Welcome Warehouse agents as we go on another artifact hunt, actually a mega hunt! This week, the burden of Artie’s actions weighs heavily on him as the entire Warehouse team head to North Dakota to retrieve a cache of stolen artifacts that once belonged to Walter Sykes.
WARNING! SPOILERS AHEAD!
Steve is packing up his belongings from the dead agents’ vault (since he’s no longer dead) and as he finishes, Claudia comes in to take him to Artie’s office for a mission briefing. Apparently something has gotten Pete all worked up – and it’s the subject of the lack of hot water available at the B&B. Claudia can’t believe this is the mission briefing until Artie arrives to tell them the real problem.
He informs them that he got a ping from Devil’s Lake, North Dakota. A cleaning lady had all the symptoms of a spider bite but no actual marks of a bite itself. The venom found in her system was from an incredibly rare South American spider. Before, Artie could tell the team the name of the arachnoid, Steve recognizes the symptoms and tells them that it’s from the theraphosa blondi spider and that he’s seen the artifact that could have cause the cleaning lady’s condition. It was from a small wooden token artifact that belonged to Walker Sykes. (Will this guy never go away?)
Steve tells them that Sykes used to keep his arsenal of artifacts in crates labeled “A to Z Technologies” at the hanger but Claudia, Pete, and Myka tell him that there weren’t any crates when they got there. They surmise that Marcus may have taken them to Devil’s Lake. Claudia checks the houses that the cleaning lady worked at and finds that one of the homes belonged to someone named Mazzanti. Myka remembers that Enrico Mazzanti was the original illustrator for Collodi’s Pinnochio and that Sykes was obsessed with Collodi’s bracelet. Artie figures out that this must be a safe house for Sykes and his artifacts and sends Pete and Myka to retrieve them.
At Devil’s Lake, Pete and Myka break into the Mazzanti home and find fake family photos on a table and surmise that the house was there only for appearances sake. As they search the house for the crates, Pete hears a noise coming from the basement and goes to investigate. Meanwhile, Myka finds the wooden token artifact and collects it with a neutralizer glove. Just then, she hears Pete call to her. As she rushes to the basement, Pete shows her the empty crate and tells her that someone beat them to the artifacts.
At a pawn shop, a young man named Jesse tries to sell junk that he says he found in his grandmother’s basement. As the pawnshop owner goes to the back to get his price guide, Jesse notices a pipe with a windmill carved on the side. He decides to play around with it and as he blows into the pipe, a dark cloud of wind emerges. When the pawnshop owner returns, Jesse tries to hide the pipe behind his back but the owner sees him. He offers $640 for the whole lot and lets Jesse keep the pipe.
Pete and Myka tell Artie about the missing items and as they talk, Myka sees an alarm box. She realizes that the security company never came to the house so that whoever took the artifacts must have known the code. Claudia gives them the address of the security company and the agents head to check it out.
At the company, Pete and Myka question the clerk at the desk about Sykes and the robbery at his home. Seeing that they may be on to him, he excuses himself and heads to the back to escape through a window. Knowing he can’t get away, the clerk confesses that the break-ins were all Jesse’s idea and that he just gives him the security codes. He tells the agents that Jesse usually sells the items he steals at a pawn shop.
Myka and Pete head to the same shop where Jesse was earlier. Just as they are about to go in, Pete gets a bad vibe. Suddenly the pawnshop explodes.
Later, Leena, Artie, Claudia and Steve arrive at Devil’s Lake to examine the damage. Pete comments on how Leena is “out on the field.” Artie tells him that he brought Leena to do “whatever that Leena does” as there are so many artifacts involved. (Apparently Leena is a bit of an artifact decorator savant as she can sense what artifact can be next to which one without them setting each other off.) Pete explains that the owner gave the cow bell to him but before Pete could go on with what happened, Leena and Artie carefully grab it from Pete’s hand. They explain that the cow bell belonged to Mrs. O’Leary and was the cause of the Great Chicago Fire. The same bell started the Great Fire of London in 1666.
Myka tells them that the owner is singed but will live. The bad part is that he already sold 6 artifacts and that the person who sold the artifacts to him kept a pipe. Since the buyers paid by credit card, Claudia was able to bring up their names and address. Artie tells Claudia and Steve to retrieve the birdcage, sunglasses, and waffle iron artifacts while he and Leena go after the golf clubs and violin. Pete and Myka are in charge of finding Jesse and getting the pipe.
Claudia and Steve’s first stop for the sunglasses is at a lingerie shop. Claudia is excited about their first artifact hunt since Steve’s resurrection but Steve is still wary as he’s concerned about the downside of the metronome. Claudia brushes off his concerns and challenges that she can find more artifacts on their list than he can.
