Warehouse 13: Review: Season 3 ep 11/12

All hell breaks loose, as Walter Sykes’s plan is revealed, and not everyone’s going to get out alive…

All hands are on deck, as the final two episodes of Warehouse 13 give us an impressive climax to the season. Originally aired as a two-hour episode on SyFy in the U.S., this finale brings everything to a head, and drags in everyone: not just the opening-credits regulars, but recurring and guest characters Mrs. Frederick (the continually regal CCH Pounder), Kosan (Faran Tahir), Pete’s Mom (Kate Mulgrew, who has been a welcome addition), and Helena Wells (the always magnificent Jaime Murray), all brought in to fight against Walter Sykes (Anthony Michael Hall) and Marcus (Sasha Roiz), now joined by Steve Jinks (Aaron Ashmore), whose betrayal hits the Warehouse team pretty hard. There’s even an appearance (in flashback) by James MacPherson (Roger Rees).

These two episodes are chock full of surprise revelations (well, I saw at least one of them coming three episodes ago), double-crosses, flashbacks, action, thrills, spills, and excitement. We even get yet another look back at Wells’s adventures at Warehouse 12, as we meet the man who trained her in the 19th Century, played superbly by the always-awesome Erick Avari.

In the end, there is victory, but it’s one with simply awful consequences, as more than one character doesn’t make it to the end of the two hours alive. Indeed, the status quo is fairly well upended — though the seeds for reversing some if not all of the episode’s events are well sown, to the point where a lot of the dramatic wind may come out of this story’s sails.

Having said that, the finale itself is very well done, the usual mix of action, humor, history, and gadgets that has made W13 so appealing.

Verdict: An excellent finale that has brutal consequences, though it’s difficult not to imagine that at least some of those consequences won’t be reversed in the fourth-season opener.

Episodes 11/12 “Emily Lake”/”Stand”: 8/10

Keith R.A. DeCandido