Review: "The New Guy" ('Warehouse 13' 301)

As I mentioned at the end of my review of Alphas, I used to call Warehouse 13 the dumbest scripted show on Syfy. This is, happily, no longer the case.

Warehouse 13 has not been relieved of this dubious distinction solely because there is now a more deserving contender for the title (the aforementioned Alphas). The real good news is that Warehouse 13 has grown up. Even better, this development isn't the result of emulating other programs and becoming what it was not; in fact, Warehouse 13 has, as a result of what seems to be the sheer enjoyment of its own premise, started to fulfill its potential.

The turning point of Warehouse 13 (season 3 premiere: July 11, 2011 on Syfy) occurred during season 2, as the character of H.G. Wells (Jaime Murray) was developed. At first, Wells was sharply emblematic of Warehouse 13's most sophomoric conceit -- that every supernatural object they encounter exhibits the magically magnified defining characteristic of its most famous previous possessor, so that a camera once owned by Man-Ray makes people more beautiful, Joe Louis's boxing shorts give you a wall-shattering right hand, etc.

Most of the time this artifact name-dropping ranges from lame to wince-inducing, especially since no theory is every floated to explain why this is the case, lampshading it as a mere running gag that's unfortunately close to the heart of the show's premise. I know it's dumb to ask about the physics of it, but there needs to be some kind of in-universe explanation. Does fame or notoriety become involved in the supernatural effect? Why are there no artifacts from people no one has ever heard of?

Over the course of season 2, Helena Wells became a fleshed-out character (so much so that she's being given her own show!), and her dynamic both with the Warehouse team and her own demons helped drive the season forward. Her betrayal during the season finale would have been meaningless had she not come to be more than just a name-dropping tag-along; because Helena had forged a complex relationship with the team, her reversal in the end was a suitable pretext for Myka (Joanna Kelly) to walk away.

Season 3, therefore, begins with the team coping without Myka: bluff, jocular Pete (Eddie McClintock), gruff boss Artie (Saul Rubinek), young apprentice Claudia (Allison Scagliotti) -- and, welcomed with profoundly mixed feelings by a team both short-handed and loyal to Myka, the new guy. This is Steve Jinks (yes, Jinks), played by Aaron Ashmore.

Some background: One of the ideas that Warehouse 13 has played with but never really fully embraced is the assertion that Pete gets "vibes" that make him able to act instinctively toward a correct solution. The chief asset of this attribute, which otherwise would be nothing more than a convenient plot device, has been to act as a counterpoint to Myka's analytical approach.

Steve, as it turns out, has an attribute, or ability, as well: he can tell if you're lying. Now, this is one of those things that seems great on paper to the script-writers, especially as a plot device -- in the season 3 premiere, it accelerates the moment in which Steve, an ATF agent who ends up at the same artifact disaster as Pete and Claudia, must be let in on the secret of the Warehouse.

But even during the course of his first episode, and despite the heroic efforts of Aaron Ashmore, his recurring objections that the person talking to him is lying started to wear thin. It's not clear how many episodes Ashmore is on board for, but I fervently hope that his ability either fades to the background over upcoming stories in favor of more engaging developments in Jinks's character, or that it comes to be implemented in a more subtle manner.

That said, Ashmore himself is a very welcome addition to the team: He's a talented, engaging actor, and his character is well positioned to gel with Pete, Myka, Claudia, and Artie. More to the point, the original characters themselves are now in a better position to interrelate with a newcomer. The first season or so was, necessarily, about following the relationship between Pete and Myka; the maturity of that relationship allows for the approach to Warehouse stories from other angles, and the expansion of the cast in order to highlight the central relationships.

Warehouse 13 is still at times -- perhaps even often -- a little too goofy. But, as Pete himself would have said from the start, a little goofiness isn't necessarily bad if you can get the job done, and now we're at the point where they're starting to bring me around to his way of thinking.

Disclosure: A review copy was provided by the publisher. For more information, please see our Ethics Policy.