As they reach the sales person behind the counter, they ask if she has seen Jordan, the man who bought the glasses. The sales person says that he usually works in the back but hasn’t seen him in a while. Claudia asks if she has noticed anything strange happening at the shop and she tells them she thought she heard someone sneeze and that things have been falling off the shelves for no reason. Claudia checks her UAD (the unsnagged artifact database) and sees that the sunglasses belong to a John A. Macready, the man who invented Ray Bans. His first pair worked so well that it made the wearer invisible. Just then a woman runs out wearing only a bra and skirt screaming there was a ghost in the dressing room. Guess they found the sunglasses.
At Jesse’s apartment, a neighbor tells Pete that she heard a large crash but thought it was from the meth lab on the floor below. Myka spots what looks like lightning strikes and Pete asked if Thor smoked a pipe. Myka founds Jesse’s laptop and sees that Jesse had looked up the location of the nearest ATM/bank.
Artie and Leena head to the Marley School of Music where the violin artifact is being played by a young girl. As she plays, fire balls are released unbeknownst to the violinist. Artie and Leena rush into the room and grab the violin from the girl. They tell her that they are from the Department of Contagion and that they need to confiscate the instrument. The music teacher is concerned. Contagion? Is it the Avian Flu? Or SARS? She demands to have the violin taken away. As Artie and Claudia leave, the music teacher asks if they should quarantine the little girl. Artie tells her to just have her wash her hands.
Myka and Pete arrive at the Country Sky S&L Branch but they are too late. Jesse has already robbed it. They notice that it is snowing and Myka wonders why it’s snowing in the middle of summer. Pete surmises it must be a residual effect of the pipe. They talk to a witness who tells them that the bank was hit by a rogue tornado. Pete and Myka realize the pipe controls the weather and Jesse has figured out how to use it.
Myka and Pete visit Jessie’s mom and she tells them it’s been weeks since she’s seen him. As they talk Myka asks for a glass of water and as Jessie’s mom leaves the room, Myka notices paperwork from the bank. Apparently the bank was going to foreclose on their home. Pete tells Myka instead of trying to figure Jesse’s next move, they should try to predict the weather.
At the lingerie shop, Steve watches Claudia via the dressing room monitors as Claudia goes looking for the wearer of the sunglasses. Steve can see him on the camera but Claudia has no idea where he is. That’s when Steve realizes that the sunglasses work only on the naked eye but the wearer can be seen on a digital one. As the wearer tries to get away, Steve uses the camera from a cell phone to “see” the sunglass wearing perv and clotheslines him as he tries to get away. They grab the sunglasses and Claudia notices her shoulder is bothering her. Steve asks if she is okay. Claudia responds that she probably has been exercising too much.
At Devil’s Lake Country Club, Artie and Leena find the artifact golf bag and clubs lying on the floor. When Artie checks it, he realizes that they belonged to Bobby Jones when he played at the 1921 open and threw his clubs in a fit of anger. Leena comments that the clubs should be kept away from John McEnroe’s tennis racquet. Trying to figure out why the clubs were left, Leena finds Hank Conway (the man who bought the clubs) sitting in a chair with a big bruise on the side of his head.
Pete and Myka use weather radar to find out where Jesse could be. They get a low-pressure reading and head to a warehouse facility where inside they find an armored truck guard handcuffed to the railings. He tells them there was a tornado that came out of nowhere and threw him and the truck around. The next thing he knows is that Jesse was handcuffing him.
The agents head to the next room where they find Jesse using the pipe to create a storm in order to open the armored truck. The pull out their Tesla guns and demand that he hands over the pipe. Jesse tells them that he is running out of time. Pete tells him that someone could get hurt if he continues to use it. Jesse replies, “I know, it might even be you. Heads up!”
The agents look up through a hole in the ceiling and jump out of the way as the armored truck falls from the sky. They survive the falling truck but as they work their way out of out the debris, Jesse has already gone with the money that was inside it.
Leena and Artie attend to Hank, the golf club victim. He tells them that he bought the gold clubs for his wife, Janet, but was really hoping she wouldn’t like it as golf was his hobby and his time to hang with the guys. Leena sarcastically comments how she doesn’t understand why Janet would hit him. Artie asks Hank where the 9 iron was and he tells them that after she hit him with it, he doesn’t know. Artie guesses Janet is “taking a divot” out of his “hang out buddies” as the artifact amplifies annoyances into a furious rage. Sure enough, Janet is at the Pro Shop taking swings at Hank’s friends with the golf club.
