The Magicians 2X10 “The Girl Who Told Time” Review

Shady trips, naughty potions, and the poison room are the keys to success in The Magicians 2X10 “The Girl Who Told Time”

Well, we didn’t think anything would ever get emo Quentin to get off that throne and stop killing grapes, but we lucked out.  After Margo gives him a tonguelashing, he goes back to Brakebills to find a stronger way to self-medicate himself at a bake sale.  While tripping, he’s interrupted by Julia’s young Shade begging to be found, and just like that, he’s back on track.  After convincing his best friend that they might have the answer to her problem, they question Dean Fogg and discover that the 23rd Alice was obsessed with the afterlife and shades when she became the sole survivor of The Beast.  After setting up the Tesla Flexion machine, Quentin faces Alt-Alice and discovers they must find the gatekeeper of the underworld, an Ancient One, to get to the shades trapped in the afterlife.

RELATED | THE MAGICIANS 2X09 “LESSER EVILS” REVIEW

Meanwhile, Kady keeps her promise to help Julia find a way to kill Reynard, but first she helps Penny track down a ten year old book that was never returned.  Their search leads them to a internet media company.  Its CEO, Harriet, reveals she hides various spells behind her content to share with other magicians.  While not happy with Penny’s impatience, she takes a shine to Kady and reveals that there is no knowledge that the library does not contain.  After they return the book, it unleashes a spell that kills a librarian named Howard.  Penny discovers that the intention was to open the poison room, which contains banned books containing such powerful spells that they could destroy worlds.  When Kady and Penny go back to confront Harriet, she’s cleared out.  She leaves a card with the name of the book Kady is looking for, and yes, it’s in the poison room.

In Fillory, Eliot is steadily losing his grip on calm as the wedding date creeps slowly up on him.  He has been obsessing about his poll numbers and wants nothing more than to be loved.  When it becomes clear ending the war with Loria bloodlessly isn’t enough, he resorts to the resident Brakebills chef, Joshua.  When his fine dishes don’t please the royal palate, Joshua is forced to resort to his side job – drug dealing.  While working on a potion to win over Eliot’s wedding guests, he ends up discovering an assassination plot by Bayler and the FU fighters and tells his friends.  Margo concocts a plot of her own to incapacitate their enemies using Joshua’s skills to put them out of commission, and it’s a resounding success.  Unfortunately, she also ends up having to own up to Fen about offering the fairies her baby, which does not go over well.

It seems the theme of this week was if you run across a challenge you can’t overcome, just use a cheat or loophole.  Before magical law enforcement gets ahold of us, why don’t we look over what happened so we can help our magicians plead their cases?

[wp_ad_camp_2]

If you don’t play nice in the sandbox, then be ready to get kicked out

After marrying Fen to obtain the weapon needed against The Beast, Eliot (Hale Appleman) had given up ever leaving Fillory again.  When accepting the title of the High King, he did his very best to help his subjects thrive by teaching them about fertilizer.  Even when Bayler nearly assassinated him and he discovered his new bride was one of the FU fighters, he kept pushing forward.  However, after brokering a peaceful and bloodless end to the war against Loria by taking King Idrie as his husband, Eliot is done being noble.  He just can’t seem to make his subjects love him the way he wants, even as he slaves over every detail of the public wedding celebration.  When Josh (Trevor Einhorn) accidentally discovers the FU Fighters plot to kill him, he’s had enough.  He resorts to his old ways and inflicts revenge upon them in a gastrically horrible manner.

Margo: “Look, that note was meant for the dishwasher.  He’s probably been passing messages to the FU fighters this whole time, so here’s what we do.  We help him sober up and then…”

Eliot: “We execute him.”

Margo: “No…but it means so much to me that you want to.  We put the note back into the dirty dishes, we let him find it and take it back to the FU fighters base.  Josh, how much of that potion can you make?”

Josh: “I…I don’t know. A buttload?”

Margo: “That’ll do.”  

Eliot: “Bambi, what are you casting?”

Margo: “Tracking spell.  Then we’ll know exactly where to find those Dave Grohl wannabe bitches.”  

