What I’m Watching: Warehouse 13

Warehouse 13: Season 1, Episode 4 “Claudia” (C)

No more even pacing here than last week, that’s for sure. This episode again falls under the category this show continues to find itself slipping into – too much, too fast. While I understand the desire to develop background on all the characters, delving so deep into Artie’s past is a mistake for the show so soon. The episode at first appeared to be trying to deviate from the formula of the mysterious object every time, but then Pete and Myka realized that the compass was in fact a supernaturally-powerful artifact. Artie’s an entertaining character, and there’s no debating that, but he’s not really capable of anchoring the show all by his lonesome. It doesn’t help that the woman he’s sharing his screentime with a crazy woman. The flashbacks were intriguing but not quite as meaningful or powerful as they should have been, and having Mrs. Frederick appear in them didn’t make a whole lot of sense. That can be said for the whole storyline of bringing Joshua back, and it seemed more like sheer luck, and also like quite a simple task. Pete and Myka’s presence felt very extraneous, and was only entertaining for their brief interaction with the intimidating Mrs. Frederick and the revelation that Myka was a huge nerd growing up. It’s not exactly ground-breaking territory, and I think the show needs to think a bit more outside the box, especially considering the vast warehouse of possibilities at its disposal, and try something that actually deviates from the formula but still incorporates the lead characters in a major way. Making the two leads on a new show feel unnecessary in the fourth episode is decidedly not a good thing.