Watching Warehouse 13, I realize what a wonderful character Pete Lattimer is. He genuinely cares and, yes, he does have a childish jock side but he’s so very kind and sweet and lovely. Like, he takes the girls out for an ice cream, he offers Myka a sympathetic ear, he’s so excited about the fun side of the artifacts they collect, he’s happy when his loved ones are happy…
He’s such an antithesis to all the macho “I have no feels!” rednecks. Can I have a Pete of my own, please?
Let’s not kid ourselves - on the surface (especially near the beginning of the series), Pete was a pig. He lusted after any woman with a pulse, thought he was some kind of gift to women, and played up the dumb jock role with some seriously misogynistic jokes. BUT.
HUGE.
ASS.
BUT.
Pete didn’t disrespect anyone directly (unless they deserved it). The poor taste in jokes could be sorted into “childlike mentality.” The moment something moved past the surface, he was deep, caring, compassionate, and empathetic. As the series went on, the flirting subsided and we got to see the real Pete - the one who has abandonment issues and has a childlike innocence in his worldview that he refuses to forsake because “he’s supposed to.”
The ultimate display of Pete’s personality is when Myka is worried about his reaction to her physical results. Any one of those imagined reactions were completely spot-on for him, but the one he went with surprised her: he hugged her, because he knew there was nothing he could say that could make her feel better. Pete is complex, despite his vapid sense of humor, and I will fight anyone who refuses to look past the jokes, into the real Pete Lattimer.