Myka Monday: Warehouse 13 Closing

Yes Myka it is true tonight is the last episode of Warehouse 13.

Image from Episode 9 Season 1 "Regrets".

Green Light For NCIS: New Orleans

CBS Green Lights NCIS: New Orleans 2nd Spin-off Show from NCIS

(3rd Spin-off from J.A.G.)

This past March/April (25 March & 1 April, 2014) NCIS had a two part story titled "Crescent City" that acted as a backdoor pilot for the potential NCIS: New Orleans spin-off series. The story was successful and the new series has been given the green light by CBS execs.

As a long time fan of the current NCIS flagship series (NCIS itself is a spinoff from the mother flagship show JAG) and the spin-off series NCIS: LA as well as a fan of a few of the main actors Scott Bakula and CCH Pounder, I am going to embrace this new television series. I was originally against the idea (NCIS: New Orleans? and sort of Quantum NCIS Enterprise), but after seeing the backdoor pilot, which I enjoyed a lot and thought it was one of the better episodes of the season, I changed my mind. I think the actors that were cast has a lot to do with it. This new series will be executive produced by NCIS star Mark Harmon. I believe that is one of the big reasons the series was given the green light. I think they are planning to have a  regular around September season premiere/start.

Regular Main Cast:
Special Agent Dwayne Cassius Pride (Scott Bakula)
Special Agent Meredith 'Merri' Brody (Zoe McLellan)
Jefferson Parish Coroner Doctor Loretta Wade (CCH Pounder)
Special Agent Christopher Lasalle (Lucas Black)
 
Linda (Paige Turco)
Lamar (LaJessie Smith)

Related Links:
'NCIS: New Orleans', 'The Odd Couple', 'Scorpion' Lead CBS Pickups- HitFix
CBS Orders 'NCIS' Spinoff, 'Odd Couple', Four More to Series -Hollywood Reporter
'NCIS: New Orleans' gets series order from CBS - NOLA.Com
CBS Orders 'CSI: Cyber', 'NCIS: New Orleans', 'Odd Couple' 'Stalker', 'Madam Secretary', 'Scorpion' & 'The McCarthys' - TV By The Numbers
CBS adds 'NCIS' and 'CSI' spinoffs, new "Odd Couple"- USA Today
'NCIS: New Orleans' gets green light from CBS-TV - WWL First News

Warehouse 13 Wednesday: Cangku Shisi

EPISODE: 5.5 "Cangku Shisi"
倉庫十四 (Warehouse 14)

Original Air Date: 12 May 2014

CLAUDIA: "It's like the transporter from Star Trek minus the dilithium crystals"

Warning: This review may contain spoilers.

Wow a major adrenaline pumping emotion driving episode. This episode packed a lot of action into it and a few twists and turns I don't want to ruin everything. OK so we open things up with Claudia going to the facility where the Warehouse Regents had her sister Claire (Chryssie Whitehead) in the artifact induced coma. Not only is Claire gone but the artifact that is keeping her in the coma is gone. Using the Durational Spectrometer Artie and Claudia discover that Benedict Valda (Mark Sheppard) from the alternate time-line has kidnapped Claire.

Valda gives a demonstration of power of some artifacts to a mysterious buyer telling him that instead of being stored away to collect dust they should be used and experimented with to advance science and civilization. He endangers a crowd of people in a park and is several steps ahead of the warehouse team. They save the people and must figure out what his plan is.

The team discovers that Valda's plan is to move the warehouse using Clarie as a puppet caretaker to his "Warehouse 14". Artie describes the special procedure that needs to be followed to insure the warehouse gets moved properly and the artifacts transferred to the new location. There are three artifacts that need to be used and they discover that Valda has them, except for one piece which they must travel to Boston to obtain. As with Indiana Jones in his movies they locate the artifact only to have it taken from them by their nemesis.

The team works out that Valda plans to move the warehouse to China and has found a location. Pete, Myka and Claudia use an artifact portal to beat Valda to China while Artie and Steve try to hold down the fort er the warehouse and keep Valda from completing the transfer of the artifacts to the new warehouse.

 While picking up the pieces so to speak, resettling things Artie and Myka see the warehouse compass (one of the tools needed to move the warehouse) turns back on. Artie Farnsworths Mrs.Frederic she announces that Valda's actions have set some things in motion that even she can't control or predict. Some of Mrs. Frederic's past was revealed earlier in the episode that confirms she is over 100 years old.

