The gang's back together, and they're more in sync than ever!
Quentin is showing some backbone this week, and we're proud of him.
We got not one but two reunions this week, and they were both magical in their own ways.
It seemed a little too convenient that time would constrict in Eliot's favor while he is inhabiting the dopple-banger.
There were a couple of loose threads regarding the 15 second time machine.
The gang is back together and breaking all the rules (and into a bank) in The Magicians 2X07 “Plan B”
Quentin discovers there is something even worse than losing his mind, while desperation from more than one magicians leads to a dangerous bank heist in The Magicians 2X07 “Plan B.” This week, niffin Alice has dropped the dead act and decided to put the pressure on Quentin by making him miserable. After suffering insult after insult from his former love, he refuses to give in to her demand to be released from his back tattoo trap. Instead, he pleas with her to give him a chance to complete what she started for Charlie – a reversal spell that would bring the old Alice back once and for all.
Meanwhile, Julia meets the witches Kady’s contact sends them only to find out that it will cost them literal gold to exorcise the demigod from her body. After running into an invisible attacker while staking out a bank, they find themselves in the last place they want to be: Brakebills. There, Julia runs into Quentin and they sort of make up, while Kady and Penny’s reunion is much more…heated. After the gang is attacked by a second invisible being, Kady goes to confront the witches and find out that one of them has sent blood goblins to finish Julia off.
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After discovering that the repairs being made to the wellspring and Margo’s impulsive declaration of war will cost money they do not have, Eliot and Margo agree to do the “mature” thing and help Julia with the robbery. Our entire gang (well, plus dopple-banger Eliot and minus Julia) heads to the target and put their plan into action. Unfortunately, as with all things in The Magicians’ universe, things go incredibly sideways and they find themselves trapped in the bank vault hiding from a battle magician. Julia manages to step in and help, but unfortunately dopple-banger Eliot takes one for the team and she is nearly killed by a blood goblin.
While we saw some glimmers of season one’s playfulness, this is the real world, bitches. We never finish out an episode without some sort of trouble. So, shall we make like Julia and turn back time to figure out what went wrong?
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She might look like our Alice, but she’s way less sugar than spice
It’s been tough watching Quentin (Jason Ralph) go through the grieving process after losing Alice (Olivia Taylor Dudley), but we had no idea how much worse it was going to get. Trapped in his back tattoo by his cacodemon, niffin Alice is one pissed off magical being. While he starts the process of trying to figure out how to complete spell she tried to use to save Charlie, she tortures him relentlessly. All this Alice wants is to be free, and she will do whatever it takes to get out or take over. He manages to quell her thirst for power long enough to make up with Julia, who offers the welcome distraction of a bank heist. Unfortunately, things go wrong and Penny is trapped inside the vault, forcing Quentin to make a deal with his niffin ex to save his friend’s life.
Alice: “So I have to be a niffin, yet I don’t even get to be a niffin? I could travel the universe. I could see things you couldn’t even imagine, but instead, I have to be bored and stuck with you!”
Quentin: “I’m sorry that it is torture to be with the one person who is trying to help you.”
Alice: “So go back to screaming until you go insane? Is that your choice?”
Quentin: “No. That’s your choice. Or you could be quiet. And you can let me try and solve this.”
As hard as it has been for Quentin and us to see what’s become of Alice, she certainly adds a certain element of unpredictability to the story. We don’t know why Quentin hasn’t told the others about her, but it’s a dangerous game he’s playing. He’s not strong enough yet to manage the situation on his own, and we’re worried about what could happen to him under her taunting. Still, with the newly garnered deal to make use of his body for thirty minutes a day, we can only imagine the kind of trouble niffin Alice can get him and everyone else into. Could she be the key to winning the war against the Lorians back in Fillory? Is it worth the price our magicians would likely pay if she is? All we know is that we miss the old Alice, and we’re rooting for Quentin to figure things out before he loses himself.
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Margo finally gets to rule this week…as the head of a robbery gang?
