This episode is definitely one of the best and one of the darker ones in Warehouse 13 history, and it is really fast paced. It also moves the Warehouse 13 mythology forward by quite a bit. Another sci-fi casting - Kate Mulgrew, aka Captain Janeway from Star Trek: Voyager, shows up as one of the Warehouse 13 regents, Jane.
The story started with a voiceover about how the Regents have served the Warehouse faithfully throughout the years. As the voiceover is going on, we see a pretty horrific scene of one of the Regents, Theodora Stanton, being tortured by Sally Stutowski using the doorknob that she stole from Claudia and Jinks in the last episode. We see the doorknob burning Theodora until she was immolated and disintegrated. At the Warehouse, Artie explained how Sally was tied to four regent deaths in the past year, and Theodora was the fifth one missing. Pete stated that it was time to talk to Sally.
Sally was in a bar in Atlanta, and Pete and Jinks approached her. She played up her southern belle charms, but Pete put a picture of Theodora in front of her and demanded to know what she knew about the disappearance. Sally played dumb, but attacked Pete after pretending that she was going to leave with them. As she ran outside, she ran into Myka, who promptly used the Tesla on her. When Pete came out of the bar, he saw a mysterious guy (we found out later his name is Marcus) in a car watching, and then he drove off when he saw Pete looking at him.
The team took Sally back to the bar, where they searched her purse and found the doorknob, which was promptly dropped into a safe bag. Sally said smugly that what was done is done and done. Artie pulled out an empty piece of parchment, and Sally joked about how they were going to torture her with it. Artie said Warehouse agents don't torture people to get information, but they have other means of finding out the information. He told Myka and Jinks to put Sally's hands on the parchment. Artie said the parchment used to belong to Sir Henry Morton, the famous explorer who supposedly said, "Dr. Livingstone, I presume," when he found the missionary David Livingstone. When Sally's hand was pressed on the parchment, it turned into a map who told them where she had been in the past 12 hours. A space on the map was marked with an X that indicated she had been there more than once.
The team went to the address, which ended up being a very tall skyscraper (the title did say the 40th floor). When they entered the building, they were greeted by two guards who were unimpressed by Artie's NSA badge. Artie told the team to leave while telling Claudia to take care of the guards. She released a Tesla grenade that knocked the guards down. While checking the guards, Artie noticed the tattoo of the eye of Horus on one of the guards, and found a name card that stated Diana K. Snow on one side and Suite 4013 on the other. Artie told Myka to come with him, and for Claudia and Pete to examine the building's security footage to see what Sally was doing there.
Jinks was standing guard over Sally at the bar, and Sally started playing mind games with him. She said that the Regents were not good and virtuous, and she could prove it. Mrs. Frederic arrived at that moment and told Sally she would be very interested to hear what she had to say. I have to say that I love CCH Pounder - she always lends the perfect amount of gravitas to everything.
Claudia and Pete were checking the security footage and saw Sally and another man entering the building dressed as painters. Using Sally's SIM card, Claudia found an address related to a phone number that Sally called the most in the past 48 hours. Artie told Claudia and Pete to check them out.
When Artie and Myka knocked on the door of suite 4013, one of the Regents, Kasan, is there with two other Regents - Jane and Phillip. Artie wanted them all to evacuate immediately, but the Head of Regent Security, Jackson, gave them a hard time. Artie explained that Sally, who had been picking off their fellow Regents, and another associate were seen entering this building. The Regents stated that this location was only chosen three hours ago, but clearly the situation had been compromised. Jackson agreed that they needed to leave, and wanted them to get into the elevator. Myka suggested the stairs, but Jackson won out and they got into the elevator. The elevator went down a few floors when the brakes suddenly engaged and the elevator came to a stop. Jackson gave Myka a boost through the top of the elevator, and she saw that the cables were slowly being destroyed by some reddish, fiery material. Myka asked Artie if he had the grappler, and Jane made a comment that it was not standard Warehouse-issued equipment. Myka said it was standard in 1849, which referred back to the fact that she got the grappler from H.G. Wells. They used the grappler to keep the elevator in place while they forced open the door and escaped. Just as the last person, Myka, came out of the elevator, the cables completely broke and the elevator crashed to the ground.
Mrs. Frederic told Sally to drop the southern belle act - she knew Sally was from Connecticut. Mrs. Frederic also told Sally that she would pay for what she did to the Regents, who were also her friends. Sally said the Regents started this, but it was not explained what "this" was.
Claudia and Pete went to the address, and it turned out to be a bank. Sally's partner, James Aquino, was in there to close his account and to transfer his money to a Grand Cayman account. Claudia found out that according to Interpol, Aquino was a demolitions expert who was wanted in nine countries. Artie called Claudia to tell her about the elevator having been compromised with the reddish, fiery corrosive material, and that it was possible Aquino still had whatever caused it.
