Warehouse 13: “A New Hope” or Tomorrow Is Yesterday – A Warning From Brother Adrian aka Brent Spiner!

Welcome back Warehouse 13 fans,

Our long wait is finally over! Evil must be destroyed and all must help save the world by restoring our beloved Warehouse 13!

After the horrendous destruction of Warehouse 13 last season, our hero’s must journey across the planet seeking answers to the tragedy that has befallen not only the team, but all of humanity!

All of us must work together to identify and locate potentially dangerous artifacts to counter the actions of vengeful, evil filled Walter Sykes (Anthony Michael Hall), the brutal murderer of Steve Jinks (Aaron Ashmore) in season three!

Simply put, the season four opener of Warehouse 13 has earned a solid “A Plus” for story arc, character development, writing, music composition, great location shooting and outstanding VFX as well as the wonderful acting talent inherent in the cast members themselves!

In “A New Hope” our main cast heroes Pete Lattimer (Eddie McClintock), Myka Bering (Joanne Kelly), Artie Nielsen (Saul Rubinek), Claudia Donovan (Allison Scagliotti) and Leena (Genelle Williams) are joined by special guest stars Brent Spiner as Brother Adrian  and Faran Tahir as Adwin Kosan after being saved by oft misunderstood H.G Wells (Jaime Murray), who in a selfless act, sacrificed her own life!

Adding an extra sense of realism to “A New Hope” are two additional “real life” guest stars, news persons Lester Holt and Ed Schultz, who appear as themselves during “news broadcasts” featured in this outstanding episode.

Before continuing my analysis of “A New Hope”, courtesy of Syfy we include the promotional trailers for this Monday’s episode “An Evil Within” when Kate Mulgrew returns and we learn about what the effect of Artie’s actions will bring to Warehouse 13!

A New Hope:

We open the episode with the team, and for that matter the fans, in an understandably highly agitated emotional state. Warehouse 13 is gone!

In fact the sadness and tears are clearly visible in each of their eyes as they stand in the present with rubble of the destruction of Warehouse 13 a smoldering ruin.

This catastrophe was caused by the revenge sought, and made manifest, by the actions of Warehouse 13’s most corrupt villain to date, the evil Walter Sykes!

We flashback with sadness to observe Mrs. Frederick (CCH Pounder) who has joined the dead agent Steve Jinks (Aaron Ashmore) after she was killed as a result of her character being organically connected directly to the fate of Warehouse 13, now total in ruins.

The flashback scenes continue for several minutes as each of our heroes recall memories from the past. The cinematography in these sequences is exquisite as  a foggy haze covers the scene as each thinks of the memories that made each character what they are today.

As Pete and Myka jolt Artie back to the present, they notice that Artie managed to hold on to a special artifact called “Lavoisier’s Watch”.  For those familiar with history, Antoine Lavoisier was a famed chemist and biologist noted for his discoveries in the 18 th century specifically related to “A New Hope”.

Myka mentions Lavoisier for his “The Law of the Conservation of Mass” in which nothing is ever destroyed. Instead matter is simply rearranged and can be restored under the proper circumstances. Once again the “real world” historical reference is well blended into the Warehouse 13 story arc.

As well as being known as the father of modern chemistry, Pete and Myka think that “Lavoisier’s Watch” may be able to help “reconstitute” Warehouse 13.  

Pete says “wave the watch” to bring back Steve Jinks,  Mrs. Fredericks as well as restoring Warehouse 13 itself. Artie quickly dismissed their “hope” indicating “Lavoisier’s Watch” is only a part of the puzzle needed to address the situation.

The moment of fond recollections fades as each realize that the fate of the world, now without “hope” is at stake.

Artie, a loather of television is drawn to Leena’s house where Claudia and she are waiting for word. As the opening flashback illustrates, Claudia and Leena are frantic and in tears at the loss of Mrs. Frederick.

Both are shocked to learn of Warehouse 13’s destruction. This results in everyone talking, generating panicked conversation as Artie turns speaks of Pandora’s Box and turns on the television to observe the calamity that has befallen the planet Earth!

Mirroring the financial meltdown growing in our reality across the globe, Lester Holt and Ed Schultz are on screen describing the loss of hope that is driving the world to an uncertain fate.

Artie shares that the destruction of Warehouse 13 is directly tied to the loss of hope on Earth and begins to hatch a plan to counter the effects and set things “right” once again.

