When I was in high school, I thought I was going to go away to college. I wanted to go out of state and get away from everything I’d known, start over in a new place. Be the time I graduated and started college, those plans had changed. Things with my family had changed a lot and I wound up going to college no more than ten miles from my family. Some of that was my decision and some of it wasn’t, but my family played a huge role in where I wound up.
This week we finally get a glimpse into what made Jake choose to stay at home, why he opted to stick to Oklahoma instead of going on the adventures he could have had as a Librarian. We also get to see Cassie make decisions based on her relationship with one of the other team members. So much of what we do is influenced by those around us, and that’s true for our favorite LITs too.
So let’s dive in.
Jake (and Mable)
This is a big episode for Jake. We learn a lot more about him in this episode than we have in the past seven episodes. We knew he was from a small town in Oklahoma and that he could have studied at at least two prestigious universities, but chose not to. We know he has a big family and they are important to him, and most likely they are they reason he stayed in Oklahoma so long, despite he longing to get out and see the world. We also know that he doesn’t trust his family with the knowledge of his gift. Which is actually a lot.
What we’ve never really known is what made him turn down those chances to study at prestigious universities? Why did he choose to stay in that little town in Oklahoma with people who never fully understood him, no matter how much they might love him, instead of getting out and traveling to see all the beautiful things he so longed to see? Thanks to a woman named Mabel, we learn those answers in this episode.
Jake immediately hits it off with Mabel. There is something about her that sparks his interest and vice versa. I think they can sense that they have things in common, even in that first meeting. Mabel sees that he is not a typical small town guy, though he’s clearly familiar with small town life, he also knows French and is intriguing in a way that a small town guy normally isn’t. That’s what draws the two of them together immediately. Later, when they get the chance to talk about their lives, they learn they have a lot in common. Family obligations, desire to travel without the ability to. They have similar backgrounds and dreams in a way that Jake hasn’t found with anyone else. And I think that’s why they connect so easily.
Mabel too had to stay in her small town, tied to the place due to “family obligations” while still dreaming of going to Paris and Budapest and Rome. Jake can relate all too well. They both dream of being able to tell stories that don’t revolve around all the same people and places they’ve always known. This shared common desire draws them together even more.
The difference between Mabel and Jake is that she didn’t have a choice in staying in Collins Falls. Due to the situation in town she literally could not leave. Jake felt like he couldn’t leave, but the truth is, he could have. Instead, he chose to stay and take over the family business because of his father’s drinking. As Mabel says, that’s a very good reason to stay. The thing about family though, is there is always going to be some obligation to them. And if you’re already scared of leaving, then those obligations make great excuses. Jake tells Mabel that he realizes now that he used his family as an excuse to not leave. He lived scared of his gift, his intelligence and used his family as a reason to hide from it. Becoming a Librarian is the only thing that changed that.
In the middle of the episode, Jake finds out Mabel didn’t tell him the whole truth about what was going on in the town. Now I’ve seen a couple of things about this in comparison to the situation with Cassie, particularly in the fact that Jake he still forgives Mabel very quickly but took a very long time forgiving Cassie. I think there are a couple of key differences in the two situations.
First, Cassie never came clean to the team. They only discovered her deception after it resulted in Flynn getting hurt and nearly dying. What’s more, until the Brotherhood put Cassie into a cell and basically revealed they’d used her, she didn’t go back on her deal to help them. Now, I love Cassie, so please don’t think I’m saying all this to hate on her. She’s probably my favorite character in the entire show. But she is flawed, like all good characters, and her flaws nearly got Flynn killed. To someone like Jake, who takes honor and trust very seriously, that’s a hard thing to forgive.
“But wait,” you say, “Mabel lied too! He should be just as mad at her.” Maybe yes and maybe now. Mabel’s situation was different. Mabel didn’t have a choice getting stuck in the town and having to try to find a way to help all the people there. Because, who would believe her if she told them that 87 people were stuck in a place between living and dying? So she didn’t tell the handsome stranger who wandered into town asking about town history the truth until she was forced to. I think in Jake’s mind, he saw her holding back information not as a selfish thing but as a form of protection for the townsfolk. And that’s why he found it easier to forgive her than to forgive Cassie, because he saw Cassie’s deception as selfish. I’m not saying I agree with him, but that could be what happened.
