At the end of its fairly short premiere season,The Librarians: The Next Chapterhas finally made the necessary changes to ensure a bigger and more adventurous season 2. There’s a lot of story to get through inThe Librarians: The Next Chapterseason 1 finale, and it’s not always balanced well. The end result, however, suggests a promising future.
The Librarians: The Next Chaptercasthas been a bit undefined for the most part, particularly sinceCharlie hasn’t technically been a Guardian while Connor and Lysa weren’t formally Librarians yet. Even Vikram was on the verge of becoming a Library relic himself, butThe Librarians: The Next Chapterseason 2thankfully won’t have to navigate that issue any longer.
How Vikram Defeats Gregor In The Librarians: The Next Chapter Season 1 Finale
Apart from taking over the world and trying to nuke one city each in every major country simultaneously, the most evil thing Gregor does inThe Librarians: The Next Chapteris destroying Vikram’s awesome cane with the Sword of Mars. Fortunately,this paves the way for Jacob to show up with Excalibur, the only sword strong enough to beat Gregor.
The moment Vikram succeeds in disarming Gregor, the Sword of Mars registers it as a loss and traps the wielder’s soul. But this doesn’t mean General Bogdan is gone forever.Gregor’s now trapped in the blade with the souls of ruthless despots like Attila the Hun, meaning that he’ll probably have some dangerous friends with him if he ever returns.
It’s intriguing to thinkThe Librarians: The Next Chapterseason 2 might someday make villains out of historical figures like Attila in the same fashion asThe Librarians’ Fictionalsdid with literary characters, butthe bigger issue should be that Vikram trapped a world leader’s soul in the middle of a room full of witnesses.
Prospero
The Tempest, by William Shakespeare
Main villain ofThe Librariansseason 2; not technically a Fictional, but Shakespeare transformed
Professor James Moriarty
“The Adventure of the Final Problem,” by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
Doesn’t consider himself a villain
Possibly dead (transformed into a stack of cards)
Still alive and considered an ally
The Picture of Dorian Gray, by Oscar Wilde
Not technically a Fictional, but a fictionalized immortal
The Librarians: The Next Chapterdoes mention a rule that people forget about magic six months after being exposed to it, butthe existence of the Library’s mortal allies such as DOSA suggest this rule doesn’t apply to people who focus on magic often. And the entire world now has reason to do that.
In real life, Jimmy Fallon’s writers would be scrambling all week to figure out how Gregor’s story could be turned into four Newark Airport jokes.The Librarianshas never really taken modern geopolitical concerns into account, so it’s unclear whether the circumstances of Gregor’s defeat will arise again in such a public fashion. It would certainly be interesting to see.
The New Cast Become Official Librarians In The Librarians: The Next Chapter Season 1 Finale
Vikram Can’t Try To Keep Them Out Of The Loop Anymore
Once Gregor’s soul is sealed away, Jacob gives plane tickets to Connor, Lysa, and Charlie. Before they can leave Belgrade, however,they open their plane tickets to find magical letters inviting them to JOIN the main Library. This means they can start participating in missions that Vikram previously would have tried to exclude them from.
It’s the most nostalgic moment ofThe Librarians: The Next Chapterseason 1 finale, particularly whenJacob gives the team the same speech he got from Flynn when he joined the Library in the original series. There are also some nifty references to the original characters.
Among the most interesting is when Jacob gives Elaine an extremely warm greeting, courtesy of Jenkins. Sincethere’s a possibility the series is combining Elaine of Astolat with the Elaine who birthed Galahad, the relationship between Jenkins and Elaine will hopefully be explored during a futureJenkins appearance inThe Librarians’ spinoff.
The Librarians: The Next Chapter Season 1 Finale Finally Reunites Vikram With Anya
Although Their Reunion Isn’t What Some Fans Likely Expected
It seemed early on as ifThe Librarians: The Next Chapter’s time travel subplotcould lead to the introduction of an alternate universe, particularly after Jacob showed up in the premiere wearing a multiverse outfit from the original series. However,the season 1 finale suggestsThe Next Chapteris still in the same universe and will not alter its timeline.
This becomes clear when Vikram uses the scrying glass to speak with Anya through her portrait, just as Winslow did with Gregor.Vikram is able to meet his child and tell Anya to her face that he won’t be returning home, a surprisingly emotional ending for a lighthearted adventure series. Lysa also gets to meet her long-deceased ancestor, albeit briefly.
For the most part, this makes up for the first season’s time travel episode taking place a millennium earlier than Vikram intended.Vikram’s time machine would have been the easiest way to incorporate Anya into the series, but it’s more budget-friendly to add Olivia Morris into the shot a second time when it’s already part of another necessary visual effect.
How The Librarians: The Next Chapter Season 1 Finale Sets Up Season 2
The Gang Just Made An Extraordinarily Powerful New Ally
AfterThe Librarians: The Next Chapterseason 2 trailergave awayLindy Booth’sThe Librariansreturn as Cassandra Cillian,it seems the show is leaning harder into original series cameos in its second season. As for how they’ll get there, a few hints can already be derived from the season 1 finale.
Jacob’s already mentioned that Cassie will be interested in Lysa’s scientific approach to magic, soLysa and Cassandra are almost guaranteed to team up when Booth arrives in the spinoff. But that’s not the only team-up worth anticipating, especially after the season 1 finale introduced franchise newcomers to DOSA.
The Department of Statistical Anomalies is essentially the government’s version of the Library, andthe two organizations were already shown working together in the originalThe Librarians. Now that they’ve met Vikram in the finale, they can potentially collaborate on bigger missions in the future.
If so, Cassie and DOSA would join characters likeThe Librarians: The Next Chapter’s Ivan Van Helsingand the recently introduced Merlin as potential recurring allies. Of course,there’s also a possibility that Merlin could turn out to be a villain, just as both the original series and the spinoff have done with Lancelot.
There’s no telling whereThe Librarians: The Next Chaptermay take its story next. But it’s clear from the finale that a lot of new roads are open to the writing staff. Season 2 exploiting even a few of those roads could ultimately lead to season 2 including the spinoff’s best adventures yet.
