Warehouse 13 Season Four Episode Fifteen “Instinct” TV REVIEW
Episode 4.15
Writer: Bob Goodman
Director: Jennifer Lynch
THE ONE WHERE Two lawmen use an ancient jawbone to force false confessions out of crims, the Warehouse has problems aggressively expanding and HG is back!
VERDICT There are three reasons to be excited about this episode. First, it’s very good – the model for how every mission of the week on Warehouse 13 should be. Secondly, it sees the return of HG. And thirdly, for film fans at least, this week’s episode will possess an entirely different appeal as it’s directed by Jennifer “daughter of David” Lynch.
She does a solid job in the hot seat in a story which shares at least one central similarity with her 2008 film Surveillance – dodgy cops. Law enforcers who aren’t what they appear to be is a TV cliché as old as the invention of, well, television, but what the plot lacks in whodunit surprises it makes up for in the bizarre originality of its artifiact and the thoughtful character work on display.
The best stuff involves HG’s complex life choices. It makes a lot of sense that she would turn her back on the Warehouse and adopt a young girl who reminds Helena of her own daughter, but by calling Pete and Myka she makes it very clear she’s not ready to entirely give up on a life of adventure just yet. In one episode HG gets more character development than most major characters on the show have had for the past two seasons. Myka gets some lovely moments too, the, er, bromance between the pair breaking Myka out of the standard straight gal shtick.
There’s some nice stuff going on at the Warehouse too. The FISH is a wonderful piece of plot hole filling (how come no-one’s discovered this giant Warehouse?), as are the expansion joints (what happens when the Warehouse is full?). Better yet, Claudia moves one step closer to becoming the Warehouse’s caretaker in a gleefully silly moment of heroism. Still not sold on Abigail though.
SPECULATION Claudia’s fate seems set in stone at this point: she’s destined to take over control of the Warehouse from Artie. Wouldn’t it be great if the writers shook up the all-too-obvious game plan?
BEHIND THE SCENES Jennifer Lynch is the daughter of cult director David Lynch. She’s primarily a film-maker, but has recently moved into TV, as she explains in this interview with Vice:
“I’ve directed three episodes of Psych , this is my first Warehouse 13 episode and I hope to be doing a lot more television. I love to work fast and TV provides me that. I love the challenges of a new situation and I love the brevity of TV. It requires a lot of hard work very fast. I need the paycheck desperately. I’ve never made the kind of money that allows me to sit back and quietly choose a project. I’m always peddling. So TV is a real gift as far as providing me with enough money to say ‘OK, I’ve got three months rent paid. What can I prep?’ That’s a huge gift.”
KEY ARTIFACTS
• Pachycrocuta/Hyena Jawbone – Invokes such an intense feeling of fear in victims they regress to a caveman state.
• Gold Spike from the Trans-Continental Railroad – pulls objects together.
• Gazooka – An RPG modified to fire Neutralizer
• Frequency-Interfering Surveillance Holograph – Cloaks Warehouse 13 from all aerial detection. Resembles a UFO.
BEST LINE
Myka: (to Pete) “ Make your own breakfast, you're an adult. Sort of.”
Jordan Farley
Read all our Warehouse 13 Season 4 Reviews so far here.
