'The Librarians' Recap: 'And a Town Called Feud'

Written by John Edward Betancourt

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Okay, I have to be perfectly honest with all of you, in that, early on in last night’s episode of The Librarians, I found myself a touch irritated. Not because the episode was bad by any means, but because yet again, the One True Librarian matter was taking the center stage and for a moment there, I had assumed that the series had started to build the foundation for resolving that matter by giving all of the Librarians a chance to discover what the Library means to them on a personal level.
 
However, my irritation quickly passed once I remembered that well, this show is all about relating to its audience and let’s be honest, who among us haven’t found peace or resolution when it comes to something important in our lives, only to second guess ourselves once that particular answer has been found? Because fear and doubt are powerful, powerful forces in our mind and wouldn’t you know it, those two elements found their way back into the season four story arc in ‘And a Town Called Feud’.
 
Because really, this episode did its best to put those two elements on display as often as possible, especially when it came to Jake and Ezekiel’s story this week, where at first it seemed as though they were flat out being jerks to one another, trying to one up the other as often as possible to prove to the Library and their egos that they were in fact the One True Librarian and should be accepted as such. But as the episode rolled on, with plenty of magical and hilarious moments (take Feud’s local caterer for example), it quickly became apparent that their actions were grounded in fear and doubt. 

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After all, they’ve put in some incredible time and effort into transforming themselves into heroes, and in all honesty, this episode brought me back to the series premiere, wherein this intrepid crew were in essence lost before the Library brought them into the fold, and honestly, after having the opportunity to save the world and do incredible things, who would want to go back to a regular life where one is drifting day to day, looking for purpose? So really, the desperation to prove their worthiness in this episode made sense through and through and thankfully, they once again proved their worth to the Library, and one another, and reminded us of the importance of unity for that matter as well.
 
However, there is of course a wrinkle in the fold despite this resolution. For while, Baird, Jake and Ezekiel now believe that the Library can handle more than one Librarian; Jenkins and Cassandra believe otherwise. Because thanks to a little digging in the archives, they came across the brother’s correspondence wherein it seems that there can only be One True Librarian due to the fact that others will let selfish interests get in the way of accomplishing wonders and really, having Cassandra and Jenkins swayed in the opposite direction due to the fact that they believed they were being selfish in wanting to keep the team together, is just downright brilliant.
 
Because, that’s how wonderful these characters are. They think that wanting to keep good friends together in a magical place to make the world a better place is selfish, but in reality, I’m sure the real issue at hand is that the brothers of lore, wanted the Library to serve far more nefarious purposes that benefit their ego and their desires and I think once the Librarians figure that out, and continue to unify, they’ll find that there can in fact, be more than one Librarian. Either way, I adored this episode. I loved the fact that fear and doubt permeated their minds once again and that they’re trying their best to overcome it, and that it took the time to address unity and the good that people can accomplish when they set aside their differences and it just goes to show that The Librarians is by far one of the most uplifting television shows out there. Until next time.  

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