The Librarians: The Next Chapter (2025) s02e09 Episode Script

1
[soft music plays]
[window rattling]
[bed creaking]
[ominous music plays]
[floorboards creaking]
[loud knocking]
Who's there?
[cabinet doors thudding]
Mom?
Dad?
It's coming to get me!
It's coming!
[father] Gabe, we are leaving now!
No! Come back!
[cell phones dings]
They just left.
On my way over now.
No. No.
You can't leave me.
[wood creaking]
[voice] It's time to play.
Ready or not here I come.
[suspenseful music plays]
[Jovan sobs]
[loud thudding]
[muffled scream]
[theme music plays]
You realized you're
going on an overnight,
not a week-long vacation, right?
You know, I think you're just
jealous you're not coming.
- I'm not
- Ow.
jealous.
I'm just annoyed, all right?
There's a difference.
Did you pack a suitcase-sized
research lab or something?
We're going into the sacred
depths of the Library.
This is a perfect opportunity
to conduct experiments.
No, no, no, no.
We talked about this. All right?
You're going for the customary
Library Initiation.
There'll be no time for experiments.
Yeah, well, at least my bag
is filled with things
that are useful, water bottle,
compass, sleeping bag,
- sprite repellant.
- What? Sprite what?
Why are you two acting like
you've never been to the Library before?
We just saw the tip of
the iceberg last time.
This is different.
The Library is vast.
- Infinite.
- Intimidating.
Every Librarian goes through this.
It is required that you have a deep
and thorough knowledge of the
contents of the Library.
- But
- But?
I should be going with you.
You're all my responsibility.
Guardians do not partake
in the Library Initiation.
It is exclusively for the Librarian.
Or Librarians, in this case.
Have you even packed?
I ventured to the inner sanctum
of the Library to complete
this compulsory tedium centuries ago.
I hardly need to repeat the experience.
Hey, if I made the rules,
I'd be going with you.
Aww, I think Charlie is gonna miss us.
Yeah, I'm not going to miss you.
- Oh.
- What am I gonna do here
all day by myself?
What? Twiddle my thumbs?
Ooh, you could go through
the crate of artifacts
that we've been putting off.
The toys really creep me
out since I've done it.
Precisely why
I should remain here
with Charlie. Hmm?
[clanging]
Hmm, that is a dangerous-looking monkey.
[groaning]
Best not to look at them directly. Hmm?
Hey, you're not getting
out of this. Uh-uh.
- [chimes]
- Ooh. It's time.
Ugh, must I?
- [all] Yes!
- Fine!
[Connor] Don't forget. We are supposed
to leave our phones behind.
- [Charlie] Oh.
- [Lysa] Yeah.
Oh, great, can't even
call you if I need to.
Rest assured we shall be
bored out of our minds
with all the endless wonder.
Out of our minds?
That's a joke, right?
- Right?
- No. No, we'll be fine.
We'll be fine.
We might learn something.
Ooh, will you help me with my bags?
You're so annoying.
[chuckles] Have a good day off.
Thank you, Connor.
I don't want a day off!
[phone ringing]
[chuckles]
[toy monkey clanging]
[suspenseful music plays]
Hello?
[Jovan] Something bad is in my house.
I'm scared. Please.
[scoffs]
What? Is this a prank?
Did Vikram put you up to this?
[Jovan] Who's Vikram?
Ha-ha. Very funny, guys.
All right. You can come out now.
[Jovan sobs] Miss, c-can you help me?
Please.
I'm scared.
How do I know you're not some
demon trapped in a phone?
[Jovan] I don't understand.
Everyone left me.
I'm all alone in the house.
Who is this?
M-my name is Jovan. Please help.
I'm so scared. Come and get me.
Scared of what?
[Jovan] It wants to catch me.
What does?
I hear it everywhere
and lots of bright scary
light trying to get me.
Please help. I'm scared.
I can't leave here.
Is there someone I can call?
[Jovan] I'm all alone.
I have no one else.
[sobbing]
Please don't cry.
Okay. Okay. All right.
I'll help.
Y-you protect me, you promise?
I promise.
