The Librarians: The Conclusions

It's sad to know that a good show was done in.

The Librarians has been cancelled.

Based off The Librarian TV films, The Librarians was about three disparate people, along with their Guardian, to collect and protect magical artifacts.  There was Cassandra Cillian (Lindy Booth), a mathematical mastermind, Jacob Stone (Christian Kane), an art and history expert who 'masqueraded' as a oil roughneck, and Ezekiel Jones (John Kim), a master thief.  Their Guardian was Eve Baird (Rebecca Romijn), a former NATO colonel who knew her way around a fight.

The current Librarian, Flynn Carsen (Noah Wyle) was ostensibly in charge but the Library, finding itself under major threat, removed itself from its original location.  Fortunately, the Library has an Annex, under the watch of Jenkins (John Larroquette), the cantankerous and fussy Caretaker.

Under the general supervision of Colonel Baird, these Librarians would be sent on various missions by The Clippings Book, where the clues would lead them to some magical artifact or entity which was either under threat or being misused, sometimes malevolently, sometimes not.  Over its four seasons, the Librarians fought against a figure revealed to be Lancelot, Shakespeare's Propero and his henchman Professor Moriarty, the Egyptian deity Apep, and a rogue Guardian, Nicole Noone.

What made The Librarians special in my view was that it was remarkably family-friendly fare.  There was danger, action/adventure, endless romantic bantering between Eve and Flynn, and a big helping of humor.  The Librarians was always a bit tongue-in-cheek, never taking itself seriously and more important, being remarkably clean.

There was the off moment when something might be a bit visually intense or a foul word slipped through, but for the most part The Librarians was unapologetically frothy stuff.  Each week we would get these characters into some supernatural situation where they would have to use their various skills to resolve the situation.

The Librarians, both characters or plots, were never vicious or unfeeling.  Instead, if you look at the series, The Librarians was a very positive show.

It valued intelligence over brute force, using violence only when absolutely necessary in self-defense or defense of others.  You had people who genuinely loved knowledge but who also felt that society would not accept them for that.  Both Jacob and Cassandra in essence hid from the world, while Ezekiel misused his intelligence.  As was so ably put by a henchwoman, 'one doomed by her gift (Cassandra with her brain tumor), one who fled his gift (Jacob, who uses pseudonyms when writing well-researched papers on art and architecture), one who abuses it (Ezekiel, who would rather steal than help others with his gifts).

The Librarians created heroes and heroines who saw knowledge as tools for good and to defeat evil with, a rejection of violence and abuse.  They lived out the maxim, 'Knowledge is Power'.

It showed the importance of teamwork, where each character used his or her particular skill to help resolve the situation. They all brought something to the table, and united for a common purpose: to make the world a safer and better place, all without seeking credit. There were conflicts within the group, as one person would be either puzzled or frustrated by another, but I think that is remarkably realistic.  It would have been more unbelievable if everyone agreed all the time.

In other ways, I think you could find that The Librarians was a 'family' show.  In essence, you had a family structure among the characters.  Flynn and Eve were the parents: the scatterbrained-but-caring dad, the strong, protective mother.  The Librarians reflected different personalities to their 'children': the tough but softhearted oldest brother, the perky upbeat kid sister, and the troublemaking but at heart loving baby brother.  Jenkins was our somewhat cranky Grandpa who grows to love his charges.

It was this sense of family, of the importance of each member that was one of The Librarians' strongest points.  No character ever felt truly superfluous.

Essentially, The Librarians was a sweet show that was full of whimsy, humor and adventure where people could identify with one or more of the characters and which found its strength in teamwork and knowledge.  It had a frothy, fun sense to it, and was pretty self-aware.

For my part, my favorite season was Season Two thanks to the figure I think was the best guest/recurring character: David S. Lee's Professor Moriarty.  How I wish he had been able to return, for his Moriarty was simultaneously funny and menacing, charming and amusing.  It will also mean that we won't get a return to the Gadget Gang, the motley group of cosplayers that was in essence a lighthearted spoofing of The Librarians fans.

Like all elements of The Librarians, this was a gentle ribbing of the fanbase than anything mean-spirited.

I can see why The Librarians was cancelled.  TNT wants to be more adult-oriented, and something as overtly cheerful, inoffensive and family-friendly as The Librarians wasn't going to be in line with those plans. Noah Wyle has a new job as well, so trying to balance out producing The Librarians along with guest spots and occasional writing and directing for it would be extremely hard. 

There is also the issue of a slight decline in quality.  The last two seasons two had some hiccups, particularly this season where there were some episodes that I flat-out did not like.

Still, it feels such a shame given how well the show created its own mythos.

I'll miss The Librarians, but I know that every time I see a beautiful building, I'll remember these wise words, "Architecture is just art we live in".

The tagline was true: Heroes Like These Are Overdue.

The Librarians: And the Complete Fourth Season Review

THE LIBRARIANS: AND THE COMPETE FOURTH SEASON

There were individual episodes of The Librarians Season Four that I really enjoyed.  They were fun and zippy and hearkened back to the early days of our frothy adventure series.

And then there were episodes like And the Disenchanted Forest, which left me so cold that I was reluctant to watch more episodes because I was the one disenchanted.  Now as we look back on the Fourth and sadly its Final Season, I'll try to examine not so much why The Librarians came to an end but why Season Four was in my view a weaker season than others.

This season, there was no major threat from a villain apart from renegade Guardian Nicole Noone, who was a throwback to the first Librarian film, Quest for the Spear.  Unlike other seasons where we had Lancelot, Prospero and his henchman Professor Moriarty, or even Egyptian deity Apep, this season we got bits from Nicole, then what appeared to be individual stand-alone stories, then back to Nicole.

I guess there is nothing wrong with that, but at times things went a bit off.  There was a stretch of episodes that either failed to entertain me or felt surprisingly rushed, as if the show could not bother to really develop things.  Take for example And the Graves of Time.

Here, we were introduced to a potentially great villain, Rasputin, but he ended up dispatched rather quickly.  I figure that it was due to a lot of time being taken up to show Nicole's evolution to the ultimate villainess, but I just thought not only was it a wasted opportunity with a potentially good villain in the style of a Prospero but for a great deal of it we didn't get any of the other Librarians. I was also bothered by things I thought were either not funny, such as crashing a memorial with a grieving family, or predictable, like who the actual villain turned out to be.

This season was surprisingly bereft of joint adventures.  And the Graves of Time barely featured John Kim's Ezekiel Jones, Christian Kane's Jacob Stone or Lindy Booth's Cassandra Cillian. And the Hidden Sanctuary similarly left off almost all the Librarians, up to and including Noah Wyle's recurring Flynn Carsen and Rebecca Romijn's Guardian Eve Baird.  And the Hidden Sanctuary's focus on Cassandra made And a Town Called Feud, the following episode's lack of focus on her oddly logical but still a bit strange.

It isn't as if there could not be successful episodes that focused on one of the Librarians.  And the Christmas Thief gave more attention to Kim's Jones, but that episode managed to integrate the others while including the others.  It even allowed for Flynn and Eve to have an unofficial premarital 'honeymoon'.  And the Silver Screen, a nice love letter to films, was more Flynn/Eve-centered, but the other castmembers were still part and parcel of that story.

Come to think of it, there were quite a few episodes that dealt primarily with one character.  Again, you could have very good episodes with that idea: And Some Dude Named Jeff, more centered on John Larroquette's Jenkins, was a nice romp and reminiscent of earlier, zanier adventures.

However, even before the cancellation news, I think The Librarians was having problems.  One was the Flynn issue.  Every year, Flynn kept taking off hither and yon, and this year was no exception, making the idea that he would be tethered to the Library highly ironic. As Wyle had committed to appearing on another series, keeping his character going in The Librarians was going to give us that same issue.

