This episode returns us to the lost city of Shangri-la;
and people who watched the films that preceded this series will know Flynn
severely damaged it in one of his adventures back then.
It has since been repaired by the Monkey King who now
runs the place and the vast well of white magic there by merit of the special
magic stick he has. Sadly this being with huge roots in Chinese mythology, is
pretty much reduced to an old stereotype of the old Asian man who teaches
martial arts and quotes fortune cookies and passes the trite sayings off as
wisdom. It’s a depiction that was pretty done 20 years ago.
And who is the mentee to this old mentor? (C’mon, you have an elderly Asia martial arts expert who dispenses wisdom you KNOW his only reason for being is to be a mentor). That would be Jake who is now a complete master martial artist to the extent that the Monkey King declares he has nothing else to teach Jake except magic (which Jake, in common with the ongoing debate, vehemently rejects). After 2 months
2 months
2 months is literally all it took before the Monkey King
declared he had nothing more to teach? 2 months is all it took to make Jake a
master martial artist. 2 months is all it took for this immortal being to
convey all of his technique and skill. 2 months is all it took the Monkey King
to train Jake to be able to beat him
Wow, bad enough you turn him into a basic mentor
character but most of those mentor characters remained better than their
students with their lifetime of dedicated focus and everything.
At the Library we have Cassandra dealing with her new
gift and Eve’s excellent advice and reassurance around it: Eve has spent a long
time helping Ezekiel and Jake become the people she saw in her visions last
season – but not Cassandra; she’s just too different from Eve’s experiences and
knowledge. Cassandra is concerned that her gift is open to abuse and out of
control since it now has a mind control element
While Jenkins has found an old room in the Library – it’s
a room of candles, each candle representing a person connected to the library.
If it’s lit, they’re still alive – and Charlene’s is still lit. Of course, have
some hope! More ominously, Flynn’s is burned down to a stub.
Back to Shangri-la where Jake’s training is interrupted
by a legion of ninjas with drugged darts. Yes, ninjas. Sterling Lam, who Flynn
has crossed with before, is a collector of supernatural objects and people
because he’s rich and bored. And now he wants Shangri-la. He invades with his
army of ninjas, drugs and captures the Monkey King and while all the ninjas can’t
take down Jake’s amazing 2-month old skills, they drug him as well so Jake can
only stagger to escape.
Y’know, if you’re a millionaire+ in the modern world and
can afford a small army of goons, you can also afford to give them guns. Or
tasers. Or flashbang grenades. Especially since your “ninja” resorted to blow
darts anyway. And why are we throwing Japanese ninja into this Chinese
mythology anyway?
This invasion worries everyone because if someone holds
the Monkey King’s staff at sunset you get to be the new king of Shangri-la. And
since Shangri-la is like an uber power plant of white magic, this can upset the
balance, empower Apep and generally make Bad Things Happen. Clearly they need
to stop this
Time for some infiltration. This involves Ezekiel and
Cassandra posing as mercenaries selling shiny artefacts (which Cassandra is
kind of awesome at) while Jake, Flynn and Eve sneak in and try to find the
staff. And get captured.
Jake and Flynn escape thanks to genius, cunning and
science and run into Charlene also imprisoned. Well, kind of. She’s hiding in
his “collection” because it’s safe from Apep – if Apep finds her, the first
Guardian, he can do irreparable harm to the Library so it must never happen. So
much so Charlene is willing to sever her contact with the Library if she has
to: something that will kill her since it’s linked to her immortality.
They put that to a side while they focus on bringing down
Sterling and saving the place. This involves Jake fighting the corrupted Monkey
King. And winning. Of course
While Flynn squares off against Sterling while all his
minions… watch? Is there a reason they’re doing nothing while Flynn talks about
the dangers of Black magic? Charlene raids Sterling’s collection for the keys
to save the day and lo, Sterling is vanquished, Shangri-la saved and the Monkey
King is cured and back in charge dropping trite wisdom about.
But back to Eve – she wasn’t locked up with Flynn and
Jake, she was shipped off to an unknown person: General Cynthia Rockwell. Her
former boss with the US government. And current head of DOSA. She reveals she
set up Eve to be noticed by the Library – she arranged for she and Flynn to
meet so Eve could infiltrate the Library – which she now has. Eve protests that
the Librarians are not the bad guys. But from Cynthia’s viewpoint they’re
unregulated people with a large stash of weapons of mass destruction and a
willingness to use that magic. She kind of has a point
Of course, whether her motives are “keep these items
secure” or “get them in US hands so we can use them” is a different matter
She invokes Eve’s oath and patriotism and implies she is
suffering from a form of Stockholm Syndrome from being deep cover. She leaves –
and when Ezekiel finds her we don’t have a definitive answer from Eve about
what she thinks or what she’s going to do now. There’s some major story hooks
there – especially with Flynn’s guttering candle as well.
That finding her involves Cassandra and Ezekiel following
Eve’s captors and using Cassandra’s nifty new abilities for both analysis and
telepathy… which shows her powers evolving. Is everyone aiming for a power
boost here?
In the aftermath, the Monkey King puts some magical tattoos
on Jake – he’s not happy given how he’s not a huge fan of magic and we don’t
know what they do so expect some Deus Ex in the future
And we say goodbye to Charlene. She keeps her word to
disconnect herself from the Library – having beautiful, emotional goodbyes with
Flynn and Jenkins: and she is the woman Jenkins has always loved he mentioned
last episode. She’s still faithful to her true love – who she plans to join in
death. It’s still all sweet and moving (and makes me wonder whether the
Cassandra/Jenkins relationship will progress?) and Charlene leaves in a shower
of glittering light. It’s probably the nicest way they could write her
character out.
