The Librarians: And the Hollow Men Recap

Synopsis 02×05: Flynn is back, and then he’s not, after he gets taken by a mystery man. Eve, however, is forced to team up with Moriarty to track Flynn down while the rest of the team scrambles to keep the Library alive.

Rating: ★★★★★

While the Library continued to be in disarray, the team focused on tracking down another artifact. Ezekiel, Jake, and Eve broke into a museum where the artifact was being publicly kept after having been donated by a mysterious patron. They made their way in and met Flynn along the way, who seemed as surprised about them being there as they were about him. Ezekiel and Jake located the eye and managed to secure it, only to meet an untimely obstacle when they were lulled to sleep by a magical flute. Eve and Flynn followed, and the Samarian artifact they had been tracking disappeared along with a man in a suit.

When the team came too, they realized it wasn’t just the eye (the artifact) that had been taken. Flynn was abducted, too. Naturally they all jumped to the conclusion that it had been Prospero, but Flynn’s perspective gave the audience a different scenario. He woke up surrounded by artifacts, the very ones that had been disappearing from the Library. Even though he tried to get free, he realized quickly he wasn’t alone and was faced with a man named Ray who was insistent that Flynn was the key to getting his memory back.

Eve, Jake, Ezekiel, and Cassandra attempted to track Flynn down, but arrived a hair too late and found the storage container empty. Naturally, Moriarty appeared with a goon squad and a fight ensued. While the rest of the team booked it back to the door, Eve stayed behind to distract Moriarty and eventually was cornered by him after she missed the open door. He made her an offer and asked her to help him, and he in turn could help her find Flynn. After all, he didn’t subscribe to Prospero’s reign. All he wanted was to be free, left to his own devices, not under the command of another fictional.

They agreed to work together and Ariel, the sprite in Moriarty’s care, led them in the right direction.

Meanwhile, Flynn and Ray went on a road trip to find whatever it was that would help restore Ray’s memory. It didn’t take long for Flynn to put two and two together and he came to the conclusion that Ray was the Library. After the Library had been pulled back where it was supposed to be, the physical Library and the less physical intelligence that kept it together had been separated. Ray was created as a way to preserve that intelligence, though with his memory erased and only a desire to find artifacts leading him anywhere.

Flynn had a number of questions, none of which Ray could answer due to his memory, and the two continued their journey into the woods. With the eye in hand, the whole situation didn’t seem promising as they searched for the temple where the staff of knowledge was. The idea was that if they could find the staff of knowledge, then perhaps Ray’s memory would be restored and so would the Library.

While Eve and Flynn engaged in their own adventures, Jenkins and the rest of the Librarians were stuck trying to keep the Library alive. It had been separated from its intelligence for too long, and it was forcing the Library to die. For the moment, it was sucking the life force out of the things around it as it began to collapse in on itself. The team was able to stall it for a time using ghost lights, lights pulled from theatres all over the world that were full of life energy. But, it came to a point where the lights could only last so long.

They might have lasted longer, too, if it weren’t for the team getting their oils all over them by touching bulbs with their bare hands. I’m just saying…

Flynn and Ray found the temple and managed to navigate the traps set throughout it to get to the staff. Eve and Moriarty were close behind. When they arrived on the scene, Flynn was furious. Eve had led Moriarty right to the staff, and Eve insisted that it was the only way she would have been able to find him. As they bickered, the Library in the form of Ray grabbed for the staff only to have it not end well. The knowledge was overwhelming, and as something that was merely flesh and bone there was no way his human form could retain everything the staff was offering it.

Someone had to take it from him. Moriarty, at first, insisted it be anyone but him, though eventually pointed out that he would be the only one it couldn’t hurt. He was a fictional, not human, a magical being that could handle the power of the staff. Flynn accused him of having planned it all along, Eve essentially told Flynn it was the only way to save the Library regardless of his feelings, and Moriarty came into possession of the staff.

The situation was then resolved, and the Library remembered everything. Even Flynn, whom he proclaimed to be his best friend. Cue the ‘awwww’ moment, especially for fans of the movies who have watched Flynn grow alongside the Library. It echoed the Doctor Who moment, when the Doctor finally got to stand face to face with the TARDIS and they shared a tender moment.

Everyone returned to the Library just in time, because even though the ghost lights went out the Librarians were safe as Ray was returned. Flynn walked Ray into the Library proper, after introducing him to everyone at the annex, and they said their goodbyes. Flynn lamented the fact he had so many questions, and no time to ask them. The Library, however, gave him an important piece of advice: “the journey is more important than the destination.” It isn’t about answers, it is about experiences.

Ray disappeared and became one with the Library again, restoring it back to how it all should be. Yet even in the midst of a victory, Flynn and Eve parted ways on less than good terms as he swanned off to continue his adventures while she remained behind.