Someone’s targeting the Regents, and the team, Mrs. Frederick, and the Regents may not survive.

Last week, Special Agent Stukowski’s true colors were revealed by a dog wearing a fez: she’s working for the mysterious man in the wheelchair who has been targeting Warehouse 13 all season. Our heroes capture her, and Mrs. Frederick and Jinks interrogate her. But when the former resorts to torture, Jinks is not pleased. He tries rationality—pointing out that torture never produces good intel—and then threats—pulling a gun on Mrs. Frederick.

Meanwhile, the Regents are being targeted, and have been gathered in a building for their safety by their security person—except, thanks to Stukowski, the bad guys know about the location and are targeting it now that they’re all conveniently in one place. The building is hit with a spray-paint bottle used to put graffiti on the Berlin Wall shortly before it fell, which messes with the structural integrity of the building. While Artie, Myka, and the Regents try to get out of the crumbling structure, Pete and Claudia go after the guy with the spray paint. This continues the season’s trademark of mixing and matching different combinations of agents, all to good effect.

This is a tense storyline, with action, intrigue, a welcome condemnation of torture after seeing it glorified on television way too often (yes, 24, I’m looking at you), and some serious stakes for the Warehouse, as more than one Regent bites the dust.

In addition, Warehouse 13 continues to prove that it has have taken over from the Stargate franchise as the wayward home for out-of-work genre actors. This season alone, we’ve gotten Rene Auberjonois, Lindsay Wagner, Jeri Ryan, and Gareth David-Lloyd, and this week it’s Kate “Captain Janeway” Mulgrew in the first of a multiepisode role as a Regent named Jane, who has a secret that is revealed in the last frame.

Verdict: A tight action episode that moves the big plot forward while raising the stakes for the team.

Episode 8 “The 40th Floor”: 9/10

Keith R.A. DeCandido

 

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