For those of us who pay too much attention to these things, last night’s Warehouse 13 was a treasure trove of new information and new questions, as we ditched the artifacts for an investigation into the history of the Warehouses themselves. Here’re thirteen thoughts about “Buried”:
1. What Is A Warehouse, Exactly? Mrs. Frederick said that “the Warehouse is more organic than the average building,” and we found out that Warehouses also share psychic links to their caretakers – to the point where an old Warehouse can somehow locate and download itself into a new caretaker all of its own accord. So Warehouses are alive, it seems… but does that mean that they’re not buildings at all, but something else?
2. How Old Is The Warehouse Organization? Warehouse 2 disappeared in 31 BC? That means that there were ten warehouses in the roughly two millennia between the disappearance of W2 and W13 (Am I imagining the idea that W13 was built somewhere mid-20th century, or was that actually stated at some point in the series itself?), so warehouses last, on average, 200 years, maybe? If that’s the case, then Warehouse 1 was built somewhere around 400 BC…? Potentially? And if that is the case, then I have to ask: What is the Warehose Organization really about?
3. What’s The Deal With Mrs. Frederick? I can’t be the only person who didn’t entirely buy the idea that Warehouse 2 had somehow “found” her while looking for a new caretaker, can I? What’s the possibility that Mrs. Frederick was the caretaker of Warehouse 2? We know that she’s particularly long-lived, and gifted with at least psychic powers and super-strength, after all…
4. Why Claudia? Also in the “I can’t be the only person” stakes – Claudia as replacement Mrs. Frederick? Really? Not Artie? That seems an odd choice, and the “We all have roles to play” explanation doesn’t offer much explanation for it. Here’re my theories as to why Claudia was chosen: Show-mythology-wise – The caretaker has to be female, for some reason (But then, I have my whole “gender politics on Warehouse 13” obsession, so I would think that). Plot-mechanics-wise – It distracted you from the fact that Artie disappeared midway through the episode.
5. Where Did Artie Go? Just before it was pointed out that no-one knew where Artie was, I found myself wondering where he’d gotten to. I don’t think that he’s behind paying the poor dead archaeologist teens to find W2 (That’s got to be HG, surely), but does his disappearance have more to it than just trying to make the viewer suspect he’s gone rogue? I suspect so, despite his appearance in the trailer for next week’s episode – Damn you, trailers – because…
6. “Two Will Lose Their Way.” At first I thought this referred to HG and Pete getting lost in their visions, but… nope. Now that HG has stepped back off the straight and narrow, for whatever reason (Am I alone in hoping that it’s not something to do with her daughter?), I’m suspecting that it refers to HG and Artie, who’ll end up doing something appalling to stop her, earning him social rebuke and/or dismissal from the Warehouse for doing so.
7. And About Those Visions… So, Pete sees Kelly, which makes sense considering the subplot about their relationship. HG sees Christina, which makes sense considering her long-running emotional thread about her daughter (Although I’m sad that this seems to mean that she was telling the truth about that all along, but I’m just cynical that way). And Myka sees… Artie? Telling her that she’s a good girl, offering her coffee and giving her more work? Even allowing for the fact that she’s meant to be the straight arrow for whom work is her life, that seemed incredibly off – Artie means more to her than her parents? – and more than a little insulting.
8. Benedict Valda Was The Much-Teased Death? Lame.
9. Benedict Valda Must Live Again. If he doesn’t, then that’s the second death in this series that not only means nothing, but leaves a lot of plots and questions unresolved (See also: All my bitching about MacPherson). Sure, another Regent could come in to tie a lot of those up, but I feel as if that’d leave a lot of the Valda-specific appearances unresolved (Was he really going to try and crack down on the Warehouse? Why was he the spokesperson for the Regents, and what was his relationship if any with the Man Who Makes Decisions from the episode where HG joined the team?). It’d be very disheartening if this became the series that killed people off when they didn’t have answers for the questions surrounding them.
10. CCH Pounder, You Definitely Earned Your Money This Week. I’ve often thought that Pounder has a thankless job on this series, just showing up and being bossy and disapproving on an irregular basis, but this week was her finest “making the best of a bad job” moment yet – I can just imagine the director on set: “Okay, now, look into the distance with wide starey eyes and say this gibberish over and over again in monotone. Okay, now shake!”
11. Kelly Is The One! I’m very happy for Pete that he got an answer to the question that no-one even knew existed before this episode: Is Kelly “the one” that he can reveal all about Warehouse 13 to? I love that Mrs. Frederick said that to Pete as if everyone knew that was an option, if only because it makes me wonder, did Claudia know that before she had her Todd moment? And if Pete and Kelly don’t make it, does that mean he is bound by some weird Warehouse code to keep his real job a secret from every other future girlfriend, or will Mrs. Frederick just appear again and say “Eh, only joking, you can tell this one as well”?
12. If HG Isn’t Evil In The End, Will She Just Seduce Myka Already? “Many of my lovers were men,” says HG and a million fan-fic-writers brains exploded at the possibility of their stories becoming canon sooner rather than later.
13. If You Don’t Have Your Cake, How Could You Eat It, Anyway? HG dressed as Lara Croft? Yeah, even the “I checked, this is what fashionable British archaeologists are wearing these days,” “No, it’s what American filmmakers think fashionable British archaeologists are wearing these days” exchange doesn’t actually make that anything more than a cheap way of showing off Harriet Wells’ gams, program makers. Sorry.
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