We wanted Margo (Summer Bishil) to grow in her leadership role as High Queen of Fillory, but this is probably not what we meant. With her kingdom broke and having declared war against the man who tricked her, Margo realizes that she’s responsible for whatever happens to Fillory if they cannot come up with the funds. It seems fate has dropped a perfect solution in her lap, and she decides to take full advantage of it. It was shocking enough to hear that she had robbed a bank, but as a senior in high school?! That put her in a new echelon of cool that we cannot help but be impressed by even as we shake our heads at her. What follows is a Ocean’s Eleven style heist that falls apart before the perfect finale, but we’re too entertained to be mad about it.
Margo: “Okay, listen up, ’cause I’m only gonna go through this shit once. Any bank worth robbing uses one of a handful of security systems. All the usual bells and whistles. But what most idiots don’t know is, those companies are all owned by Magicians.”
Julia: Wait, so the people that work there…”
Margo: “Clueless. Tellers, managers, security guards. They’re all Muggles. They have no idea the vault has a secret feature. Serious wards. Designed specifically to keep out Magicians … Now, basic bitches trip all the standard alarm systems, but Magicians? We also trip the magic wards, which means battle Magicians. Full-time security employees on the DL, with benefits. You see one, run. They only ask questions post-mortem.”
We cannot say enough about the fun we got to have this week, even with the hurdles and unexpected consequences that followed. Writer Christina Strain reminded us of just why we fell in love with the show with the bank heist plot, and every moment was a gem. I mean, who thinks of using a small K-pop emitting disco ball to control people?! If you didn’t bop along just a little in that scene, you must have a heart of stone. Summer Bishil was brilliant in her portrayal of Margo in her element – she knows exactly what she wants and just how to get it. We just want to sit back and watch her say those lines over and over again in that sassy tone of hers. This is the Margo we want to see become queen, the woman who knows her strengths, the importance of teamwork, and how to both follow and lead.
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Two long awaited reunions lead to vastly different results
After Julia (Stella Maeve) is attacked by the first blood goblin, she and Kady reluctantly turn to Professor Lipson (Keegan Connor Tracy) and Dean Fogg (Rick Worthy) at Brakebills. After granting her temporary asylum due to her condition, the two women show up at the physical kids’ house to sort things out. Quentin is there (as is niffin Alice), and after finding out what happened to her from Kady, he does his best to make amends with Julia. This is easier said than done, however, because he must field Alice’s angry accusations and his best friend’s prickly exterior to do so. Meanwhile, Kady (Jade Tailor) runs into Penny (Arjun Gupta) while researching in the library, and as it happens pretty much every time they are together, their chemistry overwhelms them both and leads to a steamy romp. All seems to be forgiven soon after, although we get the sense maybe they’re both avoiding the real issue.
Julia: “No, if I make you feel so shitty, just go.”
Quentin: “No.”
Julia: “Why? I’m the reason. If I’m the reason, then-”
Quentin: “‘Cause that doesn’t feel right either. I don’t know what’s right. My best friend in the world does crazy shit and doesn’t trust me and doesn’t listen to me.”
Julia: “It is not that simple, and you know it. I don’t-”
Niffin/Alice: “What am I supposed to do? You guys are both so goddamn maudlin.”
Quentin: “I promised you, in Fillory, when you told me about Reynard, that I would help you somehow, and that is not a promise that I intend on breaking. So if there’s anything that I can do-”
Julia: “Actually, there is. Help us rob a bank.”
To start, we were definitely impressed by the number of moving parts that had to come together for the reunion between Julia and Quentin. Not only did Jason Ralph have to react to both Olivia Taylor Dudley and Stella Maeve separately, the editing done by Jason Gourson had to be just perfect to give the scene a believable feel. We were really impressed with the way Ralph handled the scene, keeping a delicate balance between his frustration with niffin Alice and his empathy for Julia. As for Kady and Penny, we’ve always loved the natural chemistry between Jade Tailor and Arjun Gupta. The way that Penny smiles that secret smile lets us know how much he missed Kady, and you can see the same reflected in her eyes. Still, we get the feeling that these two bury their issues under layers of lust, and sooner or later, this will blow up in their faces. Both pairs of damaged people are in need of healing, and we hope they can use their renewed bonds to do just that.
