WAREHOUSE 13: 13.1

Hey Warehouse 13 fans! Two random thoughts to start off this discussion.

(1) D you think it might be possible to lock Justin Bieber in the warehouse for a few decades? Not to harm him or anything; just preserve him for, um, OTHER generations to appreciate. We’ve had enough of him…really

(2) Wasn’t this a great episode? During the opening credits, I realized that we were about to finally get a quality warehouse-centered storyline, something that I’ve really missed.

Before we get going, are any of you EUREKA fans? I’ve been meaning to check that series out, so I’m interested in hearing from the Give Me My Remote faithful on whether it’s worth my time. I’m sure you were excited to see Douglas Fargo (Neil Grayston) from Eureka.

Doug is there to just update the warehouse’s outdated computer system, but once he disarms the original OS, everything in the warehouse shuts down. The new OS was supposed to immediately fire on all cylinders, but the only thing that did rise up and work were these red-eyed sensor things. It was fun to see the entire team work together on this case, beginning with Artie explaining how the old operating system was created by Hugo Miller (played by the extraordinary Rene Auberjonois), a former ornery agent who retired many years back. Pete and Myka convince Artie to let them drive the two hours it takes to find him and try to bring him back.

They do find him, but also find that Hugo has a difficult time making coherent sentences. And when they gain his trust, he steals the Tesla and stuns them as he escapes. Meanwhile, back at the warehouse, Artie, Fargo and Claudia are joined by holographic visions of Hugo Miller from over 35 years ago. This old-time half of Hugo is the ‘right brained half’: analytical, mathematical, emotionless, logical. The human flesh-Hugo, the one Myka and Pete have to bring back to the warehouse is the ‘left brained half’, more emotional and whimsical.

That Hugo is entranced by childlike things, and Pete and Myka find him at a local carousel. Pete handcuffs him gently and they are on their way. But Hologram-Hugo, or Hugo One senses a disturbance in the force (interestingly enough caused by, according to him, the agents who work there) and begins a series of manipulations to prevent the warehouse team from doing anything. He modifies the temperature control in the warehouse, causing Artie, Claudia and Fargo to nearly freeze to death. He also retrieves and transfers Pete and Myka’s Agent profile pictures and sends out an APB, alerting the public that the two agents are suspects of kidnapping. I loved the ‘Babel Stones’ and thought that was an incredibly cool artifact, and I laughed when Artie was talking jibberish over the Farnsworth with Myka.

When Pete and Myka are held at gunpoint by a gas station attendant, they manage to escape using their Secret Service badges. They finally get him back to the warehouse, where it’s quickly obvious that they must reunite human Hugo with Hugo One. It’s the only way to get the warehouse back up and running.

The team is resistant to the idea of sacrificing Human Hugo to the computer version, but Artie tells them “The Warehouse comes first; we all knew that going in.” As the ‘transfer’ is taking place, the warehouse gets a bit of power and the team is able to restore Human Hugo with his right brain half, bringing the man and the warehouse back to life.

We’ve been tracking any sort of Pete & Myka romantic vibes, and I’m very interested in hearing what you thought about that as far as this episode is concerned. As a whole, it wasn’t particularly Pete & Myka centric, as far as their character development is concerned, but I really liked the continuation of the subtle thread between the two of them where they discuss their future as warehouse agents. I like that they are analyzing that all ex-agents they’ve ever met are either crazy, evil or dead (or all three!). That is a good source of character development tension that can join them together or pull them apart. It will be interesting to see where that goes. I loved this episode, and I totally recommend a second watch. There was more subtle humor (Lawrence Welk joke, anyone?) that I picked up when watching again. And I also laughed at the rock, paper, scissors stuff between Pete and Myka and thought it was sweet when Pete comforted Myka with the thought that if they are killed, it will be together. That was sweet.

What did you think of this episode? Did you like how ‘warehouse-centric’ it was? Do you think Claudia and Todd are done for good? Let’s discuss! Comments=love!