This season felt a bit disjointed, particularly with surprisingly gruesome episodes like And the Disenchanted Forest.  The Librarians was always a family show, but I don't know how children would have reacted to seeing Jacob Stone literally trapped inside a tree, making his Lorax act weird.  Then there was the temporary killing off of our formerly Immortal Jenkins.  Near the end, The Librarians became surprisingly dark and somber with that storyline, which disappointed me.

For me, the worst part which is a bit confusing to me is how it decided to resolve a lot of the cliffhangers, particularly Jenkins' death and return.  Essentially, Flynn manages to go back in time to get Nicole to be The Library's Guardian rather than The Librarian's. We then go back to where we were almost at the beginning, only this time only Flynn and Eve have any memory of all that happened before.  Stone, Jones, and Cassandra think nothing has changed, and Jenkins not only is still alive but has not given up his immortality.

As such, to my mind, this happy ending gave me flashbacks to Dallas' notorious 'It Was All A Dream' Season.  Many Librarians fans are too young to know or remember when a whole season of the primetime soap opera was erased when it was discovered in the following season premiere that everything that had happened the year prior was a dream by one of the main characters.

I am astonished no one else has either commented on or wondered about how Season Four of The Librarians bears similarity to Dallas' infamous Ninth Season.

As a result of Flynn essentially fixing things via a Doctor Who-type 'timey-wimey', does that mean that all or some of the previous stories did not take place?  Certainly the opening episode, And the Dark Secret, did not take place since with Nicole now redeemed, she didn't have to try and hide the Alexandria Library cornerstones, thus not necessitating the search for them.

As a side note, that would remove what could have been a potentially good enemy, The Heretical Order of Shadows.

If Nicole now in the past worked to be a Protectress of The Library, she wouldn't have run the risk of dying and thus Jenkins would not have had to have given up his own Immortality to save her, so out goes And the Graves of Time.  With Jenkins' Immortality gone, are we therefore going to lose And Some Dude Named Jeff, which was for me the best Season Four episode (or at least the one I liked the best)?  I figure the last two episodes are now all for naught.

As a season/series finale, And the Echoes of Memory was pretty good, and now the last sight of our long-thwarted lovebirds Flynn and Eve, about to be joined together with the Library for eternity is a nice way to go out.  However, Season Four to me was the weakest, and while now we will have no Season Five it is on a weak note that The Librarians ends.

Next: The Librarians: The Conclusions

The Librarians: And the Echoes of Memory Review

 

THE LIBRARIANS: AND THE

ECHOES OF MEMORY

As we close out Season Four of The Librarians, we see something we haven't seen: a recap of past episodes that make me wonder whether The Librarians has opted for a Dallas-like ending: it was all a dream.

On our last episode, Colonel Eve Baird (Rebecca Romijn) is left stranded in a dystopian world where The Library does not exist except in her memories.  This world has virtually no color, no variety, and draws parallels to the nightmare world of George Orwell, where "The Company" has everyone living in what looks like a hellish version of Progressive Insurance ads.

Baird works her best to remember the Library and thanks to a message that Flynn Carsen (Noah Wyle) is able to send her, to contact the other Librarians to help them remember.  Baird finds them in the strangest places: Jacob Stone (Christian Kane) is a used car salesman, Cassandra Cillian (Lindy Booth) is a nameless, faceless stapler in a world where she and the other staplers are expected to staple right down the middle, and Ezekiel Jones (John Kim) is the host of I Fall Down, apparently the only television show allowed which consists of literally seeing people fall.

Baird manages to get the three of them to remember elements of who they were and that those 'dreams' they had were really memories.  However, Nicole Noone (Rachel Nichols) so hates the Library that even dreams are outlawed.  She is able to maintain reality in this alternate universe, and manages to capture Baird, whose memories are fading fast.


Baird is sent to the looney bin, where she meets a familiar face calling himself Flynn.  In echoes of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, Flynn undergoes a 'treatment' that will temporarily block out the truth.  Still, the truth will not be denied, and Baird follows him to his padded cell, where she sees the hidden drawings of his own dreams.

A kiss unlocks their memories of the Library and of each other, but Nicole now sees that they are dangerous.  She decides to have Flynn undergo the lobotomy he needs to erase his past permanently.

The other Librarians now appear to have come to their senses and start using their various skills to rescue Flynn and Baird.  As they find their efforts at escape foiled by Nichole and her goons, they find they are trapped.  Here, Baird unites them to restore the Library to reality.

She has them in a circle and encourages them to remember: to Stone, his love of art, architecture and history, to Cassandra, her love of math, science and magic.  For Jones, she tells him he's a thief, which disconcerts him, until she points out that as a thief he knows the value of an artifact, knows how to find it and doesn't let anyone stand in his way.

It looks like while the Library is restored, the Librarians are still doomed to fall under The Wrath of Nicole.  Flynn, however, finds Nicole's biography in the Library shelves and uses The Toaster of Albuquerque to transport himself back to the moment where she first became Immortal.  He begs her forgiveness about not having returned the first time to save her and asks her to be The Library's Guardian rather than a Librarian's Guardian.  Accepting his apology and realizing Flynn and Eve are forever a couple, she agrees.

Flynn returns to the Library at the time of the rehearsal for the Tethering Ceremony, essentially back to the beginning.  As in It's A Wonderful Life, Flynn is delighted to find all the other Librarians alive and well, with no memory of what had happened and all confused as to what he is saying.

Baird, however, appears and remembers it well.  Not only that, but both are delighted to find that Caretaker Jenkins (John Larroquette) is both alive and Immortal.  He too has no memory of what has come before, and certainly not his surrendering of immortality and death.  Both are so happy to see him that they opt not for a rehearsal but for a full Tethering, despite it not being the Equinox.



After finishing And the Echoes of Memory, I got a particular Dallas vibe.  I just kept wondering, 'is this The Librarians version of Dallas' 'it was all a dream' ending"?

I imagine many Librarian fans are far too young to remember Dallas, but in one of the most infamous moments in television, this primetime soap opera's cliffhanger involved a character essentially 'dreaming' an entire season's storylines. By having the season turn out to be a dream, they could reboot the series without having to worry about pesky story threads.

And the Echoes of Memory, to a point, did the same thing as Dallas' "It Was All A Dream" ending.  By going back to fix the past, Flynn (and The Librarians' production crew) erased those pesky story threads of a dead Jenkins.  Given that the other Librarians have no memory of And the Dark Secret, because now it has never taken place, does that mean that the other episodes too did not take place?

And the Graves of Time could not have happened because Nicole was not an antagonist, and especially since Jenkins did not give up his Immortality.  Jenkins' Immortality also played a role in And the Trial of The One, so that didn't happen either.  Now, did And Some Dude Named Jeff happen?  Given that the other Librarians explained False Jenkins' oddball behavior to him being mortal, how could that work now that time has been rewritten and he never was not Immortal? 

What about And A Town Called Feud?  At least certain things could not have happened, since High Tea would not have elicited Jenkins' human side to love Cassandra's cucumber sandwiches.

Am I overthinking things?  Perhaps.  I know things like The Librarians are not meant to be taken as seriously as the Zapruder film, but something about this resolution struck me as amiss.  It resolves a thorny issue (the dead Jenkins) but does it do it at the expense of logic both internal and external?

If it weren't for the excellent cinematography on And the Echoes of Memory where we see how color creeps into this dystopian universe (shades of Pleasantville?), the strong world-building, and the work of the cast and guest star Nichols, exuding evil through every pore, I imagine I'd be far more likely to dislike it.

Some of the humor worked, and some was unintentional. Given that the 5'11" Romijn towers over the 5'7-8" Kane, hearing him call her 'little lady' is oddly amusing.

