['Warehouse 13' – 'Buried']

There's a reason 'Warehouse 13' star Allison Scagliotti called 'Buried' "the Indiana Jones episode," and it wasn't because Pete and Myka were attacked by a group of vicious CGI monkeys (thanks for that, TV gods!). The final ep before the season finale took the team to Egypt, where they ventured down the dangerous trail of terrors that was Warehouse 2.

Pete, Myka, H.G., and a surprisingly even-tempered Valda (guest star Mark Sheppard) teamed up to shut down the ancient Egyptian Warehouse and save Mrs. Frederic's life in the process. They faced a string of deadly traps and challenges right out of an Indiana Jones flick (or the final act of 'Galaxy Quest,' your pick).

Thankfully, we didn't learn everything there is to know about Mrs. Frederic last night (a little mystery is a good thing), but we did learn a whole lot about the Warehouse and the bond it shares with her, its caretaker. It seems the Warehouse and the caretaker have a symbiotic relationship, and some great force chooses every caretaker and somehow draws them to the Warehouse at some point in their life. This, presumably, is what happened to Mrs. Frederic, but several questions about the character remain: Is that why she probably hasn't aged in more than 40 years? How does she sneak up on people like that and disappear so fast? And what's with the beehive?

So Claudia is the next Warehouse caretaker? That was a pretty big reveal. It almost seemed like Dr. Calder (guest star Lindsay Wagner) and Mrs. Frederick choose Claudia for the bond transfer because she was the only person around at the time. But that was cleared up later when she was told that her fate of becoming a Warehouse caretaker was all part of the design. I wonder if Artie will be jealous.

And speaking of Artie, where on Earth did he disappear to for the last half of the ep? Something tells me he discovered H.G.'s betrayal before it was revealed to us and he's working on a plan to save the day.

So I guess reinstating H.G. as a full agent was a bad idea after all, but I don't think she's the diabolical villain we once thought she was. She probably set up this elaborate plan, which presumably included hiring the three students who got grossly mummified in the first half of the ep, to somehow save her daughter's life. I don't think she's out to kill everybody and rule the world like a crazy Bond baddie or anything. Still, her actions almost killed Mrs. Frederic, and they led to Valda's death. She's gonna have to pay for her sins.

This ep was loaded with twists and turns and reveals, but what really stood out for me was Eddie McClintock's amazing comedic performance as Pete, brilliant solver of Egyptian death puzzles! From start to finish, McClintock landed every single joke and one-liner, and he even showed some honest regret and despair when Valda got gobbled up by flames. Pete is the most likable character on the show. I don't even mind his so-sweet-it's-bordering-on-sick relationship with Dr. Kelly.

Anyone have any ideas about H.G. Wells' ultimate plan? Judging by the Medusa fantasy scenarios, we know that Pete is in love with Kelly, Myka is in love with coffee and H.G. desperately wants to have her daughter back. I don't think it's a stretch to say that H.G. would kill to make her dream come true.

Other thoughts:

- Anyone else half-expect Pete to pull out a whip and brown fedora after the reveal of H.G.'s sexy Lara Croft-inspired outfit?

- Myka's bland fantasy was pretty hilarious.

- Leena was MIA again. Makes you wonder if she'll turn up as a major player next week.

- So "many" of H.G.'s lovers were men, huh? Lines like that make me wish this character would stick around with the good guys a little longer.

- Valda's death didn't come as a shock. He was expendable. Hopefully H.G. won't bite it in the finale. A better idea would be to keep the character around as a bonafide bad guy or a full-fledged agent.

'Warehouse 13' airs Tuesdays at 9PM ET on Syfy.