S01.E11: Remedial Battle Magic

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Quentin and the others learn battle magic as they prepare for a showdown in Fillory. But this challenge leads to building frustrations...pushing some apart and others together. Julia and Kady take on a mission with the Free Traders that may push them too far.

Promo:

Edited March 22, 2016 by ElectricBoogaloo

[blugirlami21]

That ending was both expected and not. I thought that Q and Margot were maybe going to kiss but I wasnt expecting a threesome with Elliot. Also was I the only one seeing some serious sparks between Penny and Alice? Her face at the end there seemed foreboding.

I really loved this episode, so much happened. The spell whete everyone dies was such a good fake out. The beast is a legitimately scary entity.

I don't hate Julia anymore but I wish that everyone was in the same storyline. Shouldn't the beast gaining power be everyone's concern? It just seemed weird to me that Katie's group wouldn't help Quentin's.

I didn't think I would miss Elliot from the beginning of the season but I really do. He's so broken now. I really hope that the spring can heal him.

Edited March 29, 2016 by blugirlami21

[kat165]

Yes, Blugirl, I saw some sparks between Alice and Penny. And maybe he was willing

to let her in a little. Some of this ep kind of baffled me - in particular Julia and Kady

running into Kady's mother or not her mother. Julia told Kady that she wasn't her

mother but someone/thing else. I didn't get that. Who was she really? I found most

of the Julia segments confusing. Frankly, I get annoyed when the storyline derails

to Julia as I still don't really like her.

 

The older traveler's solution to not being bullied by Mothman was really shocking.

I did not expect that.

 

I also felt sorry for Penny in this ep and I usually don't have much sympathy for him.

Had to laugh when he complimented Q's sweater. Maybe he's better off keeping his

feelings in that bottle. He's so much more likeable.

 

I didn't think much of anything happened in this episode.

 

Towards the end Margo breaking down with Q was very moving.

 

Loved Elliot sliding out of the chair when he and Q were drinking.

[blugirlami21]

I too ff a lot of Julia's scenes but I do believe that Katie's "mom" was a worshipper of the god they were looking for. I believe it could take on the appearance of whoever it wanted and chose Katie's mom, prob to mess with her mind.

I saw the death of Penny's mentor from a mile away. He was a little too upbeat imo which made me think that the voice had already succeeded in making him lose it.

[kat165]

Thank you, Blugirl. Now I get it. I kind of fall asleep during most of Julia's stuff

(unable to fast forward, basic cable/no perks). She always looks so sleepy

& bitchy so I struggle with most of her scenes. Don't like her. Or maybe it's

the actress.

 

I didn't see that coming, Penny's mentor, so it really hit me. Also, the intro

scene with everyone in class being dead and then Mothman finding Q &
Alice, didn't see that coming either. I like the unpredictable (for me anyway)

things that often happen in the show.

[jwsel]

I too ff a lot of Julia's scenes but I do believe that Katie's "mom" was a worshipper of the god they were looking for. I believe it could take on the appearance of whoever it wanted and chose Katie's mom, prob to mess with her mind.

I saw the death of Penny's mentor from a mile away. He was a little too upbeat imo which made me think that the voice had already succeeded in making him lose it.

 

Katie's "mom" was a demon or troll.  When Julia looked in the mirror, she saw its true form.  It looked sort of like Gollum, but with a tail.

[wayne67]

I found them learning higher order battle magic very intriguing. Of course it seems that Alice is going to be the best at it.

 

What confuses me is did Elliot join in on the threesome and if so why didn't we get any Quentin flashbacks of it... Damn show teasing a bisexual threesome. 

[grandemocha]

Damn Quentin, you fucked up. 

 

 

What confuses me is did Elliot join in on the threesome and if so why didn't we get any Quentin flashbacks of it... Damn show teasing a bisexual threesome.
 

We did? There's a very quick shot of Elliot and Q kissing.

[wayne67]

We did? There's a very quick shot of Elliot and Q kissing.

 

I guess I'll have to rewatch the flashbacking to check that out. 

 

ETA: Yep totally a bisexual threesome, now the question is will Quentin be more awkward about the cheating or having sex with another dude. That is the question. Hilarity

Edited March 29, 2016 by wayne67

[TiffanyNichelle]

OMG that ending. I really did not see that hook up coming. I thought maybe Penny and Alice would celebrate over them not bottling up their feelings in order to learn battle magic and that would lead to a hook up between them two. But hey, I've wanted Elliot to get a shot at Quentin for a long time now so good on him.

