Warehouse 13 Season 2 Episode 1 - "Time Will Tell"

SPOILERS: Massive ones, since this was the season premiere

First off, I think it's necessary to give props to SyFy for one hell of an advertising campaign. I did not like this show for the majority of last summer, but I kept watching due to their fantastic guest stars. It wasn't until the introduction of MacPherson, a truly delightful villain, that I really began getting interested. Yet somehow, between the bus campaigns, the excessive commercials on Comedy Central, and the advertisement on the NYT webpage, I became extremely excited for this episode - and though I'm iffy about how some mysteries turned out, the episode certainly did not fail to disappoint in terms of shockers. (All photos courtesy of syfy.com)

And before this goes any futher - DID YOU SEE WHO'S ON NEXT WEEK? Jewel Staite and Sean Maher - Kaylee and Simon from Firefly. I'm just going to fangirl for a little bit now........
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Ok, all better.

My one problem? Far too neat of an episode - everyone good is alive, and, well, GOOD. Our one baddie from the previous season is conviniently out of the picture, leaving us with a new baddie we know nothing about. Well, let's get started at picking this mess apart.

Artie: THANK YOU SYFY. I was extremely worried he was actually killed off, since no released material or (to my knowledge, well read spoilers) cited him as present in this season. So thank you, SyFy, for giving me an honest moment of joy - Artie's personality, and especially his dad-like relationship with Claudia is one of the reasons this show is growing on me. He's funny, grumpy, good-hearted, quirky, and makes cookies! Of course, the Phoenix was a massive copout - only 5 people around for miles and it manages to kill the driver? Poor guy must have been wearing a red shirt under his outfit...

Leena: GRRRRRR. That's what I have to say. So many holes in what should have been an excellent betrayal story. Instead they went with "she was mind controlled even though she never leaves her Bed & Breakfast and could never have interacted with MacPherson." So she was having memory blanks, bad dreams, etc. and she never once considered "I work in the Warehouse + there's a mole + there's mind control technology in existence + I'm missing chunks of time = ME?" I always found her character boring and rather pointless - her being evil was the first time I was interested. Now I'm back to total apathy.

H.G. Wells: Well that, I have to say, I never saw coming. H.G. Wells is evil....and a woman....and man hating...and sexy and making with the seducing of Latimer? Ok, so given she's got a great British accent the last part was a bit of a given - and Latimer clearly has not gotten laid in a while. What do I think of the new villainess? I like her! She gets the Sarah "evil villain stamp of approval". She's got style, flair, brains, and an extremely vague evil plan. The only thing I dislike? For a woman who is extremely feminist and man-hating her three [evil] personal items are a ring, a locket, and a compact. Seriously?

Also, we know she met Nikola Tesla back when she worked for Warehouse 12. Did anyone else get vibes there when she mentioned him? As in vibes that seem to contradict with Tesla's claims of lifelong celibacy? Maybe it's just wishful thinking on my part; I am a huge fan of Johnathon Young's affably evil portrayal of Nikola Tesla over at my current favorite running SyFy show "Sanctuary." I've tried to think of proper way to describe his character, and all I can say is an incredibly charming Dr. House mixed with Alan Tudyk (as Alpha or Wash). Unfortunately for me, he's only a guest character - but every episode he's been on ranks within my top 10. And yes, that is Amanda Tapping in the picture with him - she's the main character, a distinctly non-Carter British scientist by the name of Helen Magnus. I highly recommend catching up on the show before the Season 3 premiere in the fall.

Ok, now that I'm done plugging Sanctuary and having fun with TV Tropes, there's one last person I need to deal with before I take a stab at a few more plot holes....

MacPherson: Awwwwwww. I am so bummed out he's gone. He was a truly classy villain, righteous while absolutely brutal. Though I have to say, free a feminist from 100 years of stewing in her own evil thoughts and expect her to work with you and not betray you, and you kinda deserve it. His departure was excessively dramatic as well, with some attempt at redemption that just felt like a bunch of cheese. He will be missed. But probably not brought back to life.

Now for some plot holes that need to be recognized:

• If you listen carefully in last season's finale, Artie says something along the lines of  "and G-d forbid anyone ever figure out a way to reverse the [bronzing] process." Really? It's just a button on the console. Leena didn't seem to have too much trouble with it.
• Anti-matter from CERN. *Facepalm* You cannot just pack some anti-matter into a box and steal it! Good G-d people, really? Though, I did in a silly way really enjoy all the text animations whenever CERN was displayed.
• This one was pointed out to me by someone at work - if the bronze room is so damn easy to get to and free someone from, why is the Escher vault used to make it so impossible to get their personal items?
• How does moving really really fast (the imperceptor vest) stop the vault from being to confusing to navigate? I'm willing to buy a little bit of B.S. on this one, but still.

Regardless of it's flaws, I am seriously looking forward to tomorrow's episode. And probably going to go re-watch my favorite Sanctuary episodes...Oh, and get to work on my Eureka review, of course.

~ Sarah