Warehouse 13 Season 4, Episode 4: There’s Always A Downside

Pete and Claudia head to a preparatory academy where Hugo Miller’s nephew has loaned out four of Bobby Fischer’s Marbles as the school’s Academic Olympics draws near to help their team win. The disastrous side effects lead toward a possible massacre of the entire student body.

Myka and Jinks head to New Orleans where a Doctor’s patients have miraculously recovered from their traumas – seemingly overnight. Their investigation leads them to a jazz club, and a very troubled young man.

Artie, back in univille all alone, deals with the continued annoyance of Brother Adrian, and finally admits to using the astrolabe and refuses to set things right. Adrian leaves, but not before warning Artie that things are already set in motion.

Artifacts in this Episode:

Bobby Fischer’s Bag of Marbles – gives a person incredible focus, concentration and a drive to achieve any goal set. The drive will eventually turn violent. Also, apparently, causes veins to darken to black and causes the body enough stress that it will send the affected person into cardiac arrest or stroke.

Scott Joplin’s Cigarette Case – By touching it and another person, allows for pain transfer. Emotional pain is transferred to the case’s holder in the form of physical pain. Absorbing too much pain will result in death.

John Reiley “Jack” Duncan’s Spur (Fake) – Item tracks the movement of a person or object, but causes horses to be afraid of the user for several days after.

My Thoughts:

Let’s step back and wonder if maybe Brent Spiner’s Wrath is the “evil” Artie unleashed on the world. Maybe if the black diamond bros would take a breather and not be so uptight, maybe they’d realize this could end up being a self-fulfilling prophesy. Also, if they’re going to be stealing artifacts and leaving (what we have to assume are “real” black diamonds in the context of the show) Artie’s going to be pretty well off by the time he kicks it.

I called the Heather’s allusion pretty quickly, but I was still really pleased that it was there, especially when Claudia flat out calls each of the cheerleaders “Heather.”

I’m really pleased that they brought Hugo Miller back, even if it is for only for this one episode. His character adds a different side to the idea of what happens to a warehouse agent when their time at the warehouse is over – not everyone dies. His rather scatter brained delivery gives Claudia an opportunity to prove just how mature some of the past episodes’ events have forced her to become.

It should be interesting to see how the stolen artifacts develops… and what the point of that plan is. Presently, I’m not seeing much of a point, other than to cause a disruption and severe annoyance.