S01.E07: The Mayakovsky Circumstances

[ElectricBoogaloo]

An uncompromising professor pushes boundaries both in magic and in the personal lives of his first-year students. Meanwhile, Julia must decide whether she's ready to accept help and what that means for her future as a Magician.

Edited February 23, 2016 by ElectricBoogaloo

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Damn, everybody got some this week except for poor Margo! You'd think since she and Eliot have been to Ibiza before, they would have learned how to pronounce it correctly. The thought of magical Burning Man was hilarious though. I'm glad poor Todd got to go.

 

I knew Eliot's new fuck buddy was a bad guy. It was just way too convenient that he showed up and knew how to speak Arabic. I really wonder what the casting notice for that part looked like. "Must be willing to perform fellatio on inanimate objects"?

 

I want to know more about the djinn. Does Margo have a limited number of wishes? Are there limits on what she can ask for? I also want to know how their spell ended up working if Eliot only had half the spell and the other half of the spell they looked up in the library was for gin.

 

I totally loved that when the first years were at Hogwarts: Antarctica, Penny was still running around barefoot and he managed to get the only white shirt in the entire castle that wasn't a long sleeved turtleneck.

 

I think I might love Professor Mayakovsky. I also liked the twist near the end. I thought he was going to bust Kady but instead he tried to be as nice as is possible for him when breaking the news about her mother and then advising her to make a smart choice.

 

Interestingly, I have begun to enjoy Quentin more as the season goes on. In the first episode he was kind of a whiner but since then he manages to do at least one thing per week that endears him to me. Taylor Swift earned him enough points to make up for the first episode of emo-ness. This week, my favorite thing was when he pulled all the nails into the air and then spelled out DICK.

 

Still not interested in Julia. If she really goes to rehab, can that be completely off screen?

Edited March 1, 2016 by ElectricBoogaloo

[wayne67]

I enjoyed this episode a lot. 

The only part that was mediocre was Julia and her sister. Still don't care about her or her journey.

 

It's good that Quentin, Alice, Mike, Elliot, Penny, Kady got some action.

 

So nice Todd got to be part of the partygoers. He's totally adorable. 

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Inside the episode:

[Triskan]

Mayakovky : "Would you two just fuck already ?"
Me : "Yeah ! Long overdue !"

 

So glad Quentin and Alice finally went there !

[marieYOTZ]

I am deeply ambivalent about this show, but i'm more engaged in the episodes as they go along. I liked last night's, and laughed as hard at Quentin accidentally grabbing Alice's boobs as i have at anything on the show..

The only complaint i had was the transition from Quentin and Alice getting thrown out in the cold to having sex/being foxes. I have to believe i missed a scene, because what i saw was them shivering outside the door to the compound before a commercial break, to them undressing inside/trotting around as foxes outside/maybe having sex outside.

[Hanahope]

My question is that Mayakovky said that Penny was cursed and would likely die unless he got lots of training and practice.  yet the only traveler "mentor" doesn't want to do that, he just wants Penny to get the non-traveling tattoo.  So how is Penny supposed to get training and practice?  And if the tattoo works, how did that other student traveler from the last episode end up in Fillory?

 

So does Julia's sister know about the magic addiction or just thinks Julia is addicted to something else, like drugs?  If Julia goes to 'drug rehab', how do they treat her when her addiction isn't really "physical" per se, but more mental?

 

I'm kindof confused over the "hold" that Marina had over Kady?  Was it, steal stuff for me or I'll do something to your mom/kill your mom kindof thing?  Because otherwise, I don't see why Kady would do anything for Marina.  I guess if it was a physical/magical type threat of harm, can't do it now.  So what will Kady do?  Join forces with Julia?

[Izeinwinter]

Almost certainly, because that is the most reasonable way to keep both those characters plot going. 

[Lemur]

My question is that Mayakovky said that Penny was cursed and would likely die unless he got lots of training and practice.  yet the only traveler "mentor" doesn't want to do that, he just wants Penny to get the non-traveling tattoo.  So how is Penny supposed to get training and practice?  And if the tattoo works, how did that other student traveler from the last episode end up in Fillory?

 

So does Julia's sister know about the magic addiction or just thinks Julia is addicted to something else, like drugs?  If Julia goes to 'drug rehab', how do they treat her when her addiction isn't really "physical" per se, but more mental?