Jovan, what about your parents?
Could you call them on a real phone?
Our phones don't work.
Can you leave the house?
It won't let me.
- Miss
- Call me Charlie.
Charlie, will you come and protect me?
- Can you tell me where you are?
- [Jovan] My house.
I'm in the part of town
across the scary forest.
- Are you in Senjak?
- [Jovan] Yes.
♪
[Jovan] Are you coming?
I always keep my promises.
[Jovan] Hurry. I'm scared.
It's your lucky day because
I'm not scared of anything.
But I need you to do
something for me, okay?
Yeah?
Can you be brave for me?
- [crows cawing]
- [bush rustling]
Jovan, do you know how
to count to a hundred?
Yeah. Sure.
Good.
Can you count to a hundred out loud?
[Jovan] I guess so.
One, two, three, four
[suspenseful music plays]
[grunts]
- Charlie?
- Stone?
What are you doing here?
What are we doing here?
What are you doing here?
Who's we?
I
Cassandra Cillian.
Good to see you.
Did the Library send you after me?
No. We had no idea you'd be here.
Clippings Book sent us.
The Clippings Book?
You don't have a Clippings Book?
- Nope. Uh-uh.
- That's fascinating.
What--how does your Annex
assign your cases?
- Is right now the time--
- We have--we have a Pendulum.
A Pendulum?
Ooh, how's that work?
It points where magic is on a map.
A magical map that changes
depending on where we need to go.
Oh, like a synoptic weather map?
Only instead of weather events,
it alerts you to magic occurrences,
but doesn't tell you what's happening?
- Guys, can we focus--
- Zip.
- Not exactly.
- Well, how do you know
- what you're looking for?
- Vikram and the others
are pretty good at spotting it.
- Oh.
- All right.
I'm gonna be over here.
And when you guys get done
doing what you're doing,
maybe we can do some Librarian business?
Well, this time, it comes
with a side of collaboration
with our European-based counterparts.
Sometimes the process
is just as important
as the result.
Or has the Library taught you nothing?
- Fine.
- Thank you.
So the Clippings Book showed us this.
A family and a house
somewhere around here
has disappeared every 20
years for the past century.
And we're on our way to try
to protect the family.
The current family.
[Jovan] Charlie. Charlie. Are you there?
Jovan, I'm here.
I finished counting to a hundred.
Sorry.
[Jovan] I thought you had left.
No, no, no.
I'm not going anywhere, okay?
I just ran into some friends.
- Is that a--
- A toy phone?
Yeah. It rang in the Annex.
I answered.
Do you have any idea what
this artifact does?
There's a little scared
boy on the other end.
- Hmm.
- I said I would help him.
- Uh-hmm.
- It could be a trap.
- Could be luring us in.
- Cursed.
- Possessed?
- Inter-dimensional radio.
Got--good thing you bumped
into us, huh, Charlie?
We'll take the phone.
You can get back to the Annex.
Oh, I'm not leaving.
All right? He trusts me.
Besides, the Pendulum sent me here.
Vikram and the others had already left
for the Library Initiation.
Oh, the Initiation.
Remember ours, Stone?
There's a lot of things that can
happen during an Initiation
We'd barely been working at
the Library for a year.
He almost fell into the
Fountain of Youth.
- Jones had a magic lasso--
- I was there.
She doesn't have to know this stuff.
- He's embarrassed.
- And I'm not embarrassed.
I just wanna focus on the mission.
I think what Stone is trying to say
is that you're a Guardian.
Not a Librarian.
So, uh, we got it from here.
I don't see your Guardian anywhere.
Cassie and I have been doing this
a very long time, so.
I'm not going anywhere. Okay?
So we'll team up.
It'll be fun.
Works for me.
I made Jovan a promise.
I don't break my promises.
♪
Hey, Jovan. Can you come to
the door and let us in?
[Jovan] I can't. It will get me.
He's too scared to come downstairs.
I mean, how are we gonna figure
out which house he's in?
Wait, wait, what did you say?
You said there have been a disappearance
every 20 years for the last century.
So we're looking for a house
that's at least a hundred years old.