I think there’s a big moment between Cassie and Jake near the end, when the team decides to help. The pair exchange a look when Cassie agrees to help and Jake is clearly relieved that she is willing to do what she can for Mabel and the town. Because really, it’s Cassie’s vote that mattered most. If she had said it wasn’t possible, the team wouldn’t have been able to do anything, seeing as she was the only one capable of doing those kinds of calculations. Everything about the look he gives her says thank you. It’s a look that tells you exactly how far they’ve come in their friendship.
Cassie
Mabel too had to stay in her small town, tied to the place due to “family obligations” while still dreaming of going to Paris and Budapest and Rome. Jake can relate all too well. They both dream of being able to tell stories that don’t revolve around all the same people and places they’ve always known. This shared common desire draws them together even more.
The difference between Mabel and Jake is that she didn’t have a choice in staying in Collins Falls. Due to the situation in town she literally could not leave. Jake felt like he couldn’t leave, but the truth is, he could have. Instead, he chose to stay and take over the family business because of his father’s drinking. As Mabel says, that’s a very good reason to stay. The thing about family though, is there is always going to be some obligation to them. And if you’re already scared of leaving, then those obligations make great excuses. Jake tells Mabel that he realizes now that he used his family as an excuse to not leave. He lived scared of his gift, his intelligence and used his family as a reason to hide from it. Becoming a Librarian is the only thing that changed that.
In the middle of the episode, Jake finds out Mabel didn’t tell him the whole truth about what was going on in the town. Now I’ve seen a couple of things about this in comparison to the situation with Cassie, particularly in the fact that Jake he still forgives Mabel very quickly but took a very long time forgiving Cassie. I think there are a couple of key differences in the two situations.
First, Cassie never came clean to the team. They only discovered her deception after it resulted in Flynn getting hurt and nearly dying. What’s more, until the Brotherhood put Cassie into a cell and basically revealed they’d used her, she didn’t go back on her deal to help them. Now, I love Cassie, so please don’t think I’m saying all this to hate on her. She’s probably my favorite character in the entire show. But she is flawed, like all good characters, and her flaws nearly got Flynn killed. To someone like Jake, who takes honor and trust very seriously, that’s a hard thing to forgive.
“But wait,” you say, “Mabel lied too! He should be just as mad at her.” Maybe yes and maybe now. Mabel’s situation was different. Mabel didn’t have a choice getting stuck in the town and having to try to find a way to help all the people there. Because, who would believe her if she told them that 87 people were stuck in a place between living and dying? So she didn’t tell the handsome stranger who wandered into town asking about town history the truth until she was forced to. I think in Jake’s mind, he saw her holding back information not as a selfish thing but as a form of protection for the townsfolk. And that’s why he found it easier to forgive her than to forgive Cassie, because he saw Cassie’s deception as selfish. I’m not saying I agree with him, but that could be what happened.
I think there’s a big moment between Cassie and Jake near the end, when the team decides to help. The pair exchange a look when Cassie agrees to help and Jake is clearly relieved that she is willing to do what she can for Mabel and the town. Because really, it’s Cassie’s vote that mattered most. If she had said it wasn’t possible, the team wouldn’t have been able to do anything, seeing as she was the only one capable of doing those kinds of calculations. Everything about the look he gives her says thank you. It’s a look that tells you exactly how far they’ve come in their friendship.
Cassie
This episode was problematic for me as far as Cassie was concerned. I was really struggling with her characterization in this episode. She’s so much sassier and sharper than she has been in the past episodes, that I wasn’t sure what was going on. I’m still not completely sure I figured it out, but below is my best guess at the analysis.
When Cassie and Jake first meet Mabel, Cassie gets visibly annoyed with Jake and Mabel. Of course, the question is why? What is it that’s bothering her? The first obvious guess is that she is jealous of Mabel. Jake and Mabel clearly have a connection, and one could make an argument that that bothers Cassie, especially given that she might have a bit of a crush on Jake. I mean who wouldn’t? Beyond the fact that he is an attractive male, there’s also the fact that Cassie and Jake too have a connection that is different from the rest of the team. They connected quickly in the first episode and he’s been the one who consistently gets her and helps her deal with her visions. I think just about anyone would be hard pressed not to develop some kind of attraction under those circumstances. So there certainly could be a bit of jealousy going on when they first meet Mabel.