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Final Verdict: The Magicians 2X07 “Plan B” brought the gang (and the fun) back this week, and it was glorious
While we have all enjoyed the thought-provoking storylines, character development, and special effects this season, we missed seeing the whole Scooby gang getting into trouble together. This week, The Magicians rewarded us for our patience with 2X07 “Plan B” and we couldn’t be more excited. Yes, there was still the issues of Julia’s pregnancy, niffin Alice, and the impending FIllorian war with Loria, but let’s be honest, it was all about the bank heist. We loved the comedy heist theme in this episode, and particularly enjoyed the magical twists that were added to the mix. This is also the first time this season that the whole cast was together for most of the episode, and we could tell they were just as excited about it as we were. Obviously, much kudos has to go to Christina Strain for the amazing dialogue for Margo especially, and director Chris Fisher for making sure to blend all of the different elements together seamlessly.
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Obviously, the episode left off on a cliffhanger, and we know that something has happened to Julia. We’re really beginning to agree with her when she says she’s cursed! If the demigod baby is truly out of her body, what will happen if Reynard finds out? She isn’t the only one with a dilemma though, because we know that Quentin is now bound to a deal with niffin Alice. Who thinks this is a really bad idea? *raises both hands*
There wasn’t really a whole lot that took away from the episode this week, but we do have to wonder a little bit about how Eliot is able to inhabit his dopple-banger without suspicion. After all, Fen must realize at some point that he’s not just sleeping, and it seems a little too convenient that when most needed, time constricted on Fillory’s side so that the entire heist is done within the span of one evening. It also wasn’t made clear how the battle magician hired by the bank was able to adapt to the rewinds, although we can assume it’s because she is equally as aware of the change in time as our magicians.
All in all, “Plan B” brought us back to a time filled with clever quips, playful antics, and a reunion of all of our magicians. Despite the minor issues with the convenient flexing of time, we will be rewatching this episode and memorizing Margo’s fabulous lines to quote to one another for days. Speaking of which, Summer Bishil was perfect this week. She embodied everything that is Margo and made us wish we could be part of that bank heist. This is the side of her we missed this season, and her performance was everything we wanted it to be.
Now that the whole gang has come back together for the most part, it’s definitely going to be interesting to see how they resolve all the challenges they have been facing individually. We can only hope that at some point Quentin admits to what’s happened to Alice, because he needs all the help he can get from the others. Julia has gotten her wish to be at Brakebills, and Penny finally has something to be happy about in Kady. We missed seeing them together, and we can’t wait for what comes next!
Do they still need to defeat Reynard? Yes. Will they need to figure out how to save Eliot? Yes. Do we want to see Quentin bring the real Alice back? Hell yes! There’s so much more to do before their lives are back to normal, but no matter what, now they have each other. With so much growth happening between them, we’re just waiting to see what extraordinary things they will achieve.
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This episode is brought to you by the letter Q…as in Questions!
- Did the gang get away with enough gold to take back to Fillory?
- What is the complication that happened during Julia’s abortion?
- What happened to Eliot? Can he be saved?
- Will the wellspring ever be cleansed so that magic can be restored?
- What about Penny’s hands? He’s still stuck as a backseat driver!
- Will Margo step up to the plate in Eliot’s stead? Or will Fen? Maybe Quentin?
- Just where the hell is Ember and why is he still gone?
- Will Kady and Penny ever talk about what happened between them?
- Is there a prince out there who can handle our sassy queen Margo?
- Do you think if we bribed niffin Alice with ice cream with sprinkles, she’ll behave?
The Magicians returns next Wednesday March 15th, 2017 at 9/8C on Syfy.
The Magicians 2X07 “Plan B” Review
Jennifer Yen