Pete entered and silently flashed his badge to evacuate as many people as possible. He got closer to Aquino, but Aquino saw his reflection on a silver desk lamp. He pulled out a spray can from his bag and took the banker hostage. He sprayed the banker's back with the corrosive material, which caused the jacket to burst into flames. Pete and Claudia ran after Aquino and saw him entering a black car.
Myka and Artie investigated different stairwells and found that they were both compromised with the same corrosive material. Jane had gone with Myka, defying Jackson, who was still being a jerk. Jane and Myka talked while going to check the stairs, and Jane made a comment about how she stayed on top of what Myka and Pete were up to. Phillip suggested that since they could not go down, then they should go up. The group went to the rooftop, and Kasan found that a helicopter could get there in 30 minutes. Artie pointed out the reflection of their building in the opposite building to Myka, and they saw the corrosive material working its way up. They realized they did not have 30 minutes.
Pete and Claudia talked to Artie on the Farnsworth. Pete told Artie about the artifact (the spray can), and Artie said that explained the Anarchy symbol that they saw. Artie said they had to find the spray can soon. Pete and Claudia realized they could use the footage from traffic cameras to see where Aquino went.
Mrs. Frederic took a call from Kasan and told him that she would do whatever it took to get the information from Sally. As Mrs. Frederic was talking to Sally, we saw that she was attempting to slip a ring off her finger behind the chair where her hands were duct-taped together. Mrs. Frederic showed Sally an artifact from Unit 731, a special Japanese military unit during WWII that performed human experiments and biological warfare research. The artifact was a badge from the commander of unit 731, and it simulated drowning when pressed against a person. Mrs. Frederic had no problems using it on Sally to try to get the information out of her about the spray can and how to stop it. Jinks looked horrified at the torture.
Pete and Claudia realize they can use traffic footage to see where he went, because Aquino was on the run and he was probably not paying attention to traffic signals. They found him by following the red light violations. Claudia also found that he had rented a private jet out of a private airport. Claudia had a device that allowed her to hack into Aquino's GPS and gave him directions to where they wanted him to be.
Mrs. Frederic continued to torture Sally. Jinks tried to stop it by saying that studies have shown that intel obtained under torture was not usually reliable, but Mrs. Frederic kept going.
Artie spotted a window washing rig on the 15th floor that might be their way to get out. On their way down the stairs, Jane told Myka that she was reinstated because she was a natural born leader, and that they were all meant to be there. Myka said she did not believe in destiny, but Jane said at the time the Warehouse needed them the most, all of them answered the call. She said if that was not destiny, then what was destiny? They tried to make their way down, but the stairs were already corroded up to the 17th floor. Everyone else made it back up, but Jackson was caught by the corrosive material. He told Myka to save Phillip no matter what it took, and ended up falling into his death. We saw him being immolated and disintegrated as he touched the corrosive material. Myka had to tell Artie, Jane, Phillip, and Kasan that Jackson died. Jane comforted Myka by telling her that Jackson knew the risk of his job, as did Myka, and they were "not out of Dodge, yet, so cowboy up!"
Mrs. Frederic continued to torture Sally, who told her to go to hell. After another application of the artifact, Sally told them that the spray can came from the Berlin Wall, but she did not know how to stop it. Jinks continued to be really horrified and finally pulled a gun on Mrs. Frederic to stop the torture. While they were arguing, Sally slipped off the tape, hit them both with a chair, and escaped. Mrs. Frederic told Jinks that now he had to deal with the consequences of his actions.
Mrs. Frederic talked to Claudia and Pete, and they realized that the artifact came from East Berlin, where the young East Berliners used to spray paint anarchy signs on the Berlin Wall as a symbol of their rebellious spirit. So the spray paint can turned into an artifact that could corrode more than just walls. Pete and Claudia cornered Aquno and pulled the Teslas on Aquino. Pete told Aquino that he just wanted the spray can and how it worked. Aquino said that either Pete killed him or "he" will, and Pete was confused as to who "he" was. Pete tried saying that they could protect him, but Aquino said either way, he was dead. Aquino sprayed the corrosive material into his mouth and he was immolated and disintegrated. Pete and Claudia bagged the can, but it did not stop the effects in the building where Myka, Artie, and the Regents were.
