Warehouse 13 Episode 1.10 Breakdown

At Leena's bed & breakfast, Pete and Myka are working on reports and Pete finishes first, boasting that he won. Artie explains that the reports are going to someone above Mrs. Frederic. He leaves them to have a day by themselves and says that Claudia is doing chores in the warehouse.

At the warehouse, Claudia is working on a self-directed vacuum cleaner and uses an artifact snow globe to cool her pop. As she goes out to lubricate the zip line, the vacuum cleaner runs out of control and hit the switch, sending Claudia out into the warehouse. She ends up suspended in the middle of the building but the vacuum cleaner hits the eject line and Claudia drops into the shelves releasing silly string and a dodge ball. The silly string gets into the gear mechanisms below the floor at the neutralizer processing center.

Pete and Myka wonder who are getting their reports and come to find Claudia. They spot artifact disturbance reports on the security screen and realize things have gone amiss.

Artie meets with the courier and asks him to pass a message on to his superiors. The man refuses to talk and leaves. However, Mrs. Frederic's bodyguard arrives and says that she wants to have a word.

As the neutralization system shuts down, Pete and Myka look for Claudia and find the dodgeball. It starts multiplying, and every time they look away, the balls multiply and attack them. The agents try to back away without taking their eyes off the balls. They run for a neutralizer station but discover that the system is empty. They look for useful artifacts but don't find anything, and Pete suggest that they catch the dodgeballs to neutralize them. Myka looks away and Pete catches them.

Artie meets with Mrs. Frederic at a local diner and she asks about the mission in Paris even though she already knows about them.

Pete and Myka continue their search and notice the energy discharges are increasing in size. Pete climbs up a ladder and spots a building with a Claudia-shaped hole in the roof. They investigate and realize it's Leena's house. They go inside and Claudia finds them and tells them not to close the door� too late. When Pete opens the door, he realizes he's in a fourth-dimensional tesseract and all the doors lead back to other doors within the same house.

As the neutralizer dispersal system reaches critical mass, Mrs. Frederic continues to pursue her interrogation of Artie. Artie notices people leaving and the owner closes the diner. Everyone else in the diner turns out to be Mrs. Frederic's superiors, the Regents. The supervisor, Benedict Valda, explains that the Regents are just normal people, and having kings and presidents controlling the warehouse would lead to chaos. Valda begins questioning Artie, noting that Pete and Myka have destroyed one artifact and released a malevolent spirit from the Lewis Carroll mirror. When Artie defends them, Mrs. Frederic explains that it's Artie and his partner that are under investigation.

Claudia and the agents try to work out why the house is in the warehouse. They realize that the artifact is in the original house and they had to move the house and then rebuild the building. Myka spots a painting of the room that isn't in Leena's current B&B. It's fused to the wall and can't be moved. The painting changes as they move objects into the room, to reflect the new room. Pete draws a door on the picture and it appears on the wall. However, it leads back into the house just like all the other exits. Pete throws something at the painting in exasperation and the walls reverberate with the shock. He rips a hole in the painting and a hole rips open in the wall, providing them with the way out. However, when they find that a storm is brewing up at the ceiling.

Claudia reveals she's been setting up access terminals throughout the warehouse. They determine the processing center has jammed and if they don't restore the flow within 30 minutes, it'll blow up. The most direct route is through the Dark Vault but Pete says Claudia should say there. Myka agrees with her and Pete gives in.

At the diner, Valda continues the interrogation on non-MacPherson issues and Mrs. Frederic advises Artie to go along. Artie agrees that he helped Claudia based on his promise and Valda notes that he's letting his personal issues interfere in warehouse affairs. When Mrs. Frederic notes that Artie's recovery rate has been sterling, Valda asks why Artie involved Dickinson in top secret affairs. Artie insists it was necessary but Valda warns that his future is at stake.

Claudia and the agents enter the Dark Vault, which has a sign warning that the artifacts are sense-activated. Purple containment fields running off of back-up generators keep all of the artifacts contained, and the generators cut off. They get to the opposite side and Claudia tries to open the lock. As he waits, Pete notices a doll and it comes to life on him. He backs up into a typewriter that starts typing on its own. Claudia gets the door open but Myka realizes that Pete has been entranced by the typewriter. The vault door closes automatically, trapping him inside.

As the storm continues to build, Myka tries to get Pete's attention while Claudia works on the lock. Mrs. Frederic's automated voice recording comes on to order an emergency evacuation. Myka finally kicks the lock and shatters it, getting the door open. they notice there's a cycle on the floor around the typewriter stand. Myka realizes the typewriter belonged to Sylvia Plath and drains the will to live from anyone who looks at it. Myka tries to get him to leave the containment circle but Pete doesn't see the point. Myka tells Claudia to go to the processing center while she deals with Pete.

Artie finally snaps and says the interrogation is a waste of time. He insists that MacPherson is out there and has something horrendous plan. He tells the Regents to deal with it but Valda points out that Artie is using MacPherson's supposed threat to justify his own rule-breaking. Artie points out that MacPherson knows the rules and he'll have to break the rule to stop him, but then realizes the Regents are afraid of MacPherson. Artie tells them to fire him, kill him, or let him do their job and then leaves. Once he's gone, Mrs. Frederick says that the ball is in the Regents' court.

Myka throws her belt to Pete but he refuses to grab it. She dares him to win but that doesn't work either. Finally Myka grabs a broom and shoves him out of the containment circle. Meanwhile, Claudia gets to the neutralizer processing center with five minutes to spare. She start pulling the silly string out of the cogs. However, when she pulls off her neutralizer gloves to get a better grip, the silly string sticks to her hand and the cogs start pulling her in. Myka leaves Pete behind to recover and finds Claudia. She gets entangled as well and Pete arrives and tries to find something to cut the silly string. Claudia directs him to the snow globe in her purse. He takes it and freezes the silly string, and then breaks it with a hammer. The cogs start up and the neutralizer fluid is pumped throughout the warehouse, abating the emergency.

Artie is sitting outside the diner when Mrs. Frederic comes out and tells him the Regents are letting him stay. As she leaves, she wishes Artie good hunting in tracking down MacPherson.

At the warehouse, the vacuum cleaner is still running until Claudia shuts it down. She thanks Myka for trusting her and Myka admits that she's talented. As they bond, Pete arrives and they figure Artie won't notice. Artie arrives to ask what he won't notice and they claim they're planning a surprise party. He isn't fooled and they have no choice but to explain. Artie takes it calmly enough, noting that he's had a similar experience in the past. The trio go for Mexican and Artie asks them to bring him a taco. Once they're gone, he tells them they're going to need their rest.