the reason the Romans went to Egypt was to find the Trident in Warehouse 2. Toss in the Wings of Daedalus and another artifact I will discuss later and you have a nice lineup of items. This is something Warehouse 13 always does well.

Character development is another. Claudia and Artie moved even closer this week as she expressed her concern for her future with the Warehouse. As enthusiastic as she is about becoming an agent, she’s nervous about the amount of responsibility she may have to take on. Artie assures her that he will give her the life she wants to live. Aw. They share another moment when Claudia cries over the fact Artie was almost killed in the final HG confrontation. He assures her he will be around to make her life hell for a long time.

This father/daughter like relationship has been building slowly for a while and is quickly becoming the heart of the show. Both began as very guarded people but due to a shared past and growing understanding of one another (and comical dating advice) they are growing much closer.

Pete got some character work done as well. After Kelly tried to kill him (HG sent her Lizzie Borden’s compact to distract the team) she realizes that Pete doesn’t really work for the IRS. He’s about to tell her what he really does but she doesn’t want to know. She doesn’t want the insanity that comes with being with him so she’s leaving.

Myka is leaving as well. She blames the whole HG deal on herself and doesn’t want to put the world in danger anymore. So the finale ends with her driving away and Pete chasing after her. Of course she’ll be back. And I’m thinking the inevitable Pete/Myka pairing may be coming in season 3. He’ll realize what she means to him in her absence. She already loves him, it’s all over her face when Pete tells Kelly he loves her.

So see? Warehouse 13 does a lot of stuff right. This arc just had an unsatisfying ending. I mean the HG part of the episode was wrapped up 3/4 of the way through the episode. And I’m sorry, but Myka leaving is not enough of a cliffhanger to end a season on. Maybe I’ve become spoiled but I need more from a finale. Episodically is where the show excels and it makes sense given the premise. I’d like to see some stronger arcs and harder hitting finales in the future.

Final Thoughts:

• Leena was (barely) used to help figure out what HG was up to. Please oh please give that girl stuff to do in season 3.
• I like how Claudia wears her rings over her purple gloves.
• HG will be back.