Penny has been
kidnapped and locked in a magical cage - as has Marina. They’ve been captured
by Daniel - a Horomancer. A rare magical talent based on manipulating time. And
he’s captured them both because they’re outside their actual timeline. They
don’t belong in timeline 40 and their presence there is making time magic futz.
He insists it isn’t personal (and Marina is clear that being locked in a cage
is always personal).
He doesn’t listen to
counter arguments and he uses his time magic to zap them all to timeline 23…
except that this timeline has no magic so the cages fall and Penny punches
Daniel unconscious. While he has no wish to release Marina since she is made of
evilness and has just one overarching goal (be reunited with her girlfriend now
she knows enough about now to actually not screw up. And though I really want
to see more same-sex relationships I also kind of think this woman need to run,
run for the hills!). But Penny releases her because she claims to know how to
use the timeline jumping device
She’s lying. She
tells Penny that she really should remember to trust his instincts about her in
future. She is a terrible person.
They switch time
lines but because she doesn’t know what she’s doing they end up in a time line
where magic users are hunted down by law - thankfully we don’t delve into this
very very tropey storyline. They decide they need advice on how to use this
device and go to find this timeline’s Daniel and seek his advice. He is
thrilled to see their more developed time magic and calls his mother, the
founder of the Horomancy… who then collapses
Penny and Marina flee
with his devices to communicate with the past and his mother’s notes and
between the two they patch together some information: one of the core elements
that Sonia used to develop time magic is a substance that basically causes time
related brain damage - which she counters with watches that use time magic to
keep their minds safe. Unfortunately Penny and Marina being outside their
timeline is disrupting time magic - hence why Sonia collapsed. Her shield is no
longer working
Penny realises that this is why Daniel is so eager to get them out of Timeline 40 - because their presence is killing his mother. Penny is horrified and insists that they cannot return. Marina, of course, doesn’t care. But Penny is the Traveller and the one able to zap away…
...to a white room. A
room between life and death where he is pulled into a meeting but… Penny 40.
Yes the Penny now working for the Library from the original Timeline - a much
less fluffy, happy Penny with a whole lot more hard edges. He has a simple
message - it’s vital Penny 23 return to Timeline 40: yes Sonia is going to die,
but it’s too late, she’ll die anyway. Penny 40 is totally impatient by Penny
23’s emotional sadness and really really wants him to just get on with things.
He insists that there’s something much much much bigger at play than just Sonia
and Penny 23 must return
He also insists that
this is Penny 23’s storyline now, and dismisses his guilt over taking Penny
40’s space. Again, he has no patience for this emotion - and it is really well
done how these characters are very similar but fundamentally different. Often
when the same actor plays two characters those characters are extremely
different from each other (look at the Acting Superhero, Tatiana Maslany in
Orphan Black) but it’s a brilliant change to see these characters be very
similar but still have fundamental differences. Their morality and outlook is
very different but they’re both recognisably the same person
Penny returns to his
timeline (with Marina) and waits for Daniel… he realises Daniel will do
anything to get rid of them since his mother is on the line… soe he plants
dandelion seeds from timeline 23 into timeline 40. Daniel will never find them
all… getting rid of Marina and Penny won’t help him.
Next plot line is
Julia and Quentin discussing what to do about the Monster. Of course they want
to save Elliot - but really at the cost of putting the Monster in his own
possibly immortal dangerous body? Julia has misgivings but Quentin is fixated
on Elliot. They agree to help te Monster… but make sure they keep a plan
B for taking him down as well.
They do some research
and get some clues for the next body part - the Egyptian god Heka, who is dead
and his body somewhere… but the main worry here is that the Monster, bored, is
not treating Elliot’s body well. Quentin snaps when the Monster starts taking
pills and Quentin stops him
And faces down the Monster, willing to die and abandon the monster if he doesn’t take better care of Elliot’s body. It’s an impressive, courageous and powerful scene and my gods am I celebrating more and more as Quentin’s love for Elliot becomes more and more overt.
