‘Warehouse 13’ 4.12 Episode Recap And Review: Parks and Rehabilitation

Something’s amiss at Warehouse 13. Must be Monday.

It seems that the Regents are more willing to forgive Artie than he is himself. A tribunal ends with no punishment meted out and Artie in possession of the video statement that Leena made when she joined the Warehouse. The Regents think it might do him some good to see it. Artie isn’t so sure.

Pete and Claudia track down a ping in Cowan National Forest. A well-dressed business man has been found buried vertically in the forest. Definitely Artifact-ish behavior. Claudia finds both his cell phone and an odd diagram of two people standing on a globe not far from the original burial site. As it turns out, the victim was Linus Bentley, a developer who was in the process of putting new cell towers up in the forest. Pete and Claudia go check out Green First, a local eco-protest group who’s been making noise about the project. Autumn Radley, the head of Green First, seems a lot more broken up about Bentley’s death than one would expect.

Claudia manages to pull some phone numbers off of Bentley’s destroyed cell, including one for Fine Young Cannabis, a local medical marijuana distributor. Unfortunately, the proprietor, Geoff Nevins, isn’t having the best of days. Pete and Claudia find him buried in the back and covered by a sheet bearing the same diagram from the woods. The Secret Service database says that it’s the logo for eco-terrorist group “Last People on Earth.” The group disappeared years ago when their leader, Ryan Clayton, was captured and later died in prison.

Pete and Claudia head back to confront Autumn, only to learn that not only was she a member of the LPE, but so were Bentley and Geoff. She says that the group disbanded once someone got hurt during their activities. They failed to make sure that a logging site was clear, and the owner of the site sustained some severe burns. When Pete and Claudia interview Mr. Lockheart, he’s a jerk, but it’s pretty clear that he isn’t the culprit. He does help Pete figure out who is. A picture of Clayton’s arrest shows a sullen image of Clayton’s little brother, the ever-helpful Ranger Smith. He’s been taking out the other members of the LPE as revenge for his big brother’s arrest and subsequent death. He tries to cause a landslide at the new Lockheart Logging site using Courrieres Mine Miner’s Lantern, but is stopped by Pete and Claudia with only a few lives lost.

Meanwhile, back at the Warehouse, Myka and Steve are trying to keep an eye on Artie with only limited success. Artie is trying to work his way through a list of Leena’s duties, including placing new Artifacts. Artie uses the Feng Shui Spiral to place Norge’s Porthole, but it doesn’t go quite as well as he’d hoped. The Porthole is misplaced, causing all sorts of mayhem on that aisle, including the release of DaVinci’s Gargoyle.

Once the aisle is calmed and the Gargoyle dispatched, Myka and Steve come to the conclusion that the Spiral isn’t reading the Artifact’s emotions, but Artie’s. Steve, as the one totally centered person left on the show, is able to use the Spiral to correctly place the Artifact, proving to Artie that he doesn’t have to take care of the Warehouse on his own. Artie is finally able to watch Leena’s video and forgive himself, at least a little.

I do love the episodes where the teams mix it up. It’s so much fun to see how the other dynamics play out on this show. I have to say, either Pete and Claudia should pair together all the time, or never ever again. The one-liners were flying fast and furious with the two of them together, and it was rather brilliant, to be honest. Myka and Steve, on the other hand, made possibly the most level-headed team in Warehouse history. That’s great when dealing with a mildly off-his-rocker Artie, but on a regular basis, I can see where it’d get boring quickly.

Watching Pete and Claudia deal with the Artifact of the Week was fun, but it was the plotline back at the Warehouse that really had me captivated this week. I loved watching how Myka and Steve helped Artie start to deal with Leena’s loss, especially as it came to the Warehouse itself. Warehouse 13 is always at its best when it’s focusing on the relationships, rather than just the Artifacts, and this episode was no exception to that rule. I can’t wait to see what Kelly Hu’s character adds to the dynamic when she’s introduced later this season.

The much-anticipated noir episode is next week! See you lot then!

Best Quotes:

Claudia: “You know Vietnam is over, right?”
Pete: “For those of us who have watched the director’s cut of Platoon, it’ll never be over.”

Pete: “Do you think your Prius can jump the chasm?”
Claudia: “Probably not. But while we’re airborne, we can check Bing to see how deep the hole is as we plummet to our deaths.”

Things to Ponder:

• Just out of curiosity, how long do you work for the Warehouse before you have to make your “in case I don’t make it” video?
• Artifact Rundown: Norge Porthole, Courrieres Mine Miner’s Lantern, DaVinci’s Gargoyle, unspecified Soccer Ball and RC Car. (Does anyone want to know how those two ended up in the aisle of despair?)