THE LIBRARIANS Recap: Dorian Gray Goes Digital

Season 2, Episode 7: “And the Image of Image“

Strange things are happening at an exclusive trendy club in town, such as injuries with no identifiable cause and overdoses in patrons who have not been doing drugs.  Welcome to Club Effigy: the hottest night club in town, where all of the beautiful people go to get noticed…sometimes at great cost, and I’m not talking dollars.

In a world of exponentially-growing social media picture posting, this episode put a new twist on the Dorian Gray story, replacing his aging portrait for newer technology that offers Gray (played by Luke Cook) immeasurable power.

This is my favorite #TheLibrarians episode so far. I love the story of Dorian gray @yaeltygiel @TauriJay @Samd43 #ABTVLIBRARIANS

— Alexis Torres (@atorres890) December 8, 2015

Gray has figured out how to leverage thousands of images of other people taken at the exclusive club and create his portrait from them in a secure cloud-based mosaic.  The use of so many images gives him immeasurable power and immunity from aging and illness (self-inflicted or otherwise), but also renders him unable to feel anything, even remorse for the lives he’s taken in his various thrill-seeking attempts.

The tragedies that should have befallen him (like being hit by a car) are diverted to people whose pictures make up his online image.  Pictures that were all taken by the club’s photographer.

So, the team must investigate, against Eve’s firm refusals to “go clubbing.”

Baird: “Wow, when did I turn into grandma?”

In trendy outfits enough makeup to give Mimi on The Drew Carey Show a run for her money, Eve and Cassandra are granted entrance to the club without delay.  Unfortunately, the guys are held at bay by the bouncer, with whom Jacob matches wits in a delightful discussion about famous poets, allowing Ezekiel to sneak past.

Oh baby, speak Art History to me. #JakeStone #TheLibrarians @ChristianKane01 @LibrariansTNT

— Aunty Otter™ feat. Newton & Ptolemy (@AuntyOtter) December 8, 2015

Which is worse?! Ezekiel stealing Jenkins' credit card or Stone not getting into Club Effigy? #TheLibrarians

— The Librarians (@LibrariansTNT) December 8, 2015

Ever hear the one where Jake and Ezekiel walk into a bar? #TheLibrarians 📚 Who's tuning in tonight? RT! pic.twitter.com/mO7rod7wOF

— Dean Devlin (@Dean_Devlin) December 6, 2015

The elite club doesn’t allow cell phones or cameras, except for the hired photographer, whose pictures are considered the property of the club.  Throughout the night, patrons wait to see their party pix on the big screen, thus further fueling Gray’s immortality.  Eve avoids the cameras out of habit, but Cassandra gets in on the photo-op fun before she recognizes a pattern and realizes the danger of having your picture displayed on screen, like hers is.  Shortly after her picture debuts she becomes inebriated, even though her drink was strictly non-alcoholic.

Baird runs down the photographer to see about that “magic evil camera” just as Jenkins walks in and blocks his escape route.  The snarky photographer hands over his camera for inspection, and they find that it is, and only ever was, just a camera.

"Jenkins! How did you get in?"
"I snuck in with the band."
CAN WE HAVE THAT SCENE? #TheLibrarians

— Michael Henson: A Star Wars Story 🇺🇦 (@ChasingBristol) December 8, 2015

In response to the Photographer’s snarky comment to Eve (“So he’s your Sugar Daddy?”), John Larroquette artfully delivers the best line of the episode, hands down.

Duly noted, Jenkins. #TheLibrarians pic.twitter.com/sH5ZmOtGwh

— The Librarians (@LibrariansTNT) December 7, 2015

Since they can’t get into the club, Jacob and Ezekiel follow some departing patrons into the diner down the street, where they witness Gray’s next victim drop without a pulse.  In a MacGyver moment reminiscent of Season 1, Ezekiel and Jacob devise a makeshift AED using a lamp and a couple of stainless steel spatulas. They save her life, while delivering a nasty jolt to Jacob, too.  Next time, maybe they’ll remember to use hot pads!

Jake just literally got the shock of his life. #TheLibrarians #AndTheImageOfImage #BecauseMagic

— Heather (@BriarHawkeye) December 7, 2015

Ezekiel has hacked into the club’s picture cache online while Cassandra is getting drunker and progressively more useless to the team.  In a moment of sudden inspiration, Eve thinks of a hack that might help: Ezekiel substitutes a picture of herself for Cassandra’s photo in Gray’s mosaic.  The effect is immediate: Cassandra begins to sober up quickly (massive hangover and all), and Eve will now bear the brunt of all of the hits that Gray’s body receives.

I don't think Cassandra will ever drink again. #TheLibrarians #AndTheImageOfImage #BecauseMagic

— Heather (@BriarHawkeye) December 7, 2015

Jacob gets past the bouncer and we got to watch Stone get off a few key punches to Gray, with Eve collecting the hit damage.  (You didn’t expect that they would go to a club and NOT have some sort of a Jacob Stone take down, did you?)  Knowing full well that she’ll feel every hit that Jacob delivers to Gray, Eve encourages Jacob to hit him…several times.  Gray gets away and we suspect that Jacob may have been pulling his punches.  Well, do you blame him?  Who in their right mind would want to answer to Eve for beating her up, even if it IS by magical proxy?

Eve gives chase and finds Gray on the roof, contemplating a jump that would do no harm to himself, but would certainly kill her, now that she’s magically connected to him.  Just as Gray finished his monologue about how he intends to destroy Eve (because all villains feel the need to explain themselves), Gray’s hold over Eve is disabled and unbeknownst to him, the tables are reversed by the techno skills of Ezekiel Jones.  At Jenkins’ cue, Eve throws herself off of the roof of the building (without hesitation or uttering a single word, I might add).  Now THAT’s how it’s done.  As she hits the street below without injury, Gray disappears in a shower of fiery sparkles.

Now you may ask how Ezekiel managed to make such a perfect mosaic image of Eve in such a short time using hundreds of images of Dorian Gray?  Well, he did say that he was the professor of awesome, didn’t he?

Back at the Library, the guys contemplate the reasons that they were selected as Librarians, noting from Jenkins’ history lesson, they used to run through Librarians like water through a sieve.  Ezekiel surmises that they may have been chosen because they each are somewhat expendable.  When Eve disagrees, they remind her that Cassandra’s got a deadly “brain grape,” Jacob’s family is estranged, and Ezekiel has great anonymity: none of them seem to have much to lose, except for that massive hangover that Cassandra inherited.  Well, there’s always a price to pay for fun.

So lessons learned?  There’s a big difference between image and identity, sometimes being part of the “in crowd” is bad for you, and tacos don’t help hangovers (just ask Cassandra).  It seems like there may have been another moral in the story somewhere….

But first….let them take a selfie. Tune in to discuss #TheLibrarians with our hosts now: https://t.co/2nzfD3vz9D pic.twitter.com/PAYRP5jfWt

— AfterBuzz TV (@afterbuzztv) December 8, 2015