 

I'm kindof confused over the "hold" that Marina had over Kady?  Was it, steal stuff for me or I'll do something to your mom/kill your mom kindof thing?  Because otherwise, I don't see why Kady would do anything for Marina.  I guess if it was a physical/magical type threat of harm, can't do it now.  So what will Kady do?  Join forces with Julia?

 

Penny and traveling - Mayakovsky is teaching him.  Hence the scene where he ends up in the desert, volcano, etc.

 

Julia - She told James she got into someone's Ritalin or the like a couple of episodes back.  Sister Dear (didn't catch a name) said James told her.  Either way, Sister Dear is trying to get Julia's shit straightened out before Mommy Dearest (who sounds like a real peach) has her involuntarily committed.

 

Kady - Apparently Marina cleaned up some sort of mess Kady's now-dead mother created, and as payment, her mother has promised Kady to steal stuff for Marina.  Clearly the hold is "do this or I will kill you".  

 

The only complaint i had was the transition from Quentin and Alice getting thrown out in the cold to having sex/being foxes. I have to believe i missed a scene, because what i saw was them shivering outside the door to the compound before a commercial break, to them undressing inside/trotting around as foxes outside/maybe having sex outside.

 

No, they used a bunch of jump cuts to kinda flash-back the fox sex.  Mayakovsky threw them out, commercial break to them coming inside, flashing jump cuts to foxes playing, people hooking up.  You didn't miss anything.  You didn't have a stroke or a seizure.  That's just pretty much how they presented it.

[iMonrey]

This show is so unfocused and ill-defined. Last week the first years (all twelve of them) went through the "trials" which culminated in them turning into birds. Now, apparently, they can turn themselves into any animal they wish at will. Yet it takes them hours to master a spell which drives a nail into a board? 

 

And didn't the professors tell Quentin back around Episode 2 that they couldn't tell what his "specialty" was? Isn't it telekinesis? Didn't he already display that ability in the pilot, with the cards? And here again with the nails spelling out "Dick?" Now, maybe the "Dick" trick was accomplished with some hand-gesture invocation but he didn't know any of those gestures in the pilot when he did the thing with the cards. 

 

And I still feel there is too much of a contrast between the emo anger and depression projected by the first years versus the glib hedonism of Margo and Eliot. How long do you have to be a Brakebill's before you turn into an unfeeling bitch? Margo and Eliot come across like a couple of catty mean girls and it makes them very unattractive to me. At least poor Todd got to go to Ibiza after all.

 

I don't really understand the point of having to fly all the way to the South Pole - as geese, no less (as if geese can actually fly to the South Pole) just to study with some acerbic professor who could just as easily use his door portal to come to Brakebills.

 

Nothing on this show really seems to make sense. 

[zxy556575]

If I'm remembering correctly, Kady's mother Hannah asked Marina for help cleaning up after a spell/heist gone wrong, and Marina subsequently held that over Kady's head in order to keep her in servitude. That's why Mayakovsky told Kady that she was free from Marina now that Hannah was dead.

 

I'm curious about Mayakovsky's relation with Brakebill's -- why not just have him on campus if he's a part of the faculty? Even adjunct. I suppose it's just atmospheric. I liked him but could have done without quite so much emphasis on the Russian drunkenness stereotype.

 

I nodded my head sympathetically at Kady's dilemma because, yes, Brakebill's is indeed an unforgiving place and they absolutely would inflict punishment for her transgressions, whether she was under duress or not. I'm interested to see where she ends up, not the least because of her relationships with Penny, who continues to be the main draw for me on the show. Tattoo on, tattoo off. Poor guy doesn't know if he's coming or going.

[Philbert]

 

Julia - She told James she got into someone's Ritalin or the like a couple of episodes back.  Sister Dear (didn't catch a name) said James told her.  Either way, Sister Dear is trying to get Julia's shit straightened out before Mommy Dearest (who sounds like a real peach) has her involuntarily committed.

 

Heh. I like "sister dear" and "Mommy Dearest." Got a nice ring to it. Actually I did like Julia's older sister a lot. She appears to have her head screwed on straight and she very obviously cares about her little sis. The mother sounds like a real horror and goes a long way to explain why Julia is as messed up as she is. I'm starting to feel sorry for here again. So, I guess that's good? Anyway, I thought it was a very well done little scene.

