The Librarians Series Premiere Review: A Library Worth Checking Out

The Librarians S01E02 & S01E02: "The Crown of King Arthur" & "The Sword and the Stone"

At first glance, The Librarians looks a heck of a lot like a Warehouse 13 rip-off. TNT's new pluralized extension of The Librarian, its made-for-TV movie franchise that actually predated the Syfy drama, snatches several gifted but flawed geeks out of their day jobs to safeguard a magical warehouse/library of powerful ancient artifacts. There's even a blossoming romantic subplot between the BAMF government agent lady and the office goof. However, the "tough professional woman falls for manic pixie dream man" trope never really gets old for me, so I'll allow it. Especially since The Librarians' phenomenal cast makes the series a welcome addition to the Sunday-night lineup.

Noah Wyle reprises the role of Flynn Carsen, who's like some sort of Indiana Jones/Doctor Who mash-up, while Rebecca Romijn enters the fold as Eve, his stonecold, government-issue bodyguard. Both are delightful, and they're joined by a wonderful mix of characters old and new, in varying capacities: Bob Newhart and Jane Curtin return as the films' Judson and Charlene, respectively, and Christian Kane (Leverage), Lindy Booth, John Kim, and, oh yeah, John Larroquette (!), come aboard as new recruits.

Plus, there's plenty of special-effects eye candy, especially when Booth's math-whiz character Cassandra starts tripping her way through complex equations.

So it's pretty and the casting is impressive, but is it worth our time?

Based on what we saw in the two-episode series premiere, I'm going to give The Librarians a tentative yes. I'm always reluctant to recommend a TV show based on just an episode or two—that's what TV.com's 4-Episode Test is for—because pilots are unpredictable and not always a reliable indicator of what a series will turn out to be. is. Case in point? Wyle's lovable weirdo Flynn Carsen departed at the end of Episode 2, "The Sword and the Stone," to locate the jettisoned Library, leaving his new protégés to man the annex and try to avoid getting killed before their benefits kick in.

Of course, Wyle will be back from time to time, as he's already set to recur on The Librarians and Carsen's exit left the door open for him to regularly pop in on his apprentices. He's certainly going to be the boss calling the shots, but he's also going to be largely an absentee supervisor, leaving much of the new Librarians' training to Eve and Laroquette's Jenkins.

It's dangerous, in my opinion, for a show to devote so much of its opening salvo to a character who will remain largely unseen after the premiere. The Librarians worked hard to endear us to Cassandra, Jake, and Ezekiel before Carsen set off on his big mission, and they're great, but it's also easy to see where that second episode was essential from a tactical standpoint, as well as a nice bonus for fans of the original movies. Wyle stole every scene he was in—except for the ones he shared with Newhart—but to The Librarians' credit, the remainder of its cast appears more than up to the task of flourishing in the wake of Carsen's absence. Their histories are intriguing and their personalities mesh.

Cassandra attributes her mad math skillz to a tumor the size of a grape in her frontal lobe. Kim's Ezekiel is the genius klepto whose running commentary about the value of everything the team encounters adds a practical angle to the whimsy and wonder of everybody else's experiences. And finally, Kane's Jake is a brilliant roughneck who never left his hometown and who's pursuing his studies in secret for reasons that will probably come up later because that's how the introduction of characters in TV pilots works.

Meanwhile, The Librarians' mythology is definitely different than that of Warehouse 13's agents and artifacts: This is a world built on magical "faultlines" that toys with apocalyptic potential from the very beginning. As far as we know, there's inherent downside to the use of magic in the modern world. It's just that humans are screw-ups and we'd probably end up blowing ourselves up if given the opportunity. This creates an interesting debate right off the bat, one that colors everything from the motivations of individual characters, like Cassandra's brief alliance with the Serpent Brotherhood, to the warring philosophies between the Serpent Brotherhood and the Library. Any group that adheres to an single-minded absolute runs the risk of being blinded by the limits of that absolute—even the good guys. Usually, especially the good guys.

In just two episodes, The Librarians managed to introduce a colorful world built on Arthurian legends, the science of magic and the magic of science, ancient rivalries, and a bunch of weirdos who will probably end up saving the world. I call it a win. What did you think?

NOTES FROM THE STACKS

– I appreciated that The Librarians didn't waste a ton of time documenting the amazement and disbelief of the folks who'd just figured out that magic is real, particularly Eve. It's such a tired narrative, and I think it highlights the brilliance of Carsen's team that they weren't so narrow-minded that they couldn't accept such a reality.

– BOB NEWHART BOB NEWHART BOB NEWHART.

– Carsen is the the sort of vibrant, engaging character who's easy to fall for (and such a marked departure from Wyle's Tom Mason on Falling Skies), so even though he's not the focus of The Librarians, I hope we'll still get to follow him around sometimes as he disarms biblical bombs while walking the fine line between being lovably smug and being a asshole.

What did you think of The Librarians' series debut? Will you continue tuning in?