Warehouse 13 Recaps: Episode Four "Savage Seduction"

On this week’s episode of Warehouse 13 Pete, Myka, and Artie find themselves living inside a telenovela when they investigate the disappearance of Kelly’s grandmother. Meanwhile, Steve is split over how to handle the artifact he is sent to track down with Claudia on a college campus.

Highlights of this week’s episode:

• The Spanish guitar version of the theme tune.
• “I am speaking Spanish?! Good morning. How are you? Where is the library? Holy enchilada!”
• Steve “sneaking” up on Claudia in Artie’s office and scaring her.
• “So can your Twin Peaks get us in there?”
• Steve’s special lie-detecting ability being useful for him when finding potential partners.
• “Sometimes people fill a void with an obsessive attachment to a TV show.”
• The Prius getting some not-so-subtle promotion once again thanks to a discussion about its amazing sat nav.
• “And you said that the telenovela ended?”
  “Yes! I mean my nana was actually pretty upset about it.” 
  “You say that it was cancelled… and yet it’s still on TV.”
• This week’s artifact–a double-ended candle that once belonged to poet Edna St. Vincent Millay.
• “I watch Breaking Amish because I like it! I can quit any time!”
• Artie’s remarkable ability to produce an artifact for any occasion, even when the situation calls for a really obscure power.
• “My frat wasn’t like this. We had book club and yuletide a capella. Please forget I said that.”
• The dramatic music and hair blowing every time one of the Warehouse team handled a cuff-link.
• “Stop! You cannot kiss him! Because… he’s your brother.”

This may officially be the zaniest episode of Warehouse 13 yet, and with this show that’s actually quite an accomplishment. It’s nice to have an episode almost completely free from the drama that’s been enveloping the team lately but with only two more episodes to go before the show wraps for good, you can’t help but wonder of this screen time could have been better spent resolving plot lines. Still watching Pete, Myka, and Artie acting inside a stereotypical telenovela is rather brilliant and it was a lot of fun hearing them all speaking Spanish. You have to wonder how long it took everyone to learn their lines for this one–and how much they hated the writers by the end of filming.

One of my biggest issues this week was with “gay Steve”–the fun manifestation of his split personality. I’ve always loved Warehouse 13 for its representation of different groups. The main cast has, across the seasons, comprised characters of multiple races, genders, and sexual orientations, including out gay and bisexual characters. However the show has also never resorted to stereotypes. Every character has been shown as a rounded person rather than a simple caricature of their attributes. Of course “gay Steve” was a joke, an artifact-induced exaggeration of the most extreme “fun” part of his personality, but after all these years establishing him as an example of a non-stereotypical out male character, having him parading around in the most effeminate way possible felt like a disservice to his character. Not every gay male makes the same choices regarding their outward personality, despite what many television shows featuring gay male characters would have you believe (I’m looking at you Jack McFarland), and until this week, Steve had been a great example of a gay man who chose something different.

The episode also played around with the ongoing shipping issues. As discussed in episode two, the current direction appears to be hinting at a romantic relationship being established between Pete and Myka by the show’s end and this was continued inside the telenovela when Armando (Pete) and Maribel (Myka) declared their love for one another. This scene was interrupted by Maribel’s mother who arrived and told them they cannot kiss because they are in fact siblings. It’s a perfect metaphor for the relationship between Pete and Myka. However the final scene showed Pete’s ex-girlfriend Kelly announcing quite matter-of-factly that their relationship would have never worked because Pete is in love with Myka. If the writers are intentionally trying to confuse us about where they are taking this relationship then they’re succeeding admirably but with only two episodes left to go they need to make a decision and fast.

One final thing before we leave. The title for next week’s penultimate episode has been revealed for some time but in case your Mandarin is rusty, “Cangku Shisi” translates as “Warehouse 14″…