S03.E01: And the Rise of Chaos

[formerlyfreedom]

When the Egyptian God of Chaos inhabits a human body, he attempts to release Pure Evil into the world, thus beginning the final battle of Good vs. Evil. In order to stop him, the Librarians must decipher a series of clues within a science museum, including a mysterious warning spoken by exhibit mannequins that have come to life.

[Terrafamilia]

I know it's goofy fun but...

The North Star has changed over time. Sure, a long time, but still.

Why would a museum sub have live armaments?

If Good and Evil are supposed to be in balance does that mean that Pure Good was locked away they same way Pure Evil was - for the sake of maintaining this supposed balance? If it wasn't, wouldn't that upset this alleged precious balance? This sort of pop-dualism always opens a can of philosophical worms.

[Christina]

I liked The Librarian movies, and that's probably why I don't mind that Flynn is a little over the top. I enjoy Christian Kane and John Larroquette in their roles, and can take or leave the Baird character, but I really don't enjoy Cassandra or Ezekiel. Not being familiar with Lindy Booth or John Harlan Kim other than their portrayals in this show, it's hard to decide if it is the characters, the writing, or the actors' portrayals, but they ruin the show for me. 

Last season, when Ezekiel was the only one who could remember the others dying over and over during the video game episode, John Harlan Kim showed that he could act a range of emotions, so it would be nice if he wasn't constantly, uhhhh don't know what to call him. Acting a fool? Maybe if they showed him being the best thief in the world instead of just having him comment about how easy it is to pick a lock (that he couldn't pick) while grinning stupidly and exclaiming how they may as well put, "Property of Ezekiel Jones" on it, I wouldn't find him so annoying. 

Ezekiel is less annoying to me than Cassandra, though. She still dresses like a toddler, which I could overlook if it wasn't for her acting like a toddler, too. Jumping up and down with excitement when she knows an answer, saying "Don't hate me, but we have a submarine. Don't hate me!" and is always looking wide-eyed at everything going on around her.  I think she is supposed to be stunted by her brain tumor and brilliance, but it's season three. It would be nice to see some growth. That character is nails on the chalkboard annoying to me, and seriously diminishes my enjoyment of the show.

They are giving Stone fighting lessons, so maybe Christian Kane showing some of his other skills will keep me interested. First episode didn't draw me back in. It is nice, however, to have a scripted show that is family friendly. My baby is 20 so it's not necessary to be real picky, but there doesn't seem to be a lot of shows being written for families with younger kids, and I want to support them for that.

If the show was just Noah Wyle, Christian Kane and John Larroquette, I'd probably enjoy it more. Rebecca Romjin and the others could make guest appearances. Alas, the world still doesn't revolve around me, and I'll probably watch regardless.

[snarktini]

Not thrilled about an MIB Big Bad arc. 

I like most of the pieces and parts of the show. It's charming and light and fantastical, and I'd show up to almost anything to watch Christian Kane. (Laroquette has been the big surprise for me, not having been a big fan in the past. I kind of tolerate Cassandra and Ezekiel.) But it's the most fun when they're simply chasing artifacts of the week. Dramatic arcs are the least successful part IMO. 

[Maelstrom]

I haven't necessarily been a big Flynn/Wyle fan in previous seasons, having encountered the series before the movies, but I enjoyed tonight's ep. I thought they did a good job of balancing all the characters so that Flynn didn't eat the show and no one got shoved into the background too much. If we're going to have Flynn around all the time, I can live with it if they handle it this well for the rest of the season. Also appreciated that the touched on the team's inherent personality differences, and that they can work together while not always seeing eye to eye all the time.

I'm glad I'm not the only one who caught the "North star doesn't move" flub. I seem to recall reading that Thuban in Draco was likely the North Star in the time of the Egyptians, and Vega will be in another 10,000 or 20,000 years or so.

Can I just say how ridiculously hilarious the sing-along at the end was? I can't remember another show where the bad guy was brought down by a sing-along, and I loved it. Bonus points for Ezekiel's jazz hands and Cassandra and Eve's Rockettes kicks.

