THE LIBRARIANS: THE NEXT CHAPTER Recap: (S01E05) And the Memory Crystal
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It's a real team-centered adventure. Like Charlie (Jessica Green) with her starry-eyed moment meeting Dame Anna (Arielle Dombasle) in The Librarians: The Next Chapter, 'And the Dance of Doom!' Lysa (Olivia Morris) goes a bit fangirl when she meets one of her heroes here. For those keeping score, so far this season, Connor (Bluey Robinson) has climbed on top of a moving ghost train and the Eiffel Tower. He gets to show off those skills again, while Charlie's in the crosshairs of the artifact's powers, and Vikram (Callum McGowan) gets to beat up a bad guy. Photograph by Aleksandar Letic The Librarians: The Next Chapter, 'And the Memory Crystal'
Lysa takes Vikram to the College of Science Observatory to get him up to speed on modern science. They attend Rosalind Kirch's (Ana Sofrenović) lecture. Kirch developed a hypothesis on interstellar dust and active galactic nuclei while sitting under a tree on campus, watching the oil droplets in her tea. Dr. Stanaris (Paul Leonard Murray) introduces Dr. Kirch.
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Dr. Kirch takes the podium and begins to speak about developing her hypothesis on X-ray emission as a predictor of an accreting black hole system. Reminiscing about the moment under the tree, she suddenly stops speaking. Her eyes flicker with a blank light. She becomes confused, and Dr. Stanaris helps her off the stage. A Sharp Mind Dulled
Lysa and Vikram return to the Annex. Connor joins them. Lysa believes Dr. Kirch suffered a neuro-cognitive episode. Vikram thinks Kirch's memory loss is caused by a spell. Charlie comes in with the pendulum, having given it a tune-up. The pendulum flies out of her hand to the map table and indicates an event at the College of Science Observatory.
They review Lysa's recording of Dr. Kirch speaking. Using Lysa's AI-enhanced 3D program, they're able to zoom in and freeze on the moment her eyes go blank. Lysa grudgingly admits the magical event had something to do with Kirch's memory loss. When the team finds Dr. Kirch, she is solving a hitherto unsolvable integral problem.
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Kirch tells them the solution came to her in a flash the night before. Lysa asks Kirch about her episode at the lecture. Kirch tells her that the famous moment under the tree has completely vanished from her memory. In its place, she now has the solution to a Millennium Prize Problem no one thought would be solved for decades. The Value of Memories
After leaving Dr. Kirch, Vikram berates the younger team members, arguing that people in the modern world have stopped using their brains and hearts. As he finishes his tirade, a student walks by, describing how he couldn't remember how he got into the classroom, never mind what he needed to know to write the test. Vikram concludes the spell is spreading.
After questioning the students who have lost their memories, the common thread is that they have all been to the observatory recently. Vikram vows violent vengeance on the spell-caster(s). Charlie reminds him that their mission is to contain the magic, not beat up bad guys.
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Vikram mistakenly addresses Lysa as Anya. He covers for the slip and quickly sends her and Connor to the Astronomy Department Office to suss out any artifacts. He and Charlie will try to figure out who is stealing the memories. Meeting the Suspects
In the Astronomy Department Office, Connor and Lysa meet Dr. Stanaris's teaching assistant, Filip (Vukašin Jovanović), while Vikram introduces himself to Dr. Stanaris in the observatory. Charlie shadows Vikram and quietly examines the observatory setting and telescope.
In the office, Lysa distracts Filip while Connor snoops in the back rooms. He finds an antique portfolio filled with papers and steals it. Connor finds Lysa having an unproductive conversation with a clearly uncomfortable Filip. Lysa gets Connor's hint that they should get going, and they leave quickly, to Filip's relief.
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Outside, they meet up with Vikram and Charlie. Connor shows them the portfolio and explains that it contains documents kept by Nicholas Culpeper, a 17th-century artifact collector. Vikram connects Culpeper to the Crystal of Dr. John Dee. Photograph by Aleksandar Letic John Dee's Crystal
John Dee, Queen Elizabeth I's court magician, used his crystal to see the future, but eventually saw something that made him lose his mind and memory. Among the Culpeper Papers, Connor finds John Dee's own papers on the crystal, an instruction manual. They're written in High Enochian, a language Dee invented, which Vikram can read.
