Artefacts:
Geek Syndicate
U-Terbium Chamber, Pandora’s Box, (globe-spanning) Football, Barbosa’s watch, Ferdinand Magellan’s Astrolabe, Gandhi’s Dhoti, British House of Commons Masonry from the WWII Blitz Travelogue: Richerenches, France. Rapid City, South Dakota. St. Peter’s Tomb, Vatican City – Rome. Best Lines: Pete: “Now I know he’s lost it. He never watches television.” Arti: “The internet is a distant second to the Football.” Claudia: “This is nuts. Is it bigger than an baguette? Is it an antique corkscrew? Napoleon’s original pastry? I mean it could be anything!” Claudia: “They made us read the bible a lot in the psych hospital. I think it’s how they kept their funding.”
Claudia is determined to go against Arti’s specific warnings and use the Metronome artefact to resurrect a loved one. Arti’s secret starts to gnaw away at him, causing him to research what the consequences of his own use of an artefact might ultimately be. If I had to use just one word to sum up this episode, I would have to say that it is very… dense. So much happens, and so much of that has the potential to have such far-reaching consequences for all the characters that it’s difficult to take it all in. In episode one, Arti saved the Warehouse using an artefact that could reverse time. A side effect of using the artefact is that everyone’s memories are also reset for a specific timeframe. Memory reset doesn’t effect the artefact wielder, so only they remember what was done, how, and why. Now, an unspecified amount of time has passed and Claudia is AWOL. Arti is still having daydream premonitions of Claudia chasing, then stabbing him with an ornate dagger (which may or may not be an artefact.) Pete and Myka visit Philadelphia to investigate an artefact that is causing group hallucinations resulting in murder. Brother Adrian (from the Brotherhood of the Black Diamond Priests) visits Arti at the B&B. Brother Adrian knows about the Warehouse and needs Arti’s help in tracking down a powerful artefact that was somehow mysteriously stolen from the care of the Brotherhood. Despite years of necessary subterfuge archiv-
ing artefacts, Arti seems particularly useless at hiding his own ulterior motives. Brother Adrian is adamant that artefact the thief has to be found, and that the time reversal caused by the Astrolabe must be undone – regardless of the consequences. Brother Adrian informs Arti that whoever used the Astrolabe has created a unique and vast (yet annoyingly vague) evil which will haunt and eventually destroy them. The last recorded use of the Astrolabe happened during the French revolution of 1700, causing something now know as ‘The Reign of Terror.’ Meanwhile, driven by resourcefulness, grief and determination, Claudia has found the Regent H.Q. and breaks in to retrieve poor Steve’s corpse. With Regent Jane’s help (recurring guest star Kate Mulgrew), and despite Arti’s voc al disagreement, Claudia is granted permission to use the Metronome to reanimate Steve. We later find out that Regent Jane went against the wider Council to help Claudia, and the repercussions of that decision remain to be explored. In order to resurrect him, Claudia’s fate becomes tied to Steve in ways yet unknown. Even the Regents don’t know what the repercussions/costs of using the Metronome are. Last weeks episode was so heavy and tightly written that this week had a hard act to follow. Though not as fast and furious as the season opener, episode 2 manages to juggle being a good stand alone episode as well as progressing the shows longer arc plot-points.
Episode 2: An Evil Within
Localised group hallucinations are causing people to commit spontaneous group murder in Philadelphia. Pete and Myka investigate, leaving Arti to track down an AWOL Claudia and dissuade her from her mission to use an artefact.
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