[Primetimer]

Also: What can spending a month as a goose do for your self-esteem?

Read the story

[Lemur]

 

And didn't the professors tell Quentin back around Episode 2 that they couldn't tell what his "specialty" was? Isn't it telekinesis? Didn't he already display that ability in the pilot, with the cards? And here again with the nails spelling out "Dick?" Now, maybe the "Dick" trick was accomplished with some hand-gesture invocation but he didn't know any of those gestures in the pilot when he did the thing with the cards.

 

I thought it was still "Unknown", he said as much when he moved into the Cottage, that they put him with the Physical Kids due to a space issue.  Eliot is telekinetic.  The cards were a special casting brought on by stress (hence why he passed out), the nails were a basic spell they learned earlier.  

Edited March 1, 2016 by Lemur

[iMonrey]

What else could you call what he did with the cards in the pilot other than telekinesis? He's manipulating objects with his mind. That's the definition of telekinesis.

[Lemur]

What else could you call what he did with the cards in the pilot other than telekinesis? He's manipulating objects with his mind. That's the definition of telekinesis.

Not necessarily.  Quentin used hand gestures (why the Dean grabbed his hands while yelling at him), therefore it was a spell, and one done without conscious thought.  TK doesn't require hand gestures or incantations.  Your mind thinks and the object moves.

Edited March 1, 2016 by Lemur

[alannaofdoom]

 

I'm also genuinely concerned about what this means for the amount of time Arjun Gupta spends shirtless.

 

The show has so far demonstrated a laudable commitment to getting him out of his clothes on a very regular basis. I have faith that they will not fail us now! 

 

I liked this ep overall, but I thought the Quentin/Alice fox-tryst was edited into utter incomprehensibility. If I hadn't read the books I would've had no idea what was happening. 

[Triskan]

My question is that Mayakovky said that Penny was cursed and would likely die unless he got lots of training and practice.  yet the only traveler "mentor" doesn't want to do that, he just wants Penny to get the non-traveling tattoo.  So how is Penny supposed to get training and practice?  And if the tattoo works, how did that other student traveler from the last episode end up in Fillory?

 

With the tattoo, Penny can only do astral projection, travel just with his mind, which is safer and what the other teacher was advising him to do (and it still requires some training)..

Here, he litteraly and physically travelled, way more dangerous. 

[iMonrey]

 

Quentin used hand gestures (why the Dean grabbed his hands while yelling at him), therefore it was a spell, and one done without conscious thought.  TK doesn't require hand gestures or incantations.  Your mind thinks and the object moves.

 

He didn't use any hand gestures, the cards simply slipped from his hands and began swirling around in the air. He was more or less pointing to them or directing them but again - that's TK, not a spell. Every time we've seen anyone use hand gesture to invoke a spell they have been elaborate, exacting signals like sign language almost. Nothing Quentin did with the cards even remotely resembled such gestures and it would be quite the coincidence for him to accidentally stumble on the specific hand gestures required to make cards swirl around a room and form a perfect castle of cards. Harder than driving a nail into a board, I would imagine.

 

I just think this show really plays fast and loose with the concept of how magic works in this world.

 

 

My question is that Mayakovky said that Penny was cursed and would likely die unless he got lots of training and practice.  yet the only traveler "mentor" doesn't want to do that, he just wants Penny to get the non-traveling tattoo.  So how is Penny supposed to get training and practice?

 

He seemed to be standing in some sort of pentagram design on the floor when he was training with Mayakovky. Assuming he's not going to transport back and forth to the South Pole for additional training sessions maybe the pentagram keeps him safe somehow for practicing.

[WildPlum]

Looks like Kady and Julia are bound to become a team (I cheated and looked it up on IMDB, which says she is in all 10 episodes) and maybe take on/down Marina. I'd be for that. That is just an assumption on my part, if Kady isn;t IN Brakebills there are only so many ways she can be part of the cast.

 

A couple of episodes back we talked about how bad the memory wipe spells are and here is a great example - Julia's sister remembers James. Assuming that actually IS Julia's sister, of course, and not a Marina-construct or Marina in disguise, trying to get her locked up somewhere she can't get out of.

Edited March 2, 2016 by WildPlum

[LoneHaranguer]

 

I want to know more about the djinn. Does Margo have a limited number of wishes? Are there limits on what she can ask for?