 

 

I don't hate Julia anymore but I wish that everyone was in the same storyline. Shouldn't the beast gaining power be everyone's concern? It just seemed weird to me that Katie's group wouldn't help Quentin's.

I agree on wishing everyone was on board with the same storyline. The imbalances have always bothered me. Julia's stuff, while annoying, has always felt more important. She's hooked on magic/drugs. She's in a rehab center. Kady's mom gets killed. Julia's new mentor is trying to reach a god to make things better. Sometimes the fight against the Beast to save Fillory doesn't seem as grounded or real in a way.

[snuffles]

So we got a graphic violence warning this time. Stanley blowing his head off and the beast breaking Alice's neck was finally enough to prompt the warning. Then we got a suicide prevention ad at the end. Guess the show doesn't want people to think they are glamorizing suicide now.

It was definitely a ménage a trios.

Poor Elliot. I guess the school has no mental health counselors (being sarcastic). I hope they deal with his PTSD in a more thoughtful manner then just going to Fillory and being healed by Spring.

I had a feeling the girl Julia and Richard euthanized was going to be more important. Didn't think she would turn out to be a goddess, though. So lame. Julia has to find some random 1000 year old worshipper and figure out what 3 gifts to bring him. All this so he can tell Julia how to get to the goddess that is talking to Julia already?! I thought Julia already proved herself to the goddess?

[GaT]

The episodes are getting better thankfully, i just wish Julia would use something other than her "I'm going to cry" face.

[HunterHunted]

I had a feeling the girl Julia and Richard euthanized was going to be more important. Didn't think she would turn out to be a goddess, though. So lame. Julia has to find some random 1000 year old worshipper and figure out what 3 gifts to bring him. All this so he can tell Julia how to get to the goddess that is talking to Julia already?! I thought Julia already proved herself to the goddess?

The woman they euthanized, Kira, wasn't the goddess. The goddess was played by Garcelle Beauvais. Kira was played by Yaani King.

The creature impersonating Kady's mom was a lamia.

A threesome!!!!! I wish Margot would realize that she's completely in love with Elliot.

[ElectricBoogaloo]

I was convinced there would be some kind of hookup, but I wasn't sure if it would be Alice/Penny or Quentin/Margo. One thing I like about this show is that sometimes it's unpredictable (I did not see Plovver being a child molester AT ALL) but even when it's predictable I still find it amusing and I enjoy getting there.

 

That probability spell scared the crap out of me! And although I don't need a weekly reminder about how all magic has a price, it was nice to see everyone freaking out, retching, etc. when they came out of the last probability spell so that we could see that these spells do take a toll on them.

 

One of the most hilarious moments was Alice calling her mom from a pay phone on campus. I guess in the world of The Magicians, no one has cell phones and the dorms/cottages don't have landlines.

 

I really liked watching them practice their battle magic. I wonder how difficult it is for the actors to learn all those hand movements on top of their lines. I was not surprised that Alice decided to practice battle magic without the aid of bottling her emotions, but I was pleasantly surprised that Penny decided to go that route too (especially considering that his first emotion after he drank his bottle was to laugh). Hahaha, but Penny complimenting Quentin's sweater and then Quentin trying to figure out if it was still an insult was hilarious.

 

I'm still not very interested in Julia's storyline, but at least she is now doing something more than sitting around looking sad and feeling sorry for herself. If nothing else, Richard has given her purpose and focus.

 

Even though we only saw Joe briefly in the last episode, I'm sad that he killed himself. He was a fun character and I hoped to see him again. Hearing the Beast plus the girl in the dungeon screaming and the feedback in Penny's head really conveyed how torturous it was for the travellers to deal with the Beast driving them all insane. I'm still not clear as to why he wants them to kill themselves though.

 

Poor Elliot. I guess the school has no mental health counselors (being sarcastic). I hope they deal with his PTSD in a more thoughtful manner then just going to Fillory and being healed by Spring.

