The Librarians and the Steal of Fortune – Director: Eriq LaSalle/Writer: Gary Rosen
This one starts with a guy leaving a casino where he’s apparently had no luck. That theme continues, with his luck getting so bad he ends up in a dumpster and is tossed into a garbage truck.
At the Library, Jacob and Ezekiel wish they could get some recognition for everything they do, but Flynn tells them Librarians have to be secretive, to
the point of having no friends, relationships, or family connections. None of them like that idea and Jacob says he and Ezekiel are going to visit an old friend of his (Slayton), who owns a racehorse. At the racetrack, Slayton (who’s apparently a bit of a gambler) tells Jacob he’s had a really uncanny streak of bad luck lately. It was so bad that he bet his prize racehorse and now the new owner (Bennie Konopka) shows up (with his sexy companion) to claim it. Slayton tells 
Jacob everything has been going wrong lately, not just when he’s gambling. As if to demonstrate, he gets stung by a bee and goes into anaphylactic shock. At the hospital, the doctor says Slayton’s not allergic to bee venom, but some weird coincidence made it toxic. Jacob and Ezekiel notice a lot of patients coming in with million-to-one injuries and figure out they all have a connection to Bennie’s Fortune Downs Casino and Racetrack.
They check out the casino and racetrack and soon notice that nobody ever seems to bet on a winning horse. Cassandra (who’s fascinated by it all)
heads to the casino and tries some roulette, but nobody is winning there either. Ezekiel gets into some slot machines. Eve and Jacob notice that a lucky streak at the blackjack table ends right after Bennie and his girlfriend stop by, so they figure Bennie is using magic to steal luck from the patrons. Jacob figures it’s Bennie’s gaudy pinkie ring that’s letting him steal the luck. Cassandra gets frustrated at losing and uses math to figure out the roulette wheel, starting a winning 
streak, which mystifies Bennie when he tries to steal her luck and can’t. Bennie’s girlfriend is holding her wrist like she’s in pain, so I’m thinking she’s the one stealing luck from people. Ezekiel is losing too, until Jacob suggests he rewire the slot machine, which gets him a jackpot. Ezekiel lifts Bennie’s ring, but we see the girlfriend’s pain getting worse as Cassandra’s hot streak continues.
Jenkins analyzes the ring and finds it to be non-magical. Bennie tells his goons to grab Cassandra, but luckily Eve and Jacob spot them and follow. Bennie tries to get tough but Cassandra sees through his bluster, so his
girlfriend reveals herself as the one behind everything. She’s actually Fortuna, Roman Goddess of Luck, and thinks one of the other gods sent Cassandra after her. Cassandra plays along, but Fortuna says she’s not going back to being a statue, even though one of her hands seems to be turning to bronze. The others eavesdrop and figure out what’s going on, realizing Fortuna is spreading bad luck through her air 
kisses broadcast on every TV monitor in the casino. They follow Bennie’s goons when they take Cassandra out to get rid of her, but because they’ve been exposed to Fortuna’s kisses, they have to try to lose the fight in order to win it. They figure out that Fortuna will try to broadcast her luck-stealing kiss over the national airwaves after the race, thus stealing luck from most of the country and bringing her godhood back … and possibly wiping out humanity.
Bennie gets tired of Fortuna’s abuse and helps them hide from her goons.
He tells them Fortuna started turning back into a statue when Cassandra went on her winning streak, so they decide to rig all the casino games to steal back everyone’s luck from Fortuna before she can go on the air. She tries to go on early, but Eve decks the camera goon to stop the broadcast and the “luck” that everyone has 
from the rigged games causes Fortuna to turn back into a statue. They take the statue to the Library and later Jacob goes to see Slayton, who miraculously recovered right after Fortuna was gone. Jacob considers letting Slayton know what he really does, but decides Flynn was right about not being able to share the Librarian life with anyone. Jacob concludes that he likes what he’s doing anyway.
This is a pretty good episode that mixes Roman mythology in with modern greed to give us a story about luck and gambling. It was interesting to see
them cheating to beat Fortuna, and we see Cassandra use her enhanced gift to put the right roulette numbers in everyone’s mind (although they move their bets after the wheel starts spinning, which I didn’t think was allowed). Flynn’s speech about how Librarians aren’t supposed to have any outside ties reminds me of the Jedi Knights. I guess it would be hard since they wouldn’t be able to share 
anything about their lives with outsiders, but I think there are ways they could make it work. Cassandra seems particularly upset by the idea, which plays into my idea that she’s still having a relationship with Estrella (and Ezekiel seems a bit bothered too, so maybe he’s still seeing Cindy). On a lighter note, Flynn has figured out a way to pop up in random mirrors and pictures to communicate with the team but he hasn’t perfected the technique yet, so he’s usually oriented wrong.
Favourite Quotes:
- “Really? I wasn’t in America back then, what was it like?” Ezekiel’s reply to Jacob’s statement that horse racing was the number one sport a hundred years ago.
- “Well, that was exciting … till it wasn’t.” Cassandra’s reaction after watching her first horse race.
- “Why does anyone even try that anymore?” Eve after Cassandra’s assertion of being a Librarian elicits laughter from Bennie and his goons.