THE LIBRARIANS
Season 3

AND THE RISE OF CHAOS

Apep, the ancient Egyptian god of chaos possesses the body of a tourist and travels to America to find the key that will release pure evil back into the world. Can the Librarians intercede in time or will they be too distracted by the submarine exhibit?

A new season of THE LIBRARIANS starts with the establishing of the new big threat. With Noah Wyle on board as Flynn Carsen, there's a lot of characters to give something meaningful to do and everyone ends up getting short changed, not least because there's a whole prologue origin story to cram into the running time as well. This means everything's a bit simplistic and rushed.

Then there's the nonsense of a musuem keeping a fully fuelled and operational submarine as an exhibit to deal with, a submarine that is also still armed with torpedoes. It snaps any sense of credibility, though the reactions of Jones and Stone to the idea of visiting the exhibit is entertaining enough. Then there is the introduction of the Department of Statistical Anomalies, a shady government agency tasked with the same job as the Librarians, which is a welcome wrinkle on things. They will no doubt be a fly in the ointment and have a part to play in the bigger story.

It's a solid, if unspectacular start to the new season.

AND THE FANGS OF DEATH

The Library's caustic administrator Charlene goes missing on a mission to a supercollider. Flynn and the Librarians go in pursuit, but find the staff are morphing into werewolves all around them.

A sealed in technological maze with monsters roaming around makes this seem very similar in set up to The Librarians and the Point of Salvation, but the story plays out without repetition. Unfortunately, It also plays out very much as is to be expected. There is nothing new here (apart from the cameo from Jane Curtin) and that makes this one of the least interesting entries into the series to date. It's not bad, per se, it's just not original.

AND THE REUNION OF EVIL

Caught in the middle of a powerful snowstorm, Cassandra and Stone take shelter in hotel holding a very unsual reunion. Matters are complicated by the magical crystal lodged in Cassandra's chest. Baird, Ezekial and Jenkins look to find a way to save them from within the annexe.

There is a lot of fun to be had in this episode with Stone and Cassandra vamping it up in order to avoid getting thrown back out into the snow, but that's because there's not a lot of plot getting in the way. The truth about the reunion and the people attending it is revealed and, well, that's about it. Fortunately, watching them having a good time is enough to get throught to the end.

AND THE SELF-FULFILLING PROPHECY

Baird gets a glimpse of her future from a prophecy cube and shows her death in the Library. The clipping book tells them of a High School with an inordinate amount of luck and a supernatural assassin shows up on the Guardian's tail.

After an episode with very little plot, there is quite a lot in this story of whether seeing your own future can ever be a good thing. Aside from the strand involving Baird's vision of her future death, there is the Reaper on her tail, the story of how the High School swim team is doing so well and a whole series of tests that have to be surmounted before Ezekial, Stone and Baird can escape from an underground maze full of traps (yes, another one). Everything runs along at quite a clip in order to make it look like there's a lot of activity, but there isn't actually that much and there are more than a few infodumps that are delivered at speed to make them seem less like clumsy exposition of a complicated plot. The tests through which the Librarians must pass are merely filler material and the nature of the hidden villain is obvious from fairly early on.

It is nice, however, to have a storyline that is convoluted enough to need thinking about. The nature of prophecy, fate and how it can be outwitted are just another version of the time travel conundrums that the show has played with in the past, but they are diverting enough to keep the audience's brain matter engaged.

AND THE TEARS OF A CLOWN

A mysterious travelling carnival is taking people and the most recent victims are the Librarians. Jenkins may be the only hope of getting them back.

The flashback structure of this episode hints at a show that is not fully confident in its storytelling and looking to gimmicks to freshen it up. It does, at least, give John Larroquette a chance to get out of the annexe and do some actual sleuthing of his own. Encountering the Librarians as sideshow freaks is somewhat jarring and reveals the story's origins in the likes of Ray Bradbury's SOMETHING WICKED THIS WAY COMES and Todd Browning's controversial FREAKS. Baird's two heads situation is particularly disturbing.

Sadly, the creepiness factor is somewhat wasted by the casting of Sean Astin as the villain of the piece as he is too likeable to be a truly hissable bad guy. Felicia Day is thoroughly wasted as the object of his affections.

There is some undeniable fun to be had seeing the cast dress up as clowns, however.

AND THE TRIAL OF THE TRIANGLE

Flynn is back from looking for Charlene, but he is changed man. Irritable, dimissive and his relationship with Eve hangind by a thread, he has no time for the other Librarians until they prove themselves by finding the location of the Eye of Ra, in the heart of the Bermuda Triangle.

