THE LIBRARIANS
Season 4

AND THE DARK SECRET

Whilst the team are practicing the ritual that will unite Flynn and Eve to the Library, thus anchoring it to Humanity once again, one of the four physical cornerstones of the original building is located by a sect of murderous priests bent on using magic to take over the world.The Librarians' only hope is Flynn's first guardian, now revealed to be locked in a dungeon in the Library basement.

Forget the story of the cornerstones; that's just the stuff and nonsense that fills out the plot. Chasing across locales (Niagara Falls and the Palais Garnier in Paris) to fail to retrieve two of the four stones. This is to give the junior librarians something to do whilst the grown ups deal with the bigger issues. This is a problem, now that Flynn is back on the team permanently (apparently). There isn't really enough space in the show for Noah Wyle's original Librarian and the newcomers around which the show has been built. His appearance from time to time worked well enough, but now his character is sucking up the story space and leaving the others with not enough to do. In fact, the whole plot is built around his relationships with Baird and with his very first guardian (rather distractingly played by an entirely different actress). Having been lost to a time-travel accident, she has been imprisoned by Jenkins and the library for actions that could be seen as hostile to the library or just misunderstood. This throws Flynn's trust in the institution of the Library into doubt at a time when a huge committment is required on his part. This might be the theme for the season. And the others... well, they just chase some stones.

None of which is to say this is bad, just unbalanced. And that's not least because most of the fun in the episode comes from the junior Librarians who have an easy bandter and solid relationships that just work. They have reached a point where they should be the stars of the show and they find themselves being sidelined.

AND THE STEAL OF FORTUNE

Catastrophic losses of good fortune are occurrint at a casino and racetrack. The Librarians go to investigate, but find they are not immune.

After sidelining the trio of new Librarians in the opening episode, the balance swings the other way as the team take on the strange events at casino and Flynn stays in the Annexe. The fun doesn't come from the mystery, which is a fairly simple one with a twist that everyone ought to see coming, but rather from the team finding themselves on the losing end of bad luck. There's a hint of the OCEAN'S films in the casino setting and the gangster villain is a cartoon enemy, but by leaning into their strengths they find a way to break the curse and learn the truth. Not the best, but a solid entry in the show.

AND THE CHRISTMAS THIEF

Santa takes Jenkins, Flynn and Baird on holiday, leaving his precious sleigh in the protection of the other Librarians. This proves to be disastrous when Ezekial takes an ill-advised visit to this larcenous family.

This is an odd episode and no mistake. Flynn and Baird are completely sidelined, whilst Jenkins gets only an 'end of the telephone' presence. This pleasingly puts the onus back on the three junior Librarians, but reinforces the feeling that the show is somewhat unbalanced with the main Librarian back full time. Also, there is the crushing realisation that Bruce Campbell isn't going to make a reappearance as Santa himself.

This is Ezekial's episode, introducing the audience to his backstory and how he started as a thief and what drove him to become the greatest thief there ever was. It also introduced the Thieves' Bank, which is run by Santa's anti-brother The Saint of Thieves (an unapologetically camp and odd turn from Steven Weber, that robs the character of any semblance of threat).

This, though, is a Christmas episode and so the ending must be happy and the true meaning of Christmas must be learned. It's a sappy, saccharine ending that really doesn't work, but there is a certain amount of fun to be had on the way to getting there.

AND THE SILVER SCREEN

Trying some of the 'ordinary things' that people do, Eve takes Flynn to a retrospective of one of her favourite films noir. Things take a loop, however, when they are pulled into the screen and find themselves having to act out the plot.

THE LIBRARIANS does THE PURPLE ROSE OF CAIRO with a side order of DEAD MEN DON'T WEAR PLAID. Being sucked into movies or TV shows isn't exactly a new concept, so it's down to how it's handled that decides how successful it is. On those terms, this is mildy successful. With a one hour running time, and scenes that have to be repeated, there's not enough time to make the central film seem even remotely coherent and certainly not enough to be a favourite amongst fans of the genre. The fact that both Noah Wyle and Rebecca Romijn's characters overact their way through the parts doesn't help with that.