1920s, the main materials used
to build Serbian houses
were very simple.
It was wood, brick, stone.
So we're looking for a house
that incorporates the
elements of neoclassical,
neo-Renaissance, neo-romantic
styles.
This one.
♪
[Charlie] This doesn't
look that different
from any of the others.
It's the only one on the block
with a stone foundation.
The rest use concrete.
I find it best to just
trust his instincts
on this type of thing.
♪
[door creaks]
[Charlie] You sure this
is the right one?
[door locks]
Seems right.
If by right, you mean very, very wrong.
[Stone] All right.
Creepy phone?
Check.
Creepy house?
Check.
Now, all we have to do is find the magic
- causing all of this creepy--
- Hey, hey.
We should do a sweep
on the house! Don't--
[Charlie] Jovan?
Jovan, it's Charlie.
Jovan, it's me.
Jovan.
You really came!
I told you I would, didn't I?
You're safe now.
[chuckles] Ah, yes.
Creepy attic bedroom.
- And check.
- Aren't you afraid?
It's still here.
Can you feel it?
I'm not afraid of anything.
There's deviant optical variation here.
Something's messing with
the laws of physics.
Something like that?
It's coming.
[voice] I love a game of tag.
I'm it.
Ready, set, run!
Nope. Don't love that.
Not at all.
Go, go, go, go.
[lights crackling]
Light could be an electrical
energy emission.
- [Jovan gasps]
- Go, go, go, go, go. Go.
Definitely getting a
haunted house vibes.
[voice] Nowhere to hide.
Nowhere to run.
I'm gonna catch you.
It's coming and you can't stop it.
[Charlie] Go.
♪
[Charlie grunting]
We need to find another exit.
[Stone] What? Huh?
[window shuts]
Something's trying to keep him here.
I've told you before,
it won't let me leave.
How are we gonna get him out?
I think whatever this is,
we meet it head on.
No! No, no, no, no, no!
♪
Hey. I promised that I'd
keep you safe, didn't I?
And I don't break my promises.
This could be a house demon.
- We may have to do an exorcism.
- Maybe.
I don't wanna rule out
my inter-dimensional theory
though because that light
could indicate a wormhole of some kind.
[Jovan mumbling]
Jovan, what did you just say?
It's the bogeyman.
Jovan, there's no such
thing as the bogeyman.
[chuckles]
- So this is bad.
- Very bad.
Wait, you're not telling me that the--
The bogeyman is real.
Very real.
Okay. But I'm not scared
of a kid's monster bedtime story.
Oh, you should be.
Fear is a biological mechanism
that keeps us safe.
I mean, it's a survival instinct.
Ignoring it can be fatal.
You sound like Lysa.
And you two would be two peas in a pod?
- Really? That's so nice.
- [Charlie] Yeah. [chuckles]
- Isn't that nice?
- Can we focus here?
- Okay, okay.
- Sorry.
So this is a bogeyman,
if you say so.
- What's the plan?
- All right. First off,
we gotta figure out what
kind of bogeyman it is.
Sorry, "What kind of bogeyman"?
We've encountered several kinds
of bogeyman over the years.
A lot of different versions,
a lot of different cultures.
Could be the Sack Man
who snatches kids away from their home.
We might wanna consider the Vodyanoy.
The vengeful soul collector
that drowns his victims?
- Baba Yaga.
- [Charlie] Oh.
Okay. Okay. I get it.
Lots of bogeyman.
All right. How do we figure
out which one it is?
More importantly, how do we stop it?
We find it before it finds us.
We look for traces it's
left throughout the house.
Magic always leaves traces.
Look, you guys search,
I'll protect the kid.
No, don't go!
[Charlie] Hey.
I'll be on the phone with
you the whole time.
My friend's gonna look after you.
Okay?
We're all gonna keep you safe.
Okay?
♪
[toy phone clicks]
So what exactly are we looking for?
Um, something that makes
your spine tingle
or the hair on the back
of your neck stand up,
it's probably a good place to start.
Right.
You really loathe fear, huh?
I just don't find it useful.
If I'm afraid,
I can't do my job.