There were elements that I think might have been more deeply explored.  There's the mention of 'The Thought Police', the face that everyone in this world wears glasses, and the various Orwellian signs and slogans in this world such as "Thinking is Toxic for Your Brain".

And the Echoes of Memory was not a bad episode.  It was a pretty good one, with good performances and a fascinating world.  It's just that 'it was all a timey-wimey dream' bit that troubles me...


6/10

Next: And the Complete Fourth Season

The Librarians: And The Trial of The One Review

THE LIBRARIANS: AND THE 

TRIAL OF THE ONE

As we get closer to the season finale of The Librarians, I find that it is not only picking up steam, but actually making it worthwhile to watch.  And the Trial of The One has many twists and turns that surprisingly fit well within the hour's running time.  There were a few times I checked to see if it was running over because it was so packed.  That was a good thing in this case, as And the Trial of the One has moments of surprising heaviness.

We start out with a 'Previously on The Librarians', an opening I don't think the show has used before.  The cloister bells are ringing (OK, they were something else, but The Librarians unashamedly borrows a lot from Doctor Who).  There is still no one to tether to, and time is running out.  Jenkins (John Larroquette) attempts to hold this off by temporarily tethering everyone to the oldest book in The Library, but warns them not to look at it.

As in The Bible, it is The Woman who falls first into temptation.  Cassandra Cillian (Lindy Booth), who is firmly into the 'magic is a source for good' line of thinking, opens it up.  As in The Bible, it is The Man who cements this deadly deal.  She asks Jacob Stone (Christian Kane) to read it, and read it he does.  With that, they find themselves swept up into a strange world.

The text is on The Trial of The One (the original translation of 'The Selection of The One' being off).  The Library has taken on physical form in the shape of Jenkins, whose body they are holding hostage.  The other Librarians, Cassandra, Jake, Ezekiel Jones (John Kim) and their Guardian Eve Baird (Rebecca Romijn), now must fight a battle to the Death, or the Library will kill the now-mortal Jenkins.  They must first wear a Ring of Nightmare, which will show each of them their greatest fears which they must first confront before the Final Hunger Games.

Each Librarian must now confront their own fear and past: Cassandra's fears of bullying from when she was young, Stone's fear of magic through greater tattoos overpowering him, and Jones' fear of actually being caught.  To make things more interesting, the other Librarians in these visions are no longer their friends, but their worst enemies.  They had failed to realize that in these alternate worlds, they did not know each other.  There is a way out, by pressing another red button, and once they do, the find themselves with a seemingly simple task: get to the center of a circle and press a golden button.

However, each now only remembers that he/she was a Librarian, not that he/she had others who worked with them.  Hearing Jenkins voice and knowing the danger he is in, they must now stop the others from getting to that button.  It's a race to the bitter end to see which of the two Librarians would die, leaving one to which to tether to.

Baird is helpless, only able to watch.  Just in the nick of time, she realizes that standing by helpless and watching is her nightmare.  Realizing that her reality is just as false as the ones she sees, she pulls off her own ring that she sees thanks to the Eye of Ampyx, a magical artifact that always reveals the truth, she gets to the center of the field first before the others can kill.  She convinces them of who they are and they drop their weapons.

Not good enough for the Library, as it must have The One.  At first it looks like Baird has outwitted the Library itself, but it is not to be.  The Library manages to stab Jenkins, who as a mortal now must die.  Jenkins' death so upsets the others that they resign in unison from the Library, heartbroken over their beloved Caretaker's death.

Baird too is devastated, until who should show up but Nicole Noone (Rachel Nichols).  In the slinkiest of dresses, she reveals that all of this was her elaborate plan for revenge.  She tells Baird that Jenkins was right about her all along, and that she had manipulated everything from the get-go in order to get the Library to break from reality itself.  Now, with victory at hand and no Librarian, the Library disappears around Baird, into a world of black and white.

And the Trial of The One has, as I've said, a lot of story packed into it.  We get flashbacks and fantasy sequences well-filmed: each section getting a distinct visual style that lends the sense of menace and danger to their situations.  There is no real sense of relief in this dark episode.  The closest to it comes at Jenkins' death, when he comments that Miss Cillian's cucumber sandwiches at the High Tea party she had were worth becoming mortal for.

This episode gave everyone a chance to extend on their acting as they played a variety of characters in each other's dream/fantasy sequences. Of particular note was Booth, who excelled in all her sequences: the frightened and bullied Cassandra, the tough officer to Jones, the witch to Stone.  Maybe the witch was a trifle camp, but you could roll with it.  Kane and Kim's best scenes were when they were Cassandra's bullies.

Nichols was on screen just at the end, but she was vamping it up for all its worth.

The curious thing is that And the Trial of the One was really heavy emotionally.  At the top of this is Jenkins' death, down to having the others wearing black as they carried his urn to his desk.  Cassandra seems the most affected, which is not surprising as she had a special fondness for him.  Stone, to be fair, wore grey, but he let the genuine pain slip through Stone's generally tough exterior, and Jones, all in black, showed that despite his generally blase manner he too felt Jenkins' loss greatly.  Jones, curiously, did something he rarely ever does: show he does care about the others.

"Librarians Together, Librarians Forever," he calls before they all push their red buttons, a rare admission that he holds team unity to heart.

Even I felt a twinge of sadness to see Jenkins go and really am pulling for him to be brought back somehow.  It just would not feel like the Library without our cantankerous, crusty yet lovable Caretaker.

It seems strange that And the Trial of The One should follow And Some Dude Named Jeff given how wildly different they were.  And Some Dude Named Jeff was frothy fun, something The Librarians specializes in.  And the Trial of The One was very dark and downbeat, almost tragic.  It was a good episode, especially as it leaves one wanting more.

I will say however, this is the first Librarians episode where I would have slight trepidation about watching with younger kids, primarily elementary school children who may not be acquainted with death.  It seems a bit down for them, and one thing The Librarians should never be is sad.

Here's hoping the season finale brings us a bit of joy and unexpected twists.

9/10

Next Episode: And the Echoes of Memory

The Librarians: And Some Dude Named Jeff Review

THE LIBRARIANS: AND SOME DUDE NAMED JEFF

And Some Dude Named Jeff is, to my mind, notable for a few reasons.  First, it's the first Librarians episode that I have genuinely enjoyed, even if it was not the smartest or the most original of stories.  Second, it's a love letter to the fanbase, those Librarians In Training, and the wacky world they occupy.  There may be a temptation to say And Some Dude Named Jeff actually mocks fan culture in general and Librarian fans specifically. I could see that; however, I think the people behind The Librarians genuinely care and respect their fanbase, so I look upon And Some Dude Named Jeff more of a gentle spoofing than a downright mockery.

The Librarians notice that Jenkins (John Larroquette) is acting a bit strangely: less stuffy, almost flirtatious with Librarian Cassandra Cillian (Lindy Booth), high-fiving and smacking the backside of Jacob Stone (Christian Kane).  There is something amiss, but they can't quite figure it out.  They put it down to aftereffects of Jenkins now becoming human, but the Real Jenkins knows the truth.

The Real Jenkins is shocked to find himself waking up in a basement filled with posters and him wearing a rock band t-shirt.  He's also shocked and appalled to be ordered about by a woman who insists he's his mother Dolores (Jeanine Jackson).  Things get stranger and stranger as a group of people from Gadget Gang come sweeping in, telling him they are all going to be late for work if he doesn't get himself together.

Jenkins is perpetually befuddled by this group, more so when they get together in the basement to play Dungeons & Dragons.  He's realized that he has switched bodies with Jeff Peppers (Andrew Caldwell), a 28-year-old whose life is stuck in second gear, and it hasn't been his day, his week, his month, or even his year.

