Contributor: John Keegan
It’s stock and trade for genre shows to add their spin on traditional holiday tropes during the Christmas season. It’s gotten to the point where the underlying stories are so familiar and overdone that success or failure is more a question of the execution than originality. The more a show can use a given trope within its own context of continuity, the better.
Much like the 2010 Christmas special, “Warehouse 13” has elected to tell what is, in a certain sense, an “alternate reality” tale. Even setting aside the actual premise, a spin on the “It’s a Wonderful Life” concept, it just doesn’t seem to fit at all into the established timeline of the series. While events from the first and second season are definitively referenced, elements from the third season slip into the story well outside of their original context. Not that it matters overly much for those new to the series, since all the references are more or less explained within the story itself, but this approach never fails to complicate things for the more continuity-driven portion of the fandom.
In essence, Pete touches an artifact that erases his existence from the timeline, so everything since the beginning of the series has changed. Myka is no longer with the Warehouse, having imprisoned Artie, leaving McPherson in charge and Claudia still struggling with her psychological issues (including a lot of anger towards Artie). Having missed the first season, I appreciated the touches of exposition from Pete that put the differences in context, but I’m sure the dedicated fans from the start were the most pleased with the touchstones to the past.
Even so, it was a lot of fun playing through the usual process of Pete trying to get the gang together, and by the time they got to the end of the story (with the typical reset button), it felt natural for these strangers to be working together. It helped that Artie was still the master of his craft, and immediately understood that Pete could be telling the truth. It made the shortcuts in the story, in terms of Pete’s ability to convince people he was really telling truth, a lot more logical.
Despite some of the darker undertones of the Pete-less world, the writers did a fabulous job of maintaining the balance between seriousness and frivolity. This being a Christmas special, the frivolity won the day, but it still felt like a solid “Warehouse 13” episode. Considering that it will be several months before we see this summer favorite return, this was a nice way to tide us over during the hiatus.
Writing: 2/2
Acting: 2/2
Direction: 2/2
Style: 2/4
Final Rating: 8/10