The way things usually work, you need to be very careful because djinn are masters at finding alternate interpretations for a wish (as with the doorknob).

 

 

I liked this ep overall, but I thought the Quentin/Alice fox-tryst was edited into utter incomprehensibility. If I hadn't read the books I would've had no idea what was happening.

They did the same with the final scene of last week's episode, repeated at the beginning of this one. Did the ladies hitchhike to ice school? All we saw transforming were the guys, and only one bird flew down from the roof at the end, presumably leaving his partner for the exercise behind (I don't recall which of the guys that was or who he was with).

 

 

I don't really understand the point of having to fly all the way to the South Pole - as geese, no less (as if geese can actually fly to the South Pole) just to study with some acerbic professor who could just as easily use his door portal to come to Brakebills.

I presume it's a play on the phrase "silly goose", how the professors see the frosh.

[carrps]

Damn, everybody got some this week except for poor Margo! You'd think since she and Eliot have been to Ibiza before, they would have learned how to pronounce it correctly.

 

That was driving me insane.

 

I'm also assuming that Kady and Julia are gonna hook-up.

[grandemocha]

Was the actor who played Mayakovsky actually Russian or was that just a piss poor attempt at an accent? Julia's sister looks nothing like her. How is Julia paying for that giant apartment? Is she a trust fund baby?

Quentin spelling out "DICK" with the nails got a chuckle out of me I must admit. Penny does not believe in sleeves and I am okay with that ;)

 

Yasss Quentin and Alice got together, I must admit I am naturally inclined to root for certain relationships (all the way back to The WB Buffy & Angel) so I like this little occurrence. I am firmly aboard the Quentin/Alice train! Penny would have been screaming bloody murder when Mayakovsky carved the tattoo off of his arm so I thought that was pretty unbelievable but I did like him testing his ability since I'm certain it will be needed later.

Maybe I was just unaware, but have SYFY shows always allowed use of the word "fuck"?

What was with that choppy editing after Quentin and Alice were kicked out into the freezing/snowy outside with no clothes on? I feel like that could have been filmed a bit differently or better for that scene.

Uh oh, is Elliot's new man possessed by The Beast now or something? His eyes glowing purple made it seem like it.

 

I really really overall enjoyed this episode, and I think I made the right choice sticking it out with the show.

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Was the actor who played Mayakovsky actually Russian or was that just a piss poor attempt at an accent?

Brían F. O'Byrne is an Irish actor who has appeared in Oz, Million Dollar Baby, Brotherhood, Flashforward, Mildred Pierce (which got him an Emmy nomination), Aquarius, etc. He's also a Broadway actor. He's been nominated for five Tony Awards and won once.

Edited March 2, 2016 by ElectricBoogaloo

[grandemocha]

 

Brían F. O'Byrne is an Irish actor who has appeared in Oz, Million Dollar Baby, Brotherhood, Flashforward, Mildred Pierce (which got him an Emmy nomination), Aquarius, etc. He's also a Broadway actor. He's been nominated for five Tony Awards and won once.

Well then, I guess I eat my words from my slightly asshole-ish comment. He's clearly talented and I found him amusing by the end of the episode, but I just didn't like the way the accent sounded.

[withanaich]

He may in fact be a good actor (I don't remember seeing him before, even though I watched Flash Forward), but that accent was atrocious. Hopefully they intended for it to be laughable.

 

 

How is Julia paying for that giant apartment? Is she a trust fund baby?

 

I would assume she comes from money, as the sister mentioned their mother sitting on the board of the Met and being chummy with several powerful judges. Plus, you know, everyone on TV in NYC has awesome apartments.

[paramitch]

I was really happy with this episode overall, especially for the ways in which it expanded characters, moved the plot forward, and provided a ton of growth and nuance for pretty much everyone.

 

The stuff I liked: The beautiful conversation between Quentin and Alice about how wonderful it was to be a goose, which was a nice callback to the books, and their growing connection and eventual hookup. I loved the ways the animal transfigurations actually helped the characters (as geese and as foxes). Loved how assy yet weirdly empathetic Mayakovsky turned out to be (and I thought the actor was wonderful). I was delighted Quentin and Alice finally gave in, and loved that it was Alice who made the first move. The actress is really growing on me and I liked her a lot here.

