Contributor: John Keegan
Written by Holly Harold
Directed by Chris Fisher
The entire arc of the season has been leading to this episode, and it certainly manages to deliver on its promises. Evil Artie is just as nasty as one would expect. He has the full knowledge of the Warehouse at his disposal, and a thirst for death and destruction. And the worst part of all is the realization, early in the episode, that this is not a matter of possession; it’s just that the astrolabe brought all of the things already inside of Artie to the surface.
What that means, for all intent purposes, is that there’s nothing to purge or remove to put Artie back the way he was. There’s the possibility that the dagger will restore Artie’s balance, so the darkest part of his psyche is no longer in control, but at the end of the day, it was still Artie. Not only is he going to have to deal with the knowledge that he did and said all those terrible things, but the entire team will have to deal with it, too.
It was easy enough to predict that Claudia’s use of the dagger would amount to that much, especially after the previous episode, but I’m not sure anyone saw the release of the plague coming. Usually, in this sort of circumstance, the agents would have stepped in to save the day before the worst could happen. Not so much in this case. Pete makes a valiant attempt, but the damage is done. Far beyond the personal strife to come, there is also a plague that threatens the entire world. Artie’s warning to himself, it seems, was perfectly accurate.
It brings up some tantalizing directions for the show to take. It would be easy for the next episode, whenever it airs, to pull a quick reversal on the plague. But what if that’s not the case? It could be interesting to see the agents deal with this kind of ticking timebomb, one inside of them as well, while trying to maintain the secrecy of the Warehouse. Would it even be possible anymore?
On the other hand, there is the presence of Leena’s “ghost”, for lack of a better term, and it raises the specter of another time reversal that would wipe the slate clean. Another use of the astrolabe, perhaps? The problem with that, of course, is that it would cheapen the notion of death on “Warehouse 13” to the breaking point. The resurrection of H.G. Wells, Mrs. Frederic, and Steve Jinks was really a one-time fix, and it only worked because of the possibility of consequences, many of which came to pass. Reversing that would not only render half a season meaningless, but would undercut any threat of consequence in the future.
For that reason, I suspect that the writers will make this stand, even if Leena continues to be a lingering presence here and there within the Warehouse. (She’d probably show up more in that capacity than she has as a living being in the past three seasons!) A completely different solution will need to be found, and that means everyone living with Artie’s actions. It’s a dark direction for the series to take, but in the end, it’s the only viable road to take.
Writing: 2/2
Acting: 2/2
Direction: 2/2
Style: 3/4
Final Score: 9/10