Warehouse 13 4.12: Agents in Rehab

This week Warehouse 13 leaves much of its darkness behind, bringing forth some snappy Pete humor, as well as bucketloads of feels condensed into two significant, magical moments. Saul Rubinek and Aaron Ashmore killed it, as did Eddie McClintock with his deadpan comments. It was also nice shaking up the usual agent pairings, bringing a needed equilibrium with the recent happenings.

In “Parks and Rehabilitation” we knew it was coming, that Artie would face a regent review.  What we didn’t know was reinstating Artie was already in process. However, Artie continues to punish himself and this exchange between he and Regent Kosan sets the stage for Artie’s inner torment:

Kosan: We see no reason for punishment at this juncture.
Artie: You can’t be serious.
Kosan: Leena was a valued member of the team. And a friend. But she knew the risks and accepted them.  Her death was a tragic, yet unavoidable casualty in our ongoing mission. We’re reinstating you as soon as possible.
Artie: I killed her!
Kosan: Did you? Did Arthur Neilson kill Leena? Would you have willingly taken her life, any life, if not under the thrall of the astrolabe?
Artie: …No. But it doesn’t change the fact that she died by my hand.
Kosan: And you will have to live with that. I feel that sentence is far more severe than anything this tribunal could mete out.

Yep. Artie is unwilling to accept that Leena understood the possible cost of her job, dishonoring her memory by not acknowledging her choices and refusing to watch her video signature statement (which all agents record upon taking a warehouse job).

You’re letting me work again? What is wrong with you people?

Elsewhere in the world, a terrified man is running from an assailant who eventually catches him and uses an artifact on him. The power of this artifact is over the earth itself, burying the man alive. His phone, however, continues to leave a message wherever he had been calling. Thus begins an overly complicated case, but one I argue that’s needed for a few reasons.

Inside Cowan National Forest, Pete and Claudia investigate the goings on as reported by the hikers who heard the screaming and saw the blue glow – it’s that poor running-and-then-dead guy.  While Pete talks it up with Ranger Smith about what happened, Claudia, not the outdoorsy type, finds the dead guy’s cell.

Claudia: Wearer of rings over dampening gloves, bringer of laptops to forest.

The dead guy, Linus Bentley, was putting up cell towers for his company, but a green non-profit was fighting him every step of the way, trying to get construction shut down. And like any good investigators, it’s the non-profit, Green First, where they head next. Aside from a great moment where the boss lady, Autumn, calls Pete Claudia’s dad and Pete calls the boss lady “FernGully”, the agents don’t find anything helpful. Autumn’s behavior is suspicious, but not in a deadly manner. Anyway, Claudia’s recovered some of the numbers off of Bentley’s phone, one call being to a local pot shop, Fine Young Cannabis.

At the shop, “Holy ganja, Batman!” Pete notices the answering machine blinking and they listen to Bentley’s last, hysterical words. A search of the back room turns up the shop owner, Jeff Nevins, dead, under a tarp with a symbol on it that’s the same as one Pete noticed carved into a tree at Bentley’s death site. Pete recognizes it from his secret service days as the signature of an eco-terrorist group, The Last People on Earth (LPE). Their last known location was the same forest Bentley was found dead in, a burned down shack belonging to Ryan Clayton, the head LPE man who died in prison after LPE had been turned in.

The LPE. A surprisingly scary group.

Ranger Smith leads them there. The clues found within lead right back to Autumn, who is caught prepping her overnight bolting bag. Turns out she was part of LPE, along with Nevins and Bentley who were her friends; she’s no idea why they’re being picked off. And worse, (or better, depending) she’s artifact-less. While Pete goes to chat the guy currently logging the forest (and possibly killing peoples) Claudia hangs with the surprisingly forthcoming and sympathetic Autumn, opening up to her in ways she hasn’t been able to with any of her co-workers. Unfortunately, Ranger Evan Smith, who is actually Evan Clayton, the dead Ryan Clayton’s brother, comes to visit with the artifact, a blue lantern (cue the Lantern Corps. Credo, people!), knocking Claudia out, burying Pete, and making off with Autumn.

The agents catch up with Evan, and while barely averting disaster, manage to disarm and bag the lantern. It’s Autumn, again, talking to Claudia, that reveals it was she who turned in LPE for all the damage they were doing, for all the people being hurt. She had to stop it. Claudia recognizes the parallels with what she had to do to stop Artie, and a small part of her heals.

At the Warehouse, a worried Myka and Jinks go looking for Artie. What they find is a guy doing his job, but he’s off his game.  He doesn’t even get angry with Myka over making  agent decisions. He also happens to be doing all the work Leena used to do, and he just wants to be left alone.  Guess who isn’t letting that happen, much to our favorite disgruntled agent’s displeasure?

Myka and Jinks follow him to a room never seen on the show before, and it’s beautiful. It’s where Leena would come to intuit the emotions behind an artifact, a feng shui spiral that helps find the proper shelving placement in the warehouse. Artie is attempting to locate the proper home for a porthole from the Norge airship from 1928. (Thanks Google!)

Artie in the feng shui spiral with the Norge’s porthole.

However, Artie’s shelving placement sets off a domino effect, freeing DaVinci’s Gargoyle. As Artie, Myka and Jinks recapture the gargoyle, it’s clear this is cathartic for Artie, a needed calamitous diversion. With the gargoyle safely back in its crate, Artie attempts to use the spiral again, but the circle can’t help him, he’s too emotionally jumbled and he’s being read, not the artifact. A reticent Artie finally conveys this to Myka, and there’s this moment between Jinks and Artie that’s beautifully emotional, allowing Artie to relinquish some of his pain and control. Jinks, with his Buddhist mind-state, is able to find the proper placement for the  porthole, and Artie -finally! -realizes he’s not alone.

Jinks channeling his inner Buddha to find the actual proper place for the Norge’s porthole.

When Claudia returns from the lantern case, she and Artie have this self-forgiveness moment that they, too, need. And Artie, coming to terms with himself and his decisions, watches Leena’s acceptance of her duties as agent. Artie’s self-recrimination will continue for a while yet, but he’s a smart guy. He can’t allow this to hamper the duties this job requires. If you thought you could forego the tissue this episode, you’d be wrong.

Next week, Pete and Myka get trapped in a film noir where everything is in black and white, and completely real.

Warehouse 13 airs Mondays on Syfy at 10/9c