What Matters Most

What Matters Most is the seventeenth episode of the fourth season of Warehouse 13, and the fifty-sixth episode overall.

Synopsis

Pete and Myka go undercover in the suburbs, while Claudia and Artie must help a young savant.

Plot

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In a posh cul-de-sac in a gated community in Ohio, a man say hello to his neighbor jogging by. The man suddenly seizes up and says "I'm burning up" and collapses and dies. His name was Harry Chambers and he was a district attorney. Artie sends Pete and Myka to check it out. On their way Pete seems admits at his recent physical he was diagnosed with low testosterone and is acting all macho to overcompensate. As they make their way through the Stepford-like community they're confronted by a bossy neighborhood watch guy and the proverbial nosy neighbor Janice. The nosy neighbor shares that recently someone broke the DA's windshield because he didn't park his car in his garage. The DA's stepson Roger isn't much help and knows nothing about his work sending men to the death penalty. The forensics make it seem like it's related to that since it's a death row-style cocktail found in his blood. While there another neighbor gets physically stuck/melded to her young lover and they realize her husband worked for the DA and was recently fired and perhaps he's using an artifact on her and Chambers to get revenge. Myka thinks he might have two artifacts. They go to see the husband and they ask him about the artifact. He says he just broke the guy's windshield and didn't know about his wife cheating. Then the gated community security guard Rex who came with them to see the husband literally spontaneously combusts in front of them. They decide to go to the nosy neighbor for some intel. She tells them that Rex's condo burned down and he had been living in the community's rec room. They go to the rec room and discover Rex committed insurance fraud by torching his own place and that's why he was punished by spontaneously combusting. They realize it's some sort of sin-related artifact. So they go to the judgey neighborhood watch guy's house thinking he's a good suspect. Unfortunately, at his house they discover him on the floor being choked by some kind of orange smoke. The man admits that in Kuwait he gassed a village in its sleep in order to get to the enemy. So now he's being gassed. He doesn't know who could know. Jinks and Abigail narrow it down to an artifact related to Sodom and Gomorrah and objects covered in salt. And Pete realizes that all the people who were hurt were board members of the community and it's probably a disgruntled community member taking revenge. Pete goes to see the final board member and ask some questions just as Myka discovers that Janice the nosy neighbor is their likely culprit since the board recently turned down a petition she put in to put up a bust of her late husband who founded the community. Myka realizes that all of the victims had a plate of Janice's cookies in their home, cookies that had salt on them. She also realizes that Pete ate these cookies while in Janice's house. As she relays this to Pete he gets sucked out a window. Myka confronts Janice and gets the artifact but for some reason the effects aren't stopping on Pete. She thinks he needs to confess in order for the effect to end. He admits that when he was still drinking and he was young and cocky and he drove and he hit a tree and his partner was thrown from the car and his leg was broken and Pete walked away without a scratch. He says that was rock bottom for him and he swore he would never have another drink and he hasn't'. He tearfully says he's never been able to forgive himself for almost killing his friend. The confession works and his wounds from being sucked out the window --including a broken leg-- are healed. Meanwhile, Artie and Claudia head of to New York City to investigate a teenage boy who went into a fugue state and wrote "Good Will Hunting" style graffiti all over the place. They go to visit the kid, Nick, in the hospital. Claudia tries to draw him out but he's afraid of getting sent back to foster care or a psych ward. Claudia shares that she also went through the system and spend time in a psych ward and gets him to open up. He says he doesn't know why it happens but before the seizures he has visions and an out of body experience. Artie discovers that the kid has massive neurological damage and whatever is doing this is going to kill him. Artie, Claudia and Nick try to puzzle out his situation and the math he's working on. Claudia talks more with Nick about their commonalities. Artie figures out that the math is related to hedge funding and that a "Quant" is the kind of person who uses this math to help financial firms make money and the Quant must be using Nick's young brain power to help do the math, like a power booster. Nick has a vision while they're there and starts writing out the equations and they ask him what he sees. In his vision he describes the office that he sees, where the person is writing just like he is. He has a seizure and Artie puts him to sleep with Stalin's sleep mask to protect him. They find the financial firm and Artie goes to investigate. There he finds a man using Orville Wright's aviator goggles to do this mathematically channeling/possession. Claudia invites Nick to South Dakota and invites him to be part of the family for awhile. Artie approves with a smile. Steve oddly decided to stay behind and help flush out the neutralizer from the annex with Abigail. It may have something to do with the fact that he also picked up the last of his belongings from his mother's house They hazmat suit up and work on flushing the neutralizer. They encounter a foul odor. As they do their job Abigail asks why he really stayed behind. He says after saying goodbye to his ex again and getting all of his stuff sent he realized he's finally now entrenched in life at the Warehouse. None of the agents have found a romantic partner and he worries he is similarly doomed. He then splashed in the face with goo just as he's opening up. Later, Jinks apologizes for trying to mooch free advice. Abigail says that's why the Regents brought her there. She admits that she knows what it's like to be alone and when people find out when she's a therapist they either unload or put their guard up. She says that's why she quit. Steve the human lie detector says he knows it's not. She admits a patient killed himself and she quit and traveled the world to take photos. One of the Regents found her in Burma and sensed she was special and brought her to the Warehouse. Jinks says "We're a bunch of lonely misfit toys that the Warehouse collects. She says he may worry that he doesn't have a special someone but right now he has four, his friends at the Warehouse and it's time to share with them. Everyone returns to the B&B, Steve has prepared dinner and Abigail hangs up one of her photos. Family dinner time. But of course, it can't be that simple. Up in the hallway Nick sends a text to Charlotte Dupres: "They believe me. I'm in." Nefarious! Mykais told by her physician that she may have ovarian cancer.

