THE LIBRARIANS Get Lost In the Stacks
Episode 103 “And the Horns of a Dilemma”
[photos: Scott Patrick Green/TNT]
[Editor’s Note: with this recap of the show, we’re going to experiment and make you part of the action, pulling your Twitter reactions as the episode unfolded. Your tweet could be in our next recap!]
The Librarians: and the Horns of a Dilemma begins this week with a terrified young man running through an office building, being chased by something that roars. As he stumbles and is caught by his unseen pursuer by the feet, he pleads for help from two hooded figures, who calmly watch him disappear through the doorway, feet-first. After his screaming stops, the two people (a man and a woman) remove their hoods and exit, casually talking about where to get lunch. Yep, just another day at the office.
When th show opens with a roar and a dude running, you know it's gonna be good lol #TheLibrarians
— Señorita Española (@SrtaEspanola) December 15, 2014
Back at the Library, Baird puts her new charges through some military-style combat training, which they all fail miserably. Baird insists that Ezekiel, Cassandra and Jacob are not ready for prime time field work, but the Clippings Book, a magically-updated Library “periodical,” reveals a pattern of missing persons that they can’t resist. The newbies talk Baird into letting them investigate, leading them to the evil global food conglomerate Golden Axe Foods, led by CEO Karen Willis, played by Tricia Helfer (Battlestar Galactica, Ascension).
Jenkins rigs up an Einstein-Rosen bridge (a.k.a. “wormhole”) at the back door where they can step into any other place, as long as it also has a door. Jenkins adds a disclaimer that he’s still working out the kinks — it won’t stay open very long and it’s not very accurate. This time they go to Boston to question the nice folks at Golden Axe Foods — watch that first step, it’s a doozy.
Miss Willis assures Baird and the team that she is “shocked” by this situation, as is her minion, Franklin (BTW: these are the two people in hoods from the opening sequence). Miss Willis gives Franklin a meaningful look, and asks him to escort them to Human Resources so that they can review the files of the missing interns. Baird suspects that HR will produce doctored files, and so she splits from the team to investigate the main computer files while she sends her charges to the “safe and boring” HR department.
Franklin sends The Librarians (unescorted) down to HR in an elevator and stays behind to keep track of Baird. As Jacob, Cassandra and Ezekiel emerge from the lift, the doors disappear behind them, leaving them no exit. OSHA would NOT approve. They eventually learn that human resources is anything but safe and boring. After walking through endless corridors that give Cassandra a headache, they open the door to HR to find a cave full of human skulls.
https://twitter.com/tim_fredrick/status/544300297188036608
They soon determine that they are in a magical labyrinth, complete with a murderous Minotaur. As they play cat and mouse with the beast, they spend some time discussing Cassandra’s previous betrayal of the team, and bantering about her “brain grape:” a reference to the tumor in her head and its current size.
https://twitter.com/RatedRLilStar/status/544300126731132929
Back upstairs, Baird gains access to the guarded computer room with the help of a key card that she procured by overpowering Franklin using a rather unconvincing head-butt. Rather than the server room, she discovers a room full of ancient Minoan artifacts, including a large ball of thread. Coincidentally, according to Jenkins, this is just the collection needed to create a magical labyrinth under a skyscraper, and the thread is the power that makes it all work. Unravel the ball of thread and you destroy the labyrinth.
“The entire multi-dimensional hoohaa collapses.” Congrats, #TheLibrarians, for giving us a great companion phrase to “timey-wimey.”
— zeedub (@zakkorama) December 15, 2014
Baird and the others seem to maintain cell phone contact against all laws of nature and dead zones, and she determines that the team is in danger. Against Jenkins’ recommendations, Baird orders him to create an escape route for the Librarians using the wormhole door to access the maze, or as Jenkins puts it: to “open an extra-dimensional hole in a multi-dimensional space”. Piece of cake.
Cassandra is eventually able to visualize the maze to navigate it and the trio soon find themselves back in the building corridors. Here, they meet up with the Minotaur and Baird, who pumps the beast full of lead. But he’s not dead yet — turns out that he’s immortal. Just in time, Jenkins opens the portal to the maze and the team escapes back to the Library annex, where they put together all of the bits that they’ve learned so far. Jenkins also provides books from the stacks on Minotaurs. His summary of the beasts: they are nasty creatures that hold a grudge. Great, considering that Baird just shot this Minotaur several times.
https://twitter.com/AJtheLush/status/544302048905551872
They piece together that Golden Axe Foods has been sacrificing 14 young people (7 men and 7 women) to the Minotaur every 7 years for continued prosperity — that’s what I call a sustainable corporate growth strategy. I think we now understand why there were so many skulls piled up in HR. The team must return to the corporate headquarters and unravel the large ball of thread to stop this cycle and save future young interns from an untimely sacrificial demise.