I found it a touch odd watching Christian Kane pretending not to know how to fight, lol. Glad they're finally letting him go there, though.

Did anyone else have Nestene/Doctor Who and Goauld/Stargate flashbacks with the mannequin scene and the evil Egyptian God possesses a human to take over the world? just me? OK.

Edited November 21, 2016 by Maelstrom

[andromeda331]

I loved this episode, this show is just so much fun and this episode was no different. I loved when book burst into flames and Stone and Jones excitement over the sub.

[GaT]

2 hours ago, snarktini said:

Not thrilled about an MIB Big Bad arc. 

 

Yeah, I agree. The show does not need a government agency.

[lizzyp]

4 hours ago, snarktini said:

Not thrilled about an MIB Big Bad arc. 

I like most of the pieces and parts of the show. It's charming and light and fantastical, and I'd show up to almost anything to watch Christian Kane. (Laroquette has been the big surprise for me, not having been a big fan in the past. I kind of tolerate Cassandra and Ezekiel.) But it's the most fun when they're simply chasing artifacts of the week. Dramatic arcs are the least successful part IMO. 

Your comment reminds me of early X-Files.  The Monster of the Week shows were more fun than the long, drawn out conspiracy arc, except for when Krycek and Maria pushed Smoking Man down the stairs.  The only thing I really enjoyed about the conspiracy was the Lone Gunmen.

[Chaos Theory]

When the group started to sing My thought was, "I think I prefer choas".  

For anyone who has ever watched Leverage watching Christian Kane losing a fight or even not knowing how to fight is weird.

Yeah the MIB stuff is kinda weird but it was only a matter of time and I am willing to see where it goes.  

Edited November 21, 2016 by Chaos Theory

[BooksRule]

Quote

Did anyone else have Nestene/Doctor Who and Goauld/Stargate flashbacks with the mannequin scene and the evil Egyptian God possesses a human to take over the world? just me? OK.

I thought about Doctor Who when the mannequins started to move, but I only thought about Stargate when Ra was mentioned (which was odd, because I usually think about Stargate when I see/read anything about ancient Egypt.  It might be time to drag out my DVDs and have a marathon). 

[Whimsy]

10 hours ago, Maelstrom said:

Did anyone else have Nestene/Doctor Who and Goauld/Stargate flashbacks with the mannequin scene and the evil Egyptian God possesses a human to take over the world? just me? OK.

Something about the music during that scene at the end when they defeated the bad guy (after they were done singing) and they all were saying they were the Librarian made me think very strongly of Doctor Who.

[Primetimer]

Dealing with an ancient, all-powerful Egyptian god of chaos is one thing, but the Librarians are going to have their hands full with Vanessa Williams.

View the full article

[Ariah]

4 hours ago, GenL said:

Something about the music during that scene at the end when they defeated the bad guy (after they were done singing) and they all were saying they were the Librarian made me think very strongly of Doctor Who.

The music had all the chords of "I am the Doctor" from Doctor Who. Also, Flynn's speech reminded me of what 11th Doctor would say, especially in 11th Hour, his first episode :)

For those WHO are interested in what I'm rambling about :) <- will take you to YouTube. The part with the music starts at 1:20.

[ABay]

Ooh! Ooh! I saw the Antikythera Mechanism in the archaeological museum in Athens! I might or might not have squeed like Cassandra* but the artifact looks nothing like that except for being a box with cogs.

*I did actually squee over the mask of Agamemnon and a couple of other pieces.

Flynn and Ezekiel seemed a little toned down and Cassandra not quite as annoying, all for the good. I'm burned out on Ultimate Battles of Good & Evil and global/galactic conspiracies and everything having to be on a huge scale, so chasing artifacts of the week would be OK with me, too, as with several of you. I really enjoyed the way all of season 1's episodes came together at the end and would like something more like that again.

[Jamoche]

In addition to the North Star goof, the part about the Antikythera not working - well, obviously the one that was at the bottom of the sea for millennia isn't going to move again, but there are working replicas out there.

[thuganomics85]

Almost forgot this show was back!  I miss this silly, goofy, but fun and entertaining show!

