Oh I’m torn
On the one side,
everyone has their own storyline and it’s all separate and that always
frustrate me
Except all the
storylines are awesome. In fact can I say again how utterly amazing Magicians
has turned things round
So first up we have
Josh, now back from Fillory after the death of Bacchus, yes the Monster brought
him home and Penny is rather surprised. And Josh is surprisingly mellow about
the death of Bacchus - oh he’s not a fan of the whole killing but that phone call
for Quentin was exactly what he feared -his dad is dead so Josh is putting a
pin in that.
Elliot monster is
also around and Margot is giving him shit because it’s what she does in perfect
fashion - stylish, sassy, perfect fashion. She tries to convince the Monster to
jump to a new non-Elliot body but he’s not into that and wants to kill more
gods - so he’s off to Quentin. More on that later
So Josh has another
problem - he’s having horrible bloodthirsty nightmares and when he wakes up
there’s a bloody hunk of flesh in his bed. He tries to cover it up but Penny
notices. Soooo between the time lines it’s hard to follow but Josh is a kind of
werewolf. A sexually transmitted lycanthropy. And he is now going through the
Quickening which means he either has to have sex and pass it on or brutally
murder someone. He confirms this with Helen, a teacher in Brakebills who
infected him and she fills in the blanks. She also makes it clear that locking
yourself in a cage will only make you go mad and kill yourself.
She suggests using Tinder and infecting someone - just like she does. But on the plus side being a werewolf is generally harmless except for that once a 30 year quickening thing. Of course Josh refuses because he’s not going to infect an innocent with this.
In despair he tells
Margo. Margo doesn’t do despair. Margo refuses the very concept of despair.
Margo is absolutely not giving up and decides to find a cure for the curse -
while Josh remembers someone else was infected and rushes to warn her. Only to
find the dismembered corpse in her bed which doesn’t help her despair (Margo is
completely unimpressed and decides since she slept with an uber driver she
probably had a death wish. Did I mention how Margo completely rules this show?)
They pursue and Indonesian
ritual to cure the curse that uses the heart of a Komodo dragon they steal from
Kanye (because… Magicians. Oh and Margo is fine with killing it because
it’s only vulnerable not endangered). Which all looks good… except it doesn’t
work
In despair, Josh
locks himself in a cage to give up and embrace death and Margo is furious and
berates him for doing just that - because she’s Margo and Margo never ever
gives up. Why if he has to kill someone she knows at least a dozen people who
deserve it! Josh says no. And adds that her refusing to give up is just making
his sacrifice so much harder
But under that
determination is also the deeply sad vulnerability that she doesn’t want to
lose another friend (and she has no time for men and their noble sacrifices
because she’s Margo and skewering pretentious masculinity is her thing)
She gets in the cage
- and removes her underwear. Josh protests but she points out she can’t cure
him, doesn’t want him to die, she can’t make him kill someone but she can offer
him one thing: consent. And she does like him (which is mutual)
Ok there’s definitely
an argument about whether this is consent since Margo is presented with only
one way to save her friend - there’s definitely pressure here. But at the same
time Margo is an adult and it’s patronising to say that pressure removes her
ability to make an informed decision (especially since we know Margo isn’t
sexual reserved or reticent and may quite happily see sex as a useful tool in
these circumstances). Also, it’s Margo - she’s equally capable of finding
someone she doesn’t like and throwing them in the cage to be murdered. Oh yes
she would.
They have sex, which
saves Josh and they snuggle afterwards (and it’s cute and I think helps with
the above semi-conflict in making it clear Margo does like him. Also he’s the
one who calls it casual but she makes a semi-joke about it being far from
casual since she saved his life). She is infected with the werewolf STD now but
she kind of shrugs it off - it’s only communicable through penis-in-the-vagina
sex which she doesn’t see as the pinnacle of sex: it’s not even in her top 10.
And if she lives 30 years (which she doubts and is likely not wrong) she has
people who owes her favours
They also both think
that Elliot may be dead
Speaking of - Quentin
says goodbye to Julia (and they have an awesome dynamic including Quentin
teasing her because this Penny is clearly into her) before he heads off to
handle his dad’s estate. There he meets his mother and things are… tense as he
makes up various excuses for being away
She leaves and
Monster Elliot arrives. He doesn’t understand grief or sadness or losing family
and stares at Quentin with all the creepiness… but he does provide some odd
insight. He asks why Quentin is clearing everything up and Quentin drags up
some complex, layered childhood issues about him being the kid who breaks
things - and his mother will never see him as different from that and even he
sometimes believes it. The monster has a simple suggestion to that - break stuff.
On purpose. Own it. It’s cathartic and powerful and for a moment we see shades
of Elliot and Quentin again
Until the Monster
tells him Elliot is dead… which may be a lie, because in his eyes another
Elliot wanders an empty vision of Brakebills.
Julia has another
problem - she’s immortal (apparently) but can’t do magic. So they need to find
someone who can do god stuff and Josh suggests one of Bacchus’s maenads since
they treated the hungover god. Penny, eager to please, teleports them to
Fillory where they find the… disturbingly sticky party ground
And the Maenad
Shoshonna about to commit suicide. They intervene, and have a drink of awful
and coax her away so they can ask her. Shoshonna knows a ritual but it’s both
intimate and can only be performed by someone who worships you - which isn’t
Shoshonna
Penny, oh lovesick
one, step up. Except the ritual involves anointing Julia’s naked body in oil
which he is super uncomfortable about as he thinks it will be “painful” for
her. On the one hand it’s nice he remembers Julia has suffered rape and may
find intimate touch painful - but Julia is the one initiating and she doesn’t
need someone else to make that choice to protect her. She reminds him she’s a
person, not a delicate object - and people can and do heal. I like the biplay
of acknowledging her trauma and why this may be difficult for her, but
ultimately having Julia be the one who makes the decision: because trauma
doesn’t overrule agency
Ritual complete and
Shoshonna is vague - but impressed. Whatever Julia is is full of power - and
Shoshonna isn’t suicidal any more as she has a new deity to worship
And lastly we have
Alice in the Library who has been grabbed by Christopher Pullover - the man who
wrote the Fillory books. And the child molestor who created the Beast. Alice is
not a fan and makes her loathing of him very clearly known
But he knows where
her and her friend’s books are and knows a spell to write a false narrative in
them so the Librarians won’t be able to track them down. But it means Alice
reluctantly working with a loathsome paedophile. In exchange he wants her help
using a magic book to find a world where he can belong and be happy
She doesn’t think he deserves happiness. But then she doesn’t she does either since self-hate and guilt now live forever in Alice’s head. He gives her some advice which would be awesome if it didn’t come out of the mouth of a child molestor: “what you are and what you’ve done are not the same thing - and when they don’t match you hate yourself”. It just sounds extremely self-serving and self-forgiving from this man. He also tells her to stop torturing herself which she tells him he needs to torture himself more.
She does find the
books… but stops because Quentin’s book ends in a week. With his death
I just have to say
again how amazed I am how much this series has grown from the first two
seasons.
