Warehouse 13: Elements

(S01E05) Last week, we finally met the hacker who managed to infiltrate the Warehouse's defenses. This week, she joined the team. I know, no spoiler warning, but that wasn't the point of the episode.

You probably wouldn't even care if I did spoil the ending, because despite a decent set-up and the potential for a pretty intriguing payoff, the ending was crap. Part of the problem was the hamming it up for the camera by James Naughton as Gilbert Radburn. At least he embraced his limited acting range and just said screw it. "I'm not very good so I'm going to go for gusto! And enthusiasm!"

And the big fight scene itself was lame as well. What wasn't lame was the artifact itself. A cloak that allows the wearer to walk through walls. Add in an invisibility element and I could have made a fortune renting it out in my high school. Until I got arrested when some nerd caved after getting caught in the girl's locker room.

But that fight scene? Radburn blows Myka and Pete against the wall with an arrow. Yes, wind came out of the arrow; now granted it was an artifact, but still. Then, he monologues to his arch-nemesis Jeff Weaver. Actually, Jeff's father was his arch-nemesis, but I guess it passes on from one generation to the next or something.

Blah, blah, blah. Oh, you talked long enough for Pete to recover. Good job. Then Pete picked up the arrow Radburn laid down, but Pete doesn't bother to blow him with it. He just stabs that arrow right into his heart. And just after Radburn had acquired fire and "completed the transformation." PS: I guess the transformation was internal, because on the outside he looked like the same old actor. Then he blew up. Into the sky.

Yawn.

And, yes. I know James Naughton has been around forever and ever. He's been in all kinds of television shows and movies and he's your favorite actor. Hell, he's the voice of Audi. And that's something. Maybe he was amazing in Gossip Girl, but he was also in Planet of the Apes: We Made A TV Series Out Of This Because There Weren't Enough Movies, and that was terrible. So he's done terrible before. And now he's done it again. Full circle.

Thank goodness for Artie and Claudia Donovan back at the warehouse. Allison Scagliotti-Smith brings a youthful rebelliousness and energy to the show as Claudia that I hadn't even realized it was needing. But it was. And she's a great foil for Artie's scatterbrained stodginess. I also like her against the ethereal Leena.

By next week's promos, it looks like she'll be helping Artie out at the base, while Myka and Pete continue as field agents. I can handle that, but I think I'd like to see her out in the field. She's clearly very sharp, brilliant and resourceful enough to break into Warehouse 13. She'd probably be pretty handy in the field as well. Maybe it's a trust issue. Did Artie clear hiring her with Mrs. Frederick?

Speaking of which, when are we going to learn more about Leena? I connect the two because we don't now anything about Mrs. Frederick either. But whereas I like that aspect of Mrs. Frederick, I do want to delve deeper into the beauty that is Leena. We know she's more than just the owner of the quaint little bed and breakfast everyone stays at. Speaking of which, does she have other guests? If so, what the hell are they doing in the middle of nowhere?