Really?
It's just that I find fear
is one of the key things
that allows me to be a
Librarian effectively.
[Charlie] What do you mean?
Um
I was told I was gonna
die when I was 15.
So, I've had that fear
hanging over my head
for a long, long time.
But one day
I realized that that fear,
it made me sharper,
it made me more aware.
And if I hadn't faced my
fear and conquered it,
I never would have become a Librarian.
I never would have helped all
the people that I've helped.
♪
[phone line crackling]
Try to stay back by the bed, my man.
Don't worry, buddy.
We're gonna find out
what this is.
Your parents will be home soon.
They won't be home soon.
I know you're scared.
It's okay to be scared.
You don't understand.
You're a grownup, just like Charlie.
She's not scared of anything.
Let me tell you a secret, all right?
You gotta pinky promise
you won't tell anyone.
- All right?
- Promise.
I'm scared all the time.
- You are?
- Yeah.
See, that's the biggest
secret in the world,
is that the bravest people,
they're always scared.
Even Charlie?
Even Charlie.
See, grownups, they like to
pretend they're not scared
because it helps them feel brave.
But I think--
I think admitting you're scared,
that's the bravest thing you can do.
♪
I have a theory.
[gasps]
[Charlie] What the?
Where'd it go?
That's not normal.
Exactly as I expected.
Help me move the couch.
[Charlie] Ready.
Look, darkness is vanquished
when light behaves the way that
physics tells us it should.
That's not a shadow at all.
That's a bogeyman hole.
A what now?
No, this is good.
It means that we know
what we're dealing with.
This bogeyman, it feeds
on fear of the unknown.
It comes from the Middle English,
bugge or bogge.
It means "a frightening specter"
and it lives in the shadows.
Can we track this?
Or figure out where it's going to next?
Yes.
The farther a light source
is from an object,
the shorter the shadow should be.
So in theory, if we can figure
out how the light source
in the hole is moving
relative to the object,
so we should be able to
predict its next position--
English translation, please.
[chuckles] Sorry.
Uh, so a shadow is created
when an opaque object blocks light,
creating an area of darkness
on the opposite side of it.
Still not English.
Right.
Um
Okay. The fact that these
shadows remain crisp,
even after an object is gone,
it violates the inverse square law.
Meaning that the light source is
always either directly behind
or underneath an object.
[Charlie] What are you doing?
Um, math.
Look, if we map the
trajectory of the shadows
over the course of our
presence in the house,
we can see there's an increase
in surface area to object,
the most recent of which
being this couch.
So we're looking for an object
that's bigger than a couch
and low to the ground.
A bed. We're looking for a bed.
♪
I'm really scared.
Me too.
- [Jovan screams]
- No, no, no.
[grunts] Look at me.
Keep your eyes on me.
Come on. Bed!
- Jovan! No, no, no.
- [Stone] Jovan!
[Jovan] Don't let it take me.
Get him!
[Charlie grunts] Don't let go.
- Boo.
- [all scream]
[panting]
No, no, no, we got to
keep the portal open
until we come up with a plan.
That was terrifying.
It felt like the moment that I found out
about my brain grape,
the tumor.
It was the scariest moment of my life.
I know. I felt it, too.
When I was a kid,
I got trapped in a mine.
I couldn't find my way out.
I was scared.
There are moments when we didn't know
what would come next.
It's a fear of the unknown.
Making us feel like helpless kids,
just like Jovan.
- Charlie
- Jovan, can you hear me?
Wait. Wait a minute.
Wait a minute.
We got to come up with a plan.
We don't have time to think of a plan.
- I have to save him.
- Charlie, I need you to stop
thinking like a Guardian and think
like a Librarian for a second, okay?
You are no good to him if
you get captured, too.
[panting]
♪
He was on that phone when I left.
He set it down for a second.
The bogeyman must've hung it up.
That's how he was able to take him.
As long as he and I were
connected on that phone,
he was safe.
But when the connection was severed,
that's when the bogeyman
was able to take him.
Grab things to tie to
the end of this cord.
- What are you doing?
