The Librarians and the Fatal Separation – Director: Jonathan Frakes/Writers: Rob Wright, Steve Kriozere, Mark A. Altman
This one starts with some shady-looking guys going to see a collector of esoteric objects (Sterling Lam), whose collection includes various magical items and a live troll. Lam says he can obtain anything for the right price and they give him a map to the lost city of Shangri-La.
Speaking of Shangri-La, Jacob just happens to be there studying martial
with the ruler of the city, the Monkey King. Jacob’s been training with him for two months and does pretty well against his sifu, at least until the Monkey King uses his tail. Jacob does get the upper hand by using the death punch, but naturally chooses not to kill his mentor. Since Jacob is unwilling to learn any magical techniques, Monkey King tells him he has nothing more to teach. At the Library, Jenkins 
has found the Chamber of Memories which contains a candle for everyone ever associated with the Library. Charlene’s candle is still burning, which means she’s still alive. In Shangri-La, Jacob and Monkey King are attacked by Lam’s ninjas. Monkey King is drugged and grabbed and when Jacob tries to save his staff, he’s drugged too and has to drunkenly fight his way past ninjas to find an escape route.
At the Library, Cassandra is worried because her expanded powers can be transmitted to others and she doesn’t want to accidentally hurt someone.
Eve gives her a pep talk to restore her confidence. Jacob returns to tell them what happened at Shangri-La and they quickly figure out Sterling Lam is the one behind it. Since whoever holds the Monkey King’s staff at sundown becomes ruler of the city, hey have to get the staff back before sunset. But Lam will recognize Jacob, Flynn, and (probably) Eve, so they send Cassandra and Ezekiel in undercover. Cassandra claims to be Amy Adamantite (!), an artifact thief who’s stolen the Shield of Angkor from a Librarian. (Ezekiel is her assistant 
Mr. Zed, who has to pretend to be mute when Lam mentions having heard Ezekiel Jones’s voice before.) Thanks to her knowledge of artifacts (and artifact thieves), Cassandra impresses Lam enough to make him want to make a deal. Meanwhile, the other three hide in the artifact crate to get inside the city undetected. They get to the throne room, but the Monkey King has been brainwashed to work for Lam and knocks them all out with sleep darts.
Cassandra and Ezekiel figure out what’s going on when they see Eve being dragged off and decide to follow and rescue her. She’s bundled onto a train
and they sneak aboard too. Flynn and Jacob wake up in a cell but soon blast their way out with some MacGyver stuff. They find lots of artifacts in Lam’s collection and search the other cells for Eve, but find Charlene instead. Charlene isn’t really a prisoner, she’s just been hiding out in Lam’s possessions so Apep can’t find her. But now she’s worried he might and tells Flynn and Jacob that they can’t fight against a god, so she’ll have to sever her connection to the 
Library (thus losing her immortality) to keep it safe and cross into another dimension forever. But she agrees to help save Shangri-La (and Eve) before doing all that. On the train, Eve meets the person in charge, who happens to be her old NATO mentor, General Cynthia Rockwell. She’s stunned to find out Rockwell is in charge of DOSA and gave Lam the map to Shangri-La just to draw Eve out. Rockwell mentions having a mole inside the Library which Eve says is impossible, but Rockwell soon makes her understand that the mole is meant to be Eve herself.
Turns out Rockwell set up Eve’s first meeting with Flynn way back in the first episode to get someone on the inside and now she wants her to give
DOSA access to the Library. Naturally, Eve isn’t happy but Rockwell tries to plant a seed of doubt by asking if the Librarians have ever used any of the dangerous artifacts and suggesting they might’ve used magic on Eve. Elsewhere on the train, Cassandra distracts a guard so Ezekiel can sneak past and find Eve, but she has to figure out the door code and implant it in Ezekiel’s head. In Shangri-La, the enthralled Monkey King attacks and Jacob stays to deal with him while Flynn and Charlene head to the throne room. Lam already 
has the staff and the sun is ready to set, so Charlene goes to get something while Flynn keeps Lam and his ninjas busy. Charlene returns with the troll, who pounds all the ninjas, leaving Flynn free to take Lam down. Jacob overcomes the Monkey King but can’t bring himself to use the Death Punch. Luckily, Flynn retrieves the staff in time and tosses it to Jacob, who gives it back to the Monkey King, breaking the spell on him and restoring him to his rightful place as ruler.
Some symbols from the staff transfer to Jacob in the form of tattoos, which he isn’t too happy about since he doesn’t like screwing around with magic. But Monkey king says it represents the light of the soul, which can bring
light where there is only darkness. Back at the Library, Charlene undergoes the ceremony to sever her Library connection (and we learn that she’s the one Jenkins has been in love with for centuries). After an emotional farewell, Charlene dissolves and her essence flows into the mirror where Judson used to appear. Before she goes she whispers something in Eve’s ear that affects Eve profoundly and later in the Chamber of Memories, Eve watches as Charlene’s candle goes out.
This is a pretty good episode, mixing the esoteric philosophy of Shangri-La with the down-to-earth greediness of Lam and his followers. It’s good to see Charlene again and I can’t help wondering what she said to Eve that freaked her out so much. Maybe Charlene knows about what General Rockwell said to Eve. That kinda came out of nowhere, with Rockwell trying to convince Eve to betray her friends and hand over the Library to DOSA. Maybe Charlene told her to go
ahead and do that since they might need DOSA’s resources to fight Apep. Otherwise, I don’t think Eve would even consider it. I assume Jacob’s tattoo will come in handy against Apep too, so I’m looking forward to next episode, which is the season finale (unless they throw a cliffhanger at us, in which case we’ll have to wait to find out what happens).
Favourite Quotes:
- “So we’re gonna bake our way out?” Jacob showing skepticism as Flynn gathers baking soda and water to escape their prison cell.
- “Seriously? I mean, I’d never … heard that.” Cassandra’s reaction when Lam says he heard Ezekiel was the smartest of the new Librarians.