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Geek Girl Authority
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- Geek Girl Authority
THE LIBRARIANS: THE NEXT CHAPTER Recap: (S01E06) And the House of Cards
The steepest learning curve for the intrepid heroes of The Librarians: The Next Chapter has been learning to gel as a team. Lysa's (Olivia Morris) science-bound brain butts up against Connor's (Bluey Robinson) supernatural lore. Charlie's (Jessica Green) mission to protect Vikram (Callum McGowan) conflicts with his fast-and-loose approach to safety. In Season 1 Episode 6, 'And the House of Cards,' Vikram finds himself left out when the rest of the team is abducted. Suddenly, he realizes that he cares what happens to them. It's quite the emotional breakthrough. RELATED: Catch up with our recap of the previous episode of The Librarians: The Next Chapter , 'And the Memory Crystal' Meanwhile, the others must puzzle out their strange and cryptic new circumstances: a house they can't escape, full of characters who don't make sense, and a dangerous artifact gone missing. It's a supernatural murder mystery party to which no one accepted an invitation. Image Credit: Aleksandar Letic The Librarians: The Next Chapter, 'And the House of Cards' An explosion in the woods. The team stumbles out, coughing and spluttering. Lysa insists she could've set up a controlled detonation that wouldn't have required blowing up the entire rock formation. Vikram explains that her way would've taken too long. Lysa argues he destroyed all the information the formation held about the geology of the region. Charlie adds that he nearly blew his face off in the process. Connor's holding the artifact they retrieved. Vikram identifies it as the Dagger of Seraphim, fashioned from the ashes of a fallen star by the Devil, which 'can kill what does not live.' He tells Connor to let him carry it. Connor refuses, reminding Vikram that they're a team even though Vikram doesn't trust them. He relinquishes it, but Vikram repents and gives it back just before they return to the Annex through the magic door. Vikram is the last to walk through, noting the magic flickers slightly before he does. RELATED: Olivia Morris Shares How The Librarians: The Next Chapter Hooked Her From Page One Connor, Charlie, and Lysa emerge from the magic door into the foyer of a large house. The magic door disappears, leaving them confused and Vikram-less. Meanwhile, Vikram arrives in the Annex alone. Initially, he thinks they're pranking him, but realizes soon that something is wrong. In the mysterious house, Lysa tries to figure things out logically, while Connor concludes this is a test. Charlie's got a bad feeling about this. They walk into a cocktail party full of strangely dressed guests. Everyone turns to look at them when they enter, then resumes their mingling. There's a violent rainstorm outside. The team spreads out to look for clues. A Cast of Characters A sultry woman in a flashy dress talks with Connor, commenting that the storm knocked out the phone lines and that the roads are blocked off for miles. A smarmy man in a striped suit introduces himself to an older lady as the actor, Chauncy Cooper (Dominik Čičak), and offers an autograph. Phillip (Aleksa Ilić) and Vera (Annamaria Serda), newlyweds, walk by cooing affection at each other. Lysa and Charlie agree that the party is strange. The Librarians: The Next Chapter – Image Credit: Aleksandar Letic Connor approaches the woman in the dress and introduces himself. She is Yvette Laslo (Milena Radulović), a singer. A bell rings. The butler announces that Madam Visconti (Sam Bell) will begin her tarot reading shortly. Lysa pulls Connor away from Yvette. Charlie comments that the Dagger of Seraphim needs to be stored safely in the Library as soon as possible. She rifles through Connor's bag, finding cheesepuffs and a mystery novel, The Bollingsworth Affair , with the dagger. RELATED: On Location: The Belgrade Fortress on The Librarians: The Next Chapter Connor sees a magician performing tricks and walks over. The magician calls himself The Mysterious Mortadella (Stefan Bundalo), impressing Connor with a few tricks. A girl wearing a tiara, standing next to a nun in a habit, throws a tantrum. Chauncy Cooper tells them the girl is Princess Lucille (Una Škerović). He hints that her parents met with a tragic end. The nun is Sister Anabelle (Ana Mandić), Lucille's new nanny. The bell rings again, and the butler invites the guests into the next room. Magic Door Issues At the Annex, Vikram tries to activate the magic door. It doesn't work. His