4.11 The Living and the Dead They did add a new twist to their repertoire that simultaneously gives the viewer urgency surrounding the orchid disaster while also showing us how the rest of the world views and deals with these Warehouse emergencies. This was done by cutting the episode into blocks with a newscast, filmed at the same speed television news is filmed and presented as real-time, breaking updates that gave the viewer a direct countdown to mortality. Sixteen hours until the first mortality, then seven, then one. This allowed the viewer to come out of the main plot and explore the consequences of failure within the Warehouse. It was a good bit, and using MSNBC host, Thomas Roberts, was a nice touch. So on to the episode! It starts with a warmly lit scene of Artie playing the piano when Leena comes in to scold him about eating cookies. It seems too good to be true, and it is. We’ve glimpsed Artie’s inner thoughts as we see he is being airlifted, unconscious, back to the Warehouse from Germany. The team gets a brief explanation of the dagger (used by a Jesuit priest in the first exorcism, it separates good from evil) and then moves off to tackle their respective duties. On the other side of that, Saul Rubinek killed it (intended) as a grieving Artie in denial. Every scene with him dealing with Leena’s death is moving. He is in turns furious and grief-stricken, but always brilliant. I think this may be the best performance we’ve seen from him through the whole of the show. Culminating with a conversation with Mrs. Frederic who weeps with him, this piece of the story ended strongly. Back in the tangible world, Pete and Myka work to fix the orchid and rid the world of the sweating sickness. Their initial investigation leads them to the Count of St. Germain, an eighteenth century French courtier who claimed to be able to bring plants back to full bloom from death. Digging a little further, they find a Columbia University professor by the name of Bennet Sutton who seems to know a good deal about this Count and decide to go visit him. When they arrive, they discover a drunk played by no other than James Marsters, who is undoubtedly a star in this episode. He is a seductively charming anti-hero who is a pleasure to watch from beginning to end. I like all the little nods to his previous career as well as to modern fiction regarding his character, the Count. Once it is discovered that Sutton is Germain, Pete asks him if he’s some kind of vampire. His response, “Oh please! Vampires are for gothic novels. And apparently pre-adolescent girls,” is just wonderful. Now, we as an audience face a question. Who is to be our new bad guy? Will it be this anti-hero, Germain? Sly, charming and secretive? Or this woman we meet, Charlotte, who claims him as her husband in the end? We don’t know much about her motivations, but she’s definitely angry and maybe a bit unhinged. We’ll have to wait for all to be revealed over the next few months! I know I’m looking forward to it. See you next week! Read Jenni’s review of the previous episode, We All Fall Down, here. Follow our Twitter feed for faster news and bad jokes right here. And be our Facebook chum here.
