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S01.E01: And The Crown Of King Arthur / S01.E02: And The Sword In The Stone 2014.12.07


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Episode 01 Synopsis:

 

Someone is killing off potential Librarians and it's up to Flynn Carsen and his new Guardian, Colonel Eve Baird, to save the three that are left.

 

Episode 02 Synopsis:

 

The Serpent Brotherhood is trying to return magic to our world. Flynn, Colonel Baird, and the potential Librarians must stop them before it's too late.
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A little slow but have to forgive some of that as set up, they did have a lot to cover trying to quick overview Flynn and the library then why the other three were being brought in. Clever how they moved the setting to match filming location. Definitely was liking it more in the last half hour. And definitely will keep tuning in for now.

But never thought I'd be sad to see a sword "die" (if only they hadn't made it whimper!)

  • Love 4
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Agreed.  Having to set up the whole background story and bring in all the new characters was a tall order.  Might be a bit hard on complete newbies, but anyone watching this kindof show probably has enough background familiarity with the genre to accept it.

 

I liked the overall plot and nice way to incorporate the new characters.  Definitely gives me a bit of a Leverage vibe, so we'll have to see how well the characters jell together.  That's really the key.

 

Going to miss Cal though. :(

 

And pretty good bad guys too.  I liked how the woman sussed out Jake with the tattoo.

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Rebecca Romijn needs to spend more time working on her stunt punches.  Flynn Carsen was really driving the action in the pilot, so it will be interesting to see how the team dynamic shakes out.  I'll be sticking around for it.

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That was fun. Entertaining tv.

 

The sword dying was surprisingly sad. yes the whimpering was hard to hear. It was almost like a pet dying.

 

The music kind of had a Dr. Who feel to it.

 

Will need more time to get adjusted to the new characters. So far they seem alright. Plus John Larroquette is in it so I'll definitely give it a try.

Edited by ybrik
  • Love 1
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I'd follow Christian Kane and John Laroquette a considerable distance, especially with Jane Curtin and Bob Newhart cameos. Hopefully dead Cal is with them now behind the mirror. Hope we see more of Matt Frewer, but he wasn't in the credits. Rebecca Romijn has a nice sensible way about her, and the british kid seemed deft.

Not too impressed with Lamia's acting - was she supposed to have an english accent? - and I really hope Cassandra has to work a little harder at the redemption for setting off the events that are triggering the end of the world through treachery thing. I got a shivery little Skye from Agents of SHIELD vibe from that. I like the Numb3rs/Gary from Alphas effect for her synaesthesia, though.

Edited by Julia
  • Love 5
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Warehouse 13 did it better.

Meh, as much as I loved WH13, I've always found the first few episodes to be clunky. 

 

Overall, I liked it. I liked character of Eve Baird, though I'm not super fond of the execution of her. I'm sure that'll be improved upon, though. I like all of the other characters, but I will say I was not a huge fan of Cassandra betraying them and setting off all the events that could end the world. I get why they had it happen the way they did, it just bugged me, I guess. I do think she redeemed herself enough and it's not like she's going to betray them  she's going to betray them again, you know? I do feel like this is a good start for the series and I do like they had something blow up, much like they had something blow up in the first episode of Leverage. 

 

I'm just curious to see how they'll be able to handle the special effects here. It is a very different monster from what they had to do on Leverage (and I'm assuming they're working with the same people).

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Several things gave me a Leverage vibe too, except Leverage defied my "pilots aren't great" belief, where as this was almost exactly what I expect from a pilot (especially one of this genre.) Its to set up all the basic information while fitting in a story so its not all telling with no showing.

However, as much as I LOVE Noah Wyle, have since my days of sneaking on my TV at 10pm Thursday nights when I wasn't old enough to technically be up that late, I felt like he was trying too hard or something especially the first hour. Maybe he felt pressure to really sell it to the audience from the movies? It kills me to say this, but I'm fine with him being in and out if this is going to continue to be what we're getting with him.

I'll be back next week as it'll probably be a better indication of the shows potential.

  • Love 2
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...The music kind of had a Dr. Who feel to it....

When the camera zoomed in on the first book, I'm sure I heard original Stargate riffs.