concern about the Dagger of Seraphim and the team grows. RELATED: It's Horses versus Magic Doors in The Librarians: The Next Chapter Episode 6 Sneak Peek Madam Visconti In the house, the team watches as the guests mill about the table. The butler insists Chauncy move seats, away from the one next to Vera. Lucille screams at a loud clap of thunder, and Connor steps over to comfort her by making her laugh. She hugs him. The bell rings, everyone finds a seat, and Madam Visconti gathers her cards. Connor admires the tarot cards, commenting that they look like the Sforza Tarot Deck. Madam Visconti draws and lays down The Fool, The Magician, and The High Priestess. The lights go out for a second. When they come back on, Chauncy is dead at the table, bleeding from a stab wound in his chest. Charlie examines it and realizes it looks like it was caused by the Dagger of Seraphim. Connor discovers the dagger is no longer in his bag. The Game Is Afoot Charlie announces that the murder weapon must be found and that they plan to question everyone. When asked why they should listen to her, Connor introduces her as Chief Inspector Poppy Bollingsworth of Scotland Yard, inspired by his novel. The guests buy the story. In the Annex, Vikram finds the Magic Door Instruction Manual. It's inscrutable. He rants at the door a bit more. RELATED: Dean Devlin Dishes on The Librarians: The Next Chapter 's Magical Homecoming Each member of the team questions some of the guests. Connor gets Mortadella, Vera, and Phillip. Lysa interrogates Yvette. After learning the priest has taken a vow of silence, Charlie sits down with Sister Anabelle, discovering that the nun doesn't know her biblical verses very well. Just as Anabelle is about to tell her about Lucille's parents, the clock chimes nine, and Anabelle jumps up to leave, insisting that she must see to Lucille. The Librarians: The Next Chapter – Image Credit: Aleksandar Letic Making Progress At the Annex, the pendulum becomes agitated. Vikram takes it off its hook, and it activates the magic door for him, then drags him through. RELATED: 5 Great Books About Libraries and Librarians In the house, the team meets to debrief. Connor still thinks it's a test, but Lysa and Charlie suspect the door was hacked by a powerful magician so they could steal the Dagger. They split up to look for The Mysterious Mortadella. The pendulum brings Vikram through a stone archway. It leads him up a flight of garden steps to a large mansion. In the house's foyer, the team reunites. None of them could find the magician. A scream rings out from the study. All the guests are gathered, shocked to find the magician dead on the ground, stabbed. Charlie directs everyone to return to their rooms and lock the doors. Once they're gone, Charlie, Lysa, and Connor inspect the room. Lysa notices dirt on the ground from a potted plant that was knocked over when Mortadella fell. It's been disrupted in a way that indicates a secret door. Secrets Opening the door, they follow a passageway in the walls, finding a jewel from the dagger's hilt. The passageway leads to another hidden door in the tarot room. Lysa recalls that Sister Anabelle stood right by this door with Lucille after Chauncy's murder. They decide to question her again. RELATED: TV Review: Resident Alien Season 4 The pendulum drags Vikram into the house, but it is a dusty and abandoned version. It leads him through the rooms until they end up in the tarot room where Madam Visconti sits at the table, waiting. Vikram demands to know who she is and where his team is. Silently, she taps a torn tarot card at the top of the deck, The Wheel of Fortune. He refuses to play cards with her, promising to tear the house apart to find his colleagues. She draws The Hermit, stating she sees a wise man of books, not of this world, out of time. The next cards are The World and The Temperance. Vikram concludes she must speak through the cards. She nods. He sits down and asks for a reading. Revelation In the house, the team can't find Sister Anabelle. When they return to the foyer, the chandelier falls, narrowly missing them. Suddenly, Lucille is there, screaming in fear. She says she was looking for Sister Anabelle. Connor asks if she saw the dagger. Lucille shakes her head and runs off. Charlie strongly suggests they leave, but Connor insists they stay to protect the guests and prove that Vikrim needs his team. When they try to open the house's doors and break the windows, they can't. Lightning reveals a cloaked, faceless figure waiting outside. Connor asks who that is. Madam Visconti appears behind them, telling them that the figure outside is Death and they cannot leave. She leads them to the tarot room. When she tells them she is a servant to the cards, Lysa sits down and asks for a reading. RELATED: TV Review: Leverage: Redemption Season 3 In both planes of existence, Madam Visconti reveals the same cards to Vikram and Lysa. First, the Eight of Swords. 