Warehouse 13 S04E15: "Instinct"
I'm always a fan of episodes that explore the inner-workings of the warehouse after which Warehouse 13 is named. Like the star ship Enterprise, the Winchester brothers' '67 Impala, or any other beloved—but inanimate—object from any other series or franchise, these usually (but not always) non-sentient things often come to be regarded as characters in their own right. While the swashbuckling, globetrotting, tracking-down-artifacts routine that typically comprises an episode of Warehouse 13 is fine, for me personally, the episodes that actually deal with the warehouse itself tend to be more interesting and influential on the series as a whole. And when you add my girl Claudia to the mix, it's hard to mess things up.
But... H.G. Wells in love with a random schmuck? So in love that she's ditching the warehouse agent gig and living out her life as boring-ass Emily Lake? Not so much.
I get it. Jaime Murray is on Defiance now and when given a choice between letting H.G. Wells staying conspicuously MIA or closing the book on her character with a happier ending than most of the characters on the show have enjoyed lately, any kind of closure is better than no closure.
Plus, you know, in a way, H.G. ditching "endless wonder" for a 9-to-5 and karate with the kiddo isn't completely out there. H.G. has always had a hang-up when it comes to her dead daughter—Myka's assessment was pretty on target, if a little harsh—and at least this way, Wells leaves the warehouse team as a hero, rather than another exhibit in the Hall of Bronzed Baddies.
Not gonna lie, though, I had to talk myself down form the R U SERIOUSLY SERIOUS??? ledge for that aspect of the episode. I'm understanding and accepting of the situation, but still prefer my H.G. to be badass and batshit crazy. Oh well.
And in the end it was okay because back at the warehouse we learned all about the expansion joints that Einstein developed for the warehouse and I hovered on the edge of the sofa with rapture normally reserved for documentaries about serial killers, demanding that Artie tell me more.
I've sometimes wondered about what would happened if the warehouse gets too full. THIS IS A THING THAT I THOUGHT ABOUT, OKAY? It's not like you can just hire a construction company to come in an add a new wing, right? Probably?
Anyway, now I'm just delighted that the show addressed the matter, because it just seemed like the sort of interesting-but-unimportant detail that, while my fellow dorks and I may've contemplated it, didn't really affect the show either way.
So hey, expansion joints are a thing and they just expand the warehouse wherever it's needed as it's needed. COOL COOL COOL.
However, like so many things in the warehouse, when artifacts interact with other artifacts, or even just other parts of the warehouse, crazy tends to happen... which is how one expansion joint accidentally turned into an almost-bomb when it jammed, creating the potential for disaster that could wipe out the entire warehouse. Artie and the gang—including new girl Abigail—determined that the best way to neutralize the malfunctioning joint and its artifact accomplice was to drench the thing in goo. This was easier said than done, of course, and the entire time, Claudia continued to get zapped in the junk trunk... which, instead of assassination-via-James-Marsters'-crazypants-ex like we initially considered, was revealed to be coming from the warehouse.
Claudia thought the warehouse was mad at her for stabbing Artie and freaked about telling the Regents because she's decided she'd like to be the caretaker after all (yay!), but with a little prodding from Abigail, Claudia stopped panicking and started thinking, and realized that the bug zapper action wasn't coming from a place of anger, but one of of concern. The warehouse knew that the joint was on the verge of malfunctioning and was trying to let Claudia know. With the joint and the artifact thoroughly goo-ed, Claudia smelled apples. Our little Claudia is growing up so fast. *sniffle*
Also earning her place among the other team members this week was Abigail who, in contrast to being Leena Lite, like I'd feared, is shaping up to be the Anti-Leena, which is a move I can get behind. Carbon copies suck, and Abigail's deliberate characterization as Not-Leena to the point that she doesn't even perform the same functions has enabled the warehouse team to branch out in exciting directions (and less-exciting directions, but Pete making his own breakfast like a big boy would be a big step toward adulthood for him, so I'm down with it).
While Abigail serves in the same counselor capacity that Leena did—for Artie, and this week, Claudia, at least—her muggle status has forced everyone to step up and take responsibility for their own feelings. Abigail's a therapist, so she can nudge and guide and offer advice, but she's not a psychic, so she can't just diagnose a problem with a wave of her hand. The incident with the malfunctioning joint may not have happened at all if Leena was still around, but it was important that it happened for the sake of encouraging Claudia to embrace her destiny. Steve picking up her artifact-organizing duties gives him a more concrete place in the warehouse family beyond being another agent/Claudia's BFF. And even the jab at Pete making his own breakfast was a small, but important potential step for a character who we've seen reduced to a man-child in recent seasons.
So yay for Abigail. Now, regarding the show's next trick—I'm a little bit concerned that there are only five episodes left in this season and we still don't have any idea of what the "big" story is, so how about we not cram it into the last two episodes of the season, Warehouse 13? That never works out well.
Still... apples! :D
– Poor Pete has been snagged by the artifact-of-the-week for the last few episodes. That's not even a dumb Pete. That's just an unfortunate Pete.