Our hearts go out to Eliot…really they do.  The world has asked a lot of him, and he’s given it everything he’s got.  Unfortunately, the new and enlightened High King still isn’t enough to win over his Fillorian subjects.  Yes, he knows that he promised to make all these changes to rule spectacularly, but Eliot can’t deny that his actions are driven by a baser need: to be loved.  For a man who has always prided himself on his popularity and ability to win people over, this is about as intolerable as it gets.  Instead of realizing that loyalty is not earned with a few flashy acts, Eliot lets his emotions take over, and we collectively shook our heads.  Margo (Summer Bishil) only enables his bad behavior with some of her own, and although we appreciate her intentions, their revenge will only serve to prove the Earth children do not respect the Fillorians.

[wp_ad_camp_2]

Apparently, being a magical librarian can in fact get you killed

Unfortunately for Penny (Arlen Gupta), his contract as the librarian’s lackey started sooner than he expected.  Kady (Jade Tailor) attempts to find a book that would tell her how to kill a god, but librarian Howard insists there is none.  Penny learns his first task is to retrieve a ten year old library book, something he does not relish.  However, it does allow him to spend time with Kady as he cannot properly cast spells.  When they arrive at Fuzz Beat, they meet with its CEO, Harriet (Marlee Matlin).  She is the one who checked out the book, and Kady has to take over the talking when Penny’s insults her.  Harriet turns over the book, but when he gives it to Howard, a momodus hex is released and the librarian kills himself rather than give in.  When Penny is sent back to confront Harriet she is already gone, but leaves Kady the name of the book she wants.

Penny: “I just watched a man kill himself!  What’s behind the door?!”

Librarian: “The poison room.  It’s where we store books too dangerous for the public.  I suspect Harriet’s curse was an attempt to steal its contents.”

Penny: “Wait, Howard kamikazed himself because someone wanted some banned books?  That’s pretty f–ed up!”

Librarian: “What’s f–ed up is that there’s knowledge out there so dangerous we need a poison room so it doesn’t fall into the wrong hands.  That’s why Howard sacrificed his life.  It’s something all Librarians would do.”

Penny: “So he had to die so he could get his hands on what? Some crazy battle magic?”

Librarian: “There’s knowledge behind that door that could destroy more than just people.  It could destroy worlds.”

While we know that the Librarians are more than just book lenders, we had no idea the danger that came with being one.  Apparently, all magical libraries have a restricted section, and in this case, the contents of  the poison room are world ending.  The fact that the Librarians all swear to protect it with their lives is a shocking twist  from writers Noga Landau and Henry Alonso Myers.  We can only hope they aren’t hinting at something with that, because we really don’t want anything to happen to Penny!  Of course, we also know our favorite traveler will likely be forced to make an extremely difficult decision – follow the Librarians’ code and protect the books, or allow Kady into the room and suffer whatever punishment that will entail.  We can only hope she won’t use his feelings to manipulate him, but her determination to kill Reynard rivals Julia’s.

[wp_ad_camp_2]

A shady revelation reunites a heartbroken Quentin with his lady love (sort of)

As much as we adore emo Quentin’s sassy quips about grapes dying for nothing, it had to stop.  He was doing nothing to help his fellow king and queen to solve the Fillory problem, instead wasting away at the bottom of a goblet.  When he visits Brakebills to get away, he happens upon a lucky coincidence – a “bake” sale.  Once he falls into a drug-induced stupor, a familiar little girl appears to him and identifies herself as Julia’s shade.  She pleads for Quentin to help her escape, and thankfully this yanks him away from his pity party.  He convinces his best friend that they can reunite the two, and a discussion with Dean Fogg results in a two minute trip inside a Tesla Flexion coil.  A tearful reunion with 23rd Alice (Olivia Taylor Dudley) reveals all shades go to the afterlife, guarded by gatekeepers known as the Ancient Ones.  

Quentin: “I have to go.”

Alt-Alice: “Please, please just one more thing, okay?”

Dean Fogg: “We can’t hold it much longer, Quentin.”

Alt-Alice: “I just wanted to say I’m sorry!”

Quentin: “Sorry for what?”

Alt-Alice: “When you died, we weren’t in a good place.  We…we were fighting and…I was too proud to let it go.”  

Quentin: “I don’t know what the other Quentin thought, but in this world, I love you.”

Alt-Alice: “Okay.”

Quentin: “No matter what.  I love you.”

