Star Rating: 4 out of 5

Stars: Eddie McClintock, Joanne Kelly, Saul Rubinek, Genelle Williams, Allison Scagliotti

The Big Idea: Warehouse 13 returns with a tour de force start to its second season, showcasing the brilliant fusion of steampunk sensibility, world mythology, and Nick and Nora-style comic asides that brought Syfy sky-high ratings during its freshman year.

Last year’s cliffhanger left us with Claudia (Allison Scagliotti) compromised and on the run, MacPherson (Roger Rees) re-Leah-sed and poised to loot the Warehouse, and Myka (Joanne Kelly) and Pete (Eddie McClintock) watching helplessly as the firebomb boobytrap MacPherson set for Artie (Saul Rubinek) consumed their supervisor and friend. (Is Artie dead? Not spoiling that here. But I will say this: one of Warehouse 13’s real strengths is that it is internally consistent. It doesn’t ground events in steampunk or mythology and then break those rules when convenient. In other words, the writers are engaged and not lazy. And recurring characters – two, precisely – do die in this episode.)

The season premiere picks up right from there, as Pete and Myka try desperately to assess the damage and track down MacPherson and his stolen booty. Now, I can’t tell you much more without spoilers on what is a wild and worthwhile ride. I can say that the resolution involves: antimatter, antigravity, H.G. Wells, one really ticked off and deceptively youthful feminist, the world’s safest safety deposit vault, a pearl of great price, Dante’s vision of hell come to life, more booby traps within the Warehouse, CERN, T.M.I. regarding the last time Pete “got his groove on,” identity theft, gender confusion, nods to both Young Frankenstein and the afterlife, and oh yeah, the zipline.

I will expand a bit on the warehouse-spanning zipline, just to say that it looks like the funnest ride ever, and hasn’t been used since the early days of season one. And Myka and Pete’s tandem entanglement on the one-seater provides one of many instances that highlight the easy chemistry of McClintock and Kelly. “If you’re gonna grab me like that, I need some sweet talkin’ first,” says he. “Shut up and drive,” she responds.

To Watch or Not to Watch: Definitely, especially if you’re into fast-paced, snappy dialogue wrapped around fantastical storytelling, centered within a basic trust in the intelligence and common references of the viewer (it’s a safe bet that Warehouse 13 is causing many, many trips to Wikipedia, as folks fill in their knowledge gaps on topics like Edgar Allan Poe, Lewis Carroll, Phoenixes, etc.).

Also notable in this week’s episode is guest star Jaime Murray as seductress-with-a-secret Helena. Murray literally burned up the screen during a guest stint on Dexter‘s second season, and does the same here.

TV Screener Tidbit: Check out CraveOnline.com’s interview with McClintock and Kelly, which includes a great anecdote about the “mistake” that landed them their Warehouse 13 roles.

Warehouse 13, season two, premieres Tuesday, July 6 at 9PM ET on Syfy

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Warehouse 13: “MacPherson” (the first season finale)
Star Rating: 4.0 out of 5.0

Stars: Eddie McClintock (Agent Pete Lattimer); Joanne Kelly (Agent Myka Bering); Saul Rubinek (Agent Artie Nielsen); Genelle Williams (Leena); CCH Pounder (Mrs. Frederic); and guest starring Roger Rees (MacPherson)

The Big Idea: Warehouse 13 finishes its first season a winner, with the unevenness of early episodes wholly redeemed by a smoothly-executed, season-ending cliffhanger. The initial stories, rife with clunky hat tips to Raiders of the Lost Ark, The X-Files and Moonlighting, were thin, but fun, saved largely by the show’s seriously cool cyberpunk atmospherics and McClintock’s innate charm. But the writers and the rest of the cast have found their groove, and now it’s all good – a harmonized, well-textured storyverse, where characters’ layered histories are nearly as compelling and mysterious as the objects they seek.

To Watch or Not to Watch: This is smart TV, with clever, knowing references to historical figures leavened by “what if” twists that fuel the warehouse and complicate the lives of its agents, a world where Edgar Allan Poe‘s pen, for example, literally make one’s skin crawl. More impressively, Warehouse 13 doesn’t flinch from the implications of its premise: “artifacts” encapsulating magic and mystery are too dangerous for the world and must be locked safely away from the public. Sacrifice is the watchword: sacrifice of the 12 previous warehouses (whose fate is tipped, a bit, here), sacrifice by the agents (lost loves, secretive lives dominated by obsessive work) and sacrifice that by hiding away the artifacts, they are deliberately making the world a less extraordinary place.

In “MacPherson,” we see one potential endgame to this scenario, as a gifted former agent becomes an implacable foe, driven not ultimately by greed, but by the deep sense that it is wrong to lock away these marvels, and choose security over wonder for all. James MacPherson, we see, is yin to Artie Nielsen’s yang. They are twin extremes: the exploiter vs. the protector, and that leads to what may be the ultimate sacrifice in the season’s cliffhanger.

TV Screener Tidbit: Saul Rubinek and Roger Rees just can’t catch a break with love triangles when they inhabit the same TV world. In Warehouse 13, Artie and MacPherson were in love with the same woman, who married MacPherson and helped spark their rivalry. Flashback to the Cheers universe, and there’s Rees’ Robin Colcord being sent to jail and losing the affections of Rebecca Howe (Kirstie Alley) to Sam Malone (Ted Danson), while on Cheers spin-off Frasier, Rubinek’s nice guy Donny Douglas was left at the altar when his fiancé Daphne Moon (Jane Leeves) played runaway bride with Niles Crane (David Hyde Pierce).

The Warehouse 13 first season finale premieres Tuesday, September 23, at 9PM ET on Syfy

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