Tuesday, December 16, 2014

The Librarians - And the Horns of a Dilemma


The series' first episode without Flynn Carson (Noah Wyle) struggles a bit as the Librarians-in-Training go after an evil corporation which has recreated the maze of the Minotaur under its offices. Wyle's abscence leaves the show without a central character to focus the adventure around as Eve (Rebecca Romijn) has her hands full in just keeping her charges alive and the distrust between Jake (Christian Kane) and Cassandra (Lindy Booth) continues to fester.

The fact that episode doesn't center around an artifact but the evil machinations of a corporate big wig (Tricia Helfer) and her toadies to call forth a god-like being to make sacrifices to not only gives us the dopey-looking CGI Minotaur (and even more goofy human version) but also means the characters lack a specific purpose for much of the episode while bumping around (sometimes literally) lost in the dark. The single brilliant mind to lead the other characters forward, which was the basic concept of The Librarian, continues to struggle to work around a team rather than individual.

Despite its issues, there are several pieces of the episode which work as the show continues to develop the character dynamics (now without Flynn for the first time). The "Back Door" is a bit of a cheat, but a rather cool one allowing Jenkins (John Larroquette) to send the group to any spot on Earth (albeit with shaky accuracy). The maze itself isn't impressive, but how it continues to envelop the team after they think they've escaped the bowels of the building is an intriguing concept that puts Cassandra in charge of finding the exit and allowing Ezekiel (John Kim) to steal when necessary (which has already become one of the show's staples, although hopefully one they won't rely on every single week).

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