Back at the Annex, Vikram translates that the crystal is harmless when in its necklace setting. If taken out, it can grant a single, desired glimpse into the future in exchange for a memory. When the crystal is amplified to the point of clearing the past, the knowledge of the future is limitless. Some of Dee's papers are missing.
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Connor reports that the crystal and papers were stolen from the London Science Museum. Vikram leads the team back to the college, determined to confront Filip and Dr. Stanaris and force them to confess. Lysa and Charlie try to convince him that violence is the last resort. Suddenly, Lysa notices Filip in a very expensive car. Vikram sends Connor and Charlie to find Stanaris while he and Lysa question Filip. Suspicious Minds
When Vikrim confronts Filip, the teaching assistant tries to make a getaway, but Vikrim jumps into the back of the convertible. Filip's eyes flicker blank as he's driving at top speed. He's forgotten how to drive. They swerve and careen around campus roads and plazas nonstop, somehow avoiding crashing into people, buildings, and trees. Also, not slowing down.
Vikram calls Connor using his cell phone. Connor and Charlie run out of the observatory and spot Vikram and Filip on the plaza. Charlie grabs a bicycle and chases down Filip's car. Jumping into the passenger side, she pulls the emergency brake, bringing the car to a stop. She looks around, confused. When Connor and Lysa join them in the car, she doesn't know who they are.
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Vikram tries to remind Charlie of who they are and what they're doing, but she's lost the memory of Jacob Stone (Christian Kane) recalling her to be Vikram's Guardian. Elsewhere, Filip tells Lysa and Connor he bought the car with casino winnings after he had a vision of a roulette wheel. The Vault
Since Charlie's memory gap is bigger than Filip's, Vikram concludes the crystal's power is growing. Connor reports that Filip told them that Stanaris traveled to England the weekend the crystal disappeared from the Science Museum. Filip believes the crystal might be in the vault in the basement.
Charlie still doesn't trust the team. She suspects they are actually the Library's enemies, trying to corrupt her. Vikram sends the others on to the vault and briefs Charlie on everything she's done as part of their team in the past five weeks. In the basement, Lysa uses her AI-enhanced 3D program on her phone to enhance a still of Stanaris's face to fool the vault's retinal scan.
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Lysa goes outside to bring Vikram and Charlie in. As they pass through the office space, a portrait of Dr. Kirch morphs into a man. In the vault, Vikram finds the case the crystal was stored in, but it's empty. Lysa runs in with a copy of Dr. Kirch's book, only the cover image and authorship have changed to a man named Dr. Laszlo Maisch. Remembering the crystal's instructions, they realize the crystal's effect is erasing past events, not just the memories of them. Dr. Stanaris's desire for limitless knowledge of the future is costing actual historical events. Vikram deems Stanaris a 'remorseless monomaniac.' Lysa translates that as a modern-day sociopath. Magical Causality
The team reasons that Stanaris must feed the crystal other people's memories to amplify its powers. Each time someone looks through the crystal, it takes more memories and grows in strength. Connor asks when Charlie would've looked through the crystal. Vikram remembers that she looked through the telescope when they visited Stanaris in the observatory. Filip and Dr. Kirch also looked through the telescope. The crystal must be in the telescope's viewer.
Dr. Stanaris suddenly appears at the vault door and locks them in. Lysa tries to appeal to his conscience, but he proudly declares that he doesn't care about the effects of his plan and expresses his rage and disdain for those who have undervalued his intellect.
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While they try to figure out a way to escape the vault, Lysa shares that erasing past events takes time to catch up to the present. So when Charlie's lost memory of joining the team catches up with the present, no one will save them from the drekavac (in The Librarians: The Next Chapter series premiere), and they'll be dead. Crystal Moments
In the observatory, a magical bubble forms around the telescope's viewer. In the vault, Connor recalls that museum security systems like the vault's have a fire override failsafe. Lysa finds the sensor in the ceiling. Connor hands her a lighter to trigger it, opening the vault door.