 

I loved the Margo/Eliot stuff because (as the recapper duly noted) I hate the term "f-g hag" (I can't write that word out, sorry), and feel like Eliot/Margo is a perfect example of something more complex. Basically, they're soulmates who palpably love one another, but while both appear good-natured and at ease about their sexual orientation differences, it appears that Eliot has no baggage at all from it, while Margo, to me, has a lingering feeling of jealousy and possessiveness that is still slyly subtly physical in that very young way when you're in your 20s and you still think, "Things could change! He/she could love me!" It's kind of heartbreaking because it's so utterly doomed. Either way, I still love their relationship.

 

Speaking of which: I love that I'm watching a show where Eliot's sexual orientation is such a non-issue. I can't describe it the way I want to, but whether he's crushing on Quentin, or flirting with the Djinn's victim here, it's just so breezy and lovely and awesome. Even Margo just exasperatedly looking at the two of them and ordering, "Just go bang already," was the best thing ever. Even on a ton of other edgier shows, Eliot's sexuality would have somehow been made an issue, and it's just not here, and in the best and most vital way. I love that.

 

Things I didn't like: The cinematography on this show drives me nuts because I always love/hate it. So many scenes are either way too dark, or they're artificially musty and blue/grey. Which is obviously a stylistic choice, since many Brakebills scenes are breathtakingly clear and sunny in contrast, but I found so many scenes in Mayakovsky's building to be very monochromatic and hard to watch. I get that everything needed to be blue to denote ice and cold but it didn't work so well for me.

 

I also felt like there were some weird choices with the Antarctic class segment staging. We know there are 6-7 other students there (thanks to a ham-handed comment by Mayakovsky that "they are all upstairs" or something)so why don't we see them? It couldn't be that expensive to just include them all in a single arrival/meal scene or two, right? Because otherwise that just makes the show continue to feel artificially claustrophobic on a continuing basis. Sometimes it does feel like all of Brakebills is really just our core group. I don't feel the weight of enough students at Brakebills in most scenes. I wish the show would let us get to see the class around Quentin/Alice/Penny repeatedly and even let us notice a few of them (even if they don't speak or get their SAG cards). It's just very clumsy to me.

 

I liked Julia's sister and was just glad it wasn't freaking Marina waiting for her (as I feared it would be). The actress did a good job in the scene at the police station too.

 

I think I might love Professor Mayakovsky. I also liked the twist near the end. I thought he was going to bust Kady but instead he tried to be as nice as is possible for him when breaking the news about her mother and then advising her to make a smart choice.

 

Interestingly, I have begun to enjoy Quentin more as the season goes on. In the first episode he was kind of a whiner but since then he manages to do at least one thing per week that endears him to me. Taylor Swift earned him enough points to make up for the first episode of emo-ness. This week, my favorite thing was when he pulled all the nails into the air and then spelled out DICK.

I loved Mayakovsky, and really enjoyed that he might be an ass, but he's also a perceptive ass who doesn't have a lot of time for either fools or people who lie to themselves. I loved that he was so blunt with Alice/Quentin about their (obvious) feelings, and that he was such a mentor to Penny (hilariously), as well as a surprisingly empathetic and thoughtful giver of bad news to Kady. I don't particularly love Kady, but I liked the speech he gave her, and am interested to see what happens next with her.

 

On Quentin, I think he's absolutely wonderful. I think he's everything horrible and wonderful about being a guy exactly his age and circumstance, who both thought of himself as everything and nothing, and who dreamed of a magical world when he was a kid (and found one, but somehow he still doesn't find it enough). I think he's a perfect combo of brave/drippy/assy/goofy.

 

The only complaint i had was the transition from Quentin and Alice getting thrown out in the cold to having sex/being foxes. I have to believe i missed a scene, because what i saw was them shivering outside the door to the compound before a commercial break, to them undressing inside/trotting around as foxes outside/maybe having sex outside.

 

I thought that was actually pretty nicely done, and that it was a somewhat artsy allusion to the cute little foxes also, ahem, getting busy out there in the snow. Which broke the ice for Quentin and Alice to also let go as themselves, as well.

 

I'm kindof confused over the "hold" that Marina had over Kady?  Was it, steal stuff for me or I'll do something to your mom/kill your mom kindof thing?  Because otherwise, I don't see why Kady would do anything for Marina.  I guess if it was a physical/magical type threat of harm, can't do it now.