If you get the reference, you are a Gen-Xer.

It isn't until Jeff's friends start the game that Jenkins realizes that Jeff has based the characters in this version on The Librarians themselves.  Aurora (Britney Young) has the character 'Cassandra the Sorceress', the more mature Dennis (Joseph Bertot) is 'Stone the Ranger', and Dragon Master Schmidt (Ryan Schwartz) is 'Flynn the Wise Sage'.  There is no one to be 'Baird the Warrior Princess' or 'Ezekiel the Cunning Thief' (his character I think was eaten).  Jeff always plays his favorite character: Jenkins.

Jeff is pretty obsessed with Jenkins, down to donning cosplay of our cantankerous Caretaker.  The group as a whole has built up the characters thanks to Wikileaks dumping DOSA files and certain newspaper reports by a certain Sarina.  Jenkins realizes that Jeff has literally switched places with Jenkins, and now it's up to Jenkins to break into the Library and set things right.

This is more important since Jeff has used a book found at an online auction to cast the spell.  This book, The Asmodius Grimoire, belonged to Merlin, and in it he had locked up Asmodeus, one of the Seven Princes of Hell.  With Jeff having used it, he has inadvertently released Asmodeus and worse, brought him into the Library.

Jenkins' odd behavior has now made the Librarians aware something is wildly wrong.  They put 'Jenkins' to the test by having him translate an ancient text.  Obviously, the False Jenkins cannot, and he confesses the truth: all he wanted was to be Jenkins for a little while to perk up his humdrum life.  Unfortunately, this slacker is no hero, especially as he hides from this monster.

The Real Jenkins sees that he needs Aurora, Dennis and Schmidt to break into the Library through the backdoor, something he finds quite horrifying.  The backdoor has many traps, but each of our D&D fans brings his/her own skills to thwart them.  A puzzle is easy for Schmidt, going past a booby-trapped hall requires Aurora's dance skills, and Dennis tells Jenkins a story about perseverance that he tells his children, which inspires Jenkins to literally break on through.

Despite their teamwork, Jenkins insists that they cannot enter the Library itself, much to their disappointment.  However, for their work, Jenkins dubs each of them Honorary Knights of the Round Table.  Real Jenkins is most displeased to find False Jenkins, insisting he return his body and Jeff return to as Real Jenkins puts it, 'his short, slightly overweight body'.

Jeff knows he's afraid and that his life is awful, but having spent time in Jeff's world, Jenkins sees what Jeff does not: Jeff has passionately loyal friends, a mother who genuinely loves him, and the possibilities of a wonderful life if he chooses to have one.  Jeff has to focus on the positives.

He also has a Prince of Hell to face off against.  After a quick stop to use a reversing potion, Jeff and Jenkins rush to Jeff's home to retrieve a stone that contained a bit of Asmodeus' power.  That stone, however, Jeff had given to his mother as a birthday gift.  It's a battle between Slacker Jeff, Sir Galahad, and Asmodeus for the sake of the world.

Asmodeus is defeated by the Real Jeff, who has overcome his fears.  Jenkins has found that 'people can be quite delightful', and rushes off to a 'meeting'.  That meeting?  A game of Dungeons & Dragons, where Jenkins brings pizza and insists his expertise on all matters supernatural make him the natural choice for Dragon Master.

And Some Dude Named Jeff is something we haven't seen from The Librarians in a while: a genuinely sweet story that has menace but also has heart.  There is a danger of sorts (like many one-off monsters, Asmodeus isn't going to make a return appearance), but for the most part And Some Dude Named Jeff is a lark, a nice romp where we can focus on characters.

In this case, it's Jenkins, and Larroquette has a wonderful turn, giving him a chance to show off his great comedic skills: after all, one of his signature roles was in the sitcom Night Court.  It's in the blending of Jenkins' person in Jeff's life that makes things funny: Jenkins' befuddlement over how automobiles operate or seeing do his take on Dance Dance Revolution that sells the premise.

There are few things as amusing as seeing the ever-stuffy Jenkins, in full metalhead t-shirt, remark on someone's 'short, slightly overweight body'.  And Some Dude Named Jeff is meant to show Jenkins' evolution to a softer, almost cuddly figure.

And Some Dude Named Jeff is also highlighted by its guest stars, specifically Caldwell as our fanboy.  He has to play someone who is both fan and individual, someone who fills his unhappy life with friends who are in their own way also outcasts in a fantasy world.  It cannot be a coincidence that Jeff has a photograph of himself dressed up as Jenkins, the nod to those Librarian cosplayers and cosplayers in general a nice one.

In turns endearing and inept, with curious turns of phrases (calling Cassandra 'Sassy Cassy' and Jacob Stone as 'Stoner'), it be nice to see Caldwell's Jeff make a return appearance.  It be nice to see all of them return again, as they would make a fine group to keep tabs on.

And Some Dude Named Jeff also has a unique aspect: it is Librarian costar Lindy Booth's directorial debut, and she proves herself a good director.  The episode didn't lag and balanced those moments of humor (the Dance-Off) with heart (Dennis telling Jenkins the rabbit story he tells his own kids).

The episode isn't perfect.  Jenkins' denial of letting the others into the Library was a quick and easy way to get rid of the characters, and in retrospect it shows a wild inconsistency.  Jenkins is stricter about letting visitors in, since he denied this group entrance while Stoner showed Sarina around.  Now, maybe Jenkins wasn't aware that Stone had brought his paramour into the Library, but that does show a bit of a discrepancy.

And Some Dude Named Jeff may be my favorite Librarians episode, at least from this season.  It's a welcome return to form after some major stumbles, a nice homage/gentle spoofing of fan culture that takes things a bit too seriously but ultimately mean no harm.  It was a nice romp, well-acted and directed, and one that I enjoyed.

Now, Gimme That Boom...

9/10

Next Episode: And the Trial of The One

The Librarians: And A Town Called Feud Review

THE LIBRARIANS: AND A 

TOWN CALLED FEUD

The Librarians in Season Four has stumbled a few times, the stories almost parodies.  And A Town Called Feud is part of the rebuilding effort, and it's a good one, putting in some things that are surprisingly logical and some things that sadly seem to come out of nowhere.

The Librarians are still divided over how to resolve the Tethering Issue.  The Guardian Eve Baird (Rebecca Romijn) has to be tethered to a Librarian, and it's been generally accepted that There Can Be Only One...Librarian.

The very first one, I suspect, was really a Highlander, but I digress.

Jacob Stone (Christian Kane) and Ezekiel Jones (John Kim) believe there can be only one, and that he should be The One.  Cassandra Cillian (Lindy Booth), and Caretaker Jenkins (John Larroquette) are firm in their belief that there can be more than one Librarian.  Baird for her part is stuck in the middle.  The Clippings Book comes to the rescue, as it sends them to the town of Feud, sight of the best visual metaphor for the Civil War.

Stone, Jones and Baird go to Feud, while Cassandra and Jenkins stay behind to do 'research'.  As a side note, it makes sense that after the Cassandra-centric And the Hidden Sanctuary that she sit this one out.

Stone, Jones and Baird find they've come at the annual Feud Festival, where there is a Civil War reenactment of a battle that pitted brothers Uriah and Carlton Loveday on opposite sides of the War Between Brothers: Uriah for the Confederacy, Carlton for the Union.  They killed each other in Fugue, a town which changed its name to Feud to commemorate the battle between the ironically-named Lovedays.

The Loveday House Museum director, Janet Hedge (Nora Dunn), has been the patroness of the Feud Festival and battle reenactment, literally painting a line through town and right down the Loveday House.  She also makes a surprise announcement: the second half of a locket the two brothers had received from their mother that they broke apart has been discovered, and it will be put together at the Festival as a symbol of reconciliation.