As they walk along the streets of Boston, Cassandra realizes that they have never really left the labyrinth. They are again pursued by the Minotaur, who has now taken on a contemporary street-version form (and no fans, it’s not David Bowie). He now appears as a large, mean-looking biker-dude with a nose ring and red eyes, which is a major improvement over the bull-headed faux-fur costume from earlier.
If you see David Bowie running around in tight pants… #TheLibrarians
— Señorita Española (@SrtaEspanola) December 15, 2014
Jenkins can’t get them out of the maze, so he builds a “bubble” around them to allow them time to create a plan, which involves sending Cassandra and Ezekiel to navigate to the center of the seven-level complex maze and steal the thread.
https://twitter.com/AJtheLush/status/544306991058124801
Meanwhile, Jacob and Baird distract and take on the Minotaur to buy their teammates some time with some good action scenes involving pulling the bull’s ring from his nose and hitting him with a truck. THAT ought to slow him down.
Miss Willis and Franklin are surveying the break-in at the artifact room, trying to figure out who Baird and the team really are. They have been keeping tabs on the “only Librarian” (Flynn Carsen), who was “seen recently in Budapest.” This comment sets the stage for a future episode with Noah Wyle’s character and his quest for the Library (the real Library: not the annex), which shut down at the end of the season pilot episodes and went off the grid with Charlene and, of course, Judson’s spirit in tow.
Budapest? Why is it always Budapest? #TheLibrarians
— Michael Henson: A Star Wars Story 🇺🇦 (@ChasingBristol) December 15, 2014
By the end of this episode, Ezekiel and Cassandra are able to build some mutual trust and work together to successfully unravel the thread, thus ending the labyrinth. This victory over the maze releases the Minotaur; however, as Jenkins put it, they have little to worry about from the vengeful beast, since it was Miss Willis who held him captive in the labyrinth for millennia. Sure enough, we hear the Minotaur’s roar in a parting shot of Miss Willis and Franklin, and they seem to have wiped the smug looks from their faces.
Jenkins, whose two speeds so far have been coined by Baird to be “annoying and cryptic,” almost reveals a caring side, but he recovers nicely:
Jenkins (to Baird): “Be careful.”
Baird: “What?”
Jenkins: “Nothing. Go away. I’m working.”
“Good luck.” “What?” “Nothing. Go away. I’m working.” Oh Jenkins. J’adore baby. #TheLibrarians
— zeedub (@zakkorama) December 15, 2014
Baird eventually realizes that she can’t make soldiers out of Librarians, and she wasn’t hired by the Library merely on “her ability to kill things.” She is starting to figure out how to trust and leverage the collective talents of the team, let go of her over-protective tendencies, and pursue unconventional strategies instead of combat tactics (well, except for the action scenes).
My favorite MacGyver moment of the episode:
Jenkins uses a small plastic maze toy to improvise a connection from his wormhole door to the labyrinth.
Social media buzz:
According to the Twitter posts, fans are still excited about this show, and already siding up as to how the members of the team will hook up. There are two camps: the “Cas-zekiel” fans, and “Team Cassandra-Jacob.” I say don’t rush the romance, guys. There are clearly some trust issues to be sorted out and more character development to be addressed before any love interests can be explored.
Another interesting idea from the social banter was a cross-over episode with the Warehouse 13 crew, which would be loads of fun.
https://twitter.com/LilCoyotesReign/status/544309624523194368
Summary:
Although entertaining and definitely goofy, there are some things that can be improved without jeopardizing the fun. I would like to see some stronger writing for the character development with less “teen angst” moments, consistent quality in their special effects and costuming, and more convincing stunts.
I hope that we see more campy guest star appearances throughout the season, and judging from the previews for next week’s episode, I’ll get my wish with The Librarians And Santa’s Midnight Run, featuring Bruce Campbell (Evil Dead, Burn Notice).
[Show web site on TNT] [Previous Recaps: “And the Crown of King Arthur”/”And the Sword in the Stone”]