 

Kady was doing magical favors for Marina to protect her mother Hannah, who had been saved by Marina the one time (during the ill-conceived heist) but who was now in thrall to Marina and in danger from her. So now that Kady doesn't have to protect her mother anymore, she owes Marina nothing. It was never about protecting herself, but about protecting the one person she loved.

 

No, they used a bunch of jump cuts to kinda flash-back the fox sex.  Mayakovsky threw them out, commercial break to them coming inside, flashing jump cuts to foxes playing, people hooking up.  You didn't miss anything.  You didn't have a stroke or a seizure.  That's just pretty much how they presented it.

 

This -- nicely described. And I'm with you on the Kady/Marina indebtedness too. That was how I read it as well.

 

This show is so unfocused and ill-defined. Last week the first years (all twelve of them) went through the "trials" which culminated in them turning into birds. Now, apparently, they can turn themselves into any animal they wish at will. Yet it takes them hours to master a spell which drives a nail into a board? 

 

And didn't the professors tell Quentin back around Episode 2 that they couldn't tell what his "specialty" was? Isn't it telekinesis? Didn't he already display that ability in the pilot, with the cards? And here again with the nails spelling out "Dick?" Now, maybe the "Dick" trick was accomplished with some hand-gesture invocation but he didn't know any of those gestures in the pilot when he did the thing with the cards. 

 

And I still feel there is too much of a contrast between the emo anger and depression projected by the first years versus the glib hedonism of Margo and Eliot. How long do you have to be a Brakebill's before you turn into an unfeeling bitch? Margo and Eliot come across like a couple of catty mean girls and it makes them very unattractive to me. At least poor Todd got to go to Ibiza after all.

 

I don't really understand the point of having to fly all the way to the South Pole - as geese, no less (as if geese can actually fly to the South Pole) just to study with some acerbic professor who could just as easily use his door portal to come to Brakebills.

To answer your questions in order, I felt that:

 

• To me, it was obvious that Mayakovsky turned them outdoors and then turned them into foxes as a further learning scenario (also, it wasn't exactly easy for them to become geese -- it was the hardest spell they had ever been asked to do and took all of the students all night to accomplish it). I felt like the other spells were challenging simply due to the students having to acclimate to nonverbal spellcasting.

 

• What Quentin did was what any of them have shown an ability to do. The show has shown that all of the magicians can move objects with their minds (that was the entire spell assignment here), so I think they were looking for something far more specific with Quentin in terms of specialization. There seems to be something deeper that each of them connects to that's very very specific (Alice being able to 'bend light' for instance), so Quentin being a mystery was a fun surprise there.

 

• I think the goose transformation experience was meant to be a lesson in itself. On the arrival to Mayakovsky's after the flight to Antarctica, the first thing Quentin and Alice expressed was sadness that it had to end, and how fulfilling and beautiful they found it. Also, not only are geese actually able to survive in Antarctica, but there are varieties of geese that travel the globe and even reach 27,000 feet to traverse the Himalayas repeatedly, so that wasn't a stretch for me. Of course they could have just been transported there, but there was something to be learned in the journey.

 

I'm curious about Mayakovsky's relation with Brakebill's -- why not just have him on campus if he's a part of the faculty? Even adjunct. I suppose it's just atmospheric.

 

I answered this question in the "Ask a Magician" thread. Be warned that the answer involves spoilers from the book. 
 

They did the same with the final scene of last week's episode, repeated at the beginning of this one. Did the ladies hitchhike to ice school? All we saw transforming were the guys, and only one bird flew down from the roof at the end, presumably leaving his partner for the exercise behind (I don't recall which of the guys that was or who he was with).

 

All of the students who succeeded with last week's spell flew to Antarctica as geese, boys and girls alike. I actually suspect that part of the transformation choices may have had something to do with filming difficulties as the girls were supposed to be naked, so it was easy to have the men contort themselves for transformation more easily and without messing too much with ratings issues. Meanwhile, the implication was actually that Alice flew off before Quentin, as she was gone when he looked up (and he looked to be the last to join the flock of flying geese last week). 