The ceiling started coming down in the room, and a piece of the ceiling hit Kasan and caused his head to bleed. Phillip was trapped under another piece that had the corrosive material, and it was making its way up his body. Phillip said there wasn't enough time, and they had to make the transfer now. He pulled his sleeves to reveal a wide, metal band. Kasan said it was the Remati Shackle, and that Genghis Khan went to great and terrible lengths to create it to make sure Warehouse 7 remained under Mongol control. He said no Warehouse agent had ever seen what they were about to witness. Kasan pulled out a key that was used to unlock the bracelet from Phillip's wrist and transferred it to Jane's wrist. Jane did not want to leave Phillip, but Phillip told her that she must leave him and that she was the Guardian now. The corrosive material reached Phillip and he was immolated and disintegrated. Artie used an artifact to disintegrate the window, and used Frank Lloyd Wright's pick up sticks to make a ladder (this was a pretty cool artifact). Artie said Frank Lloyd Wright's son used to play with these sticks to copy his father's designs. Artie climbed down first, followed by Kasan. But before Jane and Myka could climb down, the corrosive material reached the ladders. The window washing unit could not go up, only go down. Jane and Myka told Artie and Kasan to go, and they would find another way out.
Artie and Kasan reached the ground. Emergency personnel rushed to them, and Artie told the fireman that it was toxic chemical spill. The fireman said they were not prepared to deal with that, but Artie said he had a team coming and that there was nothing they could do. He told the emergency personnel to get out of the area ASAP. Artie told Kasan to get medical attention after Kasan kept repeating that Jane had to be rescued. He saw the big Anarchy symbol on the wall next to where he was standing, and the corrosive material was originating from it.
Jane and Myka were walking down the hall trying to figure out what to do, and Myka asked what they would do if there was a fire. Jane got the idea to pull the firehoses from the wall - there were two on every floor, and they could use the hoses to go down four floors at a time through the elevator shaft. Jane said this was a trick her husband taught him (this would be important later). They used the hose to go down four floors.
Pete and Claudia pulled up to Artie, and Pete had to be stopped from going in to rescue Myka. They figured out that on the Berlin Wall, the German taggers were constantly drawing over each other's graffitis, and they needed extreme emotion to neutralize the corrosive material. Pete started painting a blue peace sign over and over again over the Anarchy sign.
Jane and Myka opened an elevator door, but it was full of debris. It appeared that they were trapped. However, Pete's spraying over the Anarchy sign seemed to work to stop the corrosive material. The reddish, fiery material turned blue and stopped corroding the building. Myka and Jane noticed the effects and they hugged in happiness. Myka said she had a feeling Pete had something to do with this, and Jane said he was a good partner.
We saw Sally entering a room to report to the man in the wheelchair, who we assume was the big bad "he" that Aquino was talking about. The man chastised Sally for failing to bring the building down and killing the people inside, and Sally said it appeared that they had more resources that they thought. Sally said that Mrs. Frederic had no problems crossing the lines, but she was working on Jinks and he seemed to start to believe them. The man said it did not matter, and from behind Marcus came and injected something into Sally, who collapsed and died. Marcus said it would look like she had an undetected heart defect, and he would make sure she was found. The man said that Marcus was a good friend, and Marcus left the room. We never saw the man's face.
Myka and Jane were rescued, and Pete hugged Myka tightly once he found her sitting in an ambulance. While they were having their moment, Mrs. Frederic, Artie, and Kasan were talking. Artie said that Claudia traced the number that hired Aquino back to a company called A to Z Technologies. Kasan said they knew far more about the Warehouse than they knew about them, and Mrs. Frederic and Artie made the point that an enemy with an array of artifacts was not only dangerous, but potentially unstoppable. Kasan said that until they identified these people, they must modified their defenses. Once they had been identified, Mrs. Frederic said that they had to strike back hard. Artie told Mrs. Frederic as they walked away from Kasan that this was not an assassination attempt - they were attempting to destroy the Remati shackle. Mrs. Frederic said that the shackle functioned as protection - in an emergency, it was the last line of defense for the Warehouse.
Claudia approached Jinks and he told her that he had been fired because he was insubordinate. Claudia said she was insubordinate all the time, but Jinks said he pulled a gun on Mrs. Frederic. Claudia wanted to talk to Mrs. Frederic to explain the situation, but Jinks stopped her and said he could not do what she wanted. He walked away.
Pete asked Myka what it was like to babysit a Regent, and Myka said that Jane was pretty kick-ass. She took Pete to meet Jane. After she made the introductions and Jane turned around, Pete's face went completely shocked and he said, "Mom?"
That ending totally blew my mind. Looking back at it, there were definite clues. Jane stopped Kasan from saying her last name when she was first introduced and she told Myka she learned the fire hose technique from her husband. Pete's dad was a firefighter who died in a fire. Later Jane also told Myka that Pete was a great partner.
Mr. Y and I knew that if they hired Kate Mulgrew, it must be something good. We just never thought she would be Pete's mom. Pete had previously mentioned that after his dad died, his mom was always busy and never spent that much time with him and his sister. It appeared we'll delve more into his background and see what she has been up to. Perhaps she had been involved with the Warehouse from back then, and maybe Pete's dad's death was also Warehouse-related. I can't wait for the next episode!