Whose idea is it to go around botoxing Noah Wylie and others of his age? Please stop it now.

I am a librarian, so a lot of the lines were meta for me. I'll keep watching until they're not.

  • Love 2
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These episodes were light fluff and derivative, but entertaining enough to watch when there's nothing better on TV.  I agree that this show is a like a combination of Warehouse 13 and Leverage

 

Eve Baird (Rebecca Romijn) was Myka from Warehouse 13.  Jake Stone (Christian Kane) was basically Eliot from Leverage but with a better c.v.  Ezekiel Jones as the thief was not a Parker clone, but it's too soon to tell if he has any personality.  Cassandra (Lindy Booth) at first seemed like Gary, the autistic guy from Alphas, but turned out to be different.  However, I found Cassandra rather annoying.  I could understand why the group forgave her betrayal after she saved Flynn's life at the expense of her own, but I couldn't understand why they let her back into the group.  I also found Jenkins (John Larroquette) to be both obnoxious and borderline racist (his "shifty" comment to Ezekiel).

 

The standout of these episodes was Flynn Carsen (Noah Wyle), who is so much more appealing and likeable than Tom Mason from Falling Skies.  Too bad Flynn is only going to be a recurring character on this show.   Baird seems too humorless to anchor the show.

 

The plot was kinda silly and the villains from the Serpent Brotherhood seemed like parody versions of members of the League of Assassins.  But, as I said, Flynn Carsen was what made both the Librarian movies and these Librarians episodes watchable, so it remains to be seen how the rest of the cast holds up in his absence. 

 

Bottom line:  Not must-see TV, but mindless fun (if you don't want to think too much).

Edited by tv echo
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Eve Baird (Rebecca Romijn) was Myka from Warehouse 13.  Jake Stone (Christian Kane) was basically Eliot from Leverage but with a better c.v.  Ezekiel Jones as the thief was not a Parker clone, but it's too soon to tell if he has any personality.  Cassandra (Lindy Booth) at first seemed like Gary, the autistic guy from Alphas, but turned out to be different.  However, I found Cassandra rather annoying.

I can get behind most of the comparisons (even though I didn't watch W13 enough to know characters/characterizations from that show & know nothing about Alphas other than Straithairn (sp?)).  I'd suggest that Ezekial is the long-lost adopted son of Parker (thief) and Hardison (tech-savvy).

 

I'll be tuning in again: Devlin + Rogers + Kane = (I fear) the closest I'll get to a Leverage reunion, so I'm in.

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I enjoyed it, but I expected to since I watched Warehouse 13 faithfully (but have never seen Alphas or Leverage), and will definitely watch it again. 

 

What I liked most (beside John Larroquette, who I will watch on anything; I've adored him since the very first Night Court ep, which I saw on its first run--which really dates me), is that it doesn't pretend to be anything more than it is: a fun, turn-off-your-brain-and-go-for-a-ride show. I also was annoyed with Cassandra (although I've liked Lindy Booth in other roles), for causing so much trouble, but I'm willing to let that go for the moment and see how they all shake out. Gigi 43, I also felt Noah Wyle was trying a little too hard, but he seemed to settle down in the second hour. I hope once Falling Skies ends that he's back on this show, if it's still around, at least occasionally. I thought he had good chemistry with Rebecca Romijn, but that could just be because I've always liked both of them.

Edited by kirinan
  • Love 5
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I'll be tuning in again: Devlin + Rogers + Kane = (I fear) the closest I'll get to a Leverage reunion, so I'm in.

 

Christian Kane said during his Reddit AMA that there were ongoing negotiations for a movie, so maybe not ;)

 

I love gee whiz hokey Christian Kane as much as the next girl, but now that they've established that the character isn't Eliot I hope they reel in the cornpone and the gumby hair. I Iike him best in It secretly amuses me that you underestimate me mode, and I'd like to see a little more of that.

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Not a bad pilot. The movies are fun, in a "don't think too much and enjoy the ride" sort of way. They never take themselves too seriously. I hope the show continues that. (Although it might fall too much into Warehouse 13 territory if it goes that route.)