Series Regulars:
Pete Lattimer (Eddie McClintock)
Myka Bering (Joanne Kelly)
Artie Nielsen (Saul Rubenik)
Claudia Donovan (Allison Scagliotti)
Steve Jinks (Aaron Ashmore)
Mrs. Frederic (CCH Pounder)

Guest Cast:
Claire Donovan (Chryssie Whitehead)
Benedict Valda (Mark Sheppard)

On a light subtle reference to something else the artifact that Benedict Valda used to control Claire the Donovan Chester Moore Hall's Achromatric Lens has major similarities to the Borg from Star Trek: The Next Generation and later Trek Series.

Once again they brought the dang Pete Loves Myka shipping junk into the plot, just as NCIS: Los Angeles has been shipping Marty Deeks and Kensi Blye. Maybe both shows have the same romance loving writers. With this new plot undertones Pete has become more of a wuss (ditto Deeks).

I give this episode 4 Warehouse artifacts ****

Myka Monday: Clarification

Yes Myka there is just one more episode after tonight.

Image from Season 1 Episode 7 "Implosion".

Fryday Fourtoon: Numba 61

"Strong and bitter words indicate a weak cause."

Daily Numbers: 7 0 7
Lotto Six #'s: 37 38 8 36 42 31

*Fortunes and Lottery Numbers are posted for entertainment purposes only.

Warehouse 13 Wednesday: Savage Seduction

EPISODE 5.4 "Savage Seduction"

Original Air Date: 05 May 2014

CLUADIA "Nice work ladies, take five."

Warning: This review may contain spoilers.

Hola,

Bienvenido a Almacén Trece y mi informe sobre el episodio "Salvaje de Seducción". OK do I need to use BabelFish again to reverse translate that?*

First off this was a very fun episode, it was super silly. I think the production team decided on this one to just pull all the stops out and say "what the heck the show is canceled lets just make a fun silly episode". I know some hardcore WH13 fans hate it because it was so silly and slapstick. So What the silliness is in part to the telenovela format style/nature. Anyone who was expecting it to be a serious episode is probably too engrossed in the show to notice any subtleties like genre parody. Also the artifact that Artie and Pete take into the situation was a clue that things would get pretty silly. I really loved this episode despite some of the lame silly things that I would normally wonder why did they overlook that? Or why didn't they fix that?

I probably should say that the episode totally embraced the whole Cinco de Mayo thing with embedding the main artifact of the episode inside a Spanish speaking telenovela style show that is entitled "Salvaje de Seducción" ("Savage Seduction") They even have the dialogue spoken in Spanish and have subtitles in English during the telenovela scenes. Pete seems to have a little trouble with the Spanish not sure if it is a character thing, an actor thing or just my imagination. Oh even the opening music was in Latin music style. I think the only other cool thing they could have done was to have planned a little better and started Season 5 a week earlier so that this episode would have been number 5 instead of number 4, but you can't be totally perfecto.

Ahora con la revisió - Um Now on with the review. Things started normally for our Warehouse Agents, which as we know doesn't stay normal. Myka is typing away at a laptop on the couch at the Bread & Breakfast. Pete comes in from behind her with a snack (a hoagie sandwich of some kind) he reads what she is typing over her shoulder and she snaps the laptop shut. She has been writing a novel, off and on for about a year now, mostly off. Artie comes in with news of an artifact ping and yells for Steve. Pete and Myka vocalize the ping should be for them but Artie explains that he wants Steve and Claudia to handle it to get Claudia away from her exhaustive overworking of trying to figure out how to completely cure her sister Claire.

The ping takes Claudia and Steve to the college campus of "Dakota University", which they get to via the GPS of Steve's Toyota Prius (a subtle nod to SyFy Channel's previous not so-subliminal advertising partnership with it's advertisers in WH13 to the annoyance of some WH13 fans). A student Charlie Battes (Lovell Adams-Gray) was giving a presentation when a shadow flies from the back of the room slams him up against the wall breaking his spine. The hospital reports he has alcohol poisoning but the professor says the student was clean sober while giving his presentation.

Steve and Claudia talk to one of the student's roommates and learns he was a party hardy type. They visit the site he was partying at and find a cellphone with a video showing him falling from a roof onto a car. The time stamp on video from the cellphone matches the time he was giving the presentation back on campus. His back injuries he received in the classroom are consistent with a fall like that shown on the video, but how could he be in two places at once? Based on some graffiti and a Latin phrase the student shouted before he fell, Steve figures out he was associated with a frat on campus.

