The Librarians: The Next Chapter Episode 9 Review

Warning: SPOILERS for The Librarians: The Next Chapter season 1, episode 9, “And the Feast of the Vampir.”

Vampires are nothing new to The Librarians franchise, but The Librarians: The Next Chapter episode 9 breathes new life into them while giving Charlie her best episode yet. With The Librarians: The Next Chapter season 2 already filming and the first season rapidly approaching its end, it’s only fitting that the series is beginning to (rather literally) raise the stakes.

Unlike episode 8, everyone in The Librarians: The Next Chapter cast makes a sizable contribution in this episode. Episode 9 also features the best cameos in the spinoff to date, all while the side plot helps to perfectly set up the last few episodes of the season. It’s just the jump-start the spinoff’s needed for a while.

Charlie Shows Off Her Fighting Skills As The Librarians: The Next Chapter Takes Vampires Back To Their Roots

Jessica Green Gets To Play Two Distinct Sides Of Her Character

Vampires already featured in one of The Librarians’ best episodes, but with the twist that they’d discovered a way to walk among the living in daylight unharmed. The Librarians: The Next Chapter episode 9 explores the very roots of vampire lorebuilding its story around the real-world legend of Serbian peasant Petar Blagojević, allegedly the first documented vampire in history.

Charlie’s by far the standout of the episode. Between the dual threats of vampires and a Van Helsing clan that regards Vikram’s outdated demeanor as vampiric, Charlie gets to show off her skills with her two best fight scenes in the spinoff thus faralthough the choreography is a bit overshadowed by an overabundance of cuts in the editing room.

Charlie and Vikram looking curiously at something while in the Annex in The Librarians: The Next Chapter season 1, episode 3

Charlie’s New Side In The Librarians: The Next Chapter Season 2 Previewed By Star: “I Love Getting To Play That”

EXCLUSIVE: The Librarians: The Next Chapter star Jessica Green has opened up on the exciting new side to her character Charlie in season 2.

The newest Guardian also gets to show off her lighter side when exploring a Serbian vampire festival with Connor, giggling over “blood-flavored” snow cones and tacky souvenir t-shirts. Combined with the scene in which Connor encounters a new creature and learns a bizarre new fact about online trollsit’s one of the The Next Chapter‘s most on-brand episodes in terms of humor.

Best of all, after The Librarians: The Next Chapter episode 8 largely shoved Lysa into the background of her own episode, “And the Feast of the Vampir” makes excellent use of each core character’s defining traits. Lysa even manages to help save the day using nothing but her knowledge of photosynthesis, which somehow comes up in two separate life-threatening circumstances.

The Librarians: The Next Chapter Episode 9 Is A Nostalgic Treat For Original Series Fans

An Unexpected Cameo Makes Up For One Predictable Disappointment

Bluey Robinson as Connor Green with Excalibur in The Librarians: The Next Chapter

When Connor’s bitten by a vampire early in the episode, his search for a cure leads him to an artifact that he discovers was already found and cataloged by franchise mainstay Flynn Carsen. This search leads Connor to the original Library and a suit of armor resembling one Flynn wore in the previous seriesalthough Flynn himself sadly remains absent.

It would have been nice to see Flynn again, or perhaps another character such as The Librarians’ Cassandra Cillian. But, while even John Larroquette’s Galahad was evidently too busy to make an appearance, The Next Chapter still makes the most of its nostalgic trip to the Library by having Connor meet with an energetic (and slightly threatening) Excalibur.

Jessica Green as Charlie Cornwall and Callum McGowan as Vikram Chamberlain in The Librarians: The Next Chapter

The Librarians: The Next Chapter Is Better Off Without 1 Missing Character (But They Could Still Come Back)

The Librarians: The Next Chapter already brought back one original character for the premiere, but at least one of the others doesn’t need to return.

Some of the spinoff’s previous episodes failed to earn enough goodwill on their own to justify this kind of trip down memory lane. Still, this one works in part because episode 9 in general already feels like an old-school Librarians adventure in all the best ways. The nostalgia angle only really falls short due to a couple of sadly missed opportunities.

Noah Wyle’s appearance in The Librarians: The Next Chapter has already been confirmed as highly unlikely, but mentioning Flynn without providing any update as to what he’s been doing over the years is a bit disappointing. The episode also mentions daywalking vampires living in California twice, yet misses the chance to reference the South Carolinian daywalkers from the original series.

“And The Feast Of The Vampir” Beautifully Sets Up Season 1’s Ending

The Series’ Main Story Finally Has A Clear Directional Focus

Olivia Morris as Lysa Pascal and Milica Vrzic as a real estate broker in The Librarians: The Next Chapter

Episode 8 got the ball rolling on the series’ overarching story more than any other recent episode, promising Gregor’s return as Lysa planned on selling the castle. The Librarians: The Next Chapter episode 9 considers each character’s future after the Library while heavily suggesting Vikram’s next moveleaving the perfect amount of room open for suspense.

Although it was only brought up a couple of times within the first four episodes, the biggest point of contention has been whether going back in time to see Anya would ruin the timeline. The only major question has been how Vikram would travel back to the 19th century at allwhich hasn’t recently been addressed much.

The Librarians: The Next Chapter cast in episode 8

The Librarians: The Next Chapter Episode 8 Set Up A Bizarre Reason For Vikram’s Nemesis To Return

The Librarians: The Next Chapter hasn’t done much with its main villain as of yet, but episode 8 just made some big moves in an unexpected direction.

The Librarians: The Next Chapter episode 9 doesn’t provide a full answer, but Vikram’s last conversation with Charlie suggests that his plan should be carried out rather soon. Moreover, a hint involving one newly introduced artifact suggests that Vikram’s plan could endanger more than the timelinewhich has been Jacob and Elaine’s primary concern.

Despite some struggles with fight choreography and a few regrettably missed opportunities, The Librarians: The Next Chapter episode 9 is the funniest and most thrilling episode to date, even inching out episode 3’s ghost train adventure. It not only pushes along the future of the story, but it also, and more importantly, spells great promise for the future of the series itself.