This use of mirroring today’s reality using real television news celebrities to relate the state of the Warehouse 13 world is a very nice touch of polish added by the creators in their screenwriting.

Our “A Plus” grade therefore also rests on the capable shoulders of D. Brent Mote, Jane Espenson, and Jack Kenny for making “A New Hope”, under the talented direction of Chris Fisher and with a haunting music score by famed composer Edward Rogers, an unqualified successful fourth season launch!

After the initial shock wears off, the Warehouse 13 team sets about finding an unknown but suspected artifact that will be needed to affect a reversal of time prior to the havoc by Walter Sykes set loose on a suffering humanity now without hope.

Turning the corner into the parlor where Claudia and Leena are crying, Myka’s analysis of the situation is reinforced when she thinks the artifact they seek may be dangerous. Artie says he does not even know what “Lavoisier’s Watch” is capable of let alone know what artifact they may be seeking.

The Earth shattering consequences evoke sadness over the loss of H.G. Wells, Steve Jinks and Mrs. Fredericks. The reality sinks home as all feel overcome by a powerful force that has changed the world.

Suddenly “Trailer The Dog” makes a surprise guest appearance, blithely entering the room looking for pets from Artie. This is a perfect move by the creators for what is about to happen and to change the mood in the scene. Nice job Warehouse 13 team!

This nice segue helps break the team away from the sadness of the circumstances and focus as Artie has related to each of the heartbroken members of the team. As Arties pets “Trailer”, we can see that he is visualizing what must be accomplished to have any “hope” is restoring the world to balance.

With the loss of Pandora’s Box which contained the worlds “hope”, an artifact that was to be protected by the now destroyed “Ytterbium Chamber” in Warehouse 13, the news on the television screen confirms their worst fears.

The world has utterly lost hope and is now in a state of sheer chaos! Claudia in particular is very affected by the malaise sweeping the planet, almost to the point of giving up herself! We are shocked to see our ballsy Claudia so overcome with defeat! Can the world ever be saved and hope restored?!

As Artie is examining “Lavoisier’s Watch”, and thanks to the translation skills of Myka, who tells Artie to “push the button”, we learn that the watch has now become a twenty-four stop watch counting down the time remaining to locate the needed artifact and turn back the clock and stop Sykes from his plan to destroy Warehouse 13.

Once again the brilliance of creators D. Brent Mote, Jane Espenson, and Jack Kenney comes to the forefront. We learn of a secret of Artie’s and of Warehouse 13 itself; A cryptic message from history is obtained from the ultimate “beyond Internet search  tool”, the enigmatic “football” we have often seen Artie tossing about for the past three years!

In “A New Hope” we learn the secret of the football that makes the “Internet a distant second” (as a search tool). The “football” is in fact a highly technically sophisticated device that seeks out strange artifacts, and downloads the data about them to the Warehouse 13 computers. Except those are now destroyed. Yikes!

Fear not, Artie knows how to access the “football” directly. As Pete sarcastically retorts he knew the “football was not regulation weight”, Artie flips open the device where the little screen displays “In Hoc Signo Vinces”, Latin for “By This Sign We Conquer”, an ancient Templar adage.

Although Artie does not like Knights Templar artifacts (for their often evil magic), now the team has a clue on where to begin the search for the needed artifact to make things as they were previously before Sykes wanton act of revenge!

Within these sequences of this year’s first episode, effectively setting up the foundation for an exciting fourth season story arc, we must admire the characters that have been developed over the past three years by the creators and the actors whom portray them.

In the beginning we dealt with a disparate group of individuals assigned to work with each other. Each character with a good measure of back story and even reluctance to be in the mysterious Warehouse 13 process I might add.

Artie, a curmudgeon and still irascible, has grown into the sometimes soft hearted patriarch of the clan. Pete, always the wise ass, has also shown a soft side, especially when it comes to protecting the ladies of Warehouse 13. Myka, once thought to be ditzy, has in fact grown to be a crucial member of the team with research knowledge that helps with each mission.

Claudia, our loveable yet mischievous juvenile delinquent hacker, has grown into a thoughtful young lady always willing to sacrifice to help Warehouse 13.

Holding up well until the loss of hope, the heart wrenching loss on Jinks and now Mrs. Fredericks, Claudia seeks and finds strength in Myka who tells her not to be “selfish”.

Leena also has grown from a background character to an active member of the Warehouse 13 team as we observed to our delight in “A New Hope”.

