Warehouse 13 Recaps: Episode Five "Cangku Shisi"

In this penultimate episode of Warehouse 13 Pete, Myka, Steve, Artie, and Claudia work together to stop Benedict Valda from taking over the Warehouse with the help of Claire, newly freed from her coma but now under the influence of a mind-controlling device.

Highlights of this week’s episode:

• Valda’s casual portrait of himself framed on his desk. (Did it remind anyone else of Crowley’s hallway portrait in Supernatural?)
• “Fine! But I’m doing it angrily.”
• Trailer making an appearance.
• “Pete smash!”
• Learning how the Warehouse is moved to a new location.
• “Good, he’s grumpy, he’ll be OK.”
• The team using underpants and silly string to fight artifact mojo.
• “This won’t be the end. We won’t let it be. “
• Steve & Artie’s hug

Episode five continues apace to resolve as many plot-bunnies as possible in record time, ready for next week’s show finale. *sob* Benedict Valda has returned and is scheming to move the Warehouse on to its next location.This time it’s shifting to Beijing which feels very believable; if I had to guess at the next empire to host the Warehouse then China would definitely be top of my list.

I found it interesting that this is played out as another “save the Warehouse/save the world” story despite the fact that the Warehouse is designed to move on every few hundred years anyway. Really it’s only Valda’s involvement in the move that is cause for concern, given his plans to use artifacts for weapons research and more. If the move couldn’t have been stopped then surely disaster could have been averted just by taking Valda out—leaving the Warehouse intact and secure but just a few thousand miles to the left? OK, there’s an emotional weight to that, the Warehouse is the agents’ home in more ways than one, but surely the Warehouse itself takes precedence?

Incidentally, taking out Valda not only wraps up the alt-universe arc but also the Claire-in-a-coma arc, too. It’s a little bit of an easy get-out and you can sense that Claire’s arc was meant to last far longer, but given just how much the writers are trying to cover in six short episodes it’s a nice way to bring some resolution.

Of course the one issue that is still hanging over the entire Claire arc is WHERE THE FRAK IS JOSHUA? Seriously, if my sister had just woken up from a 15 year coma then I’d want to at least drop in and say hi.

The Valda arc has had one last effect, setting other major events in motion related to the Warehouse itself—the details of which will be revealed next week. Claudia spent the episode feeling strange and her comment at the conclusion about being happy in her job “at least until the whole Caretaker destiny thing kicks in” seems to suggest that the finale may well see her finally stepping up to the task ahead of her. Not exactly shocking but it’s what many fans, myself included, were hoping to see from the show’s conclusion.

However, it’s looking increasingly like next week we may also get something a lot of fans don’t want to see: the Pete/Myka relationship going canon. I’ve already voiced my feelings on the subject (they can be summed up as “NO!”) but this week’s episode has established that Pete’s funny feelings are indeed love towards his partner. Sometimes a human lie detector can give us answers we really don’t want to hear—sorry, Steve. It’s worth noting that only Pete’s changing feelings have been documented in this relationship, Myka’s only input being her conversation with Mrs. Frederic.

Whatever does happen next week, it will certainly be interesting. We’re within the show’s final hour and as sad as I feel about that, I’m also excited to see how it all ends.