Episode Recap: The Side Effect

Penny is in the underworld, serving out his seemingly infinite employment with The
Library. He brings in an employee named Derek and challenges his way of thinking,
making him question who is at the center of each story.

First up: Zelda the Head Librarian. Seeing things from her perspective after Alice
escapes brings with it a lot of new information. Her boss, Everett, appears and they let
him know what’s happened with Alice. After discussion, the Library crew agrees that
they are not jailors but they do want to know what’s happening with escapees Alice and Nick and other magicians. So, they decide to track them -- on the QT, of course -- with some top secret techniques. Zelda also appears to sense something – or hear something – through the mirror where her daughter Harriet previously disappeared.

Back in his office, Penny explains to Derek that their role is to see and not get involved
in the actions that they are observing. And he introduces the stories of Fen and Kady. It turns out that Kady’s still very interested in her Detective Sam alter ego, and spending
her free time solving lingering cases. Kady tells Julia that she will help the gang, of
course, but she wants to do things on her own time and in her own way. And she
reminds Julia how she nabbed this sweet apartment from Marina for everyone. So,
when the doorbell rings with a creeper looking for the current renter, Kady’s there. And
the visitor -- the Babayaga, as she’s called -- is demanding magical forms of
payment. So now Kady has a task: Find two items for the Babayaga.

While searching for a contact to help her source the goods at a local bar, she finds Pete, Marina’s former pal. He agrees to help her because he wants to meet the Babayaga, an ancient Slavic witch.

Library Penny now talks Derek through the next story. Alice. Zelda and the Library are
tracking her and she’s reportedly given up magic and is working at a craft brewery in
Portland, Oregon. And when they go there to confirm it, oops, she’s not. But Zelda lies,
and doesn’t tell her coworker that Alice isn’t there. Interesting….

Back in Kady-land, Pete takes her to the black market to source the goods. First up, a
bag of holding. It’s bigger on the inside. She finds a hedge witch who’s got one, but they don’t want what she’s offering. So she swaps and trades around the market until she ultimately upgrades enough to get the bag. She meets up with Pete back at the bar and finds him with a friend, Gordie, who can lead Kady to the other bizarre item
required, a creepy doll with healing tears. A friend of his has it. At the friend-of-a-
friend’s-house they find him dead on the floor. They nab the creepy doll, Pete steals a
Dewey off the dead guy, and they leave.

OK, now on to Zelda. She tells Dean Fogg about her lies to the Library about Alice’s
whereabouts, and asks him if he can help her find Alice. She wants her insights into the mirror world. She wants to find her daughter, Harriet.

In Super Apartment, Pete passes out and looks to be falling ill in the same way that the
dead guy did. His friend Gordie says it looks like he’s got something interacting badly
with personal spells. After searching him, they settle on the Dewey in his pocket. Yes,
the one he took from the dead guy. Gordie speculates that it might have a tracking spell on it that’s making him sick. Kady guesses that the Library’s to blame for this, and that all of the hedge witches with personal enchantments are at risk. The Library is
responsible for the deaths of these witches because their tracking spell on the Deweys
is making them sick.

Penny, in the library, steers Derek back to Fen’s story. She has been having prophetic
dreams, and tells Josh about it. He advises her to try lucid dreaming – to control her
own dreams. So when she has a dream where the antidote for the talking animals lights one on fire instead of healing it, she realizes she is in a dream and controls it
momentarily. When she wakes, she runs to where Margo and co. are about to try the
antidote on a lizard, and stops them.

Kady, back in Best Apartment Ever, has paid off the Babayaga and healed Pete. She’s
also starting a movement. Kady called together all of the hedge witches from the black
market to tell them to stay away from the Deweys, beware the Library, and to unite and
stick together.

Zelda convinces a fellow Librarian to help her into the mirror realm. Inside, she finds a
reverse of their Library. It’s trippy and twisted and she searches for Harriet. When she
finds her, sadly it’s not her. Just an echo. More scary Harriet visions appear, and her pal insists that they leave due to the monsters and the stabbing. Back in the true Library, Everett tells Zelda about the bombing in Modesto that occurred because the hedge witches are dying and seeking revenge. She is devastated that her trackers caused the problem. Everett seems to be perfectly OK with dying hedge witches. Hmmmm…..

Alice visits Dean Fogg, seeking his help to find her friend Sheila. And in Fogg’s office
she finds Zelda, who tells Alice that she needs her help.

OK, back to Penny 40 and Derek. Penny’s still schooling the new employee on how to
listen to other stories outside of his frat-boy bias. Penny lets him know that Fen, Kady
and Zelda are all key to the future of magic and their actions are changing the course of history. Then, TWIST, Derek tells Penny’s that he’s ready for the next level. Turns out,
Derek was stealth reviewing him the entire time. He’s been testing Penny, and is his
boss’s boss, and now Penny’s getting a promotion. He’ll be collecting secrets taken to
the grave. Next!