Edited March 2, 2016 by paramitch

[ElectricBoogaloo]

I also enjoyed the conversation Quentin and Alice had about being geese because although there are a lot of books/movies/shows that include magic, they either don't talk about how it makes them feel (Harry Potter) or it's used as an addiction (Willow, Julia, etc). I loved the breathless way they talked about how the air felt.

[TiffanyNichelle]

I've been thinking about my issue with the show and Julia. It's not that I just don't like Julia (though I really don't) but I don't like that the show is basically two shows in one. The Julia show is this blue tinted depressing show about magic addiction and the Quentin/Brakebills show is is all warm bright colors and magical tournaments and accidental conjuring of Djinns. I wish the show was just one overall type because the bouncing back and forth is not enjoyable. Why should you care about Margo and Elliot getting the perfect magician mentor when Julia is on the outside dealing with  "real" life stuff.

[grandemocha]

 

I wish the show was just one overall type because the bouncing back and forth is not enjoyable.

To me, that would be incredibly boring. By having Julia's struggles and Quentin's adventures at Brakebill's occurring simultaneously, it gives the story variety. I do think Julia is a bit of an asshole right now, but she's not irredeemable. She's just struggling and needs help. If it was all one story at Brakebills, that would be akin to the usual tripe I see on the CW with hot magical people at college. Julia sort of grounds it a bit more for me by being in the city and (for example) having her sister show concern for Julia's state of mind, and the disheveled nature of her apartment because it does look like to a regular person that Julia needs help/rehab, that is reality. Both Quentin and Julia are learning and growing while the lurking threat of Marina and The Beast still awaits them and will need to be dealt with or at least confronted by the end of the season. I'm fairly certain their stories will converge (perhaps permanently) by the end of the first season and then the storytelling will be a bit more streamlined, but right now I am enjoying the hell out of it.

[iMonrey]

 

Maybe I was just unaware, but have SYFY shows always allowed use of the word "fuck"?

 

They've been muting it out prior to this episode; I got the impression they all but muted it out in this one. Basically "fuc*" instead of "f***." 

 

 

Brían F. O'Byrne is an Irish actor who has appeared in Oz, Million Dollar Baby, Brotherhood, Flashforward, Mildred Pierce (which got him an Emmy nomination), Aquarius, etc.

 

He was also in TNT's The Last Ship, for those of you who were trying to place him like I was.

 

 

To me, it was obvious that Mayakovsky turned them outdoors and then turned them into foxes

 

Mayakovsky asked Quentin why he chose a Fox before he left through the magic door to Brakebill's. So unless Mayakovsky cast some kind of "turn into whatever animal you choose" spell, it was Quentin and Alice who transformed themselves, rather that someone else transforming them.

[LoneHaranguer]

 

I actually suspect that part of the transformation choices may have had something to do with filming difficulties as the girls were supposed to be naked, so it was easy to have the men contort themselves for transformation more easily and without messing too much with ratings issues.

All it would have taken was a little body paint. I saw a show a few years ago where they were talking about body-painting and did slow pans down the models to show the work, and it was quite clear that they weren't wearing anything but paint. This was an afternoon show on basic cable. If SyFy wanted to be more prudish, the lighting was dim enough to hide some pasties.

[stillshimpy]

I'm finding this show surprisingly wonderful and every single week I feel like buying the casting director a giant drink and a box  of chocolates.  Margo's character, in particular, could have come off very poorly in all of this and instead I found her funny and sympathetic.   

 

I liked the way you described her friendship with Eliot, paramitch, they are soulmates.  They do complete any picture, round out any experience for the other and just get each other on a level that no one else can.  Plus the actors had the wisdom to add a lot of warmth to some of their casually cutting and catty dialogue.  

 

I just like almost everyone on this show and enjoy the directions they are taking the characters.  I confess, I don't currently get Julia's direction, the point of it.  Where they could be taking it.  Clearly magic isn't just some wildly addictive stand-in for crack , but there hasn't been any explanation as to why some people are less able to handle magic than others.   However, I'm willing to wait and see on where they are taking it.  

 

I personally thought the transfiguration to foxes, first-hookup, followed by in-human-form sex was conveyed rather well considering the subject matter.  They got the point across that they'd had a sexual encounter in both forms and the order being a litlte hazy due to editing didn't bother me.  I thought that was a delicate and interesting choice on the part of the editors and beat the hell out of some of the directions they could have chosen. 