- [Charlie] All right, jump rope,
cords, cables,
- anything to give me length.
- [Stone] Hang on.
Well, hang on.
Hey. Okay, calm down. Okay?
- Hey, wait a second.
- [Charlie] No.
- Wait a minute.
- I am thinking
like a Librarian,
like my Librarian.
No, Charlie!
♪
Jovan?
♪
Found this in a closet downstairs.
Hopefully it's long enough.
I'm gonna kill Vikram.
Teaching them to leap without looking.
We used to be like that, too.
No, we didn't.
Fine. But we know better now.
Well, she's still learning.
We just need to keep her alive.
See? Isn't that her job?
I think right now Charlie needs
a Guardian more than we do.
♪
[scoffs]
What are the odds that Charlie was alone
in the Annex the exact
moment that kid called?
Zero.
The odds are zero.
♪
[Charlie] Jovan!
I knew you would come.
Hey, I promised to keep
you safe, didn't I?
Here.
We should leave while we still can.
Hey, I'm gonna get you
out of here, okay?
What about everyone else?
Aren't you going to help them, too?
Everyone else?
♪
You have to help them.
Hey. Of course, I will.
All right, we have to move fast
before the bogeyman gets back.
All right, follow this cord.
All right, my team is on the
other end in the real world.
They'll help.
A stubborn scruffy man
and a cheerful redhead.
Go everyone, quick.
Quick, come on.
Hurry.
Oh, boy!
Go, go. What the--
Back up. Back up.
Quit budging! Easy, easy.
W-w-w-wait. Wait.
Look. Look.
They're just as scared as Jovan was.
They're not working with the bogeyman.
They're his other victims.
That's it. Keep going, everyone.
This line connects us to the other side.
I knew I was right.
Bogeyman's realm is on
another plane of existence,
but parallel to ours.
That's why there can be so
many people under there.
Would you say that under the bed
is the equivalent of a clown car?
Yeah, sure, you could put
it that way, if you want.
Where's Charlie and Jovan?
If I've learned anything about Charlie,
she's gonna make sure everyone
else gets out first.
[wind gushing]
[Bogeyman] You can't leave.
We were just about to play together.
All right, everyone, quick.
Keep going, everyone!
♪
Oh!
No, no, no, no, no.
Charlie!
No, no, no, no.
What do we do now?
How do we get out of here?
I don't know.
[Bogeyman] You are ruining my fun.
But now, we can play a game.
Just the three of us.
- [gasps]
- Move!
[laughs]
♪
[rats squeaking]
[chuckles]
[door rattling]
[Charlie grunts]
Now the fun begins.
Jovan, stay back.
[grunting]
[panting]
Of course you can't fight me.
You think I'm "a thing" that
lives in the darkness.
I am "the thing" in the darkness.
I am an idea.
I am the shadow of the wolves
that chase you through the forest.
I'm the black armored
man who haunted Rome.
I'm a scrape of an axe in the
streets of New Orleans.
I'm a hook hand dragging
by the car door.
But you?
You are nothing but lies
you're telling yourself,
pretending to be all grown up,
pretending not to believe
in the bogeyman.
But you can't hide what
gave birth to me.
A little terrified child
that's in all of you.
And I can always find it.
I'm not scared of you.
Oh, yes, you are.
Go, go, go, go, go.
And it's intoxicating.
It's intoxicating.
It's intoxicating.
It's intoxicating.
♪
[Stone] We need to get her out of there.
We should call her.
Oh, I don't think a phone call
is gonna reopen a portal to
a bogeyman's underworld.
Not with a cell phone, but this might.
What are you dial-- what
number are you dialing?
How do you even know
it's the right number?
Seriously?
It's a magic toy phone.
[magic toy phone ringing]
[Cassandra] Charlie. Charlie, are you there?
I'm scared.
It's okay.
It's okay to be scared.
No, it's not.
I can't be scared.
I have to be the strong one.
I have to be the brave one.
Why is that, Charlie?
Why do you have to be the brave one?
Because that's what
I've always had to be.
For my family,
for my squad, for my team.
And now to Jovan.
I can't break my promise to him.
