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This review may contain spoilers.

With the ominous words, “Arthur started it” ringing in our ears from last week, we finally got to see what MacPherson (Roger Rees) was referring to. Fifteen years ago, Artie (Saul Rubinek) forced MacPherson to choose between saving the life of his wife or upholding his duty as a Warehouse agent – and MacPherson’s choice lured him down the path of evil.

It may have taken MacPherson 15 years to enact his carefully planned retribution, but to his credit, it worked flawlessly. As Mrs. Frederics (CCH Pounder) warned, “That’s what made James such a superior agent, just when you had the upper hand, he’d strike.” The entire episode was a brilliantly crafted trap.

We discovered that MacPherson began laying the seeds of his master scheme over 10 years earlier when he first contacted Claudia (Allison Scagliotti) and her brother Joshua. He had posed as Joshua’s physics professor and he was the one who gave Joshua the fateful Rheticus’ Compass. Then 8 months ago, he re-connected with Claudia to give her a few tips on how to best crack the Warehouse’s security system; all the while knowing that he had baited the trap which Artie would jump at – and he did. Artie leapt and found Claudia and brought her into the Warehouse-fold.

This made Claudia the perfect decoy. While Artie, Pete (Eddie McClintock) and Myka (Joanne Kelly) were distracted with Claudia, Leena (Genelle Williams) was free to roam about collecting the artifacts that MacPherson wanted to auction off to select rich buyers. It was not clear whether MacPherson was simply motivated by greed or if he simply wanted to destroy Artie. That riddle will surely be something to explore further next season.

MacPherson has proven to be a formidable nemesis. He not only wove a deadly trap, he outsmarted them all. It was but a false sense of security that they all had by relying on the MacPherson’s banishment from the Warehouse. While MacPherson could not physically come near the Warehouse because he was injected with a substance which would react violently by making his blood acidic which would immediately eat through his veins, MacPherson still found a way to infiltrate the Warehouse and steal the artifacts he wanted. The “I owe you” notes that Mrs. Frederics found in the place of each missing artifact was MacPherson’s arrogant way of thumbing his nose at them all.

Even after he was caught and facing eternity being cryogenically frozen, encased in bronze, and stored in the Warehouse’s Bronze Sector (which was reserved for only the most dangerous people in history, for as Artie said, “Even a twisted mind can be an artifact”), MacPherson had the upper-hand. He even thanked Artie for bringing him one last treat, Leena, though Artie did not realize the significance of that flippant remark. Artie just told Leena, “Just ignore the monster in the cage.” But what Artie did not know was that Leena was MacPherson’s secret weapon. She was the double-agent just waiting for her chance. The moment no one was looking, she reversed the bronzing and cyro-freezing process, releasing MacPherson. MacPherson then promptly initiated a self-destruct sequence in the tunnel connecting the Warehouse to the outside world – while Artie was still in it – and made his escape.

With that explosion, all is not well and did not end well. Artie is presumed dead after the explosion. Pete and Myka are trapped in the Warehouse. Claudia ran away. And MacPherson and Leena are roaming loose in the world.

What Worked

It was an abundance of riches this week. Adding to the tally of cool artifacts revealed this season were Timothy Leary’s Psychedelic Glasses (which revealed the location of the secret auction and also contained a catalog of the stolen Warehouse artifacts), Harriet Tubman’s Thimble (which used light-refraction to alter the image of the person wearing it), the Goblet of Severan (which both deafened and paralyzed those that hear it), and the Phoenix (which rendered the holder impervious to fire and unable to die, but with the caveat that it is a life for a life).

Other interesting items that were introduced included the Music Box with the matching Egyptian hieroglyphic necklace (which acted as a double-key in opening both the Music Box and the hidden portal), the “egg shell” bomb (which acted like mini-nuclear reactor), and the crystalline diamonds (which MacPherson needed to allow him to enter the Warehouse without turning into an acid bath).

On another note, it is good to see that the comedic dialogue has been refined over the past 12 episodes. One good example is when Pete said: “Okay, let's go over what we don't know.” Myka replied with, “That could take weeks.” Pete chimed in, “Months.” And Myka finished archly with: “Years.” Their tag-team relationship has reached a level where they are now finishing each other’s sentences and are clearly on the same wave-length.

It was also hysterical to hear Artie say, “Ladies first” when offering Myka the opportunity to be the first one to climb down into the portal, and Myka back-pedaled with, “What? Uh, yeah, age before beauty,” and offered to let Pete go first. Pete then looked at the both of them and then mockingly said, “What? He's older than me. He's older than both of us put together.” To which Artie exasperatedly said, “All right, shut up. Hold that. Children. I'm working with children,” and then proceeded to climb down first.

Artie also frequently gets the best punchline, which was illustrated when he said, “Hey, guys, the Phoenix and the Goblet of Severan, Mrs. Frederic says they've been taken from the Warehouse – and she seemed shaken.” To which Pete incredulously said, “Mrs. Frederic seemed shaken?” and Artie solemnly replied, “Yeah.” Myka then finished up with the quiet observation, “That is so not comforting.”

In what we hope is not her parting shot, Claudia got a nice little moment of levity when she found out that MacPherson may have been using her as a sleeper-agent and exclaimed, “Oh my god, I’m a freaking Manchurian candidate!”

Last, but not least, it was a rich dialogue exchange when MacPherson tried to sway Pete to the dark-side with the invitation, “what if these artifacts do belong out in the world... and not just under the control of the Regents? Walk out of here with me now... and follow what you know to be true in your soul.” Pete firmly rejected MacPherson’s offer by saying, “you put a bomb in a man’s mouth, that’s not a great recruiting tool!”

What Didn't Work

It was hard to believe that after 15 years, MacPherson’s wife would still so naively side with her husband and continue to have contact with him. He may have once saved her life, but at the cost of other lives. How can she justify standing by a man who willingly embarks on a path of distorted greed and vengeance?

Giving Credit Where Credit Is Due

"Warehouse 13" stars Eddie McClintock, Joanne Kelly, Saul Rubinek, Genelle Williams and Allison Scagliotti. "MacPherson" was written by Jack Kenny and directed by Stephen Surjik.

"Warehouse 13" airs Tuesdays at 9 p.m. on Syfy.