 

The biggest problem is the pilot spent too much time on Flynn - who I'm sure will be a great regular recurring star - and not nearly enough time on the actual lead characters in the show. We know so very little about them and barely got to see their personalities. Did the thief have any lines beyond "the job will allow me to steal things, so I'm in"?

 

Is Flynn losing his mind or going a little crazy? It seems that they only play the movie with Stana Katic and Dracula on TV, so it's been awhile since I've seen the others, but I don't remember him being quite so eccentric as he was here.

 

I somehow didn't realize that was Rebecca Romijn. Weird. To me, she looked like a Jeri Ryan impersonator for most of the episode.

  • Love 1
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I enjoyed it except for John Larroquette who has thoroughly embraced the obnoxious scholar stereotype since Night Court.  I used to like him way back when he was recurring character on the Black Sheep Squadron but since then the only time I've been able to tolerate him was on some show about collecting that his did for the History Channel (I think).  If they can keep his roll to a minimum, I'll be happy.  

 

It'll be interesting to see how all of the characters and plots pan out.  I never saw the original Librarian movies, just one of those shows I never got around to watching, but I think I might dig them out sometime.  

  • Love 2
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Christian Kane said during his Reddit AMA that there were ongoing negotiations for a movie, so maybe not ;)

I saw that too, Julia.  Still not holding my breath.

 

Also - Dean Devlin did an AMA recently - over the weekend I think - must find it.

Edited by fastiller
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While I really enjoyed most of Warehouse 13, I'd seen the 3 made-for-tv TNT Librarian movies BEFORE Warehouse 13 started, so I always felt that show was emulating the basics of The Librarian movies. I just saw the movies again yesterday (marathon on TNT before the new series debut) and remembered when Flynn asked Charlene how big the library was and she replied, "As big as we need it to be", there was a similar line in one of the Warehouse 13 episodes. Nonetheless, it was a great show and I miss it.

 

I loved last night's 2-hr (2 episode) premiere--yes, it was clunky like most pilot episodes are, but it gives me something to look forward to on Sunday evenings! Loved Christian Kane in Leverage, and he played Rebecca Romijin's brother in an episode of the short-lived Maxwell & King series (also on TNT), so I was glad to see them working together again. I did indeed get a Leverage-Warehouse 13-Librarian vibe and loved the ride! I'm in for the rest of the episodes and hope this becomes a full-fledged series.

  • Love 1
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I'll give it a shot. Romijin's character needed a better fight choreographer but the person was ok.The Cassandra character really needs to improve. I hated that such a "smart" character is completely fooled by villains that are almost literally rubbing their hands together and cackling. Either make that part of her character that she cannot pick up on social cues at all or make her a little more morally grey by showing that she knew that the brotherhood didn't have good intentions but she sold everyone out in the hope of being cured because she was scared of dying.

Liked the Curator, the thief, Christian Kane etc though.

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I wouldn't have bothered watching it if it weren't for Christian Kane--loved him since Angel. It was the first time I'd ever watched the movies which I found to be pretty hoaky. But I think I'll like it better with an ensemble cast who will have more time to develop a chemistry with each other. Plus, John Rodgers likes writing Christian Kane as angry/impatient (which I always love) and he'll hopefully get to do some comedy he hasn't gotten to do much in other roles. The man can be funny so it'd be nice to see him do funny.

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Agreed that Kane's facial expressions several times during the show were gold.  The other two have their work cut out for them to avoid always looking smug (Kim) or dumbfounded (Bloom).  And yes, Romijn needs to work on her fight choreography (maybe Kane can help her with that).

  • Love 1
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When Romjin's character got her invite, I was strongly reminded of Harry Potter's invite to Hogwarts. The music seemed very similar to one of the Potter themes.

 

It did feel Warehouse-ish to me, but that's not a bad thing in my opinion. Noah Wyle's character annoyed me (I hadn't seen the other movies), so I'm kind of glad he won't be around much.

 

I've only watched the first hour so far, but I think it's worth watching a few more episodes - especially since the holiday season thins out my DVR list.

