Alexx Aplin
Alexx AplinWarning: This review contains spoilers for Episode 11 of The Magicians and references to past episodes. If you aren’t caught up, read at your own risk.
Halfway through another week of madness, we have The Magicians Season 5, Episode 11. With only two more episodes left after this one, I can’t help but reminisce about how I felt last season. This was the point where everything went to Hell and plot threads started dropping like flies. However, let’s not let that color the experience of having at least one hour that isn’t revolving around toilet paper, hand washing, or the pandemic hanging over our heads.
To recap, the last episode involved Eliot and Julia escaping from Fillory’s dungeons. We also found out that Rupert Chatwin needed to get the Takers out of the way so that he could bring his lover back from the dead. However, if he does that, all the dead will be able to rise and life as we know it would end. Hades has instructed them all to fix this or Fillory and Earth are both doomed.
Alice can no longer cast magic really due to losing her fingers, Kady wants to get back at The Couple for doing this to her, and Penny now knows that he is going to be a father. Amongst other things, the gang is back together. Let’s jump into the episode!
Spoilers for the Episode begin here!
The first scene of the episode involves Margo and Josh catching up on what is going on with Rupert and the Underworld and all that jazz. I’m still annoyed that Josh has had zero consequences for the fact that he cheated on Margo and her offer to have make-up sex in this scene still frustrates the hell out of me. Also, why the writers insist on having Margo be the one to deliver tasteless jokes, really makes me hope Summer Bishil gets a role in a show that respects her as an actress.
We are also privy to a nice, adult conversation with Penny and Julia where they agree that this changes nothing about how their relationship ended. However, Penny wants to be there for the baby and Julia wants that too. Alice interrupts this conversation with a bombshell. Eliot and Fen collapsed in the elevator, presumably something related to their bond with Fillory.
It turns out that Eliot, Fen, Margo, and Josh are now in some Fillory-adjacent place. They were called there by a remnant of Ember. Because they were all High King at one point, they are bound to answer the warning by this remnant. He basically gives a warning of what we already know. Fillory is on the edge of apocalypse.
We then see Penny, Alice, and Julia talking with Lipson, who basically tells them that the Margo, Eliot, Fen, and Josh are sleeping by magical means and that she’s not sure what the deal is. She then notices that Julia is pregnant when she wasn’t when they saw each other previously. Lipson warns her that accelerated pregnancies can be dangerous and that she needs to come to Brakebills for proper treatment and scans.
Ember tells the former High Kings more of what they already know. If left unchecked, the dead will destroy Fillory. However, after a moment of discussing that the only way to fix the problem is to destroy Fillory itself, a manifestation of Umber, Ember’s brother, appears. Umber tells them that he created an ark, a pocket dimension to put all the residents of Fillory in so that they could be moved to a new, safer location.
After witnessing a godly slap fight, Eliot, Margo, Josh, and Fen wake up, telling the rest of the group what is going on. Destroying Fillory could spell a big problem for Magic, as the Wellspring is in Fillory. Yet if they do nothing, everyone is doomed.
Alice suggests using the World Seed, but in order to do that, they have to get it back from The Couple. Luckily, the Couple can’t cast due to the moon and additionally, the page of instructions Quentin had was in a dead language. So, Eliot, Margo, Fen, and Josh are set to go find the Ark, while Julia is meant to translate the language and Alice is supposed to track down the Couple.
Penny has to wake Hyman from where he and Plum stashed him though, as they are now short a traveler. We then are greeted to a ridiculous montage of Hyman just touching things, because he had previously only been an astral body and was unable to do so for a very long time. Hyman gets the Traveler tattoos to keep him from getting lost in space (not the series) and then we see him and Fen have a conversation.
Hyman thinks that this plan makes our heroes almost as bad as the villains, and because Fen is easily swayed and Hyman is an idiot, it puts a bit of doubt in her head. In Umber’s home, they are greeted by another remnant of Umber, who gives them a riddle, which Fen solves due to it being based in Fillorian Scripture.
We can clearly see something is up with Fen but we are sent back to Julia and Penny at Brakebills, where Julia is having a hard time blocking out the psychic feedback from everyone at Brakebills. She insists to Penny that she is fine, but Penny isn’t convinced. He goes to ask Hyman if his mother had any side effects due to carrying him, and Hyman says that she didn’t, mostly because she was lobotomized beforehand.
Kady and Alice ask Pete about The Couple and he tells them that the only other person that believes The Couple exists is Marina, who is likely not going to help them. When they find Marina, she is acting very strangely, too nice for the Marina they (and we) know. When Alice and Kady ask her what happened, she explains that she saw a healer who put a block on the parts of her personality that make “self-destructive choices.”