However, all of this sounds rather fishy, especially to the history-loving Stone.  Jones, for his part, struggles to not steal anything, and fails, picking up an "All American Boy" cap from the gift shop.  Once he slips it on, Stone quips 'You finally got your green card?'  Stone is more angry when Hedge tells them, 'History IS a theme park,' dismissing their concerns.

These concerns are more than quibbles about historical accuracy.  Rehearsals for the battle reenactment have spawned ghost sightings, warning that 'the brothers are coming'.  The reenactors too are fighting, especially Griz (Dan Considine), on the Confederate side who also believes in aliens and conspiracy theories, and Devon (Ben Newman), the Union reenactor who thinks Griz is bonkers and who has fought with him since high school.

Meanwhile, Cassandra essentially seduces Jenkins with High Tea into helping her find proof that the Westphalia Brothers, the only time the Library tried a dual Librarian role to disastrous results (their war leading to the Dark Ages), really is more myth than truth.  This is not helped by the curious clues left by a previous Librarian: Zelpha the Forgetful.  She had taken information about the Westphalia Brothers and left little notes to help her find them, but her notes are riddles that even she probably could not figure out.

Stone and Jenkins continue fighting over who would make the better Librarian, much to Baird's frustrations.  They stubbornly refuse to see that they compliment each other, their skills enhanced by the other's own.  Jones sees what he calls 'a golem leprechaun' apologizing for having lost something as he rings a bell, and Stone sees a woman dressed in black.  Both ghosts also say 'the brothers are rising', and with them come troops.

Eventually, the Loveday Brothers do rise, along with their respective ghost troops, after Hedge joins the two parts of the locket.  However, the Librarians find she had nothing to do with this, and the battle is about to commence when the ghosts take over the reenactors' bodies.  The two brothers take over Jones and Stone and they point their weapons on each other.  However, we learn the truth: the brothers had reconciled before they were killed together in Feud, the true story hidden in myth and hype.

The ghosts also reconcile with Carlton's son (the 'golem leprechaun') and Uriah's wife (who as a black woman, could not legally marry the man she loved).  The town will adopt a new name: Forgiveness.

Unfortunately,  once Stone and Jones now agree that the Library can have more than one Librarian, Jenkins and Cillian now see that it cannot, so we're right back where we started.

I think that A Town Called Feud makes clear that when the first ghost says 'The Brothers Are Rising', he don't mean fellow troops.  This episode split the team into two groups, and it worked well in showing how they came to opposite views from where they started, at least with the Jones/Stone side, less so with Cassandra/Jenkins.

We did have nice moments of comedy (Jenkins' elation at High Tea is a delight), as well as the squabbling between Jones and Stone.

I do wonder about the reenactors however.  Is it a coincidence that the eccentric cook/Confederate reenactor is named 'Griz' ('gris' being the French and Spanish word for 'grey')?  If that weren't already curious enough, the dialogue between Griz and Devon as they confront each other is curious to say the least.

Griz and Devon are holding weapons to each other, and Griz tells him about how angry he was that Devon 'stole his boyfriends'.  Devon replies that they left of their own accord and they loved him, not Griz.  I think what I found strange about this exchange is that it came completely out of left field.  There had been no indication that Devon and Griz were nothing more than school rivals, not thwarted lovers.  It just seemed to be there for no reason, just thrown in there.  It isn't funny, it isn't relevant; it just seemed pointless.

In terms of performances, And A Town Called Feud is proof that Dunn simply does not appear on television enough.  She was caustic, even slightly menacing but not without a touch of humor as Janet Hedge, History Perverter.   

And A Town Called Feud has a positive message (the power of forgiveness, though I would have thought the town should be renamed 'Reconciliation'), moved quickly, and had nice moments of comedy along with the action.  Minus a few hiccups, this shows The Librarians can return to form.

7/10

Next Episode: And Some Dude Named Jeff

The Librarians: And the Hidden Sanctuary Review

THE LIBRARIANS: AND THE 

HIDDEN SANCTUARY

And the Hidden Sanctuary, while not a return to form to the zippy, madcap fun of previous Librarians episodes, is a step in the right direction.  I cannot say that I was overwhelmed with it, and up to a point I was finding things hard to believe, even here.  However, given what we have gone through, And the Hidden Sanctuary worked far better, even if I would say it was a bit rushed.

This is a Cassandra Cillian-centered episode, as most of the other Librarians barely made an appearance.  Cassandra (Lindy Booth) had a crisis of confidence in a previous mission, and she froze, leaving the other Librarians in danger.  After the trauma and aftereffects of her panic and inaction, Cassandra decides to leave the Library, not permanently but on a sabbatical.  As such, she goes to Havenport, Ohio, a city billed as 'the safest city in America'.

Havenport is more than safe: it is about to celebrate 10,000 days without a single accident of any kind.  We're not talking just car accidents or construction mishaps.  We're talking people not getting broken legs or even falling down stairs.  Havenport, OH is beyond idyllic, and Cassandra could not be more pleased.

She finds room and board with Karla (Sheri Saum) and her son, Freddie (Benjamin Flores, Jr.), whose only real interest is apparently photography.  The city is overseen by Councilman Weeks (Heath Koerschgen), who is getting things ready for a major festival celebrating their 10,000 Accident-Free Days.

As a side note, does anyone else thinks Havenport should have hired 10,000 Maniacs to perform, or is that just me?

Weeks is also smitten with Karla and probably vice-versa, but they cannot say it.  Cassandra, for her part, finds Havenport all the more wonderful, fitting her generally cheery outlook.  She in quick order becomes an actual public librarian, starting a STEM Program and joining the Quilting Bee, the Bake-Off, and other civic activities.

However, there is something wicked afoot.  On the verge of celebrating the 10,000 Days, these maniacs are suddenly flooded with disasters in quick succession.  Moreover, Cassandra, with Freddie's aid, sees that it is statistically impossible for Havenport to have remained so secure.  There is something unnatural in having close to 30 years without anything bad happening.

As the citizens demand answers, they soon blame the newcomer for bringing this upon them.  However, Freddie and Cassandra find the truth: Weeks had helped a fairy as a child when he was lost.  The fairy as reward would grant Weeks a wish.  His first wish of saving his father was impossible as Mr. Weeks was about to die, so Weeks wishes that there be no more accidents...and that's what he got.  He also put her in a snow-globe, and had essentially trapped her there.  Now, the angry fairy was wreaking havoc.

It's the same as when Cassandra freaked out, but words of wisdom from a vision of Jenkins (John Larroquette) give her enough confidence to restore order and outwit the fairy.  As Freddie had saved the fairy earlier during the first part of the rampage, the fairy is bound to grant him a wish.  He wishes that she know fear too, and it weakens her enough to stop her revenge.

As Cassandra returns to the Library, she notes that Freddie may get a call from them when he grows up and that the townsfolk have to accept risk.  The risks could be anything from looking both sides before crossing the street, to the risk of Councilman Weeks finally approaching Karla for coffee.

I can't say whether And the Hidden Sanctuary was meant to be a one-woman show, or whether letting individual Librarians have their own episodes is something that will happen more often.  I can't even say whether I'm on board as it being a good idea.  I can say that And the Hidden Sanctuary is more hit than miss.

Yes, it is implausible that Cassandra could so quickly integrate into town in the short amount of time she is there, down to winning the blue ribbon at the baking contest and joining a quilting bee while getting to be a major citizen.  However, you kind of roll with it because it is not meant to be too serious.  I would also say that after so many missions where she proved herself confident, to have her now suddenly collapse is also slightly implausible.

I would have preferred that she just take a vacation because she felt she needed one, or maybe visit her friend Karla, who found an ideal place to raise her son.

