One that’s going to get away: Warehouse 13

Authors note: I interrupt my scheduled post, because I want to remind everyone that we at Dorkadia are giving away a Friday badge to PAX Prime 2013! Remind anyone you know who couldn’t make it through the EPIC queue line to buy a pass! Check out our contest here, and best of luck to you!

It’s with conflicted feelings that I see Warehouse 13 is in it’s final season. This is a show that takes all of the B action and ridiculous stories that made Brisco County Jr. such an amazing show, and put it in modern times with a steampunk backdrop. (Seriously – every time I watch more than one episode I am compelled to browse etsy for some more awesome steampunky stuff I have no need for. Every. Damn. Time.) Brought to you by SyFy – it overlaps quite a bit with viewers who enjoyed Eureka i’m willing to bet.

The premise is that there are objects (or in this show, these would be called ‘artifacts’)in the world, that due to subjective reasoning and extreme events, are imbued with super natural powers. For example, a specific pen of Edgar Allen Poe would turn whatever was written into reality, Robert Louis Stevenson’s book ends that when the heads are switched on the book ends cause any people who touch them to swap bodies, or Mata Hari’s stockings that when worn will cause anyone the wearer touches to follow their any desire. Okay. I want to live in a world when something or someone so amazing has the ability to make an ordinary object have magical properties because of their extreme awesomeness. (Though, I think all I would muster is a coffee mug that would perpetually be full of coffee).

Obviously said artifacts would have the potential to cause great harm if anyone could figure out what they were and how they worked (part of the show being sometimes these things are in play but the user has NO CLUE what they are doing); so someone needs to collect them from wherever they are out in the world, and put them away where they won’t cause any problems. Apparently in this world, this would be accomplished by the Secret Service by people specially selected by people who even KNOW about artifacts, and then stored in a secure warehouse. Secure being a relative term in that people won’t be able to find the ware house, but as part of the plot, the warehouse is really old, rickety shelving, and artifacts fall and get set off ALL THE BLOODY TIME (but hilarity ensues when it happens like when the disco ball from studio 54 drops and starts with a light show singing “I will survive”). There have been agents hunting down artifacts since the dawn of time it seems in this series – as this is the 13th warehouse – hence the clever name of this show.

I have a soft spot I’ve mentioned before for procedural shows, and Warehouse 13 fits that. Generally the two agents banter as friends, get the assignment to collect an artifact, hilarity and drama take place while they wrestle with catching said artifact, and they save the day while there is a nod to a larger plot that is unveiled to the season close for some big bad that could destroy the world, and it’s up to those at Warehouse 13 to save the day. Don’t get me wrong – I like this show, but with little change to the formula, I think they are ready to close the series at season 5. I’d rather see this show be a fun short and sweet run, rather than a 12 year run where we start to question if every object on the planet might possibly be an artifact.

My suggestion is to boot up your favorite video on demand and watch the first four seasons, and then watch season 5 as it closes on Hulu! (Then fortify your checking account as you decide you need every steampunk macguffin etsy has to offer)