The Librarians Season 3 Episode 2 Review: And the Fangs of Death
Kathleen Wiedel
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Apep, Egyptian god of chaos and evil, made a much more sinister return in The Librarians Season 3 Episode 2, accompanied by werewolves and a less-than-chatty fellow Egyptian deity, Anubis.
"And the Fangs of Death" featured darkness prominently, both visually and tonally, as Flynn and the other Librarians entered a Canadian supercollider facility in search of a missing Charlene, who had apparently been kidnapped by Apep.
First off, I want to bring attention to the title of the episode. At first glance, "And the Fangs of Death" just sounds like the sort of melodramatic ridiculous adventure cliche that The Librarians normally exploits. However, it's actually more than that, as Anubis is the Egyptian god of death, and his army here was composed of werewolves, so it's actually appropriate!
Apep, despite his defeat at the climax of this episode, managed to provide a much more compelling villainous turn here than in his first appearance. Even though Charlene (if not her pendant) was revealed to have eluded capture, and the Librarians foiled his trap, a lot of innocent people at the facility died.
Even the sequence early in the episode with Flynn and Eve finding Charlene being massaged by supposedly brutal cultists actually had really grim undertones.
Flynn: These are 'brutal cultists'?
Charlene: No, no! They're just misunderstood. I just had to show them the understanding of a mature, sensual woman.
Flynn: You used an enchantment artifact.
Charlene: What? No! I am offended.
Flynn: You made them think you were an Incan goddess.
Charlene: So sue me.
Two things worth mentioning regarding this scene:
- Charlene is a Guardian mourning her Librarian.
- She's using mind control magic to get (heavily implied) sexual favors.
There's always been the implication of the corrupting power of magic, the inherent dangers in its use, but this has really come to the fore in this season. Even though the guys were described as brutal cultists, does it make it okay to mind control them into giving you massages? Food for thought.
Apep's Zone of Chaos also gained some steam here, with the cultists actually slaughtering each other. This actually created a bit of a head scratcher for me: were Flynn and Eve so, ahem, distracted that they didn't hear the rampant chaos-slaughter, or were their walls just that thick?
I appreciated Jenkins's clever use of his previously-established unkillability later in the episode to escape Apep by jumping off a cliff (simultaneously cushioning Eve's fall, too!). Too bad for him that he was still well capable of feeling pain!
I haven't been in this much pain since I jumped off the Hindenburg!
Jenkins
Speaking of pain, Flynn pretty much crossed a despair event horizon when he believed Charlene was dead and realized that the whole incident was a trap for the Librarians. Perhaps even more so than Judson, Charlene and her admonishments to "save the receipts!" have been a sort of constant for Flynn at the Library.
Given that Noah Wyle was not slated to appear in every episode this season, I wasn't surprised by Flynn's decision at the end of the episode to leave in search of Charlene. Flynn's choice to leave a note for Eve (rather than run the risk of her talking him out of it) was even in character.
Jake Stone got to step up a bit here, providing both physical and moral support for the team, to the point where I'm seriously wondering if Eve Baird is going to fulfill her destiny and die horribly/heroically, with Jake stepping into the role of Guardian.
*Everyone* has blind spots, brother. Sometimes you feel so deeply about something you miss the big picture.
Jake
Eve's death has been a recurring theme from as early as the first season, you may recall.
Even in the The Librarians Season 1 Episode 1, she faced the prospect of being blown up by a beeping nuclear bomb. It was played for laughs at the time, but by the finale episode, The Librarians Season 1 Episode 10 ("And the Loom of Fate"), it's deadly serious.
Of course, it could be just a giant red herring, or me reading too much into things.
I was a little disappointed that Anubis didn't get more to do besides stalk towards people sinisterly, but maybe that's just me remembering the Pile of Dirty Laundry Anubis (no, seriously!) from Stargate SG-1.
Some final thoughts before I turn the discussion over to you:
- Exactly how long has the Library been around, anyway? And why are certain folks like Charlene, Judson, and Jenkins so very long-lived?
- I was going to make a snarky comment about the bizarrely cliche Canadian perimeter guard ("Eh?"), but it turned out that she was inhabited by Apep.
- Either Apep knew something we didn't, or he had a lot of faith that the Librarians would somehow find a way to get to the supercollider facility and fall into his trap. Though I suppose if the Librarians hadn't shown up, he'd still have his Anubis werewolf army.
- Why did Flynn have the Apocalyptic vision in the first place? Was it a warning sent by the Library, or a trap sent by Apep to lead him to Charlene?
- There were a bunch of great lines in this episode, so be sure to check out our Librarians quotes page for a rundown of some of the notable ones.
Be sure to watch The Librarians online if you haven't! And tune in Sunday, December 4, 2016 at 8/7c on TNT for The Librarians Season 3 Episode 3, "And the Reunion of Evil."
So, what did you think of "And the Fangs of Death"? Were you surprised to learn the truth about the identity of Charlene (and Judson, for that matter)? Was Apep more intimidating this time around? Are they setting up for Eve to die? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below!