Maybe it's just me, but And the Hidden Sanctuary could be a story about how life is full of risks and that you cannot be perpetually safe from any, physical or emotional.  During the tense meeting, one of the citizens calls out, 'we need to be protected', but as Cassandra observes/learns, there is no such thing as a risk-free life.  This version of 'stranger danger' does not just come in the form of external fears, but internal ones too.  Karla, for example, constantly frets about her son, worrying both about his physical and emotional safety.  She is unwittingly stunting him in an effort to protect him, and the moral of And the Hidden Sanctuary is that life without risks or without a sense of danger is no life at all.

As a side note, it's interesting that Jenkins calls her 'Cassandra' rather than the usual 'Miss Cillian'.  Is there something there, especially since Jenkins is mortal now?

This is a showcase for Booth and the director, Noah Wyle, and both did so well.  Booth was charming and sweet and highly intelligent as Cassandra, and she brought not just those qualities to her performance, but also that vulnerability and acceptance of fear as part of life.  Wyle also kept things going quickly, though the montage of disasters in Havenport did not go over as well as they could have.  I also thought Flores was weak as Freddie, more whiny than intelligent.

Still, And the Hidden Sanctuary was cute, slightly whimsical but with a sense of both danger and acceptance.  It was nice to see Lindy Booth more than hold her own, but it had the negative of sidelining the others save Larroquette to virtual cameos. 

Sometimes, you can't give them what they want...

6/10

Next Episode: And A Town Called Feud

The Librarians: And the Disenchanted Forest Review

THE LIBRARIANS: 

AND THE DISENCHANTED FOREST

The forest was not the only thing that was disenchanted.

And the Disenchanted Forest did something to me that has not happened with regards to The Librarians: it made me actually dislike the series.  There were some bright spots, but with a very curious environmental message, some very strange turns, and some really creepy moments, And the Disenchanted Forest felt so off.

With Flynn now apparently gone for good from The Library, Guardian Eve Baird (Rebecca Romijn) sees the other Librarians losing a sense of cohesion.  The Clippings Book, however, comes to the rescue, as they are sent off to a Team-Building Camp headed by empowerment guru Robbie Bender (T.J. Ramini).  The reaction from the other Librarians is decidedly mixed.  Cassandra Cillian (Lindy Booth), who has never been to camp, is thrilled and highly enthusiastic over all the hijinks she'll play.  Ezekiel Jones (John Kim) is appalled and thinks it's a waste of time.  Jacob Stone (Christian Kane) is there for the mission.

Soon, the ever pushy Bender gets the various companies, including those from 'The Libris Corporation' into all sorts of team-building exercises, much to Cassandra's enthusiasm and Jones' disgust.  Baird is obsessed over another rival team and not happy her team keeps getting second, and Stone is making googly-eyes at Sarina (Dilshad Vadsaria), the Creativity Director who is apparently as enamored of obscure European poetry as Stone is.

Of course, things are not as they appear.  There have been people who have 'vanished' from the camp.  Bender calls them 'me-firsters' not willing to get with the program, but the Librarians find that this is not the case, especially since the campsite was a formerly secret government area just recently reopened.  Moreover, there are the rival campers.  Baird discovers they are DOSA, and the head investigator, Agent Tannen (Jeremiah Burkett) is not pleased to see them there.

Stone still finds heat with Sarina, but she admits that she too is there under false pretenses.  She is an investigative reporter, recently fired because of her wackadoo ideas about a secret society called 'The Library' that hides magical artifacts.

Stone is pretty surprised at how close Sarina is to the truth, albeit with some details wrong.  As he comes close to revealing his own truth, the forest grabs him and takes him away, his final words to her are to warn the others.

Eventually, with some help from DOSA which like Sarina was close but still a bit off, the Librarians find 'The Devil's Forest', where the Native Americans believed the first tree came from.  Within a tree is Stone, who as a master linguist is able to literally speak for the trees.  The forest worries about deforestation, and asks them to guard The Zero Seed, a glowing pine cone that can revive the woods if all the trees are cut down.

No worries, as DOSA will ensure the forest is federally protected, and Bender is found innocent of all the goings-on.  For her part, Sarina is taken by a smitten Stone to the Library, where he tells her she cannot speak of what she knows.

Dean Devlin, who wrote And the Disenchanted Forest, also wrote and directed Geostorm, a disaster movie in more ways than one.  Now, why do I mention this?  Simple: both have strong environmental messages within them.  It's clear Mr. Devlin cares deeply and passionately about these environmental issues and is using his work to promote his views.

It's also clear that, his good intentions aside, he keeps making a mess of it.

I think the nadir of this is when we see Stone literally in a tree that evokes memories of Han Solo's end in Empire Strikes Back.  It's already bad enough that the special effects look downright grotesque, but somehow the idea that Grandfather Willow was just in search of a translator so that he can tell these pesky humans to stop cutting his family down is so absurd.  I am genuinely surprised Jacob did not at any point say, "I speak for the trees!".  It was laughable, but not in a good way, because he literally was speaking for the trees.

After the Zero Seed is handed over, the trees release all the humans they've taken, some from as far back as the time of the Conquistadors by the looks of it.

From 'Stone' to Wood...

I guess they can find their way back to their right time if they use the Library's door, but I could not shake the idea that And the Disenchanted Forest was in some ways America's and The Librarians' answer to the Doctor Who episode In the Forest of the Night.  It does not help your case when you echo one of the worst Doctor Who stories of all time, one so awful not even The Nerdist's Kyle Anderson, who is this short of being a downright Doctor Who lackey, could barely pretend to 'not dislike' it.  It matches ITFOTN's desire to have the 'villain' end up not being a villain, though I think ITFOTN was less heavy-handed than And the Disenchanted Forest.

I may have digressed, but what would possess any tree to think any of these people could speak for them?  Was it just a wild coincidence that the trees grabbed the linguist Stone?  If they had taken Jones, Baird or Cillian, what then?

About the only bit of wit in the episode came with regards to Bender's call against the 'me-firsters' who felt suppressed by the all-team talk.  The term 'suppressed' was interesting, for it made me think that is how Scientologists talk about those who oppose them.  Was this a subtle jab at them?

It's nice to have some character development: Stone's romantic aspirations, Jones' more mature manner, Cassandra's mix of ebullience with sadness at what she never experienced as a child.  However, unless Sarina makes a return appearance it will be hard to have someone who knows about The Library just pop in and not return.

It seems an equal waste to not only let John Larroquette have a small role, but show him coming down with a cold one moment, then back to perfect health another.    It did not make sense to have Baird not consider that the other campers were DOSA.  That was my first thought, so I cannot understand why with all their manner and luggage, she didn't consider that a possibility.

And the Disenchanted Forest could have worked, could have been another great Librarians episode.  Instead, an environmental message got in the way, and while guest stars Ramini and Vadsaria were good, and the cast did on the whole well, I could not muster any enthusiasm for this episode.

These woods are dark, but they are neither deep nor lovely.

2/10

Next Episode: And the Hidden Sanctuary

The Librarians: And the Graves of Time Review

THE LIBRARIANS: AND THE 

GRAVE OF TIME

And the Grave of Time is the first Librarians episode in a long time where I simply wasn't feeling anything towards it.  I just wasn't enthusiastic about it.  And the Grave of Time felt simultaneously slow and rushed, a lot of the comedy failing and a resolution that seems rather pat and weak.

Nicole Noone (Rachel Nichols) is searching for the various artifacts that she has buried in her own graves.  Hot on her trail is Eve Baird (Rebecca Romijn), who forces Nicole to work with her, a case of Guardians United.