The magical bubble in the observatory grows to fill the room. Stanaris holds the necklace setting in his hand and steps inside. Connor and Lysa run into the bubble and immediately become confused. Charlie and Vikram reach through, pull them out, and drag them into a corridor. To get the crystal away from Stanaris, Vikram intends to enter the bubble himself, arguing that his mental discipline will protect him from the effects of the crystal.
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Vikram enters the bubble. Stanaris wonders how he can resist the crystal's effects. Vikram claims to be able to partition his memories from his active brain. He holds onto what he needs and gives away meaningless memories to the crystal's appetite for energy. It's still a struggle, though. He stumbles closer to Stanaris and the telescope's viewer. Stanaris suddenly asks what Vikram values most in the world. Involuntarily, Vikram thinks of Anya, and the crystal consumes his memory of her. An Upper Hand
Losing Anya breaks Vikram mentally, and he falls to the ground. Stanaris smiles in victory, asking Vikram innocently if he forgot something. Downstairs, in the mechanical room, Charlie shows Connor and Lysa that her hand is phasing out of existence. Connor runs outside and climbs to the top of the observatory.
In the bubble, Stanaris pulls out the John Dee papers he kept, which explain that wearing the crystal's necklace protects the wearer from the crystal's effects. Down in the mechanical room, Lysa holds Charlie as other parts of the Guardian's body begin to fade. She begs Charlie to fight the effects.
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Connor reaches the opening in the observatory's roof just as the crystal's bubble grows bigger than the observatory. Once engulfed, he forgets why he's up there and falls through, barely holding onto the ledge. Vikram looks up and sees Connor. This jolts his memory for a moment, and when Stanaris also sees Connor hanging from the observatory's opening, Vikram sneaks up and rips the necklace off him. Vikram throws the necklace to Connor. When Connor catches it, he remembers why he's there. He leaps onto the telescope and slides down it, breaking the viewer off and knocking the crystal loose. Photograph by Aleksandar Letic Magic Managed
Stanaris picks up the crystal with no idea what it is. Vikram knocks it out of his hand with his cane at Connor. On the backswing, he knocks Stanaris to the ground. Connor pops the crystal back into the necklace, and the bubble disappears. Running down to the mechanical room, Vikram and Connor are relieved to see Charlie whole and happy.
The next day, Lysa sits down with Dr. Kirch, who describes the sensation of disappearing, then remembering the moment when she developed her hypothesis. Lysa notes that Kirch has erased the solution to the Millennium Prize Puzzle equation. Kirch tells her she didn't trust the equation, not knowing how it popped into her head. 'Scientific advancement,' she tells Lysa, 'should come through replication of scientific method.'
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Back at the Annex, the team debriefs on everyone affected by the crystal as Vikram packs it and John Dee's papers into a lockbox. Charlie reports she's feeling better. Vikram asks her what vision of the future she saw. She unconvincingly claims it disappeared once the crystal was contained.
Connor wonders where Stanaris ended up. In a white room, Stanaris lectures on the reverse amplified view of the universe, claiming it proves that the great minds of science added nothing to the world compared to him and his glimpse into the future. He rants that he'd still be viewing the future if it wasn't for those meddling Librarians.
New episodes of The Librarians: The Next Chapter air on TNT on Mondays at 9 pm ET.
REVIVAL: Co-Creators Aaron B. Koontz and Luke Boyce on Crafting 'Weird' New Series Diana lives in Vancouver, BC, Canada, where she invests her time and energy in teaching, writing, parenting, and indulging her love of all Trek and a myriad of other fandoms. She is a lifelong fan of smart sci-fi and fantasy media, an upstanding citizen of the United Federation of Planets, and a supporter of AFC Richmond 'til she dies. Her guilty pleasures include female-led procedurals, old-school sitcoms, and Bluey. She teaches, knits, and dreams big. You can also find her writing at The Televixen, Women at Warp, TV Fanatic, and TV Goodness.
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