Original Airdate: August 10, 2026
A mysterious smell draws Connor to a cooking show, leading the Librarians to investigate a food-themed spell on the contestants.
Episode Recap
Gunther and Hilda are the enthusiastic but tactless hosts of Cooked!, a traveling European cooking show. After deliberating between final contestants Claude and recurring champion Olga, they eliminate Claude from the competition (“You got cooked!”). Escorted backstage to a competitor exit, Claude is locked in the room and attacked by something.
In the Annex, Connor is a fan of the show and has the Librarians watching. Lysa has come down with a cold, while Vikram is enthusiastically learning how to use a microwave. The group watch as Olga is again named the winner before learning the show will tape an upcoming episode in Belgrade. While the group talk about it, Connor is drawn to a smell emanating from their TV. When the others joke about it, Connor leaves. Remembering Connor’s fears of going insane due to the Library, Charlie, Lysa and Vikram agree to investigate.
Visiting a coffee shop, Connor watches a commercial for Cooked!, before noticing the smell again.
At the Annex, Lysa has found no magical activity from the TV, while Charlie’s research on magical smells proves fruitless, prompting Vikram to suggest the smell to be coming from the show. The Magic Pendulum points to a local studio lot. Determined to find the source, they head to the studio to investigate. Vikram is able to allow the team to enter unhindered. Appearing backstage as the taping begins, the three watch as Connor appears as a contestant.
As taping pauses, the Librarians meet up. Connor admits he blacked out and has no memory after noticing the scent in the coffee shop. Believing food to be the key to the mystery, Connor insists on remaining on the show. Vikram agrees, sending Charlie and Lysa to question other contestants and investigate while he awkwardly tries to question Olga.
Investigating the back rooms, Charlie suddenly blacks out and briefly forgets how, why and where they are. Sneaking through Olga’s belongings, they find an ancient cooking book. Meanwhile, Connor takes notice of Olga’s cooking while Vikram finds her cooking pot suspicious, believing it to be a cauldron. Reuniting, Vikram reads through the cookbook and determines the writer to be a witch. As another contestant, Alex, is eliminated, Vikram turns his suspicions to Olga, believing her to be a witch.
Fearful of dealing with another witch and relapsing into rhyming again, Vikram is determined to find Olga’s plan. While Lysa believes Olga to simply be cheating, Charlie reiterates the need to free the others. Reuniting with Connor, he briefly forgets them. Vikram sends Charlie to distract Gunther and Hilda and Lysa to investigate their office for information on Olga. Posing as a blogger, Charlie questions them about Olga, the two delighted about having her.
Talking outside the studio, Connor admits to Vikram the smell from the TV woke a familiar emotion he cannot place and explains the others’ reaction to his noticing the smell triggered his memories of being mocked and dismissed from Stuttgart. Meanwhile, Lysa finds past contestants eliminated from the show have all disappeared.
Charlie reports her findings to Vikram, explaining the other contestants were also drawn to the show by a mysterious smell. When Vikram briefly loses his memory, Charlie suggests the cookbook may hold answers. Drawing a parallel to the story of Hansel and Gretel, Vikram identifies the spell as the Gingerbread Spell and concludes that Olga is the original Kitchen Witch from the tale. Before they can act on it, Olga is eliminated from the competition.
Lysa follows Olga as she is escorted into a competitor exit program. There, she finds Olga and Alex in a cage and in a trance-like state. Unable to free them, she is forced to hide, watching as Gunther and Hilda approach the contestants and discuss eating them.
Reuniting, Lysa reports her discovery to Vikram and Charlie. Vikram realizes that Gunther and Hilda are actually Hansel and Gretel, the two having taken to witchcraft and cannibalism and using the Gingerbread Spell to lure isolated and lonely people. Returning to the Annex, Vikram and Charlie lose their memories and become confrontational. Unaffected, Lysa uses her self-made menthol paste to free the two from the effects of the spell. Realizing Lysa’s cold protected her from the smell, which permeates the stage, the three devise a plan, though Lysa’s use of the last of her gel hinders their progress. Returning to the studio, they watch as Connor is eliminated.
As Connor is escorted into the back and the winner, Kat is led away, Gunther and Hilda dismiss the staff, leaving the studio empty. Getting an idea, Vikram has Charlie help gather ingredients for him while Lysa leaves to free the contestants. As Gunther and Hilda reappear, Charlie fends them off. Meanwhile, Lysa uses a cooking torch to free Alex, Olga and Connor, finding none of them remember anything and taking Kat with her.
Making it to the kitchen stage, Lysa fends off Gunther with a makeshift flamethrower. Gunther and Hilda explain they devised the cooking show scheme after feeding on hikers for centuries. With Vikram distracted by his cooking and Charlie struggling, Connor breaks free of the effects of the spell, the two throwing Gunther and Hilda into an oven.
The danger over, Vikram presents his creation, 90-Second Mug Bread. Relating back to their experience after defeating the Drekavac, Connor determines the act of breaking bread and forging bonds counteracts the effect of the Gingerbread Spell. With the contestants free and the spell broken, Gunther and Hilda suddenly roast in the oven.
Connor talks with Olga, who explains she joined the show after catching the smell and isolation from her husband’s passing. After Vikram apologizes her to be a witch, Olga explains her cauldron is actually a high-end Dutch Oven and admits she stole the cookbook from Gunther and Hilda after being pressured due to her winning streak. Observing Gunther and Hilda’s remains, Vikram and Charlie find them to have been turned into gingerbread men.
Returning to the Annex, Vikram and Lysa congratulate each other for their parts in handling the situation. Lysa is aghast when Vikram eats a gingerbread cookie, which he shows to be an actual cookie before allowing her to store Gunther and Hilda in a cookie jar. Rejoining the others, they find Connor has made an elaborate dinner as thanks for giving him a place. Reiterating they will always support him, the four share a toast before sitting to eat.
Cut To The Chase
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