Nicole reluctantly agrees as she and Baird go search for Koschei's Needle, which is a powerful weapon that can destroy an Immortal.  Her 'graves' hold bits of the key that will open the container of said needle, and Jenkins (John Larroquette), who had locked Nicole up as being a danger, is convinced she is after it to kill him.  Her erstwhile lover, Flynn Carsen (Noah Wyle) is not sure of this, but together they go off to search for them.

This pretty much leaves the other Librarians out of the episode save for a few moments, especially at the end.

Nicole and Baird find another piece, and Nicole tries to get rid of her but fails.  Nicole has also been pursued by a mysterious Russian, and after Nicole, Baird, Jenkins and Flynn all temporarily join forces, they are split up.  The mysterious Russian tells them that Nicole helped Rasputin kill the Romanovs, and that he is a descendant of a lost Romanov who wants to avenge his family.  Koschei's Needle is found, but turns out the Russian is no Romanov.  He's Rasputin himself (Christopher Heyerdahl), and Nicole planned to use the Needle on him, not Jenkins.  Rasputin in turn used it on Nicole.

Flynn and Baird manage to kill off Rasputin thanks to being in Chernobyl, and Nicole is restored to life by Jenkins giving up his immortality and passing that on to her.  After all that, it appears that Flynn has resigned from the Library and left.

Looking back at And the Graves of Time, I find a lot of it a terrible letdown.  Part of it is how most of the cast was sidelined.  Cassandra Cillian, Jacob Stone, and Ezekiel Jones played such a minor part in the proceedings.  I think a case can be made that they played no part in And the Graves of Time, and/or that their lines could have been spoken by anyone else.

Another aspect that bothered me was Jenkins giving up his immortality for Nicole.  Now, this thread of Jenkins tiring of being an Immortal is an interesting one, and one that I think both should have been explored more and been introduced earlier.  It just seemed very rushed to me: he as far as I remember has never mentioned this weariness before and before you know it, he surrenders it.  Perhaps because I am not convinced Nicole is such a good person to give up Immortality for, or because this thread was barely mentioned, but it just did not work for me.

There are the comedy bits too that have me unhappy.  In one scene, Baird manages to escape a mausoleum by crawling out of one tomb and interrupting a family's grieving in the process.  Now, perhaps this did not sit well with me because I was reminded of recent funerals I've attended, none of which opened themselves up to laughs.  As such, maybe I just was not in the mood to see people in mourning as subjects of laughter.  However, I think this could have been handled better: say, a group of tourists exploring the mausoleum find themselves confronted with a walking dead.  A really funny bit would have been if there had been a ghost tour taking place that Baird had inadvertently crashed.

Making a family's grief the source of comedy...not to my liking.  If you want to think I am taking that too seriously, that's fine.  I'm just expressing my views on the subject, and I don't think it was funny.

Neither was Baird managing to magically show up sitting next to Nicole on the plane.  How would Nicole not notice Baird literally next to her?  How did Baird manage to get there in time?  I know The Librarians is not serious, but my suspension of disbelief goes only so far.

Again and again I felt the comedy parts were failing, particularly the 'witty banter'.  I also wonder about how Baird and Jenkins could meet a 'Romanov' and believe his story so quickly.  The 'Romanov' never mentioned whom he was descended from, so it makes his whole story so implausible, yet no one questioned it.

Finally, we have the 'Flynn leaves again' deal.  Here, I cut them some slack in that we got a potential crisis with the dangers of having more than one Librarian, but now it seems Flynn did not quit out of that.  He quit because...he felt guilty over Nicole?  He did not want to be tethered to the Library and Baird?

The performances were good: the interplay between Nichols and Romijn and especially Larroquette and Wyle were strong, even amusing.  The one funny bit was Flynn making Jenkins look like he was turning ill and senile to get access to a previous crypt.  Heyerdahl, however, seemed way too camp for Rasputin, down to a really broad Russian accent that was more out of a spoof than anything else.

For all the importance and danger of what was at stake, it all felt so dry to me.  And the Grave of Time just felt so empty, not even of people going through the motions.

This grave for me was empty and hollow.

3/10

Next Episode: And the Disenchanted Forest

The Librarians: And the Bleeding Crown Review

THE LIBRARIANS: AND THE

BLEEDING CROWN

I had thought that the origins of The Librarian franchise was something that would be touched on in this season after watching the Fourth Season premiere story.  And the Bleeding Crown, the fifth episode, also touches on elements that the original TV movies that spun this series introduced, most importantly the fact that technically, it must follow the Highlander Rule: There Can Be Only One.  In this case, only one Librarian.  Now we are tackling something that might be a little more complicated than our main story.  And the Bleeding Crown, however, has nice moments of humor, even a bit of spoofing of fanboys but done in a nice way.

A town suddenly finds itself having aged to where everyone is now a senior citizen.  People in their 40s and their teen children are all of a sudden geriatric thus begging the question, what exactly happened to those in this town who were actually senior citizens.  Did they stay the same age or worse?  A question no one asked, let alone answered, yet I digress.

To investigate we get our Librarians: Jacob Stone (Christian Kane), Cassandra Cillian (Lindy Booth) and Ezekiel Jones (John Kim) along with their Guardian, Eve Baird (Rebecca Romijn) and the Head Librarian, Flynn Carsen (Noah Wyle).  Jacob in particular is not happy to be surrounded by the senior set (it looks like he appreciates antiques, but not those for whom said 'antiques' were originals back in their day).  As they pursue strange hooded creatures they find themselves saved by The Librarian, but it's not Flynn.

It's Darrington Dare (Samuel Roukin), a Librarian from the past who has magically arrived in the present.  Flynn, having read up on his predecessor, is seriously fanboying out, thrilled to be meeting his hero.

The other Librarians aren't big into Darrington Dare.  "What are we, backup dancers?" one of them asks while Flynn squees with delight.  We learn that Dare has been taken out of his time by his archnemesis, Ambrose Gethic (Howard Charles), who has obtained the Crown that belonged to Elizabeth Bathory, the 'Blood Countess' who allegedly bathed in the blood of virgins to maintain her youth.

Gethic has a similar idea, taking the energy from others through electricity, which everyone in town has.  Everyone except one family who had their power shut off, hence they were immune. 

Things become dicey when the other Librarians appear to be affected, having rapidly aged.  That, however, was all a ruse to draw Dare and Flynn out for a final confrontation.  Dare has taken both Flynn and the Library's Caretaker, Jenkins (John Larroquette) to task for having so many Librarians.  However, in the end it turns out that Dare's solitary man routine is not what saves the day.  Flynn, the eternal fanboy, must decide whom to save, and with a bit of ingenuity he saves both his friends and his hero.

Darrington Dare, Librarian, returns to his own time, and instead of dying on his 40th birthday as he had, Flynn's influence on him changes history.  He reconnected with his own friends, who helped him defeat his assassins back in 1888.  Now he lives to be 102 and served as Librarian from 1880 to his retirement in 1922.  However, he leaves a note to his successor, instructing him he must fix the situation of having One Librarian, One Guardian, One Caretaker.

Dare, from the great beyond, insists there can be only one.

And the Bleeding Crown has nice moments of humor, mostly coming from Wyle's childlike enthusiasm for meeting his hero.  It's almost as if The Librarians were having a bit of lighthearted fun at their fans when and if they meet the performers.  I think Wyle excels at the youthful enthusiasm of Flynn Carsen (even if in real life, the 46-year-old Wyle is older than his 'hero', as Roukin is a mere 37).  And the Bleeding Crown is, I think Wyle's best hour this season so far, his geeking out making Flynn a nice, comic and endearing figure.

Guest star Roukin got the dashing, daring Errol Flynn-like Darrington Dare (a name that evokes an almost swashbuckling persona).  The script allows Roukin to show Dare to be quite clever.