With admiration and kudos to the Warehouse 13 creators, the chemistry between the main cast members as written into the adventures is a tribute to their skill and to the outstanding actors that bring their wonderful journey to life on our television screens each week with delightful historical events, mystery, humor with wonderful characters!

As the journey within “A New Hope” adventure unfolds, our team of heroes sets out for Richerenches France, a Knights of the Templar garrison from ancient history with mysterious origins and tranditions.

After the “football” reveals the “Templar Motto”, and despite Artie’s sarcasm and Pete’s quip about the Templars, the clue is critical so they may obtain what will turn out to be two required artifacts needed to change the timeline and ultimately history itself.

Each will be required to activate a time warp to move back “Lavoisier’s Watch” by a full twenty-four hours to a time before Sykes can commit his despicable act that causes loss of “hope” in our troubled Warehouse 13 world.

As the team arrives on location sets that look much like France, turmoil, rioting and mayhem from the loss of “hope” is visible all around, Artie must locate the artifacts to save the world!

The team encounters Brother Adrian (Brent Spiner) and his minions multiple times during “A New hope”. At first thought, we wondered about the “evil element” in the artifacts.

We come to discover that Brother Adrian is only protecting the Templar artifacts from use due to a frightening curse that has been embedded in the “Astrolabe” artifact.

Brother Adrian reveals that the device will bring evil to whoever utilizes its power to affect changes to history and the normal flow in the timeline of reality unless they are very careful.

Artie knows that he really has no choice in the matter, he must use the artifacts to reverse history and restore not only Warehouse 13, but bring hope back to the suffering world.

The adventure takes on a wonderful series of vignettes replete with humor, sarcasm and consequences with unknown impacts.

During the search for the powerful, yet sinister “Astrolabe” and “Alidade” (eye piece) artifacts, which together can reverse time, each member of the Warehouse 13 team, sans Artie, are either trapped (Claudia), arrested (Myka) or killed (Pete) in the search for the means to restore an alternate version of history, save the Warehouse returning “hope” to our world.

In a particularly poignant scene when Pete dies in what will become the alternate (not real) timeline, he asks Artie to tell him he will not remember what has transpired. As Pete expires, Artie tells Pete he will not remember, but that he, Artie will remember everything.

This will prove to be a difficult time for Artie knowing what happened. He is warned by Brother Adrian after a final confrontation to not reveal to anyone what he has done or face an evil consequence in the future. This revelation from an expiring Brother Adrian is sure to be incorporated in future episodes of Warehouse 13.

As Artie finds and the activates the artifacts, he effectively turning back the clock twenty-four hours, we are transported via a cool VFX sequence back to Warehouse 13. Artie is now back with Myka and H.G. Wells just moments prior to the bomb hidden in Sykes wheelchair going off.

In several excellent scenes, Myka, Artie and H.G. Wells determine that the trigger for the bomb is the evil, not within the bomb, but the evil that is within the soul of Sykes himself.

The catastrophic consequences are stopped when Sykes is captured by Pete, thrown back through the portals between Warehouse 13 and a sister facility.

Sykes us quickly covered with “Ghandi’s Doti” a powerful shroud of peace that drains the malevolency from Sykes tortured and malcontent soul.

As Sykes passes away after the evil is removed from his soul, all appears to be well with the world. The artifacts are safe. Hope has been restored.

However all is not well. Mrs. Fredericks, an organic component of Warehouse 13, and Adwin Kosan suspect that something is awry. She is in process of grilling Artie’s denial when suddenly she seems to disappear. We end the episode with Artie misleading Mrs. Fredericks as to precisely what has transpired as the final surprise is learning that Claudia has also disappeared from Warehouse 13.

But from what cause we must ask?

Claudia stated early in the episode to Artie that she would use the metronome artifact (used to keep a heart beating) to save Steve Jinks. Could it be that she has simply made good her promise to save Jinks? Or is the evil already manifesting itself described by Brother Adrian “that will live with you the rest of your days?  And for goodness sakes, just where in the heck did Mrs. Fredericks go?

For the answers to these and other fantastic questions, including the return of Kate Mulgrew as Jane Lattimer, make sure to tune tonight and every Monday 9p E/P 8c on Syfy for more of the outstanding science fiction adventure that is Warehouse 13! Oh, and do not forget the cool new geeky Warehouse 13 web series on Syfy too! We include all six two recent webisodes below for your enjoyment!

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As always, I and the WHR team look forward to Seeing You on The Other Side“!

Thank you.

Best Regards,

WR_Systems (Kenn)