Kacey Rohl’s acting in this scene is absolutely stellar. To see her go from harsh, ambitious, selfish, and cold to kind, fearful, and regretful is nothing short of fantastic acting. It is also important to mention that the makeup and costume department does a fantastic job of differentiating different versions of characters. Nice Marina is less glam and more sweet and innocent, for example.
Marina tells them that the World Seed is hidden in a hotel specifically for Magicians. The vault of the hotel is the most secure place on the planet according to Marina, and she had once worked on a map with her allies, except now she doesn’t know where it is.
After meeting Gavin, who formerly worked with the library, they discover that he was Marina’s former associate who now refuses to help because she sent him on a suicide mission. Ultimately, they are back to square one unless they can figure out how to get him on their side. Alice starts playing hard-ball and Gavin ultimately reveals that “Anna” now has the heist book. Before we can find out who Anna is, we’re back at Brakebills.
Penny arrives and reveals to Julia that he stole the Circumstance machine that keeps magic working in Brakebills. If the Couple are looking for magic, they’d want it, so the safest place for it is somewhere hidden. Also, he encourages Julia to have Lipson do tests and scans to ensure the baby is okay. Hyman tries to eavesdrop on a tense moment between Julia and Penny and ultimately Julia leaves, suggesting they both learn boundaries.
Back in Umber’s home, they are given a test. Identify the real Ark from a set of pocket worlds or suffer terribly. As expected, Fen ultimately bails on the group, telling them to figure it out for themselves. I can’t really be surprised, as she’s been treated as an outsider this entire time. However, she doesn’t bring much to the table on her own, so what did she expect?
Anna, it turns out, is Marina’s ex-girlfriend. After a tense conversation in which Marina reveals that she has to join them and can’t just leave the heist to them, Anna refuses to help, and Alice suggests removing the spell that made Marina nice in the first place. Kady doesn’t like the idea, but Alice explains that they need her to lie to Anna to get the book, so nice Marina isn’t cutting it.
After looking for Julia to apologize or perhaps reason with her, Penny discovers that Hyman is trying to put himself back into temporal stasis, to be just an astral body. Hyman dislikes not being able to observe as he once did, because he felt more important that way. No one wanted to talk to him when he had a body, so at least when he was a spirit, he could live vicariously through other people.
It is a sad idea but Penny gives him a pep talk, telling him that now is his chance to live his own life and be happy. It is his turn to have intimate experiences and everything he missed out on. Penny also learns a little something about his mess with Julia in the process.
Next, we have the return of a character I wanted to never see again. Julia meets the Pigman from Episode 1. The pigman discovers what Julia and everyone are planning and gives Julia a grave warning. Destroying Fillory will cause them to lose the ones they love.
Back at Umber’s home, Eliot apologizes to Fen and Fen explains that she thinks if this were a situation of the Earth dying, they’d try a lot harder to save it. Eliot has a heart to heart with her and ultimately, she realizes that making a choice to save Fillory’s people and its traditions is far more important. So, at the last moment, she helps them find the Ark.
Then we’re back with Alice and Kady watching Marina lie to Anna about the book and not participating in the heist. Alice and Kady get the heist book and leave, with Marina to follow at some point. This definitely isn’t the last we’ve seen of her.
Penny finds Julia and she tells him what the Pigman told her. Penny reveals that his concern wasn’t because of his dad leaving or about the baby at all. When his dad left, his mother started hearing things that weren’t there. He believes that instead of it being explained by the stress of his dad leaving, that it was because his mother gave birth to him.
Julia reassures Penny but when Penny gets back to the cottage, he discovers that Fogg 17 has escaped and is now working with The Couple. Fogg leaves with the Circumstance machine, so now, if they don’t steal the World Seed? The Couple has everything they need.
On the whole, this episode of The Magicians gave us some serious emotional development for Penny and gave us more information on Marina. It also happened to pull us somewhat closer to the inevitable confrontation with The Couple, while giving Fen a chance to sort out her feelings. There is no way of knowing what is coming next, but I can imagine that Episode 12 and Episode 13 will be unpredictable, that is for certain.
There are still a lot of questions left unanswered and I’m not sure if we’ll ever see them be brought to a conclusion, especially since this is the final season. I really wish we would have gotten a Netflix pick up for just one more season of The Magicians, even if it was only to tie up loose ends that haven’t really been tied. I enjoyed this episode, but it definitely feels like the calm before the storm.
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🔥358The Magicians
Pros
- Kacey Rohl's Acting is Brilliant
- More Penny 23 Backstory
- Great Costuming
- Character-Focused Episode
- Marina had a Girlfriend!
Cons
- The Pigman Returned
- More Tasteless Jokes
- Hyman is a Little Annoying