I can't lose him.
Listen to me. We're all scared
of losing people we care about.
It's okay.
Own your fear.
Being afraid is a part of who you are.
The part of who we all are.
But you know who you are.
Don't you, Charlie?
That's right.
Fear is just part of being human.
Oh, are you going to pretend
you're big and strong now?
Fear is just part of being human.
- Fear is all of who you are.
- Huh?
You know what they say,
Bogeyman?
You are what you eat.
- Who are you?
- You tell me.
What do you fear most?
If you are the great unknown,
what banishes the unknown?
If you're with the darkness,
what's the light that
obliterates that, hmm?
Knowledge.
And what is the greatest
source of knowledge?
What protects this world
from evil sorcery?
And what has more power
than you've ever dreamed of having?
[whimpering]
Library.
That's right.
Wanna know who I am, Bogeyman?
I'm the Guardian.
Feast on that.
[screaming]
He's feasting on his own fear.
He's devouring himself.
Let's go home, Jovan.
Thank you, Charlie.
I always keep my promises.
What's happening to them?
Well, they can all move on now.
You saved them,
from being eternally
stuck in another realm.
[Cassandra] These must have been
the families that disappeared
from this house every 20 years.
That won't happen again, thanks to you.
Mom, Dad.
I told you she would free us.
What did he just say?
He said you freed him.
Look.
This was his phone all along.
It's a ghost,
just like him.
No.
I saved him.
He's not dead. I--
Look, he's not in any of
the pictures in the house
because he hasn't lived
here for a long time.
I couldn't put my finger on
what was off about this room,
but you can see everything's
from a different decade.
This family disappeared decades ago,
trapped with the bogeyman.
But then, how come he called me?
Uh, why was he here
instead of down there?
I think his last living act
was a call for help from his toy phone.
It created, uh, a psychic connection
that kept him tethered
to the real world.
That artifact has been in
the Library for decades.
The Library, it knew you could help him.
It rang for you, Charlie.
So I failed.
- I couldn't save him.
- No, no, that's not--
don't you see?
Hey, hey.
You saved him, Charlie.
[Cassandra] There are all
different kinds of ways
to save people.
You helped him find his family.
They're together now, at
peace, because of you.
Bye, Charlie.
Bye, Jovan.
It must detect magic like
electromagnetic waves.
Magic as true north.
I love that.
Wouldn't mind having one of those
Clipping Books around, too.
Yeah, well, each Annex
has its own form of magic detection.
I guess whatever it deems
best suitable for each team.
You know, thank you, for everything.
I couldn't have faced it all on my own.
[chuckling]
Look, you look out for your Librarians,
but they're here to
look out for you, too.
Don't forget that.
I won't.
It's what makes a team.
You know, just think,
if I've been chosen
to be a Guardian earlier,
we could've been having
these adventures together all the time.
You're right where
you're supposed to be.
[cymbals clashing]
[toy box slams shut]
[sighs] Uh-hmm.
Hello.
You're back.
Hey. I've never seen you
so excited to see us.
- Wow.
- [Charlie laughs]
Whoa. What's gotten into you?
Wow. Hey, good to see you, too.
- We're home.
- Yes, you are.
Never make me go camping ever again.
Oh, my God. Don't listen to him.
He just hates sleeping in a bag.
Too used to the creature
comforts of the castle.
The Library was incredible.
We saw the Tree of Knowledge.
- Ark of the Covenant.
- [Vikram] What about you?
Did you enjoy having the
Annex all to yourself,
you lucky thing?
Or were you bored without
us causing chaos?
Ah, so you weren't able to
categorize the creepy toys.
Well, I did put away one.
That toy phone.
Oh, yeah. That one gave
me the heebie-jeebies.
The face? Terrifying.
Yeah, you have no idea.
But it sounds like you do.
Did you have an adventure without us?
Wanna hear how I fought a bogeyman?
- The bogeyman is real?
- Yes. Absolutely.
- You had me at bogeyman.
- Yes. Yes.
Okay. So, it all started
when you guys left
and that toy phone just
kept ringing and ringing.
I mean, I
♪