The problem isn't really whether or not the school has counselors. Eliot isn't ready to talk to anyone about how terrible he feels yet. He had a brief moment when he started to say he wasn't okay to the Margollum, but he really hasn't made an effort to do anything to heal himself since then besides self-medicate. The fact that he was able to get himself together enough to say he wanted to be part of the group by practicing battle magic so they can go to Fillory to fight the beast is the biggest step forward he's taken since killing his "boyfriend."

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Love that I was just wondering about all the hand choreography and in this video they show the tutting choreographer!

 

Edited March 29, 2016 by ElectricBoogaloo

[stillshimpy]

Yeah, well that was actually sort of a good way to handle that material for the story.  Having everyone be overwhelmed by having to re-ingest their feelings after learning to do battle magic made that Quentin/Margot/Elliot hookup a little less out of left field.  They all had their emotional equilibrium destroyed repeatedly.  

 

I'm always really blown away by the cast on this show.  The scenes of everyone having to drink their feelings and then just being the hyper-realized versions of themselves were funny and touching at the same time.  I guess that's why they had the Margolem last week, to illustrate that she does have romantic/sexual feelings for Elliot.  

 

Man, I wonder if everyone ended up hyperventilating while shooting this episode?  There were a bunch of scenes where everyone had to lie around gasping for air between the probability coins and the "keep all your feelings in this handy dandy, overwhelming tincture necklace!" .  That made me wonder what would happen if any of them dropped their bottles.  

 

Julia's storyline is actually more worrying than the damned Beast storyline, although I'm beginning to wonder if they won't end up all in the same place, because if the troll was telling the truth and the gods are dead, what does that mean for demons?  

[ElectricBoogaloo]

That made me wonder what would happen if any of them dropped their bottles.

I thought that someone would break their bottle. I wasn't sure if it would be a misfired spell while they were practicing battle magic, an unexpected fight with someone outside their group, regular Penny (without depending on the tiny bottle) losing his temper, or just a good old fashioned trip and fall. I was relieved that there were no broken bottles to cause emotional complications.

 

I liked that Quentin told Kady you don't just stop caring about someone because they did something crappy. Heh, and I loved that he knew she wanted to ask about Penny. I just wish that he had known Penny was struggling so much with hearing the Beast so he could have told Kady.

 

Ugh, is that patch going to end up having dire consequences? I only remember that the teacher told him it was unapproved and only intended for short term use.

[Triskan]

Well Q, you messed up ! 

 

Okay, emotions, pheromons and all that, but man, you're gonna regret it pretty soon ! 

 

I really hope Alice and Q will find a way to mend this cause I really like them as a couple ! (more that I would Penny / Al or Q / Margo tbh).

 

Anyway, pheromons aside, there was a lot of really nice stuff this episode and the punchlines are still on fire !

[stillshimpy]

I think what made Quentin's hookup even sadder is that it came hot on the heels of a bunch of things Alice did to open up to Quentin.  Not the least of which was taking him into the emotionally warping sideshow of her childhood home and then having enough courage to be sexually uninhibited with him.  I do think the setup for that hookup really helped underline why it happened.  

 

Whereas Elliot was re-ingesting his horror and heartbreak over and over, his desperate need to dull his feelings for a bit, Margo kept having to re-confront her own feelings of loss over her changed friendship with Elliot, with the addition of her romantic feelings for him.   Meanwhile, Quentin kept having to down bottles of Liquid Depressive Tendencies.  Yikes.  

 

Ugh, is that patch going to end up having dire consequences? I only remember that the teacher told him it was unapproved and only intended for short term use.

 

I thought for sure Penny would hit upon the solution of turning himself into Mr. Spock permanently, by pouring his own feelings out and onto the ground as a way of cutting off the Beast's access to him.  

 

One thing the show did really well was set the scene for what happened with the other traveler, without using any neon signs.  When Penny walked into the trailer and the Traveler was removing all of his wards and talismans, I really only had a moment for it to register that, "Wait that can't be a good..." before he killed himself.  

[iMonrey]

 

One of the most hilarious moments was Alice calling her mom from a pay phone on campus. I guess in the world of The Magicians, no one has cell phones and the dorms/cottages don't have landlines.

 

It hadn't even occurred to me that we never see them using cell phones until you mentioned it. But isn't Brakebill's supposed to be hidden with some sort of enchantment that keeps everyone else from finding it and getting in? Maybe that blocks cell phone reception.

