The Librarians Season 2 Episode 7 Review: And the Image of Image
Kathleen Wiedel
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In a public service announcement warning against those obnoxious selfies, the Librarians came up against Dorian Gray himself, he of the famous revolting picture that mirrored his inner self.
Of course, on The Librarians Season 2 Episode 7 they added a little modern twist to the original Oscar Wilde tale, and now the painting (the focus) was a photo mosaic stored in ones and zeros in the cloud. Isn't the Internet wonderful?
The concept was a marriage of magic and science, one of the hallmarks of The Librarians. Our heroes vanquished Dorian by turning his own spell against him – changing the photo mosaic of him made up of other people into a photo mosaic of Eve made up of him.
Dorian Gray was so self-absorbed that he created this ridiculously powerful spell to keep himself young and handsome, but the cost was his ability to feel anything. He had a long life, but that life was empty of any joy. It reminded me quite keenly of a line from Doctor Who, when the Doctor pointed out that a longer life is not always a better one.
It had gotten to the point where Dorian was actually putting himself in serious peril pretty much all the time, from brazenly walking into traffic to imbibing toxic levels of alcohol to taking massive amounts of drugs.
In the end, Dorian couldn't bear to lose his immortality, so wrapped up was he in his arrogance and the fear of death.
At the end of the day, there's a big difference between image and identity.
Jenkins
Too bad for Dorian, our heroes outwitted him, resulting in Dorian bursting into floating orange embers. Too bad, so sad. Not.
The case was pretty straightforward, not a lot of surprises to be found there, but overall the episode was definitely a solid installment. It also provided a little insight into the nature of the Librarians and Guardians as being ultimately expendable.
It had been pointed out that before Flynn Carsen took the job, Librarians had a very short life expectancy. Flynn's lasted ten years, quite a long time, and most of that on his own. With three more Librarians and a permanent Guardian serving, however, there has been a fundamental shift.
No longer are they actually expendable. Even though, as Ezekiel pointed out, they have few ties to the outside world, they can and do support each other, and each brings key expertise to the Library. And then there's Eve, who plays her own critical role as Guardian.
You are the nameless ones. The faceless ones. Just "Guardian."
Dorian Gray
Dorian was quite wrong, though. While Eve might not have the academic qualifications of Jake, the technical skills or thieving ability of Ezekiel, or the mathematical genius of Cassandra, she is like Nate Ford on Leverage: the directing force, the guide, the mastermind.
In The Hound of the Baskervilles, Sherlock Holmes told Dr. Watson that, while he was not luminous himself, he was a conductor of light; he brought out, directed, and enhanced the genius in others. That is part of what Eve does for the Librarians. Also, she sometimes jumps off of buildings.
A few final observations and thoughts before wrapping things up:
- Jenkins may be unkillable, but he still apparently ages; Dorian (if you take what he said at face value) indicated that Jenkins wasn't quite so gray a couple centuries earlier.
- Speaking of Jenkins: performing naked, onstage. That's a mental image that can never be un-seen. Where's the brain bleach when you need it?
- I absolutely loved Jake and the door guard bonding over the lack of awesome English authors, laughing over Welsh, Scottish, Irish, and, oops, he was born in America! (For the record: a 19th Century English author? Lewis Carroll. 18th Century? Jane Austen.)
- I don't know a lot about defibrillation, but something tells me that Jake and Ezekiel's improvised lamp-and-kitchen-utensil set up would be more likely to kill the person they were trying to save. Fortunately for everyone, this wasn't real life!
- Rebecca Romijn, who plays Colonel Baird, is 5'11", and that's without those heels. Good heavens, those heels. The only member of the cast taller than her is John Larroquette (Jenkins) at 6'4". The next tallest is Christian Kane (Jake), at a mere 5'9".
So, what did you think? Was the cloud-stored photo mosaic an interesting twist on the classic story of Dorian Gray? Were you hoping for more witty repartee between Dorian and Jenkins before Eve did her swan dive? Were you entertained by Jake and the impressively literate door guard? Let us know in the comments section!
If you missed this episode, or you simply wish to relive the fun and adventure, you can always watch The Librarians online! The Librarians Season 2 Episode 8 is slated to air on Sunday, December 13, 2015 at 8/7c on TNT.
