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THE LIBRARIANS Get Kraken

Kammie Settle 1270 Views 2 Comments ,  ,  ,  ,  ,  ,  ,  ,  , 

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[Photos: Allyson Ward Riggs/TNT]

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Season 2, Episode 4: “And the Cost of Education”

This week, our beloved Librarians are called to investigate some mysterious happenings at Wexler University, where it would seem that “weird” is the norm.  Gargoyles adorn the campus, cheerleaders practice in creepy Latin phrases, students and professors disappear mysteriously at a 1-in-5 ratio, and the founder’s statue is marked with the quote: “They all said I was mad.”

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It’s party time at Wexler University, where the guy who wears the otter mascot costume is heading to a fraternity party.  That costume may be a chick magnet, but tonight, the only thing it seems to attract is a rather large tentacle, which emerges from a magical rip in space and drags the unsuspecting mascot back to the other side.

Of course, the Librarians must go to investigate, and Jenkins is briefing Ezekiel on Wexler protocol before they depart.

Jenkins: “Do NOT eat anything while you are there, do NOT repeat anything three times, and do NOT look at the gargoyles.”

As they research the founder, Josiah Wexler, Jenkins goes on to describe the famous occultist, collector of the arcane, and victim to his own experiments.

Ezekiel: “Blah, Blah, blah: super creepy stuff.”

Upon their arrival, Eve interviews one of the cheerleaders, who seems to take these weird happenings and disappearances as part of the normal comings and goings of campus life.  I can understand how people who are exposed to unusual events on a regular basis might become sensitized to accept them as normal.  At my house, for example, we have accepted what some might think are emergency situations as part of our daily routine.  Like when my husband grills out, we celebrate the “burn of the day;” and when the smoke detector blares, it means that dinner’s ready.  It works for us.

But, why, after all of these University happenings that have gone unnoticed, has this incident finally caught the Clipping Book’s attention?  I propose the theory that school mascots must bear more “cosmic weight” than regular folks, and therefore register much higher on a Clipping Book ranking than say… a busload of missing volleyball students, 1-in-5 people just disappearing on a regular basis, and warts that give you nightmares.  Yeah, we’ll go with that.

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Omega Theta house seems to be the focal point for the magic on campus, so Cassandra and Ezekiel pair up to investigate, armed with magical monitoring equipment and passing themselves off as students.  They meet Lucy Lyon (Kasha Kropinski) in the bushes, who emerges with an instrument in her hands.  She and Cassandra are two peas in a pod, and it just so happens that Brainiac Lucy is also investigating magic.  She gets them into the frat party and is quickly adopted as a temporary member of their investigational team (besides, she’s got cool equipment).   They find that the basement is lined with onyx, which is protecting the house from the destructive forces of the magic focused on its site.

The Librarians - 205 - And the Cost of Education 25533_006 TNT

Ezekiel gets to show off his sticky finger skills this episode.  He steals an invitation to try and get him into the party, lifts a drink from the party bouncer, steals a watch from an Omega Theta, and manages to accidentally snag a Gargoyle, whom he affectionately names “Stumpy.”   Stumpy stole the show, abruptly appearing in scenes with Ezekiel, who forgot to heed Jenkins’ warnings about looking at them.

Jenkins: “What did I tell you about never looking a gargoyle in the eye?  It’s like feeding a stray dog; you’ll never get rid of it.”

After Jacob’s keen eye for architecture notices some interesting symbols on campus, he and Eve go to see Professor Roger Bancroft (Robert Pescovitz), who is somewhat of a rock star in the architecture world.  Jacob turns into a fangirl on this guy, feeding his already bloated ego, but once Jacob mentions the occult history of the campus, the Professor turns cold to Jacob’s fawning.  He declares that there is no such thing as magic, touts his superior knowledge, and accuses Jacob of being an amateur.

Eve: “Isn’t this where you smack him with a glove?”

Immediately after his outburst, the Professor is taken from the room by large tentacle entering from the chalk board.  Talk about karma!

Jacob: (slightly panicked) “What was THAT?”

Eve: (surprised) “A tentacle monster…a BIG one!”

According to Jenkins, H.P. Lovecraft’s Miskantonic University was based on Wexler (not the other way around).  He explains that this is an alternate dimensional rift, and the creature seems to be targeting specific types of people.  Jenkins questions Jacob about the Professor’s disappearance, trying to figure out just exactly what they are dealing with.

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He calls it a Hubristic: a creature attracted by and feeding off of overt displays of pride.

https://twitter.com/jennstrobel/status/666059586281930752

Now that there is a faculty vacancy, Jacob steps in as sub, and assigns a class project where they plot out the unusual materials used in construction on campus, which form a “summoning circle.”  Jacob gets his stride while subbing for this class and has the students hanging on his every word.