 

I didn't enjoy this one as much as the last couple of episodes. There is a very jarring contrast between their attempts at levity and the overall dark tone of the show. The little quips sort of don't fit into a story where some guy puts a gun in his mouth and blows his head off right on camera. The scene where Julia says she's not going anywhere because it's her house and suddenly everyone laughs? Didn't really work IMO.

 

I hope they get around to explaining why The Beast has to walk around with butterflies/moths swarming his head.

 

I was glad to see Penny stop being an abrasive asshole for two minutes, so there was that at least.

[stillshimpy]

The scene where Julia says she's not going anywhere because it's her house and suddenly everyone laughs? Didn't really work IMO.

 

In fairness, I didn't think that was really supposed to be an "Oooh, good one!" type of moment though, but rather everyone laughing because of the tension and a tension breaker.  It genuinely wasn't funny, so that was my assumption. 

 

 

 

I was glad to see Penny stop being an abrasive asshole for two minutes, so there was that at least.

 

In some ways I think the series kind of forgot to repeatedly structure in reminders that Penny is always supposed to be trying to get away from a lot of psychic pain.  When he first goes up to the psychic classroom, the instructor even tells him "That's where everyone can process....and cry..."and then someone comes busting out of of one of the cubbies, sobbing... I think it's just supposed to be part of his life.   Having said that?  I'm with you there.   Arjun Gupta is really good in the role and capable of handling the funny stuff as well, but Penny can be tough to take. 

 

Then the story didn't really hit the "he's trying to buffer himself with drugs, to try and stop pretty constant psychic pain" note much until this episode. 

 

I know I was about ready to drop a cartoon safe on his head when he went out of his way to be a jackass to Alice and Quentin when they'd actually just saved his freaking life.  

Edited March 29, 2016 by stillshimpy

[Inquiry]

 

I'm still not clear as to why he wants them to kill themselves though.

 

I'm starting to get the sickening feeling that the Beast is actually Martin. Apparently, the Beast wants to close all doors to Fillory, and as Alice said, Penny (and any traveler, really) is like his own personal button. Luckily (for the Beast) being a Traveller seems to be pretty rare in this world. The reason I think Martin is the Beast is because I think the gang completely misinterpreted what they saw at the ghost house. I think Plovver gave Martin the idea of growing additional fingers to do more advanced magic and he has an obsession with closing all doors to Fillory (sp?) because he doesn't want Plovver to ever find him. Which really makes the Beast's motivation stem from the fact that he was sexually traumatized by a sick old fuck when he was a kid. It's dark, but it would make a certain kind of sense*

 

I have to say, this has been a pleasant surprise. I didn't particularly love the first few episodes, but the show has steadily improved with every episode. The only real complaint I have is that Kady/Julia's storyline (especially Julia's) vs the others' seems so separated. I'm thinking maybe the "gods" storyline will intersect with the Beast in the finale. Maybe even in a cliffhanger.

 

This episode did make me wonder why the Beast is so obsessed with Quentin. In the probability spell, he was the last one The Beast went after and it was somewhat ambiguous whether he even killed him. Unlike making him cough up blood and/or snapping his neck, he seemed to choke him and said "sleep tight, Quentin Coldwater." I don't know, maybe I'm reading too much into it, but there has to be a reason for that, right? Especially since the show in the last few episodes has brought up the point that Quentin isn't a "great" magician (or, at least, he doesn't think he is). Maybe it's as simple as Quentin believing in/loving Fillory and, by extension, magic so much that Fillory reached out to him (after all, isn't that what happened with the Chatwins? I haven't read the books, so I don't know) and that just really pissed of the Beast?

 

*Even if Plovver is dead, the Beast/Martin could want to control all the doors to Fillory because he wants it as his own. A place where he will always be safe, because he gets to decide who has access.

Edited March 30, 2016 by Inquiry

[WildPlum]

The special pages the Librarian copied for Penny last episode seem supremely unhelpful this episode. Unless that is next week's quest.  This was, what, episode 10 of 13? Pretty sure that this has been renewed for a second 13 run season and that the Beast/Fillory plot is the main plotline, so we are 16 or so episodes from resolution.

 

Hmm, Julia's bathroom discussion was with a depiction of the Madonna. Then in her dream a woman supplies her with milk and then, what, silver coins? There weren't 30 of the silver coins were there? That would be a Very Bad Sign that we aren't dealing with the Madonna but something