The Librarians S03 E04: “And the Self-Fulfilling Prophecy”

Get ready for stabby fingers, prophecies, and brain explosions in this week’s episode recap of The Librarians.

A Real Brain Tweeker

I’m not going to go into all of the details regarding the prophecy and how it works, and how it can be foiled, because if I did, it would probably take a million words. Also as Cassie warned, I don’t want to cause any brain explosions.

Prophesies, like time travel, have endless complexities, and those complexities are best understood by actually watching the episode.

Eve receives a prophecy cube, foretelling her death.

Her demise will occur at the hands of a Reaper, in The Library, with his bad-ass, stabby, blades.  We learn that the Reaper was hired by someone to specifically assassinate Eve and she only has until the sand in an hourglass runs out to assemble a plan to thwart death.

Timeline Fun

The timeline switch up for this episode created some special fun. It was neat how there would be a scene that presented a mystery, like where are we and why are we wet, and then things flashed back to explain the answers to the mystery.  It’s the type of device that could be disastrous in the hands of the wrong writer, but in the hands of the writer of Doctor Who’s “The Girl Who Waited” episode (and two others), Tom MacRae, it was wonderfully clever.

A True Gentleman

I haven’t mentioned it yet this season, so can we take a moment to appreciate Jenkins’ snappy outfit this episode. I think Tim Gunn would be proud. I must admit I was a bit obsessed with Jenkins’ yellow, orange, and white pocket square that perfectly matched his orange tie. If anyone were to start a The Librarians themed band, it should definitely be named, Jenkins’ Pocket Square. I just love what a stylish gentleman Jenkins is, down to sipping his mug of coffee while the other sip beers. He’s one classy guy.

The Guardian

I’ll admit that when the show first started, Eve was not my favorite character. I wasn’t as interested in someone who was around to be the muscle and identified more with Cassandra (though I’m terrible at math). As the show has progressed, so has my fondness for Eve. She’s still the muscle, but she is also the voice of reason, the lover, the friend, and sometimes the mom. In this episode we learn that Eve has a destiny that will change the fate of The Library forever. Fate and destiny made an excellent decision choosing Eve Baird.

The truth is, the writers and directors of the show have done an amazing job developing characters. There are no characters who are just there, or who you just sort of like. It’s almost impossible at this point in the show to pick a favorite among the main crew. They are equally delightful. Even past characters, whether one time characters like Lucy Lyons and Stumpy from season two’s “The Cost of Education” episode, to Morgan le Fey, season one baddie, each character creates a memory.

Life and Breath

Although it has been mentioned on the show before, I think this time the idea of The Library being its own entity really hit home. At the beginning of the episode Eve examines a compact that appeared in the form of a gift. Eve assumes that the gift was given to her by Flynn.

When things seem hopeless, Eve uses the compact’s mirror to communicate with Jenkins via  Morse code, just in time to save the day.

Morse code saves the day in television shows and movies so often that I always think  it’s a skill I really should learn.

It’s not until everyone is safe and sound that Jenkins recognizes the mirror as one of The Library’s artifacts. It was The Library that was looking out for Eve the Guardian. Knowing that The Library, a place, has a life and mind of its own, and that it cares about the lives of its inhabitants, makes my heart warm and cozy.

Now that we know that Eve has a fate changing destiny, I can’t wait to see how that is played out as the show continues. I also can’t wait for next week’s episode, THE EPISODE that takes place at a carnival, stars Sean Astin and Felicia Day, and is directed by Dean Devlin, oh my!