TV Show Review: The Librarians - Season 1

Stars: 5 out of 5

Pros: Weekly dose of fun adventure

Cons: Episodes out of order when originally aired

The Bottom Line:

Light adventure show

Keeps you smiling as you watch

Truly a delight

Delightful Fantasy Adventure Show

I’d always intended to watch The Librarian movies that had premiered on TNT over the years, but it took them spinning the movies off into a TV series to get me to watch them.  Of course, the reason I watched them was to then watch the TV show, and when I did, I found myself completely enjoying season 1.

If you are new to the franchise, we aren’t talking about an ordinary library.  No, this one is filled with all those mythological items you have heard about and thought weren’t real.  The Librarian heads out to collect the item in order to keep them from falling into the wrong hands.

As the series opens, things have been going along well for years under the guidance of Librarian Flynn Carsen, (Noah Wyle, star of the movies, occasional guest star in the series, and executive producer of the series).  However, suddenly, someone is killing off potential replacement librarians and the Library has closed up access.  The three remaining librarians - Jake Stone (Christian Kane), Cassandra Cillian (Lindy Booth), and Ezekiel Jones (John Harlan Kim) – along with their guardian Eve Baird (Rebecca Romijn) set out to figure out what is going on.  Assisting them back in the annex that is still available is Jenkins (John Larroquette).

This unlikely gang does have one advantage in the annex a portal they can use to get to anywhere in the world their skills are needed.  And that’s a good thing since this first season finds them fighting the evil Serpent Brotherhood all over the world.  They have to save the spirit of Santa in order to save Christmas.  They must stop a sleeping dragon from awakening and wreaking havoc on the Earth.  And they must destroy the original haunted house.  But will they be able to survive the coming showdown with the Serpent Brotherhood?

In case you haven’t figured it out yet, this franchise is really Indiana Jones light.  You have the same search for artifacts or at least stories involving ancient magic, but without quite as much action and a little more humor.  That caper feeling is perfectly entertaining, and I love sitting back and indulging in it.  The writers do a good job of making this world they are creating believable, which is very important.  After all, this is our world; we just don’t know about the magic in it.

The cast is obviously having fun making the show.  Not only are they perfect in their parts, but they bring the right mix of comic, serious, and delight to make the show work.

Unfortunately, the first season definitely suffered from the scheduling.  It’s very obvious at times that some of the episodes were shown out of production order.  I’m not talking about how a set looks, but occasionally they will reference something that happens in a (now) later episode or other such timeline issues.  Fortunately, with this set, you can watch them in production order.  (Now, I just need to remember what that is myself.)

However, the last couple of episode aired in the correct order, which is important.  It’s in these episodes that we see how what we thought were a bunch of fun, random adventures actually do tie together.  How the writers did that was brilliant and made me love the show even more.

There were 10 episodes in season one, and they are all present in set.  In the way of extras, we get a blooper reel, 9 episode vlogs and 10 episode commentaries.

This series could have easily been a one and done with how things are wrapped up, but fortunately, TNT renewed the show.  If you are looking for a light, fun hour of adventure each week, look no further than season 1 of The Librarians.

Season 1 Episodes:

1. And the Crown of King Arther

2. And the Sword in the Stone

3. And the Horns of a Dilemma

4. And Santa’s Midnight Run

5. And the Apple of Discord

6. And the Fables of Doom

7. And the Rule of Three

8. And the Heart of Darkness

9. And the City of Light

10. And the Loom of Fate