Source: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2496012/synopsis?ref_=tt_ov_pl

Cast

Main Cast

Eddie McClintock as Pete Lattimer
Joanne Kelly as Myka Bering
Saul Rubinek as Artie Nielsen
Allison Scagliotti as Claudia Donovan
Aaron Ashmore as Steve Jinks

Guest Starring

Kelly Hu as Abigail Cho
Chris Ellis as Colonel Arnold Cassell
Cynthia Watros as Janice Malloy
Josh Blaylock as Nick Powell

Co-Starring

Mark Weatherley as D.A. Terry Chambers
Stephanie Moore as Mrs. Labelle
Matt Birman as Rex Simmons
Duward Allan as Homeless Woman
AJ Vaage as Rodge
Shamit Paul as Paramedic
Drew Dafoe as Spencer
Robert B. Kennedy as Gerry Labelle
Thet Win as The Quant
Brian Kaulback as Mr. Foster
Steven Gallagher as Doctor

Artifacts and Gadgets Featured

Sodom and Gomorrah Salt Mask: Created when God brought down his wrath on the notoriously sinful cities, a person was encased in salt, leaving behind this impression in the shape of their face. Whenever someone consumes salt from the mask, they receive an ironic and usually fatal punishment based on their greatest unconfessed sin. The only way of stopping the effect is to confess the sin for which you are being punished. It is one of the main artifacts of the episode.
Orville Wright's Aviator Goggles: Let the wearer tap into the mind of another, allowing access to that person's brainpower. When in use, the person whose brain is being tapped goes into a trance wherein they are made to mirror the user's actions and can see through the user's eyes. The downside is that the more this is done the more strain it puts on the brain of the person the user is tapping into, causing increasingly severe seizures & the victim's eventual death. It is one of the main artifacts of the episode.
Joseph Stalin's Sleep Mask: The only way the paranoid dictator could get to sleep at night. Whoever puts on the mask instantly goes right to sleep. The downside is that for thirty seconds after they wake up they will have a craving for vodka. The user's appearance also briefly takes on that of a Soviet Union flag when the mask is put on.
Ludwig van Beethoven's Clock: Causes one to hear the works of Ludwig van Beethoven, which grow progressively louder until they culminate with the afflicted going deaf.
Sir Isaac Newton's Cravat: Wearer gains scientific and philosophical insight by wiping it across their face or forehead. Use by scientifically-oriented minds may lead to world-changing discoveries. Using or wearing the cravat for long periods of time is not recommended, as the wearer's gravitational pull increases until they can no longer move.
Christopher Columbus's Brooch: Given to Columbus by Queen Isabella, Artie said "it can make someone brave from across an ocean" when talking about artifacts that can affect victims from far away.

Trivia

Pete wore a got your 6 pin in his lapel during the episode, in support of American veterans coming back to civilian life.

<< Season 3 Warehouse 13 : Season 4 Season 5 >>

#01 "A New Hope"	#06 "Fractures"	#11 "The Living and the Dead"	#16 "Runaway"
#02 "An Evil Within"	#07 "Endless Wonder"	#12 "Parks and Rehabilitation"	#17 "What Matters Most"
#03 "Personal Effects"	#08 "Second Chance"	#13 "The Big Snag"	#18 "Lost & Found"
#04 "There's Always a Downside"	#09 "The Ones You Love"	#14 "The Sky's the Limit"	#19 "All the Time in the World"
#05 "No Pain, No Gain"	#10 "We All Fall Down"	#15 "Instinct"	#20 "The Truth Hurts"