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S05.E01: Do Something Crazy

ElectricBoogaloo

By ElectricBoogaloo
in The Magicians [V]

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Poltargyst

Poltargyst

I didn't realize how much I'd been missing this show, but I really enjoyed this episode and seeing everyone again.  Well, almost everyone.  Q was never my favorite character, and yet I'm realizing I miss him.  He was the heart of the group. 

I'm glad that we'll apparently be seeing Brakebill's more.  I always thought/hoped more of the plots would take place there.

I'm glad things are back to "normal".  It's been two years seen we've really seen Eliot.  I was getting sick of there not being magic.  These people are Magicians.  I want to see them slinging spells.

Aaaaaaaand Margo's first line of the new season is...."I'd fuck our corpses."  Nice.  I still love Margo.  She is so boss.  So glad we got rid of the stupid eyepatch.  Nice to see both of her eyes and her whole face.

Julia:  "You choose your quest."  Whoa, profound.

I don't know how our original Penny would have done as a professor, but this one is pretty good.

OMG, Alice is making a Q golem!!!

Good episode, I really liked it.  Not that I haven't like every season, but I think I'll like this plot more than past recent plots.  Good stuff.

 

 

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Guest

Guest

(edited)

So I think I'm officially still too annoyed to be objective.  I feel, intellectually like the episode was good.  But I just can't connect to it.  Its so weird. 

They respected Quentin's loss (except when they didn't). 

  • I said enough about the Hog character/scene in the media thread when they released it at comic con and it didn't come off any differently.
  • Also didn't like the "it was sad, but at least it was unexpected" line in the Fillory play.  That felt a lot like a thinly veiled comment on the uproar over Quentin being killed off. 

Ignoring Quentin would be worse, but Quentin being dead made the show depressing (yes, sobbing within the first minute of the show, then I was dead inside for the rest of it) and in my head the depressing seasons / story arcs of the Magicians are the bad parts of the Magicians.  The parts I never liked.  The reason I bailed on season 1 until the show found a sense of humor.

I resent Penny23 now that it feels like Penny40 is permanently gone.  But again it seems like in a different context I would have liked Dean Fogg/Penny teaching... if it was Penny40. Just never connected with a Penny that will make do with any Julia from any timeline that comes along.

Alice is acting exactly as I expected.  Totally in character, but with bedhead.  I don't think tortured Alice on her own has ever worked for enjoying her story line. Trying to bring back Quentin as a Golem.  This feels like a bit of a retread of Quentin's quest to bring Alice back from the dead/niffin Alice.

Its the Margo / Eliot / Fillory stuff that makes me think I'm not being objective.  It feels like I should be enjoying that.  It seems like the Fillory stuff of old that I really appreciated and looked forward to.  But I found myself examining it like a joke I wasn't getting that everyone else did.

The behind the scenes/ season sneak peak at the end of the episode didn't seem like things were going to lighten up at all. I think I may leave this show as one for something I might binge (or not) at some point in the future and spare myself and all of you from my downer attitude until I can sort out whether the show deserves it or not.

Edited by ParadoxLost
ElectricBoogaloo

ElectricBoogaloo

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I loved Eliot's reaction to the way High King Eliot was portrayed in the unshackling play.

As soon as someone said that some living clay had gone missing, I KNEW someone was going to make Golem Quentin. I was just waiting to see who was sad and desperate enough to do it.

The only reason it wasn't Julia is that her anger and resentment have given her a purpose so she has somewhere to direct her energy. Alice, on the other hand, was just sad and depressed and utterly unable to rouse herself to do anything until she came up with the golum idea. I get what Alice's mom was saying (do whatever you need to do to grieve and heal and move forward) but I'm pretty sure she didn't mean THAT. It's sad that it took bonding over death for her mom to be this kind to her.

Dean Fogg isn't drinking anymore? DAMN. Part of me feels bad that he knows all the Pennys well enough to trick 23 into signing a contract, but THAT IS WHY YOU DON'T SIGN THINGS WITHOUT READING THEM, PENNY! Man, how many versions of Penny are contracted to be somewhere? We had librarian Penny who is now underworld Penny, and now we have reluctant professor Penny locked into a contract. Maybe he'll learn to love it.

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JTMacc99

JTMacc99

4 hours ago, ElectricBoogaloo said:

Dean Fogg isn't drinking anymore? DAMN

Right?!  And his disgust at how busy it is: “it’s like a state school” was excellent and makes me look forward to that story line. I kind of want there to be a weekly “somebody blew themselves up” theme. Almost as if it is expected and just part of the routine now, and with only Penny’s class staying safe. A little dark humor wouldn’t be out of place here. 

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ElectricBoogaloo

ElectricBoogaloo

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I loved Penny's initial stab at teaching the new travelers: get that anti tattoo and get the hell out of here!

I also loved that the way to the clock dwarf was a giant slide. It's going to be a bitch walking all the way back up though.

The way that the clock dwarf was obsessing about food, I thought it might be Josh.

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Prower

Prower

(edited)

You know I learned something about myself today. I'm still salty that the writers brought Q and Alice back together instead of exploring the far more interesting relationship between Q and Elliot.

But I guess at least there is hope that she might bring him back. I'm totally unspoiled so I really hope it's not a fakeout, though I fear it is.

Looooooooooooved Elliot and Margo sitting under a tree, sipping from their champagne glasses, just bantering. Could have watched that for the whole 45 minutes. I hope them being seperated won't last long. We had far too much of that the last few seasons.

Edited by Prower
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iMonrey

iMonrey

(edited)

So here we are, back again, after I spent a year on the fence about whether to come back or not. I feel like someone who is still with a spouse that cheated on them. I still feel betrayed, and I have not forgiven them, but I also feel too invested to just walk away. I still feel like there may be value left in the relationship.

