Warehouse 13: Review: Season 4 Eps 3-6

SyFy, 6-27 August 2012

A series of stolen artefacts must be recovered, while Jinx faces severing his connection with the magical metronome that is keeping him alive. Artie faces the consequences of his actions in rewinding time…

The individual stories here are all fine, but the over-arcing plot (Is Claudia somehow going to attack Artie? Will Brother Adrian wreak his revenge?) is so heavy handed and laid on thick with a trowel that it has become very annoying.

Easily the best of this bunch is Myka’s unexpected pregnancy in ‘No Pain, No Gain’, a development that is mined for some great character comedy between her and Pete. There’s also body-hopping fun in ‘Fractures’ as Alice escapes Lewis Carroll’s magic mirror and possesses several unwilling people.

There’s nothing inherently wrong with these individual episodes, but it does feel as though some of the shine has gone off Warehouse 13 this season. In attempting to do something new with the characters, especially Artie, the creative team may have come a cropper. Such experimentation should not be discouraged, but on the evidence so far, it isn’t working this time out.

Verdict: Rather middling stuff, further let down by a thuddingly obvious arc plot.

Episode 3 ‘Personal Effects’: 6/10

Episode 4 ‘There’s Always A Downside’: 6/10

Episode 5 ‘No Pain, No Gain’: 7/10

Episode 6 ‘Fractures’: 7/10

Brian J. Robb