Hello and welcome to the final article for Halloween in June! Why final? Well, I’m going on vacation next week. So, on that front, I will not have an article out next week. Sorry, it’s just a rule of mine. No laptops while cruising.
Anyway, today, I was in the mood to try out an original series from what we all know today as the king of schlock-fests, the “SyFy” channel. I certainly had my pick of the litter too, as Netflix has a ton of shows from that network available. The question was, what was I in the mood for? A sci-fi cop show, a different sci-fi cop show, or that other sci-fi cop show? Yeah, while I was sort of spoiled for choice, I wasn’t really spoiled for a LOT of choices. Still, it doesn’t matter how many times someone tries the same trick as long as they do it well. Case in point, Warehouse 13.
I have a hard time figuring out a way to describe this show, so I’ll just copy the description directly from Netflix: “After saving the president’s life, Secret Service agents Pete Lattimer and Myka Bering receive orders to report to a top-secret location. They soon discover that their new jobs entail guarding mystical items contained in Warehouse 13.” ~Netflix
I’ll admit, the first half hour or so of this show drags like it’s hauling a 100 ton weight. It felt extremely slow and I was almost about to just write it off as another dud. But something told me to stay and I’m glad I did. Once this show got interesting, it got REALLY interesting. The thing about this show is that it hides its great big, fun and creepy personality behind the mask of yet another generic cop show. Let me explain.
The generics sort of show their faces in the main characters Pete and Myka. Myka, through most of the episode, is simply a major-stick-up-her-ass bitch. She’s constantly whiney, constantly naggy, and CONSTANTLY a pain. I didn’t really like her character at all until maybe the last half hour of the episode. She just felt like a generic hard ass cop until the last act. Then there’s Pete, who was exactly the opposite. I call him the Not-Quite-David-Boreanaz of the show. What I mean is, he had a lot of personality and energy, like David does on Bones. In describing the characters, you probably see what I mean by this show feeling like yet another generic buddy cop show. Well…
That all drops as soon as the characters go to the titular warehouse and meet my favorite character, Artie, their new boss and partner. He’s the guy with all the know-how of supernatural gadgets. He felt awkward, funny, and clumsy, and I loved every minute he was on screen. From the moment they meet this character, this show truly becomes a supernatural mystery series.
Now, I will be the first to admit that I like this show. However, it does have its problems. For instance, the special effects absolutely sucked. Really bad green screens and generic light shows that simply don’t fly in today’s technology heavy show atmosphere. Also, the technobabble, while relating to magic this time around, is still technobabble. It didn’t feel like the writers put a lot of time thinking up explanations for the weird doodads in the warehouse. Honestly, I wished there was more exploration of those possibilities.
Warehouse 13 is far from a perfect show. But as a supernatural mystery show, it caught my attention. I will warn, the first episode (like most SyFy shows nowadays) is an hour and a half long and it definitely feels like it. Still, I got exactly what I wanted in a show like this. Proceed with caution, prepare for some stupid effects and annoying characters, but I still recommend giving it a watch.
Richard's Weekly Journal 