At least the resolution is pleasant enough and we are treated to Lindy Booth as the sexiest space scientist in the worst science fiction film ever.

AND THE BLEEDING CROWN

A Librarian from the past, and personal hero of Flynn's, is transported to the present day to continue his fight against his mortal nemesis, a man who just made an entire town grow old overnight.

Flynn's doubts about the Library are once again brought to fore, this time in the shape of some obscure Library history in which twin brothers were given the job and turned against each other, their battle ushering in the Dark Ages. There is a reason there is only ever one Librarian, it seems. Flynn's affections for the others and his supposed duty to the Library, and by extension Humanity, are in stark conflict and that is battered home relentlessly, even long after the audience has got the point.

On the other hand, watching Noah Wyle's Carsen fangirl over his hero made flesh is a lot of fun and the affectionate eyerolling from Eve just makes it even funnier. Sadly, the object of his affection is overplayed to the point of cartoon buffoonery, something that then translates into his nemesis. A more realistic portrayal would have made the situation stronger.

Once again, the other Librarians are shunted to the side to make way for Carsen's story, literally reduced to hidden hostages for a large chunk of the running time.

AND THE GRAVES OF TIME

Eve Baird has gone missing. Someone is looting the artefacts hidden in Nicole Noone's graves and the Guardian present has set out to assist the Guardian past in the hope that she can be brought back to the Library team.

A week after Carsen's fidelity to the Library was tested, the show turns the screws on Baird, this time through what it truly means to be immortal. The side story of who is looting Noone's graves and why is a side issue that is obvious enough, though the twist might surprise those not paying attention, and it is dispensed of with casual ease that rather makes the supposed threat seem overegged.

The two bickering Guardians bitching their way through the storyline is pretty fun, but the main developments are left to the end where death is faced, immortality surrendered and the future of the Library itself placed in peril. It is amazing how often people simply not talking to each other leads to the complications between these people.

AND THE DISENCHANTED FOREST

Still rocked by Flynn's departure and the dissension over whether having more than one Librarian can only lead to disaster, Eve seizes the opportunity to take the team to a disturbingly effective team building camp. Strange things are happening, and we're not just talking about the pranks Cassandra is playing on Ezekial.

For once in this fourth season, the theme of the episode (and the season to date) is couched in a mystery story that stands up in its own right. The dark secret behind the missing campers proves to be much more unexpected than others have been this season. Stones nascent, but ultimately doomed, romance is more effective than might have been expected and Cassandra's embrace of all thinks 'camp' is delightfully comic. Eve's determination for the camp to succeed in uniting the team smacks of desperation and Jones' response to being the grown up in the room is a rare moment of character development for him. All of these subplots are given time enough to breathe and don't distract from the central mystery of what is happening in the woods.

There's even a camp song to set the tone that is dangerously close to an earworm.

This is probably the best episode of this season so far.

AND THE HIDDEN SANCTUARY

Following a nearly fatal mission, Cassandra questions her place in the Library and decides to try some real life for a change. She heads to a town that is marked the safest in the country. once there, however, it soon becomes clear that something strange is afoot, no matter how much she doesn't want it to be.

This episode is given over completely to Cassandra, and that means Lindy Booth. She handles the weight of the job with ease. Cassandra has been one of the more delightful characters in the ensemble, from when she had a brain tumour to the more complex person she now is. Still, however, Booth manages to project the naivete and enthusiasm without making her a total flake. When she introduces a young boy to the wonders of reading, it's almost a song and dance number in itself, but she pulls it off without sacrificing believability. This is simply how Cassandra is. She is given more dramatically stretching stuff to do here as well. The fear of failure in a job where mistakes lead to death creates a couple of scenes where self-doubt and even terror rise to the surface, sharpening and deepening her beyond the eternal sunniness that is her stock in trade. Her joy in finding a world where she fits perfectly sets up her determination not to rock the boat, even though it is clearly a boat filled with secrets and lies.