Back at the B&B Pete's old girlfriend Kelly the veterinarian (Paula Garces) makes a surprise visit, she is very pregnant. She assures Pete he isn't the father, besides it has been over two years since they were together and she has since married, her husband is the father. The reason for her visit is that something strange and weird has happened and Pete works with the weird. Her grandmother Horntenia Hernandez (Teresa Yenque) who is always at home has disappeared and the weirdness has something to do with her TV which is showing the final episode of her grandmother's favorite telenovela "Salvaje de Seducción" even after it has been unplugged from the wall and power source. Another sort of subtle nod this time to WH13s own cancellation. While investigating the disappearance of grandma the house cat shows them what happened to her by getting sucked into the TV and onto the telenovela and there is grandma playing the role of Dona Fausta the family matriarch of the show, according to Kelly the character dies in the final episode. Carelessly Myka and Kelly are also sucked into the television, Myka has become a maid name Maribel and Kelly is a rich woman named Ms. Carmen Obregon who suspects Maribel of being attracted to her fiance Armando.

On campus while visiting the frat house investigating the injured student, Claudia and Steve hit some roadblocks by the frat boys. They notice one party hardy frat brother Ox (Serje Basi) headed downstairs to chug-a-lug they are not allowed to enter the house upon turning around heading to the street they notice the party boy's "Twin" sitting outside studying. Suspecting something is going on at the frat house they peak in a basement window to see party dude Ox down a pitcher of beer and pass out, a shadow races from him straight to his studying "twin". So the frat boys have found something that duplicates people, one lazy no-good party hardy bum and one goodie-two-shoes bookworm.

After a Farnsworth conversation/update about grandma's TV, Artie arrives at the home of Kelly's grandmother. Pete gives him a letter she had received recently from the producers of the telenovela, but Pete can't read it 'cause it's written in Spanish. Fortunately Artie can read Spanish. As a thank you gift for being a loyal fan the producers sent her a prop broach that had been used on the show. Artie and Pete see Nana wearing the artifact brooch (Dona Fausta's Brooch). Artie theorises that Nana's love for the show and sadness of the cancellation news turned the brooch into an artifact. They will have to go into the show to save Myka, Kelly and Nana, before they do though Artie hands Pete one of Harvey Korman's Cufflinks Kroman was famous for being unable to keep in character on The Carol Burnett Show. Harvey's cufflinks allow a person to stay themselves when they get into the role of a character. Cufflinks in hands Artie and Pete then enter the TV.

Claudia and Steve discover the artifact that duplicates people is a candle, Edna St. Vincent Millay's Candle to be precise. When the candle is burned at both ends and wax from the candle is splashed on someone, that person is split into two separate "twins" one is hard working and studious and the other lazy fun loving and wild. When one of the twins is knocked unconscious they are reunited (the shadow that jumps into the individual). Before they can get hold of the candle and defuse it, Steve gets duplicated by it. His wild fun loving self is a stereotypical word mincing and lisping homosexual horn dog, while his hard working studious self is a bit reserved and embarrassed. Claudia quickly likes the stereotypical  Steve and acts as his fag hag big time. It makes for many humorous lines.

Pete arrives in telenovela land but there is no Artie. He discovers he is speaking in Spanish and gets a big kick out of it. Soon he discovers he is the much talked about lover Armando and that Maribel is in love with him and that Carmen and her mom Alicia (Sonia Braga) are plotting to kill Dona Fausta and anyone else who gets in the way of some inheritance or something.

Pete and Myka discover Artie in a psyche ward in a straight jacket as Colonel Rafael Obregon the lost son of Dona and thought to be the father of Carmen, at some point Artie drops the cufflink he was holding on to and reveals that Maribel is his true daughter. A corny effect of the cufflinks artifact is whenever Pete, Artie or Myka receive the cufflink a trumpet blast sounds, they get a blast of air in their face which blows Pete/Armondo's mustache so hard it almost falls off. The trumpet blast is then followed by a shout of "Ole!" The first time it happens it was pretty funny but as the running gag of the artifact it wears thin very fast, still pretty corny though. The warehouse team eventually get their act together and stop the nefarious family members and find the brooch. Artie neutralizes the artifact brooch by breaking it returning them to the real world.

Claudia and the Steves track down the candle, the Steves fight over it and Claudia manages to get it and bag it. She is surprised that it wasn't neutralized and then figures out that one of the Steves has to be knocked unconscious. This she does by zapping wild Steve with her mini pocket Tesla.

Later in the evening as Claudia is typing away at something in the main office at the warehouse Artie storms in angry at her for doing something and reveals that someone has taken Claire. Cliffhanger for next episode. Aye Caramba!