I automatically side-eyed it a bit, once I saw that Noah Wylie was going to be in it, since while I do like Flynn, he tends to hog the screen time, but I thought this was one of the better ones where they gave him moments, but still managed to feature plenty of Baird and the actual Librarian trio. I still enjoy the messed up family they are kind of becoming.  Baird being so obsessed over them being ready for whatever to come is surprisingly touching.  I remember when she just use to find them obnoxious back in the first season.

Jake and Ezekiel fanboying over that submarine made me laugh harder then I probably should have.

Cassandra is a bit better, although it's still pretty cheesy any time she starts seeing numbers/puzzles/etc in the air.  

Not as interested in the long-term arcs, with this whole government agency and whatever is going on with Vanessa Williams' character.  Granted, it is hard to top last season when it's freaking Prospero of all things, trying to destroy the world, accompanied by Professor Moriarty!

[Maelstrom]

10 hours ago, thuganomics85 said:

Cassandra is a bit better, although it's still pretty cheesy any time she starts seeing numbers/puzzles/etc in the air.

I'm in the minority that likes Cassandra, but I do wish they'd bring back her synesthesia. Seems like she's just been reduced to Math Girl, who sees math/patterns/etc in the air, instead of tying in her other senses and memories like they did in the pilot (remembering smells and tastes from when she was a child, for instance). At the time I thought that was such a cool, untapped trope to explore, but it's been dropped flat in recent times.

I did quite enjoy her slinging insults at Flynn while they were Apepped, though. :D

[ganesh]

I thought they did a good job balancing Flynn compared to prior seasons too. What I liked is that they emphasized teamwork. I'm a little over the trope where a whole bunch of different people who don't like each other have to work together. They actually do seem to enjoy working here. Although I hope RR isn't pushed too much into the background and just worrying all the time. It's her job I know.

I can't say I buy Good/Evil as a philosophy either, but it's not going to ruin the show for me. I'd prefer something a little more complicated like how Babylon 5 handled it. 

Not a big fan of the government arc unless CSM is going to do a crossover and show up as the boss pulling the strings. It would be nice if they actually turned out to be decent people.

I liked that the department was a banal name because it reminded me of on Invisible Man when they worked for Fish and Game, BLM, Indian Affairs. 

Edited November 24, 2016 by ganesh

[Clanstarling]

I think the sub and museum scenes were filmed at the OMSI in Portland. I tried to attach a photo, which matches one of the external shots they did toward the end, I believe.  I've been on that sub, and been in the Museum. I wasn't sure with the first outside view, since they CGI'd that pretty Boston bridge in, but from the inside museum shots, you could see the Portland bridges, plus the layout looked familiar. So that was some additional fun for me.

On 11/21/2016 at 3:25 PM, ABay said:

I'm burned out on Ultimate Battles of Good & Evil and global/galactic conspiracies and everything having to be on a huge scale, so chasing artifacts of the week would be OK with me, too, as with several of you.

Me too. It's that way on a lot of shows, and I'm tired of it. There's enough of that in the real world, it's not what I prefer in terms of escape entertainment. But they keep it light and funny enough most of the time.

I groaned when I saw Wylie, but I agree that ultimately they kept him in check and it worked. With the sort of exception of Wyle, I like all of the regular characters.

 

[Maelstrom]

On November 23, 2016 at 7:18 PM, ganesh said:

I liked that the department was a banal name because it reminded me of on Invisible Man when they worked for Fish and Game, BLM, Indian Affairs. 

Don't forget Weights and Measures! ;) I love that show.

[ganesh]

There are some similarities with I-Man and Librarians in terms of the banter and irreverance. 

"Need to know, Bobby." "Bobby Hobbes got a need to know what food tastes like."
"Could you please stop fangirling over the archvillian?"

I also got to say to one of the students irl: Try not to fangirl over the super famous professor.

[MissLucas]

On 21.11.2016 at 5:23 AM, Maelstrom said:

Did anyone else have Nestene/Doctor Who and Goauld/Stargate flashbacks with the mannequin scene and the evil Egyptian God possesses a human to take over the world? just me? OK.