'No cage can contain it. No shackles can constrain it. Not on this earth, anyway,' she says. Then, The Justice. 'Centuries ago, they constructed this place to confine it, disguised in plain sight.' Finally, The Devil. A Thing Is a Thing Vikram recalls that centuries ago, the Sforza family imprisoned the Devil. Simultaneously, Connor comes to the same conclusion, realizing the house is the Sforza manor, interpreting the revealed cards to mean that the Sforzas captured an aspect of the Devil in the 15th Century and trapped him in the house, guarded by three keepers. Visconti draws the same three cards as earlier that night — The Fool, The Magician, and The High Priestess. Those are the keepers. The Fool and The Magician disappear from their cards. Lysa concludes the Devil used the dagger to kill two of his three keepers already, Chauncy and Mortadella. Vikram realizes that if the last keeper, the High Priestess, dies, the Devil can escape. He asks how he gets into the prison. Visconti warns that he should worry more about getting out. She lays out the Death card. She warns him that if he enters the prison, Death will come for him. He shrugs. 'It's never stopped me before.' Holding the pendulum out, he tells it to take him to his friends. The pendulum drops to the table, pointing to the deck. RELATED: Read our Leverage: Redemption recaps In the house, Connor realizes they're inside the Sforza deck. Every guest is one of the Major Arcana. Because the High Priestess is often depicted wearing a diadem, they believe Princess Lucille is the last keeper, and Sister Anabelle must be the Devil. They go looking but can't find them until Lucille screams again. They run out to the foyer and find her struggling with Sister Anabelle. Charlie tells the nun to get away from Lucille. Anabelle turns to explain, then gasps and falls, the dagger buried in her back. Lucille transforms into the Devil, and her bracelets fall off. Devilishly Adorable She walks towards the trio. Exposition time: Her fear of the storm was fake, but effectively drew Connor to her for a hug when she stole the dagger. Using the dagger, she killed her keepers, the tarot cards, entities who weren't actually alive. A long time ago, the Devil set alarms when she hid the dagger. Blowing up the cave set them all off. She rerouted the magic door to bring them to her. The Librarians: The Next Chapter – Image Credit: Aleksandar Letic All she needs now is for the team to provide an exit. Just as Charlie vows they'll never help her escape, Vikram arrives via magic door. Once he gets the lay of the land, he offers the door to the Devil, but makes meaningful eye contact with Connor, who surreptitiously scoots closer to the dagger. The Devil becomes suspicious. Connor throws the dagger to Vikram, who stabs himself with it. When Vikram hits the ground, the front doors open, and Death enters. RELATED: Read our recaps of The Librarians: The Next Chapter Connor pulls Charlie away from Vikram's body, reminding her that tarot cards have multiple interpretations. Death grabs the dagger. The Devil screams. She changes back to Princess Lucille, complete with leather bracelets. The team disappears. In the parlour, the cocktail party begins from the beginning. Sister Anabelle tells Lucille the tarot reading is about to begin. Lucille is silently furious. Reset Back in the non-tarot world, the team lies unconscious on the floor of the tarot room, cards falling around them. Charlie sits up and wakes Vikram. They are all relieved when he opens his eyes. Madam Visconti sits nearby. Lysa reasons that the key to the manor is sacrifice. When a real person dies, Death can enter and reset the Devil's prison. Lysa gathers the cards and returns them to Visconti. She hands the deck to Vikram to store in the Library, then disappears. Back in the Annex, Vikram lets Connor store the deck and dagger. He clears the air with the team as well. Lysa shows him that Madam Visconti was a 15th-century Librarian who agreed to stay within the deck forever as part of the Sforza enchantment to watch over the Devil. New episodes of The Librarians: The Next Chapter air on TNT on Mondays at 9 pm ET. New TV Shows This Week (June 22 – 28) 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.