I submit, though, that it could be something more than that. I think beyond a bit of jealousy, that Cassie possibly senses that Mabel is not telling them everything and that’s why she doesn’t particularly like the woman at first. After Mabel tells them everything, Cassie is a lot less snippy. I have basically no evidence of this, but it’s an idea anyway.
Cassie makes two decision late in the episode that directly impact Jake and I find them both interesting. The first is when the team is deciding whether to help Mabel and the town or not. As I said above, Cassie’s voice seems to be the deciding factor in that vote. She ostensibly agrees because they need to rescue Eve, but given the look Jake gives her after she says yes, I’m starting to think she said yes for him.
The second decision sort of solidifies this opinion. When she discovers that the risk is simply too great and they can’t rescue all of the townspeople she has to tell the team. During this conversation, particularly the part when she has to say it’s too big a risk and they need to shut it down, she is looking at Jake. She knows that telling them to stop this is going to affect him the most. He is the most committed to the mission and she knows that this is a blow. BUt she has to tell the truth. When she’s done and they all go to do their jobs, the two of them exchange another look, this one filled with apology on Cassie’s part and sorrow on Jake’s. In that look he is asking if there is any other way and she is telling him there isn’t and she’s so sorry. It’s with that look that we know that she did all of this more for him than for anyone else.
Ezekiel and Eve
So far, it’s been pretty clear that Ezekiel is the most grey out of our very grey heroes. If you were to put our three LITs on a white to black spectrum of goodness, Jake would be on the whiter end, Cassie would be in the middle, and Ezekiel would be closer to the dark end. He’s the thief, less concerned about morals and right and wrong than anyone else on the team. Until this episode.
In this episode, we finally get a taste of Ezekiel’s code. Everyone has a code they live by, a limit to how far they are willing to go or what they think is acceptable behavior. FOr some of us, that limit is much smaller than for others, but everyone has one and in this episode we finally see what Ezekiel’s is. Stealing objects and possessions is one thing. Stealing bodies is something else entirely. In fact, it’s so reprehensible to him that he wants to abandon the entire town because of it.
I like what the writers did with this though. They make it clear that body riding is abhorrent to Ezekiel, then they put him in a position where if someone didn’t do that, he wouldn’t have survived. If Baird hadn’t taken him over, he wouldn’t have been able to stop the townspeople from getting to Jake and Mabel. So the thing he looked at as too far was the thing that helped him save the day in the end. That’s always an interesting writing choice.
Other Random Goodness
~”I’ll tell you what, we’ll just fill in the crack you’re about to make about us and intelligent life and skip right to the job.” “Are you sure? It’s quite cutting.” “I promise to be properly offended. I mean, I probably wouldn’t have even understood it at first, but I’ll be offended later.” “Where’s the fun in that?”
~”You’re planning on selling out the human race, aren’t you?” “I will absolutely sell out the human race to our new alien overlords.”
~”We’re doing some research on town histories.” “Oh, well that make sense.” “For once.”
~The hand signals bit between Eve and Ezekiel.
~”Only you people could lose the Guardian.”
~”Colonel Baird is still on the planet.” “She’s alive? She’s safe?” “She’s . . . still on the planet.”
~”Magic is not an exact science. If it were, it would be science.”
~Cassie and Jake going back and forth about who should talk to Mable.
~The entire thing with Ezekiel trying to convince Mable that he calls optical illusions Colonel Bairds.
~Cassie is writing in her little notebook.
~”I see enough psychedelic visions on my own, so no thank you.”
~I’m pretty sure that the dam is the same one from “The Last Dam Job” in Leverage season 3.
~”So, how was your first kiss with a 130 year old woman?”
~”Well, assuming Miss Cillian and I have successfully implemented the theoretical scribblings of a mad genius using abandoned equipment that’s been in water for 100 years.” “Good pep talk.”
That’s it for this week. What did you think? Let me know down in the comments section.
When Cassie and Jake first meet Mabel, Cassie gets visibly annoyed with Jake and Mabel. Of course, the question is why? What is it that’s bothering her? The first obvious guess is that she is jealous of Mabel. Jake and Mabel clearly have a connection, and one could make an argument that that bothers Cassie, especially given that she might have a bit of a crush on Jake. I mean who wouldn’t? Beyond the fact that he is an attractive male, there’s also the fact that Cassie and Jake too have a connection that is different from the rest of the team. They connected quickly in the first episode and he’s been the one who consistently gets her and helps her deal with her visions. I think just about anyone would be hard pressed not to develop some kind of attraction under those circumstances. So there certainly could be a bit of jealousy going on when they first meet Mabel.