The Librarians - 205 - And the Cost of Education 25533_006 TNT

(Judging from the number of re-tweets and likes on this post from Dean Devlin, I think that Christian Kane may have a good shot at a teaching career if he ever decides to retire from acting.)

Cassie convinces Eve to allow Lucy to help with their investigation, and the two new friends run off to check out the science lab for magical activity.

Lucy: “Want to see my particle accelerator?”

Cassandra: “Hells to the YES (do people still say that?)”

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The accelerator (funded by the Lake Foundation) is small, but works faster than Lucy even thought possible.  Perhaps it’s the non-scaling fixed-field alternating gradient design, or… from tinkering with magic.  Circle is bigger than it looks (could it be tapping into the campus circle?)  They theorize how they might deactivate the circle, but not reclose it until they know which animal they summoned.

Lucy wants to feed more power into the accelerator to unbalance the loop between magnetic resonance of the campus and the magic.  Cassandra tries to talk her out of it for safety reasons, but Lucy gets too big for her britches and gets snatched.

There is a pep rally at the gym that may bring chaos and many more disappearances, causing Cassandra and Eve to argue between going after Lucy or shutting the rift down now.  The team votes to save Lucy, and Eve starts to formulate a plan, and Cassandra goes in for the save.

Jacob and Ezekiel hop into a grounds cart to try to draw the monster to the other side of campus. Ezekiel spouts some great lines about his own brilliance while Jacob drives like crazy to keep the monster away from the gym, and off their tail.

Ezekiel: “Even I run out of awesome things to say about myself; my modesty is one of my strong points.”

 

As Ezekiel spouts more and more boastful comments about himself, the monster reaches out to grab him, but Stumpy sacrifices himself to save Ezekiel, and later his stone pieces are ejected for a touching goodbye scene.  Oh, Stumpy, we hardly knew ye.

The Librarians - 205 - And the Cost of Education 25533_006 TNT

Meanwhile back on the other side of the rift, Cassandra gets grabbed by the tentacle beast; however, she is saved at the last moment by the Lady of the Lake (Beth Riesgraf, Leverage), who resides with others like her somewhere in-between space and time.

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The Lady and two others beckon to Cassandra: sirens, of a sort perhaps?  They offer her a place in their circle of those who understand that science and magic are one, and entice her to come, study, and grow.  As tempting as this is, Cassandra turns them down, but the offer still stands if she should ever change her mind.  Could this be Cassandra’s way to cheat her impending death-by-brain-grape? Hmmm.

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Cassandra and Lucy both escape and shut the rift.  After this experience, Lucy gives up on school and goes somewhere that she won’t have the worry of opening up a rift.  Maybe we haven’t seen the last of her, since now she has seen proof that magic (or is it just unexplained science?) exists.  Will she become a Librarian in the future, or perhaps a nemesis to the team?

Cassandra returns to the Library by herself, finding Jenkins waiting up for her.

He cautions Cassandra about the Lake Ladies’ ambition and their ties to Morgan le Fay.  The world is certainly changing, and now the question is how to best deal with magic, now that the cat is out of the bag, so to speak?  Cassandra reminds him that she chose to stay, and that seems to be good enough for now.

This week’s episode was full of fun Easter eggs, including references to Hocus Pocus, Poltergeist, H.P. Lovecraft, Doctor Who, Harry Potter, Ghostbusters, King Arthur’s legend, and Greek mythology.  There was also the appearance of Christian Kane’s Leverage co-star, Beth Riesgraf. What did I leave out?

I was glad to see Eve back in old form again, out in the field and bantering with the team in her sarcastic Guardian-like way.  John Kim had some great moments in this episode, including his comedic double-takes and one-sided interactions with Stumpy, the gargoyle.  Lindy Booth was spouting some fantastic tongue-twisters, and Christian Kane again showed us a range of emotion, from angry to fangirl to inspirational.

Looks like we’ll have Flynn back next week as the Library seems to be dying and Morarity returns (to the delight of many fans).  Also mentioned in next week’s cast is Wexler’s Professor Roger Bancroft, who may have changed his skeptical views on the existence of magic after his recent experience.  Tune in next Sunday for both the episode and the Twitter fest — the cast and crew are amazingly active in the posts, which makes The Librarians a truly interactive experience for everyone.  #BecauseMagic!

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2 thoughts on “THE LIBRARIANS Get Kraken”

  • Thanks so much for using my tweet.( Mary E Brewer ) so cool ♥ So enjoying each and every episode of The Librarians with my favorite actor/singer Christian Kane.. He really is such fun to watch in action! Being a grandma I am glad that this show is family friendly and a show that the grandkids can watch.. and learn new things along the way too!!

    Reply
    • Kammie Settle
      Post author
      November 19, 2015 at 11:55 am
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      Thanks for tweeting during the show–it’s so much fun to watch with the fans, cast & crew of the show! I agree about learning new stuff, too–I may have to read up on my Shakespeare and other classics this season!

      Reply

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