Warehouse 13: Syfy’s hidden gem of the early 2010s
In July 2009, the Syfy network premiered a new show, Warehouse 13. It ran for the next five years, and despite being one of Syfy’s most-watched shows of the time, it’s often unheard of or swept under the rug in terms of pop culture. Let me bless you with a retrospective of this glorious television spectacle.
The two-part first episode features Secret Service agents Myka Bering—played by Joanne Kelly—and Pete Lattimer—played by Eddie McClintock—who are transferred out of Washington D.C. and to a mysterious warehouse in South Dakota. They meet the eccentric caretaker of the warehouse, Artie Nielsen—played by Saul Rubinek—who informs them that they are both now agents, working for him in a top-secret government building, which he calls Warehouse 13.
Myka and Pete are quickly assigned a mission and learn that their new job as “warehouse agents” is to travel the country, investigating suspicious, supernatural events while recovering paranormal “artifacts” to be safely cataloged in the warehouse. Pete is immediately intrigued, having a prior belief in the supernatural, but Myka, who is very level-headed, is unconvinced. The show quickly falls into the rhythm of a procedural, “freak-of-the-week” style program as they embark on a small town in Iowa in the second half of the pilot.
Another great addition to this show is the artifacts; they are paranormal, dangerous, and usually hold crucial historical context. In the pilot episode, the artifact disrupting a college town—across the country, I may add—is a jeweled comb that supposedly belonged to Lucrezia Borgia, an Italian noblewoman from the House of Borgia. A fictional alchemist created the comb, and the wearer is possessed by the will of Lucrezia Borgia, who held a deep desire to be loved. The wearer of the comb begins to feel this, but the powerful artifact’s hold is usually too uncontrollable. Eventually, this causes the user to become so desperate that they would do anything for love, including killing those who come in their way. It’s implied that if left unchecked, the wearer of the comb would not stop until everyone, everywhere, was either devoted to them or dead.
After the events of their first assignment, it becomes clear to Pete and Myka just how serious their new job is, and, shockingly, it opens them up a little more to the idea of staying. They both accept their role and set out on an additional twelve episodes of adventure. They continue to “snag, bag, and tag” artifacts from all over the United States, saving lives and storing them safely in the warehouse. Plus, the warehouse seems to be a little paranormal itself, with its seemingly impossible gargantuan size and confusing rows and sections.
The show is an eclectic mix of genres, with science-fiction gadgets, mystery/detective plots, and history references galore. By midway through the first season, you’re invested in each of the characters, including a new addition, a 19-year-old computer whiz named Claudia Donovan—played by Allison Scagliotti. Most of the five seasons follow the same formula of “freak-of-the-week episodes,” with an important culminating plot towards the end of the season. While the show is mostly about the weekly fun mysteries and historical artifacts, these fun and interesting one-off plots hint at overarching themes and character development allowing you to get more attached to the team while watching them help each other grow as people.
For the history connoisseurs, some notable historical references from the list of mentioned artifacts: Agatha Christie’s typewriter, the arrow of Achilles, Babe Ruth’s baseball bat, Bruce Lee’s punching bag, David's slingshot, the driftwood from the RMS Titanic, the doorknob from the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory, Edgar Allan Poe's quill pen and notebook, a glass jar from the Donner Party, Alfred Hitchcock’s metal pinwheel, Harry Houdini's wallet, Charles Ponzi's money clip, Lewis Carroll's looking glass, Mary Mallon's butcher knife, as well as objects related to Philo Farnsworth, H.G. Wells, Nikola Tesla, and many more.
The show also states that there have been twelve previous versions of the warehouse which somehow traveled from place to place with each new iteration. It’s said that, in 300 B.C., at the request of Alexander the Great, Warehouse 1 was supposedly created. The warehouse then moved to Egypt and was said to be housed in the “most powerful current ruling empire” of each period.
The show ran for five seasons until 2014, with 64 episodes. It is currently only available to stream with a subscription to Hulu but has shuffled between several streaming services in the last few years. The show can arguably be compared to The X-Files, Supernatural, Torchwood, The Librarians, and many similar procedural-style paranormal television shows. Several critics referred to the show as incredibly similar to The X-Files but with a slight twist on the Indiana Jones franchise… so what are you waiting for? Start watching Warehouse 13 right now.
Thumbnail Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons