Genre: Sci-Fi | Comedy | Action

Premiere: July 11th, 2011 at 9/8c

Network: Syfy

Creators: Brent Mote and Jane Espenson

Warehouse 13 stars Eddie McClintock (Pete Lattimer), Joanne Kelly (Myka Bering), Saul Rubinek (Artie Nielsen), Allison Scagliotti (Claudia Donovan), Genelle Williams (Leena), CCH Pounder (Mrs. Frederic)and Aaron Ashmore (Steve Jinks). Jack Kenny is executive producer and showrunner. The series is produced for Syfy by Universal Cable Productions.

Summary:

Warehouse 13 follows a team of government agents who work at a massive, top-secret storage facility in windswept South Dakota which houses every strange artifact, mysterious relic, fantastical object and preternatural souvenir ever collected by the U.S. government. The Warehouse’s caretaker Artie Nielsen charges Pete Lattimer, young apprentice Claudia Donovan, and newcomer Steve Jinks with chasing down reports of supernatural and paranormal activity in search of new objects to cache at the Warehouse, as well as helping him to control the Warehouse itself.

This series is the second of Syfy’s sci-fi cozies, following (literally and figuratively) Eureka. It isn’t challenging or dark, it is fun, with some mystery and spookiness and a periodic dollop of silliness. The Warehouse set – meaning primarily Artie’s office – is amazing, filled with steampunky goodness. If these are the things you love about the show, then you will love this first episode of season 3.

No spoilers here, but since it has been heavily advertised, we meet Steve Jinks (Aaron Ashmore who played Jimmy Olsen in Smallville) in this new episode, meant to replace the recently-departed-from-the-Warehouse agent Myka.

Just as the addition of Claudia in the first season introduced a needed element to the show (in her case, youth, enthusiasm, and technological brilliance), the addition of Steve may just bring something to the show that I have been secretly longing for: a pullback from over-silliness. The “B” story in each previous episode was often silly, but Pete and Myka’s “A” story often caused them to veer over into goofiness as well. My favorite episodes were always those when the A story was somewhat dramatic and perilous, broken up by the lighter B story. Steve feels like a good fit but does not seem to bring any additional Scooby Doo-ishness to the cast.

It’s too early to say how the new dynamics will work, but I’m hopeful that the writers will allow Steve to be the straight man to Pete’s puppy dog ways, and maybe allow Pete to grow up a bit now that there’s a trainee on board. By the way, there were a few ridiculous lines which I won’t repeat here since they’d be spoilers,  but it would be great if the writers straightened up just a little bit more and went for substance over zing. Just saying.

This is a set-up episode, and one not to miss if you’re a fan. If you’re new to the series, it’s the perfect time to – sorry for this – step in to the Warehouse.

I rate Warehouse 13: Episode 3.1 “The New Guy” Four Out of Five Stars.