Original Airdate: June 16, 2025
The Librarians venture to a college campus to find what is causing people to lose their memories.
Episode Recap
Vikram Chamberlain accompanies Lysa Pascal to an observatory to watch a talk by Dr. Rosalind Kirch, a pioneer astrophysicist. While Lysa idolizes Dr. Kirch and attempts to explain many of humanity’s advancements in science since 1847, Vikram wistfully reminisces about living in an era of studying ancient philosophers’ musings rather than facts.
As Dr. Kirch begins her speech, she abruptly pauses and forgets where she is and what she was talking about, prompting her to be escorted out by Dr. Frederic Stanaris.
Returning to the Annex, Lysa believes Dr. Kirch to be suffering from memory lapses due to her age, while Vikram suspects her memory loss was supernaturally induced. The Annex’s magical pendulum points to the observatory and Lysa’s video shows Dr. Kirch’s eyes flashing briefly, furthering Vikram’s suspicions.
Returning to the campus with Charlie Cornwall and Connor Green, the group finds Dr. Kirch writing a solution to a Millennium Prize Problem. Dr. Kirch remembers Lysa but admits she cannot remember the moment that inspired her studies, along with the fact that she spontaneously thought of the solution to the Millennium Prize Problem overnight. Vikram deduces that Dr. Kirch’s memory was stolen. When Lysa dismisses the loss of a single memory, Vikram denounces modern humanity’s reliance of technology to contain information rather than learning it.
The group witnesses more instances of students and staff experiencing memory loss, leading Vikram to conclude the memory loss is spreading. After separating to document more cases, the group realizes everyone had visited the campus observatory. On their way over, Charlie and Connor attempt to curb Vikram’s confrontational attitude. Lysa apologizes for forgetting about Vikram’s situation, while Vikram inadvertently calls her Anya.
Separating, Connor and Lysa meet with Filip, Dr. Stanaris’ assistant and archivist. Lysa distracts Filip while Connor investigates privately and takes a large text. Meanwhile, Vikram and Charlie meet with Dr. Stanaris in the campus observatory. Charlie scouts the observatory’s telescope while Vikram distracts Dr. Stanaris.
Connor reveals the book contains the writings of Nicholas Culpepper, a 17th Century astrologist and artifact collector. Vikram identifies Culpepper as the owner of a crystal from John Dee, who lost his memories after attempting to use it to look into the future. Connor identifies further writings from Dee in Enochian, a language Dee invented and which Vikram can read. Returning to the Annex and reading the texts, Vikram explains the crystal is harmless when contained in a necklace; once removed, it allows the user to see the future at the cost of a single memory. Observing that its power can be amplified and spread, he notes that their texts are incomplete. Connor learns that the Dee crystal and Culpepper papers had been stolen from the London Science Museum.
The group returns to the campus. Vikram is righteously offended at the malicious misuse of a magical artifact. While making their way across campus, they find Filip in a Ford Mustang. Finding his ownership of the muscle car suspicious on his salary, Vikram and Lysa leave to question him. When Filip attempts to drive away, Vikram jumps into the car with him. Filip abruptly forgets how to drive, leaving the two trapped in the speeding out of control car. Vikram calls Connor and Charlie for help. Using a bicycle, Charlie is able to jump into the car and safely stop it. As the three exit the car, they realize that Charlie has forgotten all of them.
Lysa and Connor question Filip, who admits he was briefly able to see the future to win the money he used to buy the car. Vikram meanwhile learns that Charlie has completely forgotten the past few weeks working with himself, Connor and Lysa, leaving her distrustful of them. Vikram sends Connor and Lysa with Filip to look into Dr. Stanaris’ vault while he explains her weeks of helping them.
Connor and Lysa are able to infiltrate the vault. While searching it, Lysa observes pictures of Dr. Kirch changing to Stanaris, leading the team to realize that he is changing the past in addition to altering memories. Vikram concludes Stanaris has placed the memory crystal in the observatory telescope, wiping the memories of those who looked into it (including Dr. Kirch, Filip and Charlie) and using them to strengthen its power to both look into the future and change the past to become famous. Stanaris finds the group and locks them in the vault, announcing his plans to use the stolen memories of his undergraduates that night to fully power the crystal and belittling his teaching career as beneath his intelligence.
As the group struggle to escape the vault, Lysa explains the alteration of the past will gradually erase events from their personal histories. Connor figures out the vault was constructed with a fire sensor, using it to open the vault door. Confronting Stanaris, Connor and Lysa step into an energy field emanating from the crystal, causing them to briefly lose their memories before being pulled free.
Reasoning his own mental discipline will aid him, Vikram leaves to confront Stanaris while sending Connor, Charlie and Lysa to find a way to separate Stanaris from the telescope. Entering the field, Vikram sacrifices his non-essential memories to approach Stanaris before being overwhelmed by it. Stanaris reveals the missing Culpeper pages and explains the necklace makes him immune to the crystal’s effects. Under the telescope, Charlie begins to fade from existence. Connor climbs the observatory roof, but loses his memories as the field spreads and envelops him.
As Stanaris looks into the telescope to see the cosmos and the future, he is distracted by Connor hanging from the observatory roof. Vikram takes advantage of the disturbance to remove the necklace from Stanaris and throw it to Connor. Now immune to the crystal’s effects, Connor slides down the telescope, dislodging the crystal from it and enabling Vikram to subdue Stanaris before placing the crystal back into the necklace. With the crystal’s power finally halted, Charlie and the group’s memories are restored.
Lysa meets with Dr. Kirch, who explains her memories and past have been restored. Having erased her solution the Millennium Prize Problem, Kirch rejects the knowledge she gained from her glimpse into the crystal, finding it a cheat to proper knowledge and learning. Finding that the students who looked into the telescope have regained their memories and forgotten their visions. Charlie remains evasive as to whether she remembers her own view into the future. Vikram leaves to place the crystal in the Library, quoting Descartes “I think, therefore I am,” amending it to include memory while looking at the painting of Anya.
Stanaris has been placed in a padded cell, ranting about the Library and the Librarians to an unsympathetic orderly.
Cut To The Chase
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