Wednesday, August 26, 2009

Review - Warehouse 13 Season 1 Episode 8 Duped

If you haven't noticed, I've cut down on the number of shows I'm reviewing and the time it takes me to write a review has increased. School has started again and I don't have countless hours in front of a computer. Don't worry, I just need to reestablish my rhythm and I'll be churning out a couple reviews a day. I just need to some time adjusting. Also, I've stopped giving full episode recaps, so my reviews will probably be useless to only those who have watched the episode. I might do a full review for a random show occasionally, but don't count on it. If you wish to see my recaps, visit SpoilerTV and find my recaps for Dark Blue, Royal Pains, and Better Off Ted. For now this site will have straight analysis.

This was the first time we got to see Claudia interact with Pete and Myka and it was fairly predictable. She is kind of like their little sister, a little annoying, but helpful at times. Leena was also in the episode and it was nice to see them all together. In a really weird, creepy sense, it kind of felt like a family.

Myka gets trapped in Lewis Caroll's mirror and Alice goes into Myka's body. There's an episode like this in almost every scifi show. One of the main characters isn't a main character and does out of character things. The writers took this to full advantage and decided to dress up Joanne Kelly which I as a male enjoyed a lot. Joanne Kelly did a good job playing the deranged Alice with the voice and walk. She probably wasn't the best actress for the part, but she is a main character and I really don't expect too much out of this cast.

The artifact of the week was a casino chip that let the user see the future. This allowed the couple played by Eureka's Erica Cerra and Niall Matter to win exorbitant amounts of money. Like Tricia Helfer and Joe Flanigan they weren't definitely not the focus of the episode and really there was not much attention given to them. If the producers are going to bring in all these high-profile guest stars, I would like to see them be used. They easily could have gone with cheaper guests and gotten the exact same results.

My biggest gripe about this episode was the quick resolution of another interpersonal problem. In an instant, Artie turns from wanting to kill the thing inside the mirror, to putting his hand up to the mirror after realizing it really is Myka in there and they are instantly back to normal. The the huge jumps in reasoning part of artifact finding that I discussed many times, this was a jump in the way normal relationships progress. Instead of taking several episodes to resolve the distrust issue, they solve it in under 3 minutes which is just awkward and unnatural.

Overall, this episode was well written, the pacing was better than most episodes, and kept me amused. I loved the last scene with 'White Rabbit' as the music and I rewatched it like 5 times. The ferret is still here which was forgotten for 7 episodes which is a shame since there is so much funny things you can do with a ferret. I was thinking of an entire episode dedicated to searching for the ferret in the Warehouse and in the process seeing lots of artifacts, but I suspect the writers are too timid to really overhaul the formula for an episode or two.

Score: 8.5/10

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

What was it that that Pete said, when Artie said "the dark Vault"???

I don't get the joke.

TV Obsessed said...

I think it was a Yiddish phrase 'oy gevalt.' I don't really get it either.

Related Posts with Thumbnails