My initial reaction to the season premier is that it feels off. There is definitely something missing. Parts of it feel like an organic extension of where we left the show last season, particularly with Margo and Eliot, and with Kady and Pete. 

But Julia's story feels rather contrived so far, as if the writers are scrambling for material for her, much like she is for purpose. Penny's story is pushing it too. Dean Fogg says Penny is the only Brakebills-trained traveler, but how much schooling did Penny actually get there? He was a first-year in Season 1 and it wasn't long before The Beast turned everyone's world upside down. From then on it was one quest after another, so none of the students really ever attended that many classes. (I realize this is a different Penny but the timelines were all interrupted for the same reason, hence the constant re-setting.)

It occurs to me that if they were going to kill off a main character it really should have been Alice. Quentin was about the only one who could stand her and without him she has little to no connection to the rest of the group. I suppose since she had already "died" once they didn't think it would give them the impact they were looking for, though. And I still fully believe the decision to kill off Quentin was more of a gimmick intended for shock value than anything else.

Overall I'm glad to revisit these characters but as I expected it feels more like a spin-off or sequel than the same show.

Edited by iMonrey
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toolazy

toolazy

I only saw the first 30 minutes or so but I was vaguely amused.  My biggest problem here is that I don't give shit one for Alice in the best of times.  Angsty, depressed Alice is too much to bear.

Although, I have to say that the actress killed it when Alice opened the door and saw Julia.  The way her face fell was subtle and perfect.

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festivus

festivus

I watched last season again a few weeks ago in preparation. I can't believe I'm going to say this but I'm most interested in the hedge witch storyline. Bring on Kady and Pete.

Alice might be interesting if she really goes off the rails. Eliot is back to drowning his pain in a flask. Julia is using a quest to deal with hers. Margo is making a lot of sense. She should slap some into Eliot. I'm still mad at you show, but I'm glad you're back.

ElectricBoogaloo

ElectricBoogaloo

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36 minutes ago, iMonrey said:

Didn't it feel like we were short-changed in this episode so they could air an extended "Making Magic" doc at the end of it? They usually don't air those on SyFy and it took up a good chunk of the hour.

The episode was 46 minutes long without commercials which is actually longer than usual. Episodes of this show are usually 41-44 minutes (although there have been a few that were as short as 39 minutes and the pilot was 52 minutes).

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Machiabelly

Machiabelly

On 1/16/2020 at 9:12 AM, ElectricBoogaloo said:

 

I also loved that the way to the clock dwarf was a giant slide. It's going to be a bitch walking all the way back up though.

The way that the clock dwarf was obsessing about food, I thought it might be Josh.

It was kind of a throw away line, but they got to slide back up as well.

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Hanahope

Hanahope

So does this mean that Jason Ralph is coming back to the show?  I suppose it'll be interesting to see if the Q-golem thing works.  I suppose the idea is that the golem will have Q's memories from the life book, with his "soul" or personality based on the notes Q wrote in the Fillory book.

So what happened to Elliot after the slide back up?  Or did he stay down with the time troll?

 

 

kieyra

kieyra

(edited)
2 hours ago, Hanahope said:

So does this mean that Jason Ralph is coming back to the show?  I suppose it'll be interesting to see if the Q-golem thing works.  I suppose the idea is that the golem will have Q's memories from the life book, with his "soul" or personality based on the notes Q wrote in the Fillory book.

So what happened to Elliot after the slide back up?  Or did he stay down with the time troll?

 

 

The PR at the time made it seem very clear he wasn’t coming back. The unapologetic tone of the showrunners made me assume they won’t cave to fan pressure because they got their heads pretty far up their own asses in their drive to destroy the “white male hero’s journey” trope. And be edgy and shocking. Or whatever. 

That said, still checking these threads to see if it happens. I miss the show’s early seasons but I won’t even give them the benefit of my Netflix rewatch stats now. 

Edited by kieyra
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MissL

MissL

I turned it off 15 minutes in. I think I’m still bitter. We are stuck with Alice and Josh (I assume Josh will show at some point) and new Penny but no Q. I just can’t. Never thought I’d miss him so much but...definitely something missing.

Maybe I’ll keep checking out the threads and how things are going with the show as the season progresses and try again some other time. I do miss Margo and Eliot.

AudienceofOne

AudienceofOne

Hey, remember how the Magicians was always quite good but had a tendency to be subtle as a fucking sledgehammer?

Yeah, me neither.

Congratulations, you killed your own show.

"Sexist pig" - oh yeah, hilarious

PS It's more effective if you show us things rather than have them come out of character's mouths as dialogue. 

But thank you for explaining the show's themes using exposition. That's not clunk at all. 

BTW, your show? Isn't about anything anymore. Because the only way you can subvert the sexism and classism in the traditional hero's journey is by subverting the arc of the traditional white cis male character you just killed off. If you wanted to subvert it by not having one then you should have... not have one. Oh wait, then your entire storyline wouldn't have worked.

Before I tuned in, I asked myself if I had yet recovered from the white hot rage of Quentin's death and... yeah, nah. Apparently it hasn't been long enough.

Don't tell me how to grieve!

AudienceofOne

AudienceofOne

On 1/17/2020 at 5:50 AM, iMonrey said:

So here we are, back again, after I spent a year on the fence about whether to come back or not. I feel like someone who is still with a spouse that cheated on them. I still feel betrayed, and I have not forgiven them, but I also feel too invested to just walk away. I still feel like there may be value left in the relationship.

That's a good way to put it. I'm cynical as hell but I guess I didn't have anywhere else to go and may as well give it a shot.

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