Geek Girl Authority
17-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Geek Girl Authority
THE LIBRARIANS: THE NEXT CHAPTER Recap: (S01E05) And the Memory Crystal
In The Librarians: The Next Chapter 's 'And the Memory Crystal,' the question of how much of who we are is because of who we've been is posed as a pseudo-academic, polymathic megalomaniac attempts to gain the future at the price of the past. Every team member's very existence depends on stopping the malefactor. RELATED: Catch up with our recap of the previous episode of The Librarians: The Next Chapter , 'And the Thief of Love' 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. RELATED: Olivia Morris Shares How The Librarians: The Next Chapter Hooked Her From Page One 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. RELATED: Read our Leverage: Redemption recaps 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. RELATED: TV Review: Leverage: Redemption Season 3 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. RELATED: On Location: The Belgrade Fortress on The Librarians: The Next Chapter 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. RELATED: Dean Devlin Dishes on The Librarians: The Next Chapter 's Magical Homecoming 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. RELATED: 5 Great Books About Libraries and Librarians 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. RELATED: 10 Out-of-This-World Predictions for Resident Alien Season 4 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. RELATED: TV Review: Resident Alien Season 4 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. RELATED: Revival : The Dead Have Rejoined the Living in Official Trailer 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. RELATED: Revival : Check Out 9 First-Look Photos From Melanie Scrofano-Led Series 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.' RELATED: Read our recaps of The Librarians: The Next Chapter 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.
Geek Girl Authority
27-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Geek Girl Authority
THE LIBRARIANS: THE NEXT CHAPTER Recap: (S01E02) And the Dance of Doom!
Teams of highly intelligent, strong-willed members rarely gel quickly and without conflict. In The Librarians: The Next Chapter Season 1 Episode 2, 'And the Dance of Doom!' Vikram (Callum McGowan) must learn to lead when he's used to operating on his own. Not only that, but he must lead science-minded Lysa (Oliva Morris) and the occult-excitable Connor (Bluey Robinson), who are diametrically opposed in world views. RELATED: Catch up with our recap of the series premiere of The Librarians: The Next Chapter, 'And the Deadly Drekavac' Add to the mix Mrs. Astolat (Caroline Loncq), the castle's acerbic gift shop attendant, who is more than she appeared to be in the premiere episode of The Librarians: The Next Chapter. Oh, and Charlie (Jessica Green) has layers. Like a parfait. Watch for it. The Librarians: The Next Chapter, 'And the Dance of Doom!' A troupe of ballerinas performs in a park. The central dancer loses control of her feet/shoes and dances out into traffic, where she's hit by a truck. Lying unconscious, her feet continue to try to dance. In the Annex, Lysa and Connor disagree on how Atlas handles the weight of the world. Mrs. Astolat appears suddenly, just in time to save Lysa from being sucked into a Chinese Gourd Vessel. Connor's cell phone sparks when he tries to take a photo of a Library book. Mrs. Astolat hands his phone back to him and reminds him that modern tech won't record on Library grounds. Charlie is training on a wooden man dummy when Mrs. Astolat stops to give her some pointers. After demonstrating how to lock your wrists, she asks Charlie to bring her charges to the main room. Mrs. Astolat When they gather, the three wonder who she is and how she knows about the Annex. Vikram (Callum McGowan) joins them and introduces Mrs. Astolat as the Annex's Caretaker. They knew each other before he got caught in the time bubble in 1847, making Mrs. Astolat an immortal being. The Library directed her to wait at Belgrade Castle in case Vikram or the Annex returned. RELATED: Revival : The Dead Have Rejoined the Living in Official Trailer Despite Vikram's protests, she insists on helping now that he is back. She unrolls a map of Belgrade that tracks the spread of the magic Vikram let loose when he reactivated the well. Using a pendulum suspended over the map, they track the occurrence of magical events. When it indicates something happened at Republic Square, Connor discovers the ballerina's story on social media. Charlie, Connor, and Lysa insist on joining Vikram when he goes to see the dancer. Mrs. Astolat declines to join them. Irritated, Vikram leads the team on their mission. Dying to Dance At the hospital, Lysa and Connor speak with the comatose dancer's mother (Danina Moguel). They learn the dancer had just gotten her first solo in the National Ballet Company. Lysa notes that the dancer's dark hair now has a streak of white. RELATED: Revival : Check Out 9 First-Look Photos From Melanie Scrofano-Led Series When they head back to meet Charlie and Vikram, they're squabbling. They share that the victim was a principal dancer at the National Ballet