Series Regulars:
Pete Lattimer (Eddie McClintock)
Myka Bering (Joanne Kelly)
Artie Nielsen (Saul Rubenik)
Claudia Donovan (Allison Scagliotti)
Steve Jinks (Aaron Ashmore)

Guest Cast:

Dr. Kelly Hernandez (Paula Garces)
Horntenia Hernandez (Teresa Yenque)
Alicia (Sonia Braga)
Maria (Barbara de la Fuente)
Nicole (Angelica Lisk-Hann)
Esperanza (Carmen Araiza)
Lupe (Stefania Serna)
Professor Moulton (Craig Eldridge)
Charlie Battes Frat Brother (Lovell Adams-Gray)
Bryce (Jeremy Ferdman)
Ox (Serje Basi)
Asylum Orderly Carlos (Dalton Brown)

I give this episode 4.5 Warehouse artifacts ****.5


*Original English for BabelFish translation to Spanish:
Hello,
Welcome to Warehouse Thirteen and my review of the episode "Savage Seduction".

Myka Monday: Cinco de Myka

My friends lets CELEBRATE CINCO DE MYKA

Image from Season 5 Episode 4 "Savage Seduction"

OK Myka we were surprised too. Ay Carumba only 2 more episodes after tonight's.

Warehouse 13 Wednesday: A Faire To Remember

EPISODE: 5.3 "A Faire To Remember"

Original Air Date: 28 April 2014

MYKA: "Don't worry about it, I'll take care of Artie"

Warning: This review may contain spoilers.

This episode started to get back to the basics the series should be on. There was the main artifact quest search mystery and then the back at the warehouse picking up the pieces sort of back story part. Things start off at a Renaissance faire where Oswald "The Doofer" (Ryan Cartwright) is having problems juggling some wooden clubs and starts getting heckled. A mysterious masked figure magically appears and sends some energy to the heckler causing him to have a heart attack, the mysterious figure then disappears.

Meanwhile back at the ranch or rather the Bread and Breakfast Artie announces that the new dark vault is ready and he needs help returning the artifacts from that section, he tells the team about a ping (the incident  at the Ren Faire) He sends Pete and Steve to the Faire and enlists Myka to help with the artifact restocking. But first she has to "locate" Claudia. Claudia is determined to revive her sister Claire (Chryssie Whitehead) and somehow Myka has figured that out, she also has figured that she is doing it behind Artie's back.

At the fair Pete and Steve interview Oswald (Cartwright SyFy fans will remember played Gary Bell on Alphas which is sort of in the same universe as Warehouse 13 because of Doctor Vanessa Calder (Lindsay Wagner) appeared there as well) and learn that he has been cursed by the Faire's Gypsy fortune teller Madame Dooriya (Mary Lou Rosato) or so he thinks. He was actually cursed from the main artifact Mother Shipton's Tarot Cards which make the cards predictions come true. To confuse matters a little it was not Madame Dooriya but her granddaughter Catarina (Erin Way who played Kat on Alphas) disguised as Madame Dooriya. Pete and Steve deactivate the deck of cards, but their full hand has to be played out. Oswald has to show the courage the cards are drawing out of him in order for him to win the hand of the Princess of the faire, but his heart belongs to Catarina.

Claudia revives Claire with Myka's help by combining some artifacts. However in the process Myka gets Whammied by the Music Box that had originally possessed Claire. When Myka returns to help Artie restock the dark vault artifacts he discovers her possession and eventually gets things under control. In the process however Claire has to be put back into a coma. This was a disappointment to me as I thought they should have found a way to keep her revived, maybe they will do so in the last episode.

Series Regulars:
Pete Lattimer (Eddie McClintock)
Myka Bering (Joanne Kelly)
Artie Nielsen (Saul Rubenik)
Claudia Donovan (Allison Scagliotti)
Steve Jinks (Aaron Ashmore)

Guest Cast:
Oswald "The Doofer" (Ryan Cartwright)
Catarina (Erin Way)
Claire Donovan (Chryssie Whitehead)
King (Richard Fitzpatrick)
Princess (Victoria "Tori" Anderson)
The Herold (Andre Arruda)
Madame Dooriya (Mary Lou Rosato)
Joe "Puppet Jester" (Danny Smith)
Magician (William Fisher)

Except for the unresolved Claire in a coma problem I really enjoyed this episode. I think they are sort of getting back on the right track. I am still annoyed that the series is ending before it reaches its full potential. If I were a professional writer and could come up with new and cool artifact ideas I would love to work on a series of novels for the show.

