WAREHOUSE 13 – An Invitation to Endless Wonder

Well, did you enjoy our first ‘invitation to endless wonder’? I have to admit, I really loved WAREHOUSE 13’s premiere episodes. The show isn’t going to end world hunger or anything, but it was good. Very good, I thought.

The Museum of Natural History serves as center stage for the first of what will surely be many standoffs between two thirds of the show’s leads – Secret Service Agents Myka Bering and Pete Lattimer. Both are charged with protecting the President, although they have very different ways of doing their job. She’s by the book. He’s all instinct. Clearly their ways don’t mesh and instant tension (soon to be sexual tension, I’m sure) ensues.

“Line of the night, from Pete: “Why don’t you pull your head out of your magenta and feel the room?””

Pete’s instincts lead him to remove a stone head that oddly enough seems to be bleeding. Sure enough it’s that same mysterious bleeding head that has seemingly possessed one of the museum workers. Good thing Myka’s observation skills are up to par, because she gets to the would be killer before he can get to the President.

While taking the stone head out of the museum, Pete encounters a strange man who takes the head from him and disappears in an instant. Odd. But since the strange man is nowhere to be found and the stone head is missing, Agent Lattimer has some explaining to do.

After both Pete and Myka do their part to help save the President, they are each contacted by Mrs. Frederic, a mysterious woman who claims she is with the government. Each get handed a new assignment – head to a specific location in South Dakota and await further instruction.

And thus the adventure that is WAREHOUSE 13 begins. Outside a seemingly rundown warehouse, the pair meet Artie – the curator of the warehouse – also the strange man that Pete encountered in the museum.

Inside the massive warehouse are stored artifacts that have been obtained by the government that just can’t be explained. They all have mysterious origins or abilities. There are helicopters, boats, objects that have magic like powers – all stored safely within Warehouse 13 and under the watchful eye of Artie…and now Myka & Pete.

An angry and skeptical Myka wants out, but Pete is rather intrigued by it all. Neither of them know why they are there until Artie explains that they are going to help track down these bizarre artifacts and bring them safely to Warehouse 13 where they can do no harm. Their first assignment – figure out why a normally docile, good guy in Iowa would beat up his girlfriend. How do they go about doing that? Through their innate abilities and combined skills.

This pilot had a very ‘non-pilot’ feel to it, meaning it wasn’t overly heavy in character exposition (except maybe the part in the first hour when M+P were having a heart to heart, but since McClintock was wearing that Dartmouth sweatshirt, I’ll let it slide), nor was there a lot of sensationalism or gratuitous violence or sex. I’m not a prude or anything, but it was nice that the network and writers let the story sell the show.

It’s important to respond to the main characters early on, especially on a show like this where there are so many unbelievable things happening around them.

I thought Artie was fun, did you? The right amount of snarky and caring. He is passionate about the warehouse, but he also is genuinely good with people, a rare combination. He’ll be good for both Pete and Myka.

As for Myka, I’ll be honest. I grew less fond of her as the episode wore on, but the fact that she stayed in S.D. at the end almost won me over. And I am sure we’ll find out more about Denver. But, according to her, “we’re not discussing that. Ever.” Meh, I give it about two more episodes, Bunny. I thought the actress, Joanne Kelly, was great.

Even though his dialogue was by far the cheesiest, Eddie McClintock did a nice job with his delivery. I think I’m going to like Pete as a character. I really enjoyed his genuine awe at the warehouse and his “why not” attitude. And I thought he was pretty forgiving toward Myka, even when she wasn’t the nicest to him. It will be interesting to see what happens with his “vibes”.

And how about the cool and fun artifacts?! A few favorites included:

1. The theme park ride tour on Thomas Edison’s conduit cart

2. The ferret/wish giving teakettle

3. The death comb, along with the blood stone

4. The wallet…will there be more of that this season, do you think?

I’ll spare all of you the Pete & Myka/Booth & Brennan/Mulder& Scully comparisons, but I am curious to hear from you, especially those of you who are more familiar with SciFi – is this another great investigative twosome? There have been rumblings that this show is a lot like other SciFishows from the past. I haven’t seen any of them, so I thought this concept was pretty original, and it seems to me that there is also a lot of room to grow, both plot and character wise. If I had a Thomas Edison Conduit Cart, I’d hop on for the ride.

As it is, I’ll just tune in next Tuesday at 9PM for “RESONANCE”. Will you?