The Librarians - '...and the Image of Image'

That's some heels right there.

When the Librarians stumble across bad magic that the clipping book hasn't warned them of, it's time to investigate, and in this case investigation means... going clubbing.

Having some fun with Rebecca Romijn's height and past career as a model and the general fish out of waterness of our nerdy dream team trying to get into a swinging night spot, the episode gets a little heavier once the villain emerges: Dorian Gray, not a fictional but a former 'special friend' of Oscar Wilde whose meddling with bad magic inspired the novel, written as a warning against dabbling. Cassandra's increasing inebriation as Gray's drinking transfers its effects to her is at first played for laughs, then as a threat.

The episode gets Gray pretty much spot on, not really malevolent, just monstrously self-absorbed. It also provides some extra motivation by suggesting that insulating himself from the effects of his sins has cut him off from their pleasures, pushing him to greater and greater extremes. It also plays a little with our expectations, giving us a more original denouement than just slashing the painting.

MVL of the Week

Drunk Cassandra trying to keep tiny rhinos out of her mental workspace is good for a laugh, but this has to go to Jake this week: Increasing frustrated that everyone but him can get into the club (including Jenkins, who sneaks in with the band,) he attempts to distract the bouncer by getting into a generic argument about the relative merits of America and England, which quickly escalates into a literary showdown with the unexpectedly literate doorman.