Company. At the National Theatre, they find the company in a frenzy preparing for a technical rehearsal. The choreographer, Yelena Tarkoff (Isidora Simionović), tells them to leave. Charlie tells her they're insurance investigators. Lysa backs her up, insinuating that exposure to a toxin caused the ballerina to dance into traffic. On the stage, the conductor and director, Dame Anna (Arielle Dombasle), argue over the tempo of the finale. The conductor insists that allegro is too fast. Dame Anna states emphatically that allegro moderato renders the music unrecognizable. Charlie comments that Dame Anna is a well-known dancer in her own right. No one had an extension like hers. Charlie's Secret Love Connor realizes that Charlie's knowledge of the people in the ballet world comes from a history with the discipline. She admits she's trained in ballet but dismisses it as just one of many forms of strength training she undertakes. After Dame Anna makes a public announcement on the record with an art critic (Tanasije Ćakić) in the audience that the show will go on and the finale will be played allegro. Vikram and Charlie approach Dame Anna. Lysa goes to question Yelena. Connor takes on the conductor. RELATED: Read our Doctor Who recaps Yelena tells Lysa that the show is only going forward because Dame Anna refuses to let go of her final production by cancelling it. In Dame Anna's office, Vikram and Charlie learn Dame Anna believes the show is cursed. Connor's conversation with the conductor, Gustav (Slobodan Beštić), reveals his deep frustration with Dame Anna and her micromanaging ways. As they are staging Giselle, he feels that everyone knows the music, so she should back off. Dame Anna tells Vikram and Charlie that the problems the show has run into feel personal. She holds up a book and says that it contains her entire career of work and is filled with examples of people doubting her. Her retirement dance production, Giselle , a ballet she's danced herself many times in her youth, will be a triumph for the final page of the book. The Real Power in the Theatre Gustav tells Connor that Dame Anna might think she has the power. However, he believes the real power lies in the conductor's baton. In controlling the music, the baton controls every aspect of the show. RELATED: Geek Girl Authority Crush of the Week: Leverage: Redemption 's Parker Lysa learns that although Yelena wants the artistic director position, she doesn't believe she'll get it. As Yelena is packing her shoulder bag, Lysa notes several bottles of pills inside. Yelena insists that dancers get hurt all the time. Backstage, Lysa and Connor argue over whether the prima ballerina's situation was caused by Gustav's baton or Yelena's drugs. On the stage, Yelena calls for Natalia (Mina Nenadović), the understudy. Lysa and Connor continue to debate. Charlie proposes that the understudy had the most to gain from the prima ballerina being sidelined. They all turn to observe Natalia. Lysa admits she's good. Charlie judges that she's better than good. Natalia's extension is exceptional. As Natalia begins to spin, her shoes start to smoke. Charlie grabs her and strips off the shoes, throwing them to the side. Vikram covers them with his coat. When he lifts it, the shoes begin to dance on their own. It Was Never Going to Be Fair At the Annex, the team discovers the rosin on Natalia's shoes has magical traces in it. Charlie realizes the rosin box must be the source of the magic affecting the show. She heads out to get the rosin box. Mrs. Astolat helps them narrow their search for the rosin's source. By transferring some of the rosin to the pendulum, they track its source to the Old Forest. Lysa and Connor continue to argue over whether it's science or magic. Mrs. Astolat wants a word with Vikram and sends the other two on ahead together. Neither Lysa nor Connor is enthused about the plan. RELATED: A Leverage: Redemption Primer: Get Ready to Steal Season 3 At the theatre, Charlie finds and obtains the rosin box. She hides when she hears Yelena's voice. Yelena and Gustav come in, looking for Natalia. Yelena tells Gustav she can't let the show happen. Back at the Annex, Mrs. Astolat reminds Vikram that he can't go back in time. She warns him that his reputation as a rogue Librarian is well-earned, but he cannot travel back to 1847. He points out that he could, that he left people behind. She argues that Anya had a good life even without him. He says that it isn't fair and leaves. She mutters that it was never going to be fair. Charlie finds Natalia crying on the interior steps of the theater. They share their personal insecurities about failure. Charlie tells Natalia she used to love dancing as a child, but once she started training for her job, she had to let it go. She gives Natalia a pep talk and then asks about Yelena. She shares that she heard Yelena say she wouldn't let the show go on. The Dance Tree As they walk through the Old Forest, Lysa and Connor bicker about his acceptance of magic's existence. Vikram pops up, startling them both. He notices a nearby tree and says that's what they're looking for. RELATED: TV Review: Leverage: Redemption Season 3 He tells them it's a Dance Tree. Connor explains that in ancient times, people