The Librarians and the Infernal Contract – Director: Jonathan Frakes/Writers: Paul Guyot, Holly Meyer
This one starts in Hawthorne, New Hampshire where a mayoral race is underway between two candidates (Keating and Denning). A woman who works for Denning’s campaign (Brandy Vargas) crashes her car and runs off like someone is chasing her, although we don’t actually see anyone. Something’s definitely chasing her though, as a fiery hole opens up in her motel room and draws her inside, leaving a strange sigil burnt into the wall.
Eve is away visiting a friend when the alert comes in about the missing campaign staffer in Hawthorne, but Jenkins tells the Librarians they should be able to handle things on their own. Coincidentally, Eve is already in
Hawthorne because mayoral candidate Sam Denning is an old army buddy (and probably more, considering their vibe) and his opponent is passive-aggressively suggesting that Sam might’ve had something to do with Brandy’s disappearance. Sam tells Eve he barely knew Brandy and says Keating is part of a local political family that goes back generations. Sam wants to root out the corruption in town and make it a better place for everyone, but he can’t do that if people think he did something shady with Brandy. Eve sees the others walk by on the street 
and is amazed to find out they’re on the same investigation as she is. Ezekiel shows her a text from Brandy to Sam and he admits he knew Brandy fairly well because she was digging up dirt on Keating. The Librarians go to the motel room and find the sigil, which Jacob identifies as a 17th century Puritan symbol referencing the Devil. Eve and Sam show up and they all get a shock when a fiery hole opens in the ceiling and Brandy’s body falls through onto the bed.
Eve is forced to tell Sam that magic really exists, although he has trouble believing it (despite seeing Brandy’s body fall through a hole in the air). Jenkins gives the others a crash course on demons and their contracts (since
they’re dealing with a demon here, not the literal Satan). Ezekiel stole Brandy’s phone, so he tries to hack into it but can’t. Cassandra recognizes a blocking spell written in Druidic on the phone and dispels it with a potion. Jenkins and Jacob have traced the Keating family back to the 17th century and Jenkins points out that every 44 years there’s some sort of disaster in Hawthorne, like a plague or a major accident. That’s obviously the demon collecting souls for his side of the bargain, while the Keatings reap the rewards by doing good or heroic deeds. 
They notice one guy in several photos from different eras and that corresponds with what Cassandra and Ezekiel find on Brandy’s phone. A guy named Sesselman has been close to the Keating for centuries, so they figure he must be the demon. Unfortunately, payment for the contract is due right now, so they need to stop him before more people die. In town, Eve notices Sesselman hanging around and gets suspicious of him right away.
Eve figures if they can’t beat the demon, maybe they can beat the contract somehow, but Jenkins warns them that the contract will put up magical stumbling blocks to insure that it’s fulfilled. Ezekiel narrows down the
search and uses Munchausen’s Top to home in on the contract. Jacob wonders if he’s ever been tempted to use the Top to steal, but Ezekiel reminds him that he steals for the challenge and using the Top would take the fun out of it. Jenkins and Cassandra attend a party (pretending to be a rich old dude and his beautiful but dim-witted “companion”), while Ezekiel goes in as a waiter and Jacob steals an invitation from a guest. Sesselman introduces himself to Jenkins and 
reminds him that the closer the Librarians get to the contract, the more bad luck will befall them to protect it from discovery. The bad luck starts right away, with Jacob getting recognized as a fraud and Ezekiel having trouble getting through the secret door. They do finally get in, just ahead of security but have to use Plan B, dumping the contract through a mail slot to Eve waiting outside. Unfortunately, the lure of magical power has tempted Sam and he decks Eve so he can get the contract for himself.
Naturally, Sesselman doesn’t care whom the contract is with, as long as he can reap some innocent souls as his payment, so he lets Sam sign right over
Keating’s name. Sam’s greatest ambition is to be a hero, to make a difference for the people of Hawthorne, and once he signs Sesselman says his wish will come true and anyone who opposes him will be taken care of by the contract’s magic. Eve reunites with the others and figures out that the big disaster will occur at the mayoral debate. She goes to find Sam, telling the others to stop the disaster. 
Jacob realizes the gas mains are going to blow up, killing dozens of people in the town square. They head into the underground tunnels to divert the gas to a different line, even though they know the contract’s magic might use the gas to kill them. They break the gas valve, which does keep the gas from reaching the square, but the door closes and they’re trapped inside the gas-filled chamber.
Sesselman shows up to point out that the contract will just cause some other disaster so Sam can be a hero. He does offer the Librarians a deal: their souls in exchange for getting them out of the deadly room … and
giving them the power to do great things. Naturally, they aren’t interested, but they pretend they are so Sesselman will go get the contract. Eve finds Sam and talks him into handing over the contract (and decks him to make things even), signing her name over Sam’s to void his contract with the demon. Sesselman appears and tells her she has to make a wish to fulfill the new contract, or else the old one will 
still be in effect and a plane will crash into the square, killing most of the people except for the handful Sam rescues. Jenkins gets the Librarians out of the gas-filled room (since he’s immortal and can’t be killed by the contract’s magic) and Eve defeats Sesselman by wishing he was human. He turns mortal and Eve takes the contract. Later, Sam apologizes for almost giving in to temptation, but Eve tells him he can still make a difference in Hawthorne the old-fashioned
way. Jenkins gives the Librarians a potion to heal the gas damage and when Eve feels guilty about what happened, he lets her know that Guardians are actually there to keep the Librarians from being tempted by all the magical power surrounding them. In other words, she’s not there to save their bodies, but their souls … and she’s done that quite well so far.
This was a pretty good episode, with a it of Eve’s past revealed, although Sam’s heel turn and subsequent face turn seem a bit rushed; more plot 
convenience than genuine character arc. But it was cool to see Eve finally learning a Guardian’s true function (and we find out that the Librarian before Flynn actually did give in to temptation and was lost because of it). John DeLancie played Sesselman perfectly, bringing a bit of his Star Trek Q arrogance to the character. Eve turning him human with her wish was great and using Jenkins to rescue the others was a good bit of strategy. We also learned that the Librarians brought back a Chupacabra and that it makes great jerky (not jerky made from its flesh, but it’s actually good at making jerky).
Favourite Quotes:
- “So glad you’re not the Devil.” Cassandra after being surprised in the motel room by Eve and Sam.
- “Oh, no, not that one.” Jenkins assuring Cassandra that the moon landing we all know was real, but that there apparently was another one that didn’t go so well.
- “Everything’s gonna be all right, we’re just gonna have some really psychedelic dreams before we stop breathing forever.” Cassandra making the best of being trapped in a gas-filled room.