This episode is a game of three thirds. There is the first third, in which the Librarians stage an intervention and then work the evidence to locate the Eye of Ra is classic Librarians with fast patter, funny and clever dialogue and bright and breezy character work. Then we move into the second third in which the team get themselves on a plane from Venezuela and then seem rather surprised to find others on the plane. It is a commercial flight after all. Immediately, all the plans they have made are abandoned and the team work to save everyone from their fate inside the Triangle. This section is confused and makes a lot of what went before it seem a bit pointless. They all work so hard to gain access to the jet to go into the Bermuda Triangle and then abandon it at the first moment.

Except for Flynn, who abandons the other Librarians to enter into the heart of the Bermuda Triangle, which proves to be very different from expected. There he finds a test designed just for him, to prove that he is true of heart and a good person. This allows him to realise all the things in himself that the intervention was supposed to. It also introduces a potential plot contrivance for the big finale, a weapon to save the day, but at the cost of a person's life - a person chosen by Flynn.

The Alice In Wonderland motif is also fun, allowing for John Larroquette and Lindy Booth some nice cosplay before things get wrapped up. It's an uneven episode, but mostly on the right side of good.

AND THE CURSE OF CINDY

The Librarians investigate a cult and find a plot to place the entire United States under the influence of a failed reality contestant.

This is a straightforward investigation episode and is all the better for it. There's a strong central plot to be unravelled and the progression from simple love cult to national plot is nicely paced and played. There's plenty of fun to be had along with the investigating. Flynn and Stone being instantly smitten and then Jenkins' antidote making things even worse is really funny.

Once again Ezekial Jones is given the job of saving the day, but it's rather disappointing that it's because of his egomania, though there is a hint that he's finally being allowed to show a little more depth.

It's also good to see reality television being shown for the cruelty it is often based on.

AND THE ETERNAL QUESTION

People are bursting into flame for no readily apparent reason. The only clue is a health spa with remarkable healing properties. The catch is that it is run by vampires. Could they be Cassandra's saving as her brain tumour numbers her days.

If you're not already in love with either Cassandra Cillian or Jenkins/Galahad in this show (and you really should be) then this might be the episode to turn you around. Knowing that her time is limited, Cassandra asks Jenkins out on a date. If that isn't enough for you, the way in which he lets her down gently is just wonderful. He plays the "I'm centuries older than you" card that Angel from BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER never did and when that doesn't work, he explains to her that he is a knight who gave his heart to a woman so very long ago and a knight can never betray his oath. The backstory to that ought to be obvious to anyone who's been watching since the TV movies. It's about as sweet as the show has ever been and certainly kicks the romantic scene between Flynn and Baird right between the eyes.

After that rebuff, it is not surprising that Cassandra would be tempted by the offer of immortality that comes her way, even if it does comes with a (down) side of bloodsucking. The outcome is never certain. The episode chooses to resolve the issue almost straight away, however, but at least in a manner that is less predictable than it might have been.

By concentrating more on the characters and less on the mystery plot (which isn't that much of a mystery, anyway) this is the show at its strongest and one of the best episodes it has yet produced.

AND THE FATAL SEPARATION

Stone is studying martial arts under the tutelage of the Monkey King in the hidden city of Shangri-La when it is attacked by a mercenary artefact collector who is determined to add both Monkey King and sacred valley to his collection. The Librarians must come together to prevent this from happening, but in doing so secrets will be spilled and a member of the Library's team will make a fateful decision.

It's the penultimate episode and so a set up for the big finale, but that's OK because it manages to be enough of an episode in its own right whilst still coming up with some surprises for next week. The Monkey King could have been a disaster, but is actually quite a fun character. The main story of keeping Shangri-La out of bad people's hands is simple by necessity, but doesn't actually suffer for it. The big surprise comes in a scene between Eve Baird and her former mentor when a revelation is made that has the potential to shake up the entire lore of the show, which is interesting.

The pay off, however, is the 'fatal separation' of the title. The truth about Jenkins' love history is revealed and is exactly what we thought it was last week when it was first brought up. For those who have only watched the series, this will have less of an impact, but if you have been with the Librarian team from the very first TV movie then you might find it quite moving. There is also a very strong possibility that you will find it mawkish and overly sentimental, though the central performer works hard to keep base sentimentality at play.

AND THE WRATH OF CHAOS

An act of betrayal breaches the Library and DOSA move in to take all the artefacts to a new, state of the art facility, including Jenkins. Whilst the new team attempt to rescue the knight, Flynn stays behind to see how many of the artefacts can be saved.

It's finale time and this time around we have a twisty, turny story that hinges entirely on the question of who is lying to and betraying who. It all works out as you might expect in the end, but the loyalty question is never 100% certain and there is a tricksy climax that has been prepared for over the plotlines of the last few weeks. Not all of it makes sense (Flynn's risking being caught to save artefacts is never part of the plan and therefore proves to just be especially silly), but it does bring to an end both the DOSA and Apep storylines.

Season 3 of THE LIBRARIANS has been a pretty strong one at times and there is certainly mileage in this team yet, so we look forward in hope to a fourth season.