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Cassandra was a pile of suck, RR REALLY needs some stunt fighting practice, she was horrible. Kane is essentially playing himself. The Brit dude, whatever, he's a thief with a heart of gold we will find out one episode this season.  

 

Why was Cassandra "chosen" in the first place? She had a brain tumor and had forgotten some things or was a math genius (I thought Kane was going to satisfy the genius role).  Is she even cured? I really don't care as I thought they forgave her dumbass a bit too soon, but pilots. 

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I thought it was pretty enjoyable even though I was mostly fixated on how much taller Rebecca is than everyone else. I didn't see any sparks between Eve and Flynn so the kiss came a little out of nowhere. Sorry to see Bob Newhart and Jane Curtin disposed of so quickly. Why weren't the rampaging ninja's trapped and smushed when the library rolled itself up?

 

I enjoyed Warehouse 13 for a bit until I got bored; probably will be the same with this unless one of the actors or the dialog or the puzzles grab me. I watched the first movie but didn't bother with the sequels.

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Why was Cassandra "chosen" in the first place? She had a brain tumor and had forgotten some things or was a math genius (I thought Kane was going to satisfy the genius role).  Is she even cured? I really don't care as I thought they forgave her dumbass a bit too soon, but pilots. 

Jake is a genius but not so much with numbers. His specialty is more art + history, while Cassandra is more science and math. 

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Sorry to see Bob Newhart and Jane Curtin disposed of so quickly. 

 

Being dead didn't keep him off the show, so I assume she'll be along as well. I was kind of encouraged by that, really, because (I hate to say this but) at his age, Bob Newhart probably can't deal with a lot of days of filming, especially on location, but he can appear as often as he wants as a disembodied figure in a mirror.

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As an English person I feel the need to point out that Ezekiel Jones the thief is in fact not British, he is either Australian or a New Zealander. The Halle Berry lookalike was British (or had an English accent anyway) though. 

I enjoyed the premiere, a little cheesy at times but so were the movies, I will enjoy watching it as a little bit of fun fluff tv.

  • Love 5
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Wow that was pretty cheesy. And I don't mind some cheese to my shows, but oof this one was pushing it. Between the obvious musical flourishes (bumbling bad guy music! hero to the rescue music! I have an idea music!), horrible fight choreography, cheese-tastic and out of nowhere kiss, and quirk-quirk-quirkiness of Flynn and Cassandra, plus that other old dude....whew. It was tough to watch and I almost turned it off several times in the second hour.

 

I was hoping to love it because I pretty much live off of forgotten and magical mythology sci fi shows (Alias, Lost, Warehouse 13). My rip off meter was going through the roof with all the WH13 similarities, but I've never seen these Librarian movies and know nothing about this premise other than the 2 hour episode I just watched. So perhaps it was the other way around and WH13 ripped it off, but so far I think WH13 did it much better.

 

I'll try a few more episodes, but so far I'm disappointed.

  • Love 2
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Missed it last night, so I just caught up.  It's been a while since I saw the The Librarian films, but I remember them being entertaining fluff, so I was curious to see how this would fare.  It was fun seeing Flynn, Charlene, and Judson again.

 

As for the show itself, we shall see.  I had fun, but really could be corny and cheesy.  I had to accept the fact that the visual effects were going to be pretty bad, the fight scenes would be awkward (really isn't helping that I'm still Netflixing Nikita right now.  The bar is just too damn high), and the acting can be campy and over-the-top at times (love you John Larroquette, but damn.)  But, in the end, it had it's moments.

 

I do think my issue going forward is that Flynn won't be the lead, but Baird instead.  While Noah Wyle was close to too much at times, I still really enjoyed him and Flynn, and bummed he won't be around.  Granted, thanks to Falling Skies, I'm just glad to see Noah having fun, and not playing a sanctimonious, speechifying windbag, like Tom Mason.  Meanwhile, Rebecca Romjin has her moments, but she was kind of dull at times, and the character seems to be the "no fun" one of the group, so I'm not sure if I'm going to like her, if she's going to be the actual lead character.  Hopefully, it will be more of an ensemble and not the Baird show.