I submit, though, that it could be something more than that. I think beyond a bit of jealousy, that Cassie possibly senses that Mabel is not telling them everything and that’s why she doesn’t particularly like the woman at first. After Mabel tells them everything, Cassie is a lot less snippy. I have basically no evidence of this, but it’s an idea anyway.
Cassie makes two decision late in the episode that directly impact Jake and I find them both interesting. The first is when the team is deciding whether to help Mabel and the town or not. As I said above, Cassie’s voice seems to be the deciding factor in that vote. She ostensibly agrees because they need to rescue Eve, but given the look Jake gives her after she says yes, I’m starting to think she said yes for him.
The second decision sort of solidifies this opinion. When she discovers that the risk is simply too great and they can’t rescue all of the townspeople she has to tell the team. During this conversation, particularly the part when she has to say it’s too big a risk and they need to shut it down, she is looking at Jake. She knows that telling them to stop this is going to affect him the most. He is the most committed to the mission and she knows that this is a blow. BUt she has to tell the truth. When she’s done and they all go to do their jobs, the two of them exchange another look, this one filled with apology on Cassie’s part and sorrow on Jake’s. In that look he is asking if there is any other way and she is telling him there isn’t and she’s so sorry. It’s with that look that we know that she did all of this more for him than for anyone else.
Ezekiel and Eve
So far, it’s been pretty clear that Ezekiel is the most grey out of our very grey heroes. If you were to put our three LITs on a white to black spectrum of goodness, Jake would be on the whiter end, Cassie would be in the middle, and Ezekiel would be closer to the dark end. He’s the thief, less concerned about morals and right and wrong than anyone else on the team. Until this episode.
In this episode, we finally get a taste of Ezekiel’s code. Everyone has a code they live by, a limit to how far they are willing to go or what they think is acceptable behavior. FOr some of us, that limit is much smaller than for others, but everyone has one and in this episode we finally see what Ezekiel’s is. Stealing objects and possessions is one thing. Stealing bodies is something else entirely. In fact, it’s so reprehensible to him that he wants to abandon the entire town because of it.
I like what the writers did with this though. They make it clear that body riding is abhorrent to Ezekiel, then they put him in a position where if someone didn’t do that, he wouldn’t have survived. If Baird hadn’t taken him over, he wouldn’t have been able to stop the townspeople from getting to Jake and Mabel. So the thing he looked at as too far was the thing that helped him save the day in the end. That’s always an interesting writing choice.
Other Random Goodness
~”I’ll tell you what, we’ll just fill in the crack you’re about to make about us and intelligent life and skip right to the job.” “Are you sure? It’s quite cutting.” “I promise to be properly offended. I mean, I probably wouldn’t have even understood it at first, but I’ll be offended later.” “Where’s the fun in that?”
~”You’re planning on selling out the human race, aren’t you?” “I will absolutely sell out the human race to our new alien overlords.”
~”We’re doing some research on town histories.” “Oh, well that make sense.” “For once.”
~The hand signals bit between Eve and Ezekiel.
~”Only you people could lose the Guardian.”
~”Colonel Baird is still on the planet.” “She’s alive? She’s safe?” “She’s . . . still on the planet.”
~”Magic is not an exact science. If it were, it would be science.”
~Cassie and Jake going back and forth about who should talk to Mable.
~The entire thing with Ezekiel trying to convince Mable that he calls optical illusions Colonel Bairds.
~Cassie is writing in her little notebook.
~”I see enough psychedelic visions on my own, so no thank you.”
~I’m pretty sure that the dam is the same one from “The Last Dam Job” in Leverage season 3.
~”So, how was your first kiss with a 130 year old woman?”
~”Well, assuming Miss Cillian and I have successfully implemented the theoretical scribblings of a mad genius using abandoned equipment that’s been in water for 100 years.” “Good pep talk.”
That’s it for this week. What did you think? Let me know down in the comments section.
Next week I’ll be reviewing the penultimate episode of Season 1, the Rule of Three. It’s a fun little episode and we get to meet Morgan le Fey, so come back for that.
In the mean time, on Wednesday I’ll be doing another writing prompt and on Friday the next question in 30 Things.
Until thin.
In the mean time, on Wednesday I’ll be doing another writing prompt and on Friday the next question in 30 Things.
Until thin.
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