The Monster backs
down. I keep celebrating. This season better not end with one of them dying. Or
Quentin and Alice getting back together.
Another person
missing Elliot is Margo - High Queen Margo in Fillory is looking for a way to
cure the Talking Animals so they can speak again… not for the good of Fillory
nor even for the good of the Talking Animals who actually have her the throne
in the first place
I get that Margo is
famous for Not Giving a Fuck which I generally find magnificent in its
awfulness but her complete and utter indifference to the good of Fillory is…
highly cringeworthy. There’s a line in Margo’s performative self-centred awful
awesomeness and this crosses it
But there may be an
intention behind that. As Margo pushes for the cure, realising that
neighbouring Loria has now been split by civil war and the only land with the
cure has decided to sell to them out of, basically, petty grudges. Josh
encourages Margo to practice charm and diplomacy to encourage the stubborn
ruler to share the cure. Margo is against this because diplomacy is what Elliot
did - but Josh manages to push her into it
And hilariously coach
her into it because she just hates it so much. Until Josh congratulates her by
saying she out-Ellioted, Elliot
Margo loses it. Not
only threatening vicious violence to get her way (which works) but by savagely
attacking Josh verbally, tearing into him.
Even she seems to
realise she goes too far… and tries to claim she didn’t mean to hurt him. But
Josh knows better; she was going for blood… And after last episode with these
two bonding that just hurts all the more
The last storyline is
Alice
Using her “where I’m
meant to be” book and spell she goes to Modesto and rents a room from Sheila.
Alice is a bit lost trying to find out what her purpose is until she sees
Sheila use magic to find something. Alice decides to reveal she’s a Magician
and show magic to Sheila - who knows nothing about magic and her finding-things
talent had only recently emerged
Sheila is an
interesting character - she’s kind of world weary and cynical and practical,
but also hopeful and good and deeply altruistic. She takes a deep and complete
joy in discovering her magic which makes Alice super uncomfortable because of
all the bad she’s seen magic do. But Sheila has some excellent advice - that
magic just is, that ultimately it’s how you handle it that is good or bad. This
both kind of absolves magic as being inherently evil and something to worry
over but also kind of condemns Alice. But she has good advice on that score as
well - yes Alice has done terrible things, but they are things she regrets and
because of that she is making changes. Far better advice than from Christopher
Alice is encouraged
to teach Sheila because Sheila goes outside to smoke. Even though it’s her own
house, because that was her mother’s rule and just because her mother is dead
doesn’t seem like a good reason to break the rule. It’s kind of silly but also
touching and shows Sheila’s respect, adherence to rules as well as her
dedication to being good which we’ve already seen through her charitable
impulses. A woman who smokes outside out of respect for a rule from her now
dead mother is not a woman who is capricious or selfish.
She’s also sensible - when the Library visits her to offer her a library card as a new Magician she refuses because Alice freaks out. She doesn’t know much about the library, but the fact Alice is deeply traumatised by them convinces her she doesn’t know enough to sign up for their card… I really really really like Sheila. How rare are characters this sensible?
But charity may get
them into trouble as well. The water of the town is tainted by lead from old,
rotten pipes and she wants to use magic to fix it. Alice can do that but not
with the Library restricted magic levels… but Sheila has the power to find
things, including one of the Library’s magical pipes with a crack in it… a
crack they can break open to allow more magic into the area.
Which allows them to
joyous flood magic into the area and purify the water.. But also puts Sheila on
the Librarian’s radar
An allows the
Hedgewitches to blow up a building which I think belongs to the Librarians...
And lo we have an
episode just chock full of character development, compelling characterisations
and nuanced emotions and philosophies which really is something The
Magicians is extremely good at but doesn’t get praised enough. I do hope
Sheila survives this - but i doubt it, alas.
