Smallscreen Features

'Warehouse 13’ – Vendetta recap

By Wayne Hall Sep 2, 2010, 18:40 GMT

Warehouse 13 star- Saul Rubinek - SyFy Comic Con Party - Arrivals - Hotel Solamar - San Diego, CA. USA © Albert L. Ortega / PR Photos

This second season has featured a lot of revelations about where the show’s characters have come from, so this week we get to learn about Artie’s (Saul Rubinek) murky past when someone familiar with his previous identity begins attacking people he knows and killing them.
 
Here’s the episode summary from tv.com: “Artie's past as a traitor returns to haunt him when someone uses artifacts to murder, and his former Russian handler is the prime suspect.”
 
No big name guest stars this week—it is solely about the main and recurring characters this time (I include Tia Carrere in that because she’s appeared before). And that’s a good change of pace. However, the return of Helena (H. G.) Wells (Jaime Murray) adds some unpredictability to the hour. In the end, Artie is distraught after Wells is made a full-time Warehouse agent. Artie is reluctant to reveal why he doesn’t trust her, but I expect we’ll find out more about that in future episodes.
 
Speaking of recurring characters, we see the passing of Daniel Dickinson (Simon Reynolds), another person we’ve seen previously, which made me sad because he’s been a force in Pete (Eddie McClintock) and Myka’s (Joanne Kelly) life. His funeral does give Helena her opening to approach Myka and drive Artie nuts when he finds out that Myka has been in touch with her.
 
Leena (Genelle Williams) gets more face time, interacting with Claudia (Allison Scagliotti), who is working on finding out about the boy from the hardware store who dumped her. Things go well when the two confront each other about their mysterious pasts, and when Todd (Nolan Gerard Funk) has to again disappear into the witness protection program, Claudia promises she will find him. Sounds like Claudia is getting her very own plotline here.
 
The title of “Vendetta” appears to apply to what both Artie and Claudia are dealing with, and may even deal with Helena.
 
Pete, Myka and Artie continue their funny banter, with Pete often the butt of the jokes:
 
Pete: I told you I’ve got a bad shoulder, okay? It’s an old wrestling injury.
Myka: He bowled a 71!
Pete: It’s amazing to me that you’re single. Really, so surprising.
 
Artie: The rack, the chain from Torquemada’s rack.
Pete: Who is this “Torquemada” woman?
Artie: A different rack entirely!
 
But this is Artie’s episode, and Saul Rubinek continues to make him a fascinating character who is vastly more than the uninteresting Mr. Phelps from “Mission: Impossible.” Artie is a mysterious man dealing with mysterious subjects, and he frames the show very well. Can he be surprised even though he runs the Warehouse? Yes, and it’s a good thing to see him off-balance as he was this week. Nice job!
 
As much as I enjoy H. G. Wells’ appearances, I doubt that she’ll become a series regular. I expect that when the season is over, she’ll be back on the side of the devils again instead of a Warehouse agent. She’s just way too good at that! Jaime Murray does a great job of making her sympathetic and yet difficult to read. Making her an agent shakes up the status quo, and that’s always something good to see in an ongoing series. Next week, we’ll see how the folks react to a new dynamic, which I am looking forward to.
 
Speaking of next week’s episode, it’s called, “When And Where,” and agents Pete and Myka must use Helena's time machine to travel to 1961 to solve a case. How will “Warehouse 13” treat time travel? Be sure to tune in and find out!