The Librarians S1E4 - "And Santa's Midnight Run" Recap

Santa is volunteering at a soup kitchen in London. Santa is played by Bruce Campbell, which makes him super cool, in addition to his overall ensemble. He's wearing a fancy suit and a nice hat. A man comes in trying to rob the place of its donations but Santa talks him down. But then he's shot with a mistletoe tranquilliser and Santa realises it was a trick to make him reveal himself.

The team reveals a bit more about themselves. Eve is not into Christmas cheer. Cassandra loves Christmas, but her parents revealed that Santa wasn't real to her at the age of three.Ezekiel loves Christmas and how clearly marked expensive goods are at that time of year, and ponders what it would be like to be a good guy. But Jenkins interrupts the annex-decorating festivities to say that Santa has been kidnapped.

Santa isn't actually the figure they've been led to believe, but an immortal avatar of good cheer. Santa collects goodwill throughout the year and returns it on Christmas. But if he fails to do so, there will be worldwide chaos. That's why folks are cranky during the holidays; they're running low on good will. Cassandra is ecstatic to learn that Santa is real.

Jacob and Cassandra go to the soup kitchen and learn that the kidnappers had a snake tattoo. That's right, folks, Santa has been kidnapped by the Serpent Brotherhood. Jenkins determines that they are planning to kill Santa on Christmas Eve at midnight in order to absorb his stored magical power. Santa's able to assure Lamia that he understands why she's doing all of this but Dulaque tranqs him again to silence him.

Jake helps Cassandra to focus while Eve advises her to rely on her other senses to recall what else she experienced when she was taken by the Brotherhood. The clues she offers up help Ezekiel to hack and determine the location with the help of the many surveillance feeds in London. Jake and Eve get to the Serpent Brotherhood's lair, and there's brief comedic moment in which Lamia flirts with Jake and Eve smacks him to keep him focused. Lamia is ready to kill them at Dulaque's orders but they distract these villains by throwing up the many rare and expensive items on display in the room, forcing them to focus more on catching them.

Ezekiel and Cassandra slide down a chimney into the room where Santa's being held. Cassandra is elated to learn that Santa knows her name. Dulaque and Lamia realise that Jake and Eve are stalling so they run off to get to Santa. When they get to the room, they find that he's gone. Cassandra and Ezekiel get Santa to Eve and Jake. Strangely enough, Santa won't stop referring to himself in the third person. He says he needs to get to his sleigh to get to the North Pole. Ezekiel gets to wear Santa's hat to serve as a distraction with Cassandra while Eve will get Santa back to his sleigh.

Unfortunately, Santa's sleigh has been stolen. Ezekiel seems thrilled to spread good will while wearing the hat, and even showers a homeless man with money. Something's off about Santa, and he can't seem to keep his incarnations straight. As it turns out, his hat serves as a bit of an anchor so he can maintain his current one, which would explain why he's so set on spreading Christmas cheer. Jenkins advises Eve that they need to keep moving otherwise Santa can be tracked because of all his magic.

Santa and Eve are talking, about how Eve doesn't care for Christmas. Santa uses his magic to super-speed Eve's car but it runs out of gas so they stop in Canada. The Potentials return to the annex, where Ezekiel continues to spread Christmas cheer and Cassandra determines that Santa can spread Christmas cheer using the northern lights. They spread this news on to Eve, who must now walk with Santa to get to their next destination. Santa offers up some insight on how Eve never felt like she belonged on Christmas and that she moved around a lot due to people fighting (wars).

Jake meets up with Eve and Santa, who has now reverted to his "Odin" reincarnation and is drinking heavily in a bar. They get into a bar fight before carrying on with their journey. Unfortunately, they get to the airport and find that the pilot is gone because Ezekiel sent him home in a fit of Christmas joy to be with his fiancé. However, Santa claims that he can fly large objects through the air so he gets them up in the air towards the part of Alaska where the northern lights can be reached.

Unfortunately, Santa is starting to feel ill from the weight of the good will. Unfortunately, Dulaque and Lamia board the plane while it's still in flight using Santa's sleigh, which they stole. Santa passes out and Eve puts the plane on auto-pilot. She brings Santa back to the cargo area and finds that Lamia and Dulaque have subdued the Potentials. Lamia disables the plane, and Dulaque reveals that Santa has been poisoned by Holly Mistletoe.

Eve tricks Dulaque into putting Santa's hat on, by making him think it's a magical talisman of power. They tell him it would make them very happy if Lamia left, and he sends her away in the sleigh. Dulaque removes the hat when they try to get him to say how to stop the Brotherhood. Dulaque willingly lets himself out of Eve's grasp to fall out of the plane. The plane is struggling to stay up and Eve manages to land the plane with some help from Google.

Santa's not up to the task of getting the task done, due to his being poisoned. He reveals to the group that Eve is tuned into Christmas because she was born on Christmas Eve and named thusly. Santa transfers all of humanity's good will to Eve and tasks her with spreading hope to everyone. She is transported magically throughout the world and helps countless people to save lives, be encouraged, and feel hope. It's the show's single greatest sequence yet. When she comes to, she finds she has survived and all good will has been spread.

Jenkins lets Eve know that Dulaque will have survived falling out of the plane. The group notes how Cassandra got to believe in Santa Claus, and Ezekiel got to know what it was like to be the good guy, just as they had wished for earlier.

The Librarians airs on Sundays on TNT at 8PM.