This season seems to
be aimed, based on these 2 episodes, on what it means to be a Librarian - we
had some shaky moral worrying about the nature of the Library last episode and
here we have a look at what the commitment to being a Librarian means
For Flynn, now
dedicated to tethering himself to the Library, this means studying it and
learning a lot of the tricks that Jenkins knows. The motive for this is easily
skewered by Jenkins - Flynn is having the iciest of cold feet and is actually
afraid of leaving the Library in case he doesn’t come back.
For a practical stand
point this means Flynn is a support figure for this episode rather than a main
character. And I approve. As the most experienced and the Original Librarian as
well as having a larger-than-life personality, Flynn just eats every scene he
is part of. Which works as a solo character but not as an ensemble cast. But I
will say, Librarians does an excellent job of keeping him both part of
the show and making sure he is put in supporting roles for most episodes so he
doesn’t take over. If this show has a protagonist rather than 4
co-protagonists, it’s Eve, not Flynn.
The rest of the gang
are facing the truth that being a Librarian means you can’t have a normal life
- no friends, no relationships. As Flynn points out, you have to be like
celibate monks (Ezekiel protests that Flynn and Eve are together which Flynn
declares doesn’t count - as she’s Library attached though Eve doesn’t hear
“doesn’t count” well, obviously).
Cassandra is especially
unhappy about this because she’s just learned she can have a life after living
so long with the understanding she would die young and now having a reprieve.
Jake is also really not willing to give up the friends he’s already made and to
prove it he takes Ezekiel to meet one of his friends who is breeding and racing
horses
Even from the
beginning it’s clear that things are awkward - there’s just so much about
Jake’s life he can’t share with his friends (also Ezekiel not a fan of horses;
though not afraid being Australian and used to everything that breathes being
terribly lethal). But they all become far more concerned by this friend being
struck with a bizarre chain of extreme bad luck that ends up with him being in
the hospital from a million-to-one accident
And in the hospital
they find dozens of examples of similar people having million to one accidents
and naturally suspect woo-woo
So the team, sans Flynn, arrive a the Casino race course to investigate and find a major weirdness: no-one is winning. Entire horse races are run without a single winner over and over. Cassandra bets over and over at Roulette and doesn’t win, Ezekiel can’t get a single slot machine to pay out
Personally I think
this is a terrible Casino and wonder why there is anyone there at all? I mean,
sure the House wins every time, but if your punters don’t win at least a little
then word gets round and no-one visits. Can you imagine the Yelp reviews? And
isn’t there some kind of body/commission that regulates gambling that would be
all over this?
They do find people
who do have strings of good luck are visited by the owner and his wife and
suddenly their luck vanishes. Naturally they suspect woo-woo and focus on the
pinky ring he prominently wears with an impression of the Roman Goddess
Fortuna. Ezekiel steals it - but only after he regains his confidence by
tampering with a machine and making it pay out: cheating doesn’t need luck
But when they test
the ring they find it’s distinctly unmagical. And Cassandra’s missing
Cassandra, frustrated
by her constant and improbably losing uses maths - because she doesn’t have to
resort to luck like normal people (return to theme: Cassandra is accepting that
she isn’t a normal person leading a normal life and doesn’t want to be) and uses
her magic maths powers to predict where the roulette ball will land. She wins
and wins and wins and the Casino owners aren’t happy because, again, cheating
beats luck. She’s dragged away in another improbably scene (again, how do
casinos keep open if winners are openly accosted on the casino floor?)
There there’s a
classic menacing scene but Cassandra (who is now a lie detector?) predicts that
the tough guy isn’t all that bad. More worryingly his wife is - he isn’t
wearing a Fortuna ring because it has woo-woo, but because she is Fortuna,
3,000 year old goddess and Not Happy. She has a paranoid rant about Jupiter
sending minions to turn her back into a statue - and half of her hand has
apparently turned back into bronze.
Time for a consult
with the Library and some quick research. Legend has it that Jupiter had a
competition to allow one god to rule Earth and Fortuna won. Since she wanted
everything on Earth to be run entirely by luck, random chance overcoming all
else, which would lead to chaos and destruction, Jupiter declared “naaah, not
having that” took back the bet and turned Fortuna to bronze, Because he’s a god
and he can. Fortuna can steal luck through a kiss and it’s helpful that the
casino is full of televisions showing Fortuna blowing a kiss at the crowd:
everyone has their luck stolen, hence all the accidents
And why, when they try to rescue Cassandra, everything goes a little wrong since they’re all infected with a luck curse. Except Ezekiel and Cassandra herself: their cheating beat luck and is apparently the way to de-luck-curse themselves. Everyone else convolutedly doesn’t fight which breaks the curse - hey it doesn’t make a lot of sense, but woo-woo, run with it. And the race is now on to stop Fortuna’s kiss being broadcast to the entire world in the winner’s circle of the horse race
Thankfully Fortuna’s
husband is kind of done with all this, not being a hardened thug and helps them
with some escapes and some insider knowledge: Fortuna is turning to bronze and
it started when Cassandra broke the curse: she needs the stolen luck to stay
human. I also like how Eve & co change tone a lot when they realise he’s a
physically abused victim more than a co-operating ally of Fortuna: there’s no
doubt or question that he can be an abuse victim.
So it’s time for lots
of Librarian shenanigans to cheat the whole casino - fixing the horse race, the
slot machines and somehow having Cassandra mind control the roulette players
(has her powers exploded all of a sudden) to have everyone cheat and break the
spell. In doing, Fortuna becomes a statue. Victory!!!
Well except for the
conclusions which has Jake meet his now saved friend again for a basic brief
acceptance that yes, he is a Librarian and he is accepting this life even if it
may be lonely
But also some, albeit
brief, arguments about Fortuna. Even as they lock away her statue they
recognise life as a statue is pretty awful. And yes, a world ruled by luck
could be pretty awful but she did win that competition from Jupiter and there
is an edge of a male god fearing a woman with power (especially in Patriarchal
Rome).
It’s not a lot but it
seems to be continuing last episode’s exploration of grey when it comes to the
Library’s actions and, at very least, that there’s some unfortunate
consequences to what they do
