by basprunger in Dark Fairy Tales, Fairy Tales in Pop Culture, Fairy Tales in Television, Retold Fairy Tales, Unconventional Fairy Tales Tags: Allison Scagliotti, Artie Nielsen, artifacts, Carlo Collodi, Carlo Collodi's Bracelet, Cinderella, Cinderella's Knife, Claudia Donovan, Eddie McClintock, fairy tales, fairy tales in pop culture, fairy tales in television, Grimm's Complete Fairy Tales, Joanne Kelly, Myka Bering, Pete Lattimer, Pinocchio, Saul Rubinek, The Brothers Grimm, Warehouse 13

If any of you watch the SyFy Network’s original series, “Warehouse 13,” you might have noticed the following lines in this past week’s episode (“Insatiable,” season three, episode ten).

Myka: “We deal with artifacts, not fairy tales.”

Pete: “Well, a lot of those artifacts come from fairy tales…”

For those of you that aren’t familiar with the show, the basic concept is this; the Warehouse agents (most of whom are in the Secret Service) travel around the world collecting dangerous objects imbued with supernatural powers. Many of these artifacts are historical in nature and get their power from contact with now well-known historical figures or situations. For instance, a piece of driftwood from the Titanic can give people hypothermia, and Edgar Allen Poe’s pen allows its wielder to bring Poe’s stories to life.

This is far from the first time the show has hinted at fairy tales. In fact, as you can see in the clip below, a shot of “Grimm’s Fairy Tales” appeared in the season one opening theme.

Although this episode was more about zombies than princesses, “Warehouse 13” has previously confirmed that in the world of the show fairy tales are based in reality. This is evidenced by Cinderella’s Knife, an artifact the team chases in season two, episode ten (“Where and When”). According to Artie (Saul Rubinek), the story of Cinderella and her glass slippers originated from the real Cinderella’s use of the knife, which turns its victims into glass. The show has also played with artifacts and ideas from other fictional stories, such as Carlo Collodi’s “Pinocchio” and Lewis Carroll’s “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.” Although these are NOT true fairy tales, they often get lumped in together.

Considering the fact that this season’s main villain is after a Pinocchio themed artifact (author Carlo Collodi’s bracelet), it seems that Pete (Eddie McClintock) and Myka’s (Joanne Kelly) conversation may not just have been simple banter. Although Myka is skeptical, Pete recognizes the potential for truth behind fairy tales. They’ve encountered one fairy tale item (Cinderella’s knife), so why not others? After all, the Warehouse did introduce them to “a world of endless wonder.” I can’t help but think that more fairy tale artifacts are in store for the Warehouse agents. There’s just too much foreshadowing and suggestion here for this not to pan out.

What do you think? Are there more twisted fairy tale artifacts to come in this season of Warehouse 13?