Wow.

"Trials" was an emotionally-charged episode, wasn’t it? I honestly wasn’t expecting this much from Warehouse 13. But I loved every minute of it.

The amount of ground covered in one hour felt like it was enough material for a few more weeks at least. I can only imagine how much storytelling the writers have in store for the rest of the season.

I was a little reluctant to see the team splinter off here and take on their respective missions. You can blame that bad taste in my mouth from what happened on Chuck, but I digress.

Thankfully, the separating of Pete and Myka from Claudia and Steve served its purpose beautifully.

As I said last week, I was a little disappointed the series didn’t mine very much from Mika’s departure. So I was glad to see her decision to leave and rejoin has definitely weighed her down. Can she pick up where things left off? How does she go about doing so? How does she rebuild her partnership with Pete? All those questions were answered.

Even something as simple as breakfast brought Myka’s insecurities bubbling to the surface. Especially because, to Myka, Steve has essentially taken her spot on the team. It’s hard to pick up where things left off.

In the end, I was happy to see her choose to take things one step at a time. I know it’s a rather simple thing to do (and say), but for Myka it’s a huge step in the right direction. It’s a slow process to build yourself back up emotionally for such a stressful job.

We also dealt with Pete’s insecurities - and his feelings about Myka) - via the artifact. The two had an implicit trust (and shorthand) and then Myka went ahead and acts like a few family members: she left him. It was nice to see Myka make amends to him. Now I can get back to rooting for them to hook up.

When Steve and Claudia were sent off to retrieve the knife, I was expecting some chemistry between them. I didn't forecast Steve to come out of the closet. It wasn’t something that was even on my radar. It adds a nice wrinkle to their relationship because this guaranteed their status will remain nothing but friendship.

In hindsight, I actually prefer their friendship more so than a potential romantic pairing. I get a Jack and Jen/Dawson’s Creek vibe from the two of them.

With that out of the way, Claudia was able to open up and Steve was able to pull more out of her. Claudia worries about not having the training needed to be an Agent and, without this job, her options are limited.

It’s hard being Claudia’s age, not knowing where your life will take you. She's in that unknowing phase between being a teenager and being an adult. It’s terrifying, and she doesn’t want to let down the surrogate father she has in Artie. It’s something a lot of us go through and I’m happy to see Claudia trying to deal with those issues.

This was, without a doubt, one of the best episodes Warehouse 13 has ever done. Being so early in the season, I can’t wait to see where we go from here.