As others have mentioned the score is a blatant Who rip-off. I was doing something else and just listening when Evil dude asked 'Who are you?' and Flynn answered with 'Who banished the evil you wish to release? Who protects this world? Who do you fear the most?' while the wanna-be Who score was getting more and more frantic. For a moment I expected the show to go there and have Evil dude answer 'The Doctor' and then Flynn having a minor breakdown. Alas, they played it straight.

[LisaM]

Finally made it to Season 3 in my binge watching of The Librarians over the past week. So glad to see that Flynn did not eat the show in this episode as he did during most appearances in Seasons 1 and 2. I much prefer seeing the entire team in a balanced approach. Baird is my favorite character so I was glad to see that her snarky comments continue. I also liked her working with Stone on his fighting skills. If they can keep the show balanced between the 5 characters - plus a lot of Jenkins - I will be happy.

Not sure that we need a government agency storyline but I like Vanessa Williams. Plus - she and RR worked together on Ugly Betty so this is a reunion of sorts.

[Skyfall]

So um did TNT advertise this at all? Didn't even see any news posts about the premiere... I've missed four damn episodes...

[lizzyp]

Not much advertising, but I did see some.  Nothing on the level of what Falling Skies got.  I think Kane was unhappy about it because he tweeted something about TNTPR doing the worst job ever.  Considering how they yanked Leverage around that's saying an awful lot.  Kane seems to be a team player in the pr department so to see that little mention really stood out.

On a slightly related note, Rebecca's live tweets are hilarious.  She keeps sending out 'FACTS' that are just too funny.

[Chaos Theory]

TNT is notoriously bad with advertising.  The only reasons I knew is I looked and I had it still on my Queue from last year.  Otherwise I would have missed it myself.

[ChelseaNH]

I remember seeing ads for the Saturday marathon before the season 3 premiere, and I don't spend all that much time with TNT.

[Skyfall]

29 minutes ago, Chaos Theory said:

TNT is notoriously bad with advertising.  The only reasons I knew is I looked and I had it still on my Queue from last year.  Otherwise I would have missed it myself.

The thing is not even The Fution Critic had it on their schedule of new premieres last time I went through it to update my spreadsheet of shows and they are the most reliable.

Edited December 13, 2016 by Skyfall

[lizzyp]

29 minutes ago, Chaos Theory said:

TNT is notoriously bad with advertising.  The only reasons I knew is I looked and I had it still on my Queue from last year.  Otherwise I would have missed it myself.

Maybe it's just that I really hated Falling Skies, but it seemed like they promo'd the snot out of that, and the Dallas reboot and yanked Leverage around and barely promo'd the last season.  Rizzoli & Isles gets a decent amount, but their efforts have never seemed very evenly divided.  This season it was ALL about Good Behavior, and there were some spots for The Librarians, but they had a subdued feel to them that made me almost not notice them.  Considering I was looking for them, I can't imagine how many new viewers they attracted.

 

Obviously, I'm still mad at TNT. 

[Chaos Theory]

1 hour ago, Skyfall said:

The thing is not even The Fution Critic had it on their schedule of new premieres last time I went through it to update my spreadsheet of shows and they are the most reliable.

 

1 hour ago, lizzyp said:

Maybe it's just that I really hated Falling Skies, but it seemed like they promo'd the snot out of that, and the Dallas reboot and yanked Leverage around and barely promo'd the last season.  Rizzoli & Isles gets a decent amount, but their efforts have never seemed very evenly divided.  This season it was ALL about Good Behavior, and there were some spots for The Librarians, but they had a subdued feel to them that made me almost not notice them.  Considering I was looking for them, I can't imagine how many new viewers they attracted.

 

Obviously, I'm still mad at TNT. 

I usually use Twitter and TVAfterDark.  Downside they put up shows 7 pm EST that day but fairly accurately.

[kassygreene]

next-episode.net is pretty useful for me.  The calendar and watchlist options help me with upcoming or returning shows.

[Skyfall]

It's a Christmas miracle (or someone at TNT realizing they fucked up the promotion this season) the full aired season will air next Friday so I can catch up without streaming!