would gather around and dance in homage, pouring their vitality into the tree. Walking around it, Lysa discovers the tree has been tapped dry. She realizes that the tree's sap was used as the dance company's rosin — rosin being a solid form of tree resin. (LOL to Connor and Vikram's exchange about 'the reason for the resin in the rosin' here.) Vikram talks through the use of the Dance Tree's power to drain away the vitality of the dancers. This explains the white in the prima ballerina's hair. He comes to the conclusion they're dealing with a witch. This terrifies him. Fractious Back at the Annex, Vikram insists on confronting the witch on his own because Lysa and Connor's constant conflicts will fuel the witch's power. He directs them to research and figure out what kind of witch it is. At the theater, Charlie's looking for Yelena. When she asks a group of dancers, they stare at her in silence. She moves on, and they follow, eyes whitened over. RELATED: Read our Leverage: Redemption recaps Vikram tells Dame Anna about the witch. He asks who in the company has been with her for over a decade. She mentions Yelena and Gustav, then goes to find her records. While she's gone, Vikram picks up her journal and comments that it's a good thing the performance is midday, when most witches are less powerful. Charlie finds Yelena in the studio, drained to a husk of a body. The dancers who followed Charlie attack her and carry her out of the building. In the Annex, under the time crunch of the performance at noon, Connor recalls a mention of Lady Midday, aka The Noon Witch. She would drain her victim's life force by forcing them to dance. Every 70 years, on the Summer Solstice, she would dance, and the adulation would restore her youth. Lysa discovers the solstice is that day and realizes the witch will be the dancer. The Noon Witch Looking through her journal, Vikram discovers that Dame Anna, in her youth, looked exactly like Natalia. He confronts Dame Anna, and she laughs, wondering how it took him so long to figure it out. Revealing several magical artifacts, he claims that she won't be able to pierce his defenses with her spells. She whips out a taser and zaps him unconscious. RELATED: Read our The Lazarus Project recaps Mrs. Astolat activates the magic door to send Lysa and Connor to the theater. Unfortunately, it's so close to the start of the show, the witch's magic is causing blowback, and it blocks them from traveling through the door. Mrs. Astolat also says the extra magic in the air due to the well's leak will allow the witch to drain all her audience's vitality, killing them. Connor grabs Mrs. Astolat's BMX bike and heads out. Lysa follows, asking where she's going to sit. The Show Goes On. Sort Of. The show begins. Natalia/Dame Anna/Lady Midday makes her entrance. All the other dancers' eyes white over as they prepare to dance. Charlie gets thrown out the back door just as Lysa and Connor arrive riding the BMX. They fill her in on the Noon Witch's plan. Charlie tells them about Yelena and figures out the witch is Natalia. RELATED: 5 Great Books About Libraries and Librarians Somehow, they get inside. Charlie takes the place of a company dancer and blends in. Connor and Lysa sneak backstage and decide to stop the show using the set controls. Upstairs, Vikram wakes up. On stage, set pieces and sandbags start falling. Charlie tries to get to Natalia, but the zombified dancers get in her way. As the finale approaches its climax, Connor cuts the lights, but the dancers continue, their shoes glowing with magical rosin. The audience sits, transfixed. Charlie barges through, knocking down the ensemble dancers and spinning Natalia to the ground. The audience, led by the Art Critic, rises to their feet to applaud. Too Late Natalia tells Charlie she's too late. She takes her bows, gloating that she'll live forever on the vitality she gathers here. Down in the orchestra pit, Gustav sits, tied up and gagged. Vikram taps the baton on the conductor's music stand. He reminds Natalia that the baton is the most powerful thing in the theater. By slowing the finale to allegro moderato , the applause began too late to complete her spell. Natalia sinks to her knees, transforms into Dame Anna, and dissolves into ancient dust. The audience applauds again. The team takes a bow. RELATED: Read our recaps of The Librarians: The Next Chapter At the Annex, Charlie lets Vikram know the prima ballerina woke up and should make a full recovery. Unfortunately, Yelena couldn't be saved. The other dancers can't remember anything that happened. Vikram says that's the human mind protecting itself. Walking into the main room, they find Lysa and Connor arguing. They tell him they regret not being more effective at the theater. Vikram says they distracted Natalia so well, she never noticed him slowing the tempo. Therefore, they were extremely effective. He congratulates them on their teamwork. Mrs. Astolat arrives in a beekeeper's suit. She tells the team that she's accumulated a lot of vacation time and plans on taking it now. Starting June 2, new episodes of The Librarians: The Next Chapter drop on Mondays at 9 pm ET on TNT. Everything Coming to Netflix in June 2025 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.
