Running Up That Hill
Okay so we all remember THAT moment in Warehouse 13 in the hangar and how it ripped out all of our souls, and how the song Running Up That Hill playing over it compounded the effect, but I want to appreciate WHY. The chorus is what is really most important and the reason it has such an impact:
If I only could/ Make a deal with God/ Get Him to swap our places/ Be running up that road/ be running up that hill/ be running up that building/ if I only could
and I think the reason it’s so perfect is because the song shifts perspectives
The music actually starts long before they walk into the hangar and find Jinksy, it starts in the woods when Steve explains his plan to Claudia. He tells her he’s undercover and that he is doing this to protect her, that he is going to make it all okay for her and keep her safe like a good brother, and as they say goodbye and he starts to run off the music starts.
Here the song is his. He is putting himself in danger, seemingly betraying his team and even pretending to reject Claudia, going against everything he believes in so that he can get the information that they need to keep Claudia safe. He is putting himself in danger so that she won’t be. He swapped their places
Then, the music gets quieter as we see the events between the woods and finding Steve unfold, and it isn’t until they open the hangar door that we can really hear the lyrics all that well again
But as soon as they do, as soon as Pete, Myka, and Claudia come into the hangar we can suddenly hear the lyrics loud and clear again, in fact louder than ever before.
Here the song becomes Claudia’s. Because here is where she figures out something is wrong from Pete’s face (something Jinksy always does, and said in the forrest he wished she could do), and rushes up to find her best friend dead, killed in an effort to protect her. And there she wishes nothing more than to make a deal with God, and swap their places