The creature feature resolution to the story is a CGI effect that really doesn't work all that well and grates for every second it is on screen, but that aside this is another very strong entry into the weakest season of the show so far.

AND A TOWN CALLED FEUD

Baird, Stone and Jones head to the eponymous town, named after the enmity between two brothers who fought on opposite sides in the American Civil War after there are ghost sightings. Is it possible that a locket could turn the battle reenactment real? Meanwhile, Cassandra and Jenkins search for guidance on the 'how many Librarians is good?' question.

After Lindy Booth's solo effort last week, we get the rivalry between the other two Librarians in residence examined. The parallel between the two warring brothers and the two warring Librarians isn't exactly subtle, but there are twists in the mystery story to keep it interesting. The resolution is inevitable and overly sentimental, but there are a few details in the backstory revealed in the resolution that gives it a bit of a harder edge.

The research in the Library is definitely the second string story, but it once again highlights how much Cassandra and Jenkins go together as characters, though there is sadly no rekindling of the potential romance between them, even though Jenkins is now mortal once more.

AND A DUDE NAMED JEFF

Jenkins wakes up to find that he has been body-swapped with a D&D playing tech support worker named Jeff Pepper. In order to put things right, he must use the skills of the real Jeff's friends to breach the Annexe's defenses and also face an evil released by the body swap.

Seeing the recently mortal Jenkins deal with a quirkier side of Humanity in the shapes of the self-labelled 'misfits' is a lot of fun. We don't often get Jenkins-central episodes and it's nice to see John Larroquette given more to do. He really is the show's greatest asset and he makes the most of the opportunity.

The traps set by the Library for the intruders seem designed specifically to be solvable by his new team and the battle against what is stated to be a Lord of Hell is somewhat anticlimactic, but action has never been what THE LIBRARIANS has been about. Inconsequential fun as it might be, this is the kind of episode that the show does so well.

AND THE TRIAL OF THE ONE

Without the tethering ceremony, the Library is starting to remove itself from Humanity, precipitating collapse. With no way to decide who will tether alongside Baird, Cassandra accidentally sets in motion a trial specifically designed to determine who is the best Librarian. When the team refuse to participate, Jenkins' life is put at risk.

As a penultimate episode designed to set up the big finale, this is a cracking episode. What starts as a pretty standard THE LIBRARIANS episode with a problem to be overcome, but the expected triumph is turned to tragedy and then to utter defeat in ways that are both partially predictable and partially surprising.

Admittedly, the test set to work out who is the better Libarian seems a bit too simplistic (running through some blocks trying to shoot each other? Really?), but once the bigger picture is revealed and the nature of the finale is revealed then the overall quality of the storytelling becomes clear.

AND THE ECHOES OF MEMORY

Trapped in a world where the Library never existed and holding onto fading memories of what it represented, Baird must reunite the Librarians and try to find a way back to the Library.

After the corker of an set up that was The Trial Of The One, the payoff is somewhat disappointing, though that is not to say it is bad. It's a solid enough alternative world scenario, enhanced by a fifties retro aesthetic and a muted colour scheme that borders on the monochromatic. Added to the conformity aspect of the new world and there are echoes of the world from THEY LIVE when viewed through the glasses. None of this is new in any way, but it is nicely realised. Baird's slow losing of the contents of her memory palace of the Library provides some significant tension and a ticking clock, but the use of an asylum to deal with an alternative reality situation is far from novel. The ease with which Carsen and Baird are rescued from said asylum and back into the world of the Library also falls a bit flat. The way that Carsen then provides a positive outcome for everyone is acceptable because it was already presaged in earlier episodes.

This fourth season hasn't been the strongest of the show, but it came good in the latter stages and the characters remain fun to be around, so we can look forward to more adventures next time around.