– "OH MY GOD, THAT'S MY BEST FRIEND."
– Goozooka. Yesssss.
– So, knowing that the next season of Warehouse 13 is the last, and knowing that Claudia has suddenly decided to accept her caretaker future... do we think she'll be the caretaker by the end of the series?
– Artie and the gang seemed confident that the artifact messing with the expansion joint was an accident because that happens sometimes, but do we think it could have been something else? Something done deliberately?
– How do you feel about the end (as far as we know it) of the H.G. Wells story?
What'd you think of "Instinct"?
Please tell me you're joking? It's OBVIOUS the overarching plot is Abigail.. i mean she's a bad guy. Did no one watch her intro episode?
And I LOVED that scene when Claudia came back from gooing the artifact. That was so badass.
Though not shown that much lately (prior to her death), she was a grounding influence on the others early into the show. Giving sage advice and helping them with their problems. They still need that, so the options are either we accept Myka reading some self-help books can help the rest... or Mrs F shows up more frequently and acts like a psychologist.
Unfortunately, Warehouse 13 was cancelled. So I'm grateful they allowed HG to return one last time and gave her a closure even if that's not the one I wanted.
I like Abigail - it's a shame she joined the cast so late.
I'm glad that Claudia wants to become the Warehouse Caretaker - let's hope we'll see it happen before the show ends.
Thanks for review, MaryAnn
It's nice that they wrapped up HG's story since with the show itself wrapping up next year there isn't much time left to address her story and she would have come across as a loose end. We could see her appear in one episode next year. But it is a shame that the HG spin-off we would have got never happened.
And nice to see the DA jumping on the one question I have in pretty much every episode.. "WHY would the secret service be looking into this??"
At least Sam and Dean pick appropriate branches to flash badges for.. you'd think the Warehouse would have created some related government branch or at least a cover that makes more sense than secret service...
I forget their responses when some extra brings it up: I think they tend to deflect the question or just say 'national security'
Considering WH13 splits the episode kind-of down the middle with their A and B stories, that means that the HG storyline really only had around 22-25 minutes of screen time. MAYBE 30, but I think the Claudia/Artie/Jinx storyline was more than 12 minutes.
Throw in the big fight at the end, Pete and Myka running into HG, Pete and Myka reacting to HG having a normal life, the 3 of them looking for clues and talking to the father... that's not a lot of time for the child-actor.
This episode being a final goodbye to HG is a well deserved tribute to a good character and with Jaime Murray wasting her talents on the set of Defiance (which simply is all sorts of terrible television) we are probably not seeing her return for the remainder of the series. Too bad in my opinion.
About this episode: It sure was fun!
Claudia was hilarious. Her conversation with Abigail was so funny. However, Claudia might be slightly connected to the warehouse, but Mrs. Fredricks is connected. With something supposedly so big, for her to not be involved it seemed odd that she wasn't there.
Overall though, this is still my favorite SciFi show.
That was worth a hoot.
Myka called her on it, the daughter had a LOT in common with HG's dead daughter. Heck, the kid even LOOKED like she might be related to HG. Add in the high intelligence and such and a decent looking guy and that's enough.
Recall, for the love of her lost daughter she: took advantage of the Warehouse 12 to bring back her dead daughter, committed crimes that had her bronzed, killed, and tried to destroy the world. Heck, for a while it sounded like she was using Warehouse 12 solely for the purpose of bringing her back to life.
Is it THAT hard to believe that, after finding a father/daughter that filled that gap so perfectly that she would throw away her dream job?
Suspension of dis-belief in a show that tries to take itself too seriously == Lame. Revolution is kind of an example of this... it's a way serious show and they tried to be dramatic. Ultimately, they painted themselves into a corner about the catalyst for the series of events.
For all of her badassery, underneath everything HG just wanted something, be it love, acceptance, or just a place in someone's world to fill the void of her daughter. So, who am I to begrudge her simple life.
Plus, she's teaching a possible future Warehouse agent her tricks, which can't be a bad thing.
As for the expansion joint, I actually didn't buy that story, why would it be automated when the teams are filling the warehouse manually? Shouldn't that be a manual system that Artie controls so he can properly catalog? At least the follow-through worked out adequately.
Anti-Leena, no kidding! 2 episodes and I already feel like we know her better than we know Leena... through actions and dialogue. What a crazy idea! I know. Abigail's advice and behavior was a little too perfect, but at least it was something.
This episode gave us the idea of "Dumb Myka" instead of "Dumb Pete", and it didn't fit too well but it sorta, kinda made sense in context. Pete felt left by the wayside though.
I think it's now inevitable that Claudia will be caretaker.
While I thought the Warehouse was Marsters' wife's plot originally, now I don't think so, it'd be pretty cheap to have yet another group infiltrate the Warehouse so soon after Sykes and Artie's fake Brother Adrian doing stuff like that.
I don't believe this is the end of HG's story, just another chapter. I dunno if we'll see her again, but I can't picture this being it for her.