Well, it was nice seeing the gang again. Everybody was in top form. I like the idea of them being in unknown territory since they're past the point of prophecy and now have to deal with magical issues that nobody has ever encountered before. No more relying on the past experience of others-- they must create the experience that Librarians of the future will rely upon. This is something I thought that
Supernatural should have been doing for a few years now, so I'm looking forward to see what they come up with.
The first story about the Library of Alexandria was cool (and it was nice to see John Noble of
Fringe and
Sleepy Hollow pop up). Alexandria is a fascinating subject and I was a little disappointed that the plot was apparently resolved in one episode-- I thought it was going to be the season arc. And, who knows, maybe it will be, even though it wasn't mentioned in the second episode. And what a shocker to have Flynn's first Guardian turn up in the dungeon-- what a shock that the Library has a dungeon. You'd think if they had a jail it would be a nicer place. Nicole seems to be played by a different actress, and I don't think that the Time Machine incident was actually shown in any of the movies. The episode seemed to cast some doubt on whether the Library is all good and whether Jenkins was right to lock up Nicole. I think we'll return to this theme in later episodes.
The second story about the Greek God Fortuna was pretty decent, but not Earth shattering. Gambling and horse racing is not a particularly interesting subject for me, but there were a lot of good character moments. The best was when Cassandra broke the curse of bad luck with her mathematical genius. And Jacob has made peace with the fact that he will never be allowed to get any credit for his work as a Librarian. Meanwhile, Flynn is working to become the new Judson, and Eve will become the new Charlene-- this seems to be another thread that will wind its way through the season, and is probably connected to whether the "institution" of the Library is essentially good or not.
(destroying a magic library doesn't destroy technology or knowledge, the Earth certainly wouldn't go back to the dark ages, which is a moronic motivation anyway).
And yet it's the motivation of a number of real-world groups.
Have these writers never been outdoors? It's common knowledge that being under a tree is the most dangerous place to be in a lightning storm, because lightning is attracted to tall things. That was the most alarming misunderstanding of weather safety I've seen onscreen since the scene in Man of Steel where Jonathan Kent told the other drivers to shelter from a tornado under an overpass, which is advice that's likely to get people killed, because an overpass concentrates the winds of a tornado.