We’ve been waiting for Quentin (Jason Ralph) to finally get his chance at being the hero, and this week, we got it.  There’s been hints of it here and there, with refusing to box niffin Alice and then risking his life by not giving in to Julia.  However, his efforts have always met with only partial success.  This time, though, he gets the chance to make his best friend whole again, and he jumps at the chance.  We were all on the edge of our seat when he came face-to-face with Alt-Alice, knowing there was a chance he would forget himself and touch her.  Instead, we saw a truly beautiful scene between Taylor Dudley and Ralph as Alt-Alice and Quentin try to bring closure to each others’ loss and guilt.  Although this was not the reunion between Quentin and Alice that we were hoping for, it was nonetheless satisfying.

[wp_ad_camp_2]

Final Verdict: The Magicians 2X10 “The Girl Who Told Time” drops clues about what’s to come, and we’re happy to play the guessing game

We’ve waited patiently for weeks for any little hint as to how our magicians will deal with the conflicts that are developing in their lives, and “The Girl Who Told Time” gave us a peek into the future.  We cheered for a glimpse at old Julia, and we once again mourned the love lost between Quentin and Alice.  We’re frustrated with Penny and Kady, and worried for Margo once Eliot discovers what she promised to the fairies.  Let’s not also forget that there’s the little problem of the FU fighters, who are no doubt even angrier than before.  The twists and turns on The Magicians can give any soap opera a run for its money, and we are simply addicted!

RELATED | THE MAGICIANS 2X08 “WORD AS BOND” REVIEW

With Quentin now determined to help Julia, how is he going to get past a real life dragon?  Once there, how is he going to rescue her Shade?  Eliot and Margo may have staved off a plot on their lives, but they are fighting the same people they promised to fairly rule over.  Will this win the FU fighters more supporters?  We still haven’t forgotten about Reynard.  What is Kady willing to do to get the information she needs?  Is she really willing to risk Penny’s heart?  

If there is one issue we take with this week’s episode, it’s that there are too many loose ends that are being ignored.  After being introduced to John Gaines, he’s disappeared off our radar with no explanation.  Wouldn’t the people on Earth be looking for him as a missing high profile politician?  Speaking of powerful people, why have we still not heard anything about Ember?  Why did Harriet wait ten years to employ her hex?  She could have returned that book anytime in the past decade and had the same result.

Despite these minor things, “The Girl Who Told Time” still managed to keep us on our toes with its multiple storylines and emerging showdowns.  We’re especially intrigued by how our characters’ relationships will change after it is all said and done.  If there’s one love match we want to see come back, it’s Quentin and Alice, and after this week’s soul stirring performance between Olivia Taylor Dudley and Jason Ralph, we won’t accept anything less!

If there’s anything we take away from this week, it’s that big things are coming and we better be ready.  We can expect that a final confrontation with Reynard will be in the plans as well as a deciding battle for Fillory.  We are crossing our fingers for two restorations – Alice and Julia.  We definitely feel like Landau and Myers are hinting at those things this week, and it’s quite exciting.

We have two words for what we’re looking forward to next week – real dragon.  REAL DRAGON!  We’re fangirling and fanboying as hard as Quentin is despite the obvious danger, not to mention entering the underworld.  We want to see how Margo is going to weasel her way out of the fairy deal, although they seem pretty determined to keep that baby.  With just three episodes to go (no!) before the season ends, we’re not going to miss a single minute!

[wp_ad_camp_2]

Quick, let’s get our questions in before the fairies come back for us!

• What will the dragon want in exchange for passage?  Will Quentin have to literally slay a dragon?
• What will the FU fighters due in retaliation?  Are there any other plants within the royal court?
• What is Margo going to say to Eliot to rectify promising Fen’s baby to the fairies?
• Speaking of Fen, where the hell did the fairy take her?!
• What will Eliot do about Bayler now?  Will he still try to execute him?
• Will Penny and Kady ever stop fighting their feelings for one another and just get together?
• The fairies are creepy, but can we have one of their iridescent outfits?  It’s for…research.
• Where did niffin Alice go?  Will she ever come back to visit?
• How many of you would like to set up a time loop to fix a problem?
• Can we sneak a peek into the poison room too?

The Magicians returns next Wednesday April 5th, 2017 at 9/8C on Syfy.