 

I personally enjoy Mayakovsky and his withering disdain, fueled by frequent trips to his vodka bottle that couldn't quite hide or change the fact that he was a gifted instructor.  I also liked that he -- with all the subtlety of a vodka-soaked-misanthrope  played matchmaker quite a bit with Quentin and Alice.  That Mayakovsky actually seemingly displayed some fondness for Quentin and perhaps for Alice, by constructing a test in which they would need each other to get through it.  That hinted at something sort of sweet and aching in the characterization, which is fun and not that easy to do, considering he really made me want to wear out the word jackass in describing him more than once. 

 

Cool character note they hit again with Quentin was that he is at his most powerful when threatened, challenged or angered.  

 

I also really appreciate -- again praising the casting team for this production -- that the standard of beauty on this show is varied and that the young women are beautiful, healthy and setting a more realistic body standard for beauty than TV sometimes promotes.  Go team Magicians Casting! 

 

Sadly the least interesting thing about the episode, for me, was the material with Julia.  Julia in a squalid apartment, acting jittery, smoking cigarettes and in dire need of a cleaning lady is starting to feel a little wheel-spinning.   

Edited March 3, 2016 by stillshimpy

[ElectricBoogaloo]

[call me ishmael]

 

• [*]To me, it was obvious that Mayakovsky turned them outdoors and then turned them into foxes as a further learning scenario (also, it wasn't exactly easy for them to become geese -- it was the hardest spell they had ever been asked to do and took all of the students all night to accomplish it). I felt like the other spells were challenging simply due to the students having to acclimate to nonverbal spellcasting.

Yes, i would even go farther. I think the whole point of throwing them outside was to force them to discover more magic inside so that they could survive by transforming. I don't think that Mayakovsky expected foxes (he said that was difficult) but that he wanted them to feel at risk so they would lose their inhibitions and doubts. It is a bit like the cards at the beginning when the dean screamed at Quentin.

[LeGrandElephant]

So did Myakovsky tell Brakebills on Kady? If not, how did they find out she'd been stealing?

[Fredward]

I see to be in a slightly different boat, I don't really like notHogwarts and Quentin and LI remind me of joyless sea turtles but Julia's storyline interests me. I don't think I like her necessarily (whiny, entitled, the stupid kind of stubborn etc) but the storyline is more interesting than Chosen One Finds Friends, Love and Acceptance While Overcoming Mildly Inconvenient Circumstance <3 XOXOXOXO <3.

Edited March 19, 2016 by Fredward

[AudienceofOne]

Quote

The only complaint i had was the transition from Quentin and Alice getting thrown out in the cold to having sex/being foxes. I have to believe i missed a scene, because what i saw was them shivering outside the door to the compound before a commercial break, to them undressing inside/trotting around as foxes outside/maybe having sex outside.

You've just summed up my problem with the whole show. I had no idea what was happening. I never thought I'd been demanding more exposition from a TV show but there I am. More exposition, people! Every episode I feel like they filmed about 10 more scenes that then got cut for time and what we're left with just doesn't quite hand together. It's like watching the original TV version of the Curse of Fenric from Doctor Who. Then you watch the unedited version on the DVD and you realise it's the best episode of the show ever made. But the edited version, makes no damn sense.

As for that scene... when did they decide to turn into foxes? When did they learn how? Were they having sex because they were foxes? Was this just some animal instinct thing or did the catharsis of running around as foxes free them to act on their impulses? Where were they when they were having sex? It looked like a cabin? If not, how did they get back in when they'd been thrown out? 

Also, apparently they were in Antarctica but could survive as foxes. I mean, seriously? That's not exactly advanced geography. Did the writers just go "where is cold?" and leave it at that? There's a parallel version of this story where they froze to death and the teacher involved ended up in prison. Would have been so easy to make it the Arctic.

[twkadventures]

At exactly 38:37 of this episode a piano theme starts to play (when Mike and Eliot are lying in bed together), this theme did not begin in this episode, but is recurring, and I wonder if anyone knows what song it is from?  Thanks in advance!

[Camera One]

This episode was a little tedious.  I'm tired of them being tested, this time by a grumpy professor with a heart of gold or whatever.  The subplot at the Physical house was amusing at times.  It was nice to see Eliot get a boyfriend but now he's apparently evil/controlled by the blue moth.