"You're from 130 years from the past," Flynn eagerly cries out.
"Correction," Dare retorts.  "I'm from the present.  You're from 130 years in the future".

Roukin handled the comedy well, playing his perhaps excessively grandiose figure straight, especially when he attempts to explain the 'difficult' concept of 'cloning' to everyone.

The hero-worship Flynn has for Dare is played up for laughs, as is the rivalry between Dare and Gethic.  As they duel with swords, exchanging 'witty banter', even Flynn finds it overdone.

"Oh my God, you're FLIRTING!" he exclaims.  "You don't care about good and evil!  You only care about fighting each other".

Perhaps the most important aspect of And the Bleeding Crown is that it is addressing something that some Librarian movie purists may have objected: how was it that despite having established that there was only One Librarian we had up to four Librarians working at the same time.  We learn a bit of Librarian history in the story of Balthus and Zharradan, 15th-Century twins who were co-Librarians only to have them turn bitter rivals and nearly wreck the Library in their war. 

Now, this issue of how The One Librarian will work when there are four (Flynn, Jake, Cassandra, and Ezekiel) will hopefully pan out and more importantly, allow for the cast to keep working together.

There are two things I object to about And the Bleeding Crown.  One is the make-up job when Eve and the 'backup dancers' become old.   That isn't a deal-breaker.  The other thing though, I have a bit of a problem with.  The term 'ageist' came to mind, as if suggesting that old age is something that is somehow not a good thing.  Something about that just did not sit right with me.

Still, I found And the Bleeding Crown a nice, humorous Librarians story, one with real substance on an unintentional knot and hopefully, on how to resolve that dilemma.      

8/10

Next Episode: And the Graves of Time

The Librarians: And the Silver Screen Review

THE LIBRARIANS: AND THE 

SILVER SCREEN

Ah, one can't be a good old night at the movies.  Who doesn't love getting lost in brilliant stories, or stories that evoke something within you?  With And the Silver Screen, we take that 'getting lost in a film' bit to a whole new level.  This Librarians episode is a great love letter to the power and wonder of 'classic' films, good and bad, with a pretty easy-to-figure plot but one that works so well you don't mind knowing where you're headed.

Guardian Eve Baird (Rebecca Romijn) and her paramour, Librarian Flynn Carsen (Noah Wyle, who wrote the episode), are having a rare night off just for themselves (their relationship seems to be a running thread this season, as this is the second episode to feature them apart from the other Librarians to concentrate on 'me-time').  Baird, a big-time classic film fan (the type who probably dreams of being a guest host on Turner Classic Films) takes Flynn to a film festival retrospective featuring the directing of one James Desmond Wheeler.

While watching the film noir The Found, The Lost and The Looking, Flynn and Baird are suddenly thrust into the film itself (a touch of The Purple Rose of Cairo).  This shocks the audience and leaves Jade Wells (Gloria Reuben), who opened up the art-house movie palace after restoration, a bit perturbed to say the least.

The other Librarians: Jacob Stone (Christian Kane), Ezekiel Jones (John Kim) and Cassandra Cillian (Lindy Booth) are worried that 'Mom and Dad' haven't returned from 'date night' in over twenty-four hours, so they go to the theater and are stunned to see them inside the screen, ranting and desperate to get out. Soon, Eve and Flynn hit on the idea that to get out, they have to recreate the film to its conclusion.  Eve, who's seen the film many times, guides him to be 'Mac Doyle', roguish private eye as she becomes 'Kitty Dupree', his Girl Friday.

In an effort to get Flynn and Baird out of the screen, Jenkins (John Larroquette) works with Jade to find the magic object that got them in, while the other Librarians decide to jump in and rescue them out of The Found, The Lost and The Looking.

Only problem is that Jade's theater holds three screens, and they end up in the Western musical Chaps in Chaps by mistake.  Now they have to get out of that film first before helping Flynn and Baird.

As 'Kitty Dupree' and 'Mac Doyle', it's up to them to recreate their film, even if it means Flynn will have to undergo the traditional punch-ups his hardboiled gumshoe endures.  However, to their surprise, after they finish the film...they end up right back at the beginning.

The other Librarians manage to get out of Chaps in Chaps but end up in Brain Robbers From Planet Alpha Xenon Six, a Z-picture if ever there was one. Fortunately, Cassandra has seen this film, so she knows where the plot goes.  Unfortunately, she forgot some parts, so they do run the risk of getting vaporized.

Jenkins and Wells discover the typewriter where her father, James Desmond Wheeler, wrote all the scripts (the one object tying the films together).  They also discover that The Found, The Lost and The Looking was changed from the original ending, hence the failure to 'finish' the film correctly.  The original script was written by an 'E. Darnell', but where is the original ending and who is E. Darnell?

All is resolved when 'Kitty' and 'Mac' solve the actual mystery behind the noir façade, and it helps that the other Librarians finally managed to get into the right film.  Jade Wells also finds 'E. Darnell', 'E' being for Eleanor (Margaret Avery), her father's former assistant.  Jade had grown to appreciate her 'adopted' father's work later in life, but now finds that Eleanor was not just her 'adopted' father's own Girl Friday, but her natural mother...and Wheeler was indeed her natural father.  A whole rouse had been created to cover up a potential scandal, and Eleanor wrote the noir film in the hopes of having the real story eventually discovered while using symbolism to hint at her meaning.

And the Silver Screen shows that Wyle is very familiar with particular tropes of film genres.  I could say that The Found, The Lost and The Looking is an exaggerated imagining of a film noir, but a lot of And the Silver Screen is played for gentle laughs than straight-up parody of these types of films. 

Wyle digs deep into Hollywood history, and while these are only guesses they did come to mind while watching.

The name 'Jade Wells' could be an echo of Rebecca Welles, Orson Welles' only daughter.

The director's name, 'James Desmond Wheeler', reminded me of another film director, William Desmond Taylor, a silent film director whose murder, among the first Hollywood scandals, remains unsolved to this day.

Jade being 'adopted' by her actual parent is probably calling back to Loretta Young.  Clark Gable got Young pregnant, though whether through a consensual affair or a rape remains unclear.  Young, who was unmarried, could not possibly have an out-of-wedlock child in the 1930s.  Young was also a devout Catholic, so an abortion was out of the question.  An elaborate plan to have the child, a daughter, secretly, then come around and 'adopt' her was used. 

Brain Robbers From Planet Alpha Xenon Six is an overt spoof of various bad science-fiction films, in particular Plan 9 From Outer Space, which had originally been titled Grave Robbers From Outer Space.

In terms of performances, guest stars Reuben and Avery did a great job as the flustered movie-house owner and mysterious figure respectively, and even though you knew that they'd be connected you went along with it.  Wyle and Romijn worked well together, playing up the traditional roles of the detective and shrewd aide.  "Women did the sleuthing, men did the punching," Baird tells Flynn as to why she gets to investigate while he gets  punched.  I'm not sure about that, given most women in noir films were femme fatales or dolls, but again, you roll with it.

Wyle put in some nice touches of humor, billing them in the noir take-off as 'Dr. Julius Erving III (aka, basketball great 'Dr. J') and 'Lady Gaga Van Damme.  Didn't know Flynn was a big basketball fan.

It also gave Kane a chance to show off his singing when he and the other Librarians are in the Chaps in Chaps segment.  Kane has a second career as a singer, so I'm figuring the singing of the cowboy ballad was his.  He has quite a nice, strong voice.

In regards to the resolution, it did appear a bit fast and predictable, but that's about the only thing I can fault the episode in.  A nice homage and love letter to films of yesteryear, And the Silver Screen was another nice, light  romp.  Granted, I don't think film noir, Westerns, or science-fiction were that campy, but if you want better examples, I suggest TCM over TNT.

9/10

Next Episode: And the Bleeding Crown