I give this episode 4 Warehouse artifacts ****

Myka Monday: Semi Smile

4 More episodes to go yay, but the Final Season is almost half over. So smile sort of.

Image from "Vendetta" Season 2 Episode 9

Warehouse 13 Wednesday: 5.2 Secret Services

EPISODE: 5.2 "Secret Services"

Original Air Date: 21 April 2014

MYKA: "I liked it better when you just stared at my boobs."

Warning: This review may contain spoilers.

Before I get into this review I need to do a little bit of a rant. This episode touched on the subject of character relationship "Shipping" which I feel is OK for fan fiction but NOT for the actual canon of a shows on-air history, unless the evolution of the characters were planned like that from the start. I'm talking about the Pete and Myka relationship, they hinted at taking it to a real level. UGH! Warehouse 13 is first and foremost a Sci-Fi action/adventure with touch of Steampunk NOT ROMANCE FANTASY FICTION. I've seen plenty of fans for the Pete/Myka relationship in online forums, but I have been dead set against it from day one. Their relationship is one that needs the tension. They are also like brother and sister not romantic lovers. From day one it has been obvious that Pete has the hots for Myka (who wouldn't even H.G. was hot for her) but Myka has NEVER shown, shared or reciprocated the feelings/thoughts (I know the feeling). Hooking characters up just to have them hook up is never good for a show, especially if they have had this tension type of relationship. Shows like Moonlighting and The X-Files tried shipping the main characters and it totally ruined the show. OK Warehouse 13 is in the final episodes, but come on people don't stoop down to that level. Sadly it looks like the producers and the writers have listened to the minority fan-girls of the show that want the relationship to be real. Again UGH! The time they spent on the "relationship" affected my rating of this episode. Yet Again UGH! - End Rant

Now onto the review: This episode had three plot points when it really should have only had two. The main artifact was one of the main plots that brought in some Secret Service acquaintances of Pete and Myka who had been working on an unrelated case. That brought in the awful Pete and Myka shipping angle I ranted about because the pair of acquaintances Agents Ted Simkins (Mark Deklin) and Elise Mayer (Janet Varney) were partners who grew to love each other and started suggesting that Pete and Myka should follow their feelings. UGH! The third plot point was Claudia digging into what has become of her sister Claire (Chryssie Whitehead) whom she had previously presumed had died along with her parents. She gets Artie to show her what really happened since he had lied to her about it previously.

Somebody or more precisely something is killing Congressmen by spontaneous drowning. Long drawn out review short it is the effect of Alfred Dreyfus's Sword Hilt when someone looks at the sword hilt it flashes its power onto them so the next time that they lie they start drowning from sea water. Before Pete and Myka actually know what is causing the drowning Myka figures out a temporary relief by using a necklace made from the silver mines of the Atacama Desert (The driest place on Earth) which dries up the seawater in their lungs. The big revealing connection of the victims was some sort of conspiracy concerning Oil Fracking, yes a Battlestar Galactica reference is made by Pete the Geek.

Meanwhile Artie reluctantly shows Claudia the events that lead up to current condition of her sister Claire through the use of a pair of bronze baby shoes.When holding the baby shoes past events are relived,  apparently you can control what memories are brought up by concentrating on a past event. Claudia discovers that Claire had acted up due to the influence of Frances Farmer's Music Box which causes telekinetic outbursts triggered by anger. Claire activated the music box when she tested to see if it worked at a yard sale. Claire has been kept under an artifact induced coma by the Warehouse Regents through the use of a combination of Joseph Pilates' Resistance Bands to keep Claire's muscles from moving but keep her circulatory system active. and Oliver Sach's Record Player which keeps her mind in the coma.

Series Regulars:
Pete Lattimer (Eddie McClintock)
Myka Bering (Joanne Kelly)
Artie Nielsen (Saul Rubenik)
Claudia Donovan (Allison Scagliotti)
Steve Jinks (Aaron Ashmore)
Mrs. Frederic (CCH Pounder)

Guest Cast:
Ted Simkins (Mark Deklin)
Elise Mayer (Janet Varney)
Diane Hewlett (Megan Gallagher)
Julia Helmsworth (Emily Alatalo)
Claire Donovan (Chryssie Whitehead)
Young (15 years old) Claire (Abigail Winter)
Young Claudia (T.J. McGibbon)
Claudia's Mom (Fiona Byrne)
Clauida's Dad (Peter Valdron)

Due to the character shipping I had to drop my rating of this episode down one point. The relationship issue was too much of a major plot point. With that in mind I give this episode 3 Warehouse artifacts ***