Claudia and Steve are on to their next artifact which takes them to the Vineyard Bird Sanctuary. The bird cage seems to turn the birds into killer winged assassins. As they try to come up with a plan to get the cage out of the Sanctuary, Pete calls looking for the encryption code so that he and Myka can break into the hospital records.
Claudia tells Steve, who is holding the cage and is surrounded by the angry birds, that on the count of three, he should toss the cage to her and she’ll make a run to the car to throw it into the neutralizer tank in the trunk. They succeed but not without injuries. Claudia complains that one of the birds nicked her but when Steve looks, nothing is there. As she leaves to get into the car, Steve feels something on his neck and notices blood at the same place Claudia was complaining about on her neck. (Ooooo!)
Janet, meanwhile, is on her golf swing killing spree at the Pro Shop. Artie distracts her by saying Hank is behind her (nice call Artie) and as she turns, he manages to grab the golf club out of her hands. The artifact immediately affects him and as Leena tries quickly to grab the neutralizer, he spouts out about how he risked everything, saved everyone, sacrificed everything that he loved and he can’t tell anyone. After she sprays the club, she asked Artie was the tirade was all about. He leaves saying it was just bad juju. “I’m always angry,” he tries to explain, “That’s my raison d’etre. Ask anybody. Grumble grumble. Let’s go!” But Leena is not convinced.
Pete and Myka find out that Jesse has been stealing because he is trying to save his brother, Ronnie, who has myocarditis. At the same time, Jessie is talking to Dr. Garner and begging her to perform the surgery that will save his brother’s life. He tells them that he now has the cash to pay for it but she tells him that there are extenuating circumstances that prevent them to just do it. Jessie is upset and drags her out of the office with pipe in hand.
Pete gets another vibe and senses that Jesse is at the hospital when all of the sudden, storm clouds gather and Myka realizes that he is on the roof. Jesse is doing his best imitation of Storm from the X-Men by the time Pete and Myka get to him. He demands that Ronnie’s surgery begin within the next hour or he will turn the hospital into debris.
Pete, Myka, and Dr. Garner work on getting everyone to a safe place while Jessie continues to wreak havoc with the weather. Pete asks Dr. Garner why they can’t do the surgery and she tells him it’s because Ronnie’s myocarditis is too advanced and the only way to save him is a heart transplant. Because of this rare blood type, a match is not something they could easily do. Claudia and Steve arrive at the hospital and Pete brings them up to speed. Claudia suggests a solution.
Myka heads to the roof and tells Jesse that she is unarmed and just wants to talk. She tries to reason with him and tells him that Ronnie needs more time. As they talk, Pete puts on the sunglasses that was retrieved earlier by Claudia and Steve and disappears. He slowly makes his way to Jesse but a tarp flies off and lands on Pete highlighting his shape. Jesse blows the tarp off of Pete which also blows off the sunglasses. Pete, blinded for a while as that is the consequence of wearing the sunglasses, lunges at Jesse. As they struggle, the pipe falls out of Jesse’s hand and the storm begins to die away. Myka pulls a gun on him to prevent him from grabbing the pipe.
Jesse is despondent. He just wanted to help Ronnie. Myka explains that he needs a donor heart that is a perfect match. There is nothing that anyone can do. Jesse tells them he understands and to tell Ronnie that he’s sorry and he wished he was a better brother. Although he was never there for him, he can be now. He rushes to the pipe and thrusts it into his chest as a bolt of lightning strikes him dead.
Pete, still blinded, asks what happened just as Dr. Garner comes to the roof. She sees Jesse on the ground. Myka tells her that he is a compatible donor for Ronnie and to makes arrangements for surgery to occur. In the end, Jesse got what he wanted… he saved his brother after all.
As the team leaves the hospital, Claudia asks Myka if she has a scratch on her neck. Myka tells her there is nothing. As they walk away, Steve grabs a pin and pokes his finger. Just as he does, Claudia gets a pain in the same finger.
Back at the Warehouse, Leena questions Artie about what he said while under the influence of the golf club. She lets Artie know that since Sykes’ attack, she has been “seeing” something different. She lets Artie know she is there if he wants to talk.
When she leaves, Artie makes a phone call and asks the person to find a certain artifact before it finds him… the dagger that Claudia uses to kill him!
Looks like the theme for this season of ‘Warehouse 13’ is consequences. This episode we see the consequences of Claudia’s use of the metronome and the consequences of Artie using the astrolabe. Next week, we’ll see more as the events of the great evil that Brother Aidan foretold about will begin to unveil.
If you missed last week’s episode, then get caught up with the recap of ‘An Evil Within!’