Associated Press
03-03-2025
- Business
- Associated Press
THSYU Announces Strategic Partnership Plan to Accelerate Global Cryptocurrency Ecosystem Integration and Collaboration
DENVER, March 03, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Thsyu CRYPTO GROUP LIMITED, through its flagship product THSYU Exchange, recently revealed its latest strategic partnership initiative, aimed at reinforcing the global blockchain collaboration ecosystem and advancing the integration of cryptocurrency innovation worldwide. The newly implemented strategy encompasses expanded alliances across finance, technology, compliance, and research sectors, significantly boosting THSYU's global market competitiveness and enhancing its international influence. A cornerstone of THSYU's strategic plan is the establishment of intensive partnerships with leading global financial institutions and payment service providers. This approach enables deeper integration of fiat-to-crypto channels, providing users worldwide streamlined access to digital assets, quick deposits and withdrawals, diversified investment options, and seamless financial interactions. Such robust financial cooperation not only expands global user coverage but also significantly elevates THSYU's services in international markets. Alongside financial partnerships, THSYU is strategically aligning with blockchain technology enterprises and industry academies to promote innovation and technological advancement. Through collaborative research and technical exchanges within these expert alliances, THSYU optimizes its underlying infrastructure, enhances the security mechanisms, and broadens the platform's DeFi capabilities. This systematic approach positions THSYU Exchange at the forefront of technological competitiveness within the crypto industry. Compliance is a further crucial pillar of the THSYU partnership strategy. By working closely with prominent global law firms and compliance experts, the exchange ensures full adherence to regional regulatory frameworks and licensing requirements. Such partnerships facilitate compliant market entries worldwide, strengthen institutional trust, enhance regulatory transparency, and support THSYU's sustained operations and market leadership. The expanded alliance network includes academic institutions and research centers to stimulate blockchain innovation and applied research. THSYU hosts industry summits, hackathons, periodic roundtables, and research exchanges to foster meaningful dialog among academia, entrepreneurs, developers, and regulators. These activities serve to stimulate industry-standard formulation and technological breakthroughs, further solidifying THSYU's influential role within the global cryptocurrency ecosystem. Through this strategic alliance-based operational framework, THSYU Exchange reinforces its status as an innovative leader in the international cryptocurrency sector. As the global blockchain and cryptocurrency markets continually mature and expand, THSYU's strengthened partnership strategy promises to drive further cooperative innovation and accelerate widespread global adoption of digital assets. Media Contact: Jessica Green
Yahoo
25-02-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Construction set for new playground at Southeast Portland park
PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — Construction will soon begin on a new playground coming to Raymond Park in Southeast Portland. Portland Parks & Recreation announced on Feb. 25 that construction is expected to start in the spring. The playground, designed for ages 2 to 12, will include a new swing set, jungle gym, rubber safety tiles, a splash pad and more. 'Very fortunate': Two survive downed tree crashing onto car in Oregon City Construction is expected to take two to four months to complete and be ready for use in the summer of 2025. Raymond Park's loop walking path, basketball court and other areas will remain open during the construction. Portland Parks Foundation Executive Director Jessica Green will make the park more accessible to children of various ages. Project Pabst unveils lineup for second year since its return to Portland 'Raymond Park is a gathering hub for the neighborhood in every season, and we are excited for a new playground with accessible features appealing to a wide range of ages,' Green said. 'Welcoming, inclusive play spaces are at the heart of an activated, safe, thriving parks system.' Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
