"The Librarians" Recap: "And the Point of Salvation"

Written by John Edward Betancourt

THIS IS THE EMERGENCY SPOILER ALERT SYSTEM...YOU ARE ADVISED TO READ AT YOUR OWN RISK...

If there is one thing that has made season two of The Librarians extra special this year, it's been the character centric episodes that happen to focus on one particular Librarian. We had an episode dedicated to Jake, one for Cassandra and we've all been waiting with baited breath for an episode that focused solely on Ezekiel Jones and last night...our wait finally came to an end. In fact of the three episodes focusing on our intrepid heroes, Ezekiel's episode turned out to be the strongest of them all, combining all the qualities we love about our master thief while giving him the biggest and broadest storyline of them all that managed to combine science fiction, horror and well...a surprise little twist in between that made for one fun and incredible episode. But most importantly of all, this was the episode where Mister Jones was finally allowed to shine and the growth he went through was absolutely wonderful.

But first, onto the story. This go round the group was summoned to a DARPA facility where an ore from Atlantis was placed into the core of a super computer and of course things go terribly wrong. It looks like the super computer is about to blow and mere moments after the Librarians arrive, they try to escape, only to find themselves back in the DARPA facility and only Ezekiel has any memory of their first attempt to get away. It doesn't take long to discover nothing is as it seems at the facility since it is filled the DARPA employees, now transformed into what appear to be zombies, or as Ezekiel calls them, rage monsters. 

It also doesn't take long for Ezekiel to realize they are trapped in some sort of loop for every time someone is attacked or dies they find themselves resetting and heading back to the same point in time. Yet despite knowing what is coming, there seems to be no way to escape or perform the right actions to get everyone to safety and that's when Ezekiel discovers...it's not a time loop it's a video game, and the only way to escape is to beat the game. He buckles down and explores the game, eventually figuring out the exit point and that's when things became really special for the character. With every failure, with every reset something changed in Ezekiel. Gone was the bravado we know him best for, he genuinely began to care about keeping his friends unharmed and made plenty of sacrifices and tough choices along the way to see them stay safe. 

He cares so much that he is willing to make the ultimate sacrifice when they reach the game's final exit point in order to see them survive and the good news is, they do and once everything is back to normal the group manages to bring back everyone that went missing in the accident, including Ezekiel...without a shred of memory of the man he was but a few moments ago. They try to jog his memory back at the Annex of the new and improved man he turned out to be to no avail...but as it turns out, there were bigger fish to fry. A fairy that Jenkins summoned to learn more about Prospero's plan returned with news that the ancient wizard's scheme was about to go into action at that exact moment, leaving the Library shaking and Jenkins rushing to stop the Librarians from walking into a trap when well...everything suddenly returns to normal. Jenkins no longer seems concerned and moves on with his day.

What the heck Prospero did...we don't quite know yet, but I find it fascinating that the Fairy said he fears the Librarians and the fact that the lights went out in the Library in those final moments. Should be interesting to see how this little cliffhanger wraps up. But, before we go, as I mentioned before, this was the strongest "solo" episode of the show this season and man, I was completely blown away with Ezekiel's journey. His growth was nothing short of amazing and it was a deeply touching moment to see him declare, sadly on several occasions, that he could no longer watch his friends die. It is a shame to see him forget all that he learned, especially what kind of hero he could be, but I understand why. After all, what would the show be without the wild and reckless Ezekiel Jones? But at least we know what he is really capable of and one has to wonder if the heroic Ezekiel won't pop up again sometime soon...

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