Print Warehouse 13: Pilot Review

Early reviews described Warehouse 13 as comfort food and the term couldn't be more apt. It's pretty much a slow-cooked stew of a TV show: elements from half a dozen other bits of pop culture pulled together into a tasty (though sometimes awkward) mix. In most ways, it's way out of its league, emulating classics with which it can't possibly hope to compete. But it does so with a reasonable amount of enthusiasm and while it certainly won't blow you away, its scruffy lovability may earn it a reasonable number of fans.

The concept starts with the glorious closing shot from Raiders of the Lost Ark (and the criminally underrated opening of Crystal Skull), adds a generous helping of Men In Black, and finishes things off with a riff on the old Friday the 13^th show from the 1980s. The titular warehouse sits in the middle of the South Dakota Badlands, guarded by an indifferent-looking cow and presided over by amiable kook Artie Nielsen (Saul Rubinek). It holds the collected magical trinkets of human civilization--from Pandora's Box to Thomas Edison's electric car--now kept under the watchful eye of Uncle Sam. Some of the objects are more dangerous than others and not all of them have been accounted for. Enter the ubiquitous agents tasked to hunt the missing stuff down: Pete Lattimer (Eddie McClintock), all fuzzy vibes and "I'm ready to believe;" and Myka Bering (Joanne Kelly), all skeptical and by-the-book. Sound familiar? They don't like the assignment--especially after saving the President from an assassin who turns out to be possessed by Aztec spirits--but the enormity of the task eventually causes them to change their tune.

The two leads remain serviceable, trading on some nominal chemistry but still a long way from Mulder and Scully. The real joy is Rubinek, who tempers his character's utter unflappability with a streak of friendly good spirits. CCH Pounder also acquits herself well as the head of the mysterious government branch which runs Warehouse 13. Series creators Jane Espenson, D. Brent Mote and David Simkins bet a great deal on the jovial tone, matching The X-Files at its most whimsical while respecting the concept enough to sell us on its plausibility.

On the downside, Warehouse 13 may live or die on the quality of its weekly mysteries, as Lattimer and Bering head out to find a new Mystic Whatsit each episode. The pilot--concerning a bejeweled comb which channels the rage of a 16^th Century Italian noblewoman--never rises above run-of-the-mill, and benefits more from the two agents' bickering than any compelling aspects of the trinket in question. So too does the show's reliance on so many earlier concepts work to its detriment, leaving it to coast on borrowed goodwill rather than generating any energy of its own.

On the other hand, the Warehouse itself is pretty damn cool, and the show has a lot of fun trundling out its little nooks and crannies. Rubinek's museum-tour-guide routine finds some fertile ground to grow, and the sheer size of the place makes for a few wonderful moments (as when Nielsen has to huff and puff through miles of storage space in order to convey a pertinent piece of arcana). It gives the field agents plenty of mad scientist gadgets to play with too, including a stun gun invented by Nikola Tesla and a tank full of purple muck which neutralizes any artifact that falls into it. If you can't love goodies like that, you've definitely come to the wrong place.

The results don't make for an overnight sensation--no matter how many times Syfy trumpets its new name during the commercials--but neither does it induce any regret for tuning in. Those waiting for BSG's heir apparent will need to wait a little longer… but to hold Warehouse 13 to such standards takes away from its humble appeal and diminishes the reliable fun to be had by giving it a chance. Great art it's not; it simply does what it can with a reasonably good idea, enough for an hour a week of our time and not one second more.

Mania Grade: B-
TV Series: Warehouse 13
Episode: Pilot
Starring: Eddie McClintock, Joanne Kelly, Saul Rubinek, CCH Pounder, Genelle Williams, Simon Reynolds, Michael Boatman and Sherry Miller
Written By: Rockne S. O'Bannon, Jane Espenson and D. Brent Mote
Directed By: Jace Alexander
Network: Syfy
Series:

Warehouse 13: Pilot Review (Mania.com)