If you guessed "Warehouse 13 rewatch time," you're right!
Full thought thread and screen caps after the break. There will be spoilers in the commentary and screenshots, if that's important to you.
If you liked this post and would like to see more, I'll be posting these as I rewatch the series. I will be tagging them with the reboot and show tag, so if you don't want to see them, feel free to block #WarehouseRewatch (no space) to avoid the posts.
Season 1, Episode 1: Pilot
IMO, the pilot was a great pilot - for another show. While it was exciting and still had great elements of the heartfelt characters we'll come to love, it was missing Warehouse's sense of humor. This isn't a criticism, just an observation. It's still a great pilot.
Eeee! There's our girl!
"Lost. One day I'll find him."
Maybe we could find that lost agent in a reboot plot with Artie.
When I said the pilot doesn't have the series' sense of humor, I didn't mean it didn't have one at all. It just wasn't leaning into it yet. Hi there, little Pete! Welcome to the family!
"You're connected, Pete. Very rare." Way to drop something cryptic in the pilot and never expand on it. The headcanons this line has generated...
Our first look at the Farnsworth! Look at how happy Mrs. F. looks! If WH13 came out today, I wonder if this design would still be used. It's certainly not super unique to have realtime videochat nowadays.
"Go to Iowa. Find the artifact, if there is one."
Kinda interesting how the pilot is one of the only times where the cast is like "...but IS it an artifact?"
"I thought this was a colossal waste of time."
"Not anymore."
Myka was so stern in the pilot. I'm glad it was temporary. It's not a bad thing that she and Pete were so opposite in the pilot, but seeing them become two parts of a single machine was great.
Ahh, the zipline. The gift that kept on giving. Whoever thought of this deserved a raise.
Personally I think the pilot handed Pete and Myka the artifact and culprit without much real connected investigation. Most of the show allows you to come to your own conclusion alongside the agents. But it was over an hour into the pilot, so we give it a pass.
Myka goes through a pretty big shift in perspective throughout the pilot. Pete was on board from the get-go, but she needed convincing that the Warehouse was worth it. I think it proved that it was.
I like the Warehouse 13 pilot. It's a great starting point, but I'm glad that the show developed into its own monster. Season one in general is kind of weak in my opinion because the show hadn't yet evolved into what it would become. Luckily, it settled into that by season two.
This episode introduces us to our first long-term plot, while the Artifact of the Week story takes us for an emotional trip and makes us question whether the law is always "in the right."
(Reminder: block #WarehouseRewatch if you want to avoid these posts!)
We get to see Artie's NSA training and Leena's caring nature right off the bat! I know it's not realistic, but I always enjoy watching Artie and/or Claudia working cybermagic to outsmart baddies (or each other).
# of times Pete flirts as a Warehouse agent: 1
# of times Myka understandably hits Pete: 1
Pete's habit of flirting with anything on two legs is a big negative about his character. It's something we see him slowly grow out of. Which is good, because he needed growth. Badly.
Our first affected bystander. Poor lady can't even remember getting whammied.
Myka's description of her father's behavior hits a little close to home for some folks, myself included. Giving both Pete and Myka difficult family pasts was certainly a choice. It allowed them to bond in a special way and enabled them to be the voice of reason for one another.
# of times Pete touched something he probably shouldn't have: 1
This little gizmo, though. It got so much mileage. Who needs a hacker when you have steampunk tech power?
Lady, why do you know all of Myka's backstory, and why do you care enough to bring it up to her partner? I know you're FBI, but that's none of your business.
"A scrupulous eye for detail" indeed.
Myka showing off why the Warehouse chose her.
# of times Myka understandably hits Pete: 2
Ah, yes, the boob jokes. They're childish and crass, but they're Pete.
I still find myself smiling any time Pete gets a vibe or Steve calls out a lie. I love these seemingly superhuman, but overly subtle, abilities. They're part of what makes Warehouse 13 what it is. In this case, Pete's vibe saves their retrieval efforts.
I really liked Dickinson. I thought having an intrusive ex-supervisor was an interesting challenge the cast had to deal with. And he seemed to be a pretty good guy, even if he got in the way at times.
And here's the first time the Warehouse looks the other way when dealing with using artifacts to break the law for the "right reasons." It's debatable they did the right thing. But they made that choice, and it's an ethics standard the series maintains.
Ah, Warehouse 13 and its cliffhangers... What's going on here? What are Artie's visions of? What could the Warehouse be telling him?