 

As for the rest, Christian Kane was fun as Jake, and I enjoyed the Ezekiel character.  Cassandra though.... they better be more to her "redemption."  She got off way too easy.  It did seem like Jake wasn't fully on board, so I hope he still gives her the side-eye.  Yeah, she saved Flynn at the end, but she was one of the reasons he was even dying in the first place.

 

"Cal's" death actually was pretty sad.

 

Surprisingly, my biggest issues where the baddies.  I love Matt Frewer, but that British accent didn't work for me.  I wished he just played the character like Dr. Leekie from Orphan Black.  Meanwhile, Lesley Ann-Brandt was all over the place as Lamia.  Sometimes she was good, but other times, cringe-worthy bad.  And, surprisingly, not good with the fighting stuff either.  I would have thought her time on Spartacus would have helped in that aspect.

 

Still, my Sunday shows are wrapping up, and this will do.  Plus, did you see the upcoming previews?  Bruce Campbell?  As Santa Claus?!  This I got to see!!

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It wasn't perfect but I actually liked it enough to give it a trial run. Not sure how it will be with just Noah in only a few episides. Have loved him since he played Carter on "E.R.."

Feel kind of cheated, I watched and did not know till I came on here and saw his involvement would be limited because of that awful "Falling Skies" I stopped watching that a while back couldn't stand it anymore.

  • Love 1
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Did anyone catch whether they recovered the crown or not?  I rewatched that scene and it was never made clear.

Yes.  In the climactic fight scene between Lamia wielding Excalibur and Flynn wielding the pipe, the Librarians team electromagnetized Flynn's pipe.  The crown was then magnetically zapped from Lamia's head to Flynn's pipe.  Having the crown, Flynn was then able to control Excalibur.

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I will stick with some more episodes but the pilot definitely did not meet the my expectations given the makers' pedigree. Cheesy is right, and it was downright boring at times. We'll see if it works. And it took them way too long to get to Kane. 

  • Love 2
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Yes.  In the climactic fight scene between Lamia wielding Excalibur and Flynn wielding the pipe, the Librarians team electromagnetized Flynn's pipe.  The crown was then magnetically zapped from Lamia's head to Flynn's pipe.  Having the crown, Flynn was then able to control Excalibur.

At which point I yelled, "MAGNETS, YO!  YEAH, SCIENCE!!!"  Jesse Pinkman lives on in my heart <3

 

I've had unholy love for these dopey movies from the very beginning, and I'm cautiously optimistic about the series.  Part of the magic for me was, of course, the trio of Noah Wyle, Bob Newhart, and Jane Curtin ("Save your receipts!"), so with the three of them either gone or just popping in sporadically, there's got to be something else to make me tune in.  I don't really like Rebecca Romaijn that much.  From the reaction he's gotten here, I'm thinking I should probably be embarrassed to say I don't know who Christian Kane is, but he sure is easy on the eyes, and I like him so far.  I do like the guy who plays Ezekiel, but I'm a sucker for an Aussie accent, so that's kind of a given.  I'd say I'll give it a few more weeks...but I'm a bit of a completist, so I'll probably watch until it's canceled :)  

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It wasn't perfect but I actually liked it enough to give it a trial run. Not sure how it will be with just Noah in only a few episides. Have loved him since he played Carter on "E.R.."

Feel kind of cheated, I watched and did not know till I came on here and saw his involvement would be limited because of that awful "Falling Skies" I stopped watching that a while back couldn't stand it anymore.

He's in none of the promo pics I saw pre-premiere and even those he's a huge part of the show's first 2 episodes, they kept his presence in the commercials very light.

I feel like TNT wanted to set the expectation that he is not the lead in the show, if anything It's Rebecca (which, meh).

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From the reaction he's gotten here, I'm thinking I should probably be embarrassed to say I don't know who Christian Kane is, but he sure is easy on the eyes, and I like him so far. 

 

If you don't know who Christian Kane is, that means you still have the adventure of discovering Leverage in front of you, lucky thing. It's on Hulu. The first episode, the Nigerian Job, is a good introduction to Christian Kane (it's on Netflix too, but they cut the reaction shots to Sophie's first scene, which is a total crime). He was also on Angel, if you're a Whedon person.

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If you don't know who Christian Kane is, that means you still have the adventure of discovering Leverage in front of you, lucky thing. It's on Hulu. The first episode, the Nigerian Job, is a good introduction to Christian Kane (it's on Netflix too, but they cut the reaction shots to Sophie's first scene, which is a total crime). He was also on Angel, if you're a Whedon person.

 

Yes, to this.  Leverage is a great show whether you watch it for Kane or not.  The whole cast is good, the writing is good (even the DVD commentary is good)--it's a shame it got canceled.  And since a lot of the same people who did Leverage are doing the Librarians that gives me high hopes. 

 

ETA:  From John Rogers' Facebook page:

 

Well, that's nice that people liked The Librarians . I strongly suggest grabbing the extended cut of the pilot (for FREE) from iTunes. It's a good 10 minutes longer, with a LOT more character building, banter, etc. 2nd episode also, for 3$ if you're feeling generous, another 10 minutes on that one. None of the other episodes have quite as much of a difference between the long and short versions, but those two are worth seeing the difference.

Edited by cassandle
  • Love 4
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Just some random and off the wall theorizing here: will a Librarian eventually have to pull Cal from the stone? It seemed awful convenient that its (his?) death involved melting back into the stone from which it was originally pulled.

  • Love 1
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Thanks for the info on the extended versions of these episodes.  Definitely have to check them out.

 

Also, yes HIGHLY RECOMMEND LEVERAGE, Great show, absolutely fantastic cast all around.

 

 

Just some random and off the wall theorizing here: will a Librarian eventually have to pull Cal from the stone? It seemed awful convenient that its (his?) death involved melting back into the stone from which it was originally pulled.

 

I'm going to rewatch the episode with my kids, so will try and listen a little more closely to the explanation of the crown, sword and stone.  It sounded like the "world's magic" powered the sword, but maybe it was that the sword was magic on its own and when putting it back, the world leeched it from the sword.

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I enjoyed the show. It was fun and light hearted, a break from all the serious stuff. There are times I just want to sit back and be entertained. Not goop smacked over the head with way TOO much serious stuff. If I want serious I watch NCIS or Person of Interest.

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 I really don't care for this. I'm having a hard time just getting all the way through it. I can't watch it for 2 hours. It is really cheesy, as some have said. I recorded this primarily because I'm a Christian Kane fan, but I don't even care for his character. I know with a premise like this you're supposed to suspend your disbelief, but this episode called for way too much of that in every way. The whole thing just seems to be trying too hard. The characters are not well-defined, but more like caricatures. I have nothing against Noah Wyle, but I can't stand his character. Maybe I might watch another episode if he's not heavily featured, but I don't know. The fight scenes were horrible. RR's acting was quite stilted. The Cassandra character was annoying. I liked Ezekiel somewhat. As I said, I recorded it to watch Christian Kane, but I feel they've done him a disservice. I'm supposed to believe he has an IQ of 190 but is childishly giddy over a flying sword? I don't think this show is for me. Leverage was so well-written with really interesting characters that had an amazing chemistry. For me, The Librarians falls far short.

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Not a bad pilot. The movies are fun, in a "don't think too much and enjoy the ride" sort of way. They never take themselves too seriously. I hope the show continues that. (Although it might fall too much into Warehouse 13 territory if it goes that route.)

 

The biggest problem is the pilot spent too much time on Flynn - who I'm sure will be a great regular recurring star - and not nearly enough time on the actual lead characters in the show. We know so very little about them and barely got to see their personalities. Did the thief have any lines beyond "the job will allow me to steal things, so I'm in"?

 

Is Flynn losing his mind or going a little crazy? It seems that they only play the movie with Stana Katic and Dracula on TV, so it's been awhile since I've seen the others, but I don't remember him being quite so eccentric as he was here.

 

I somehow didn't realize that was Rebecca Romijn. Weird. To me, she looked like a Jeri Ryan impersonator for most of the episode.

I feel like Flynn had been on his own, for so long he adopted a kinda Indiana Jones-esque persona to amuse himself as he worked. He even kept to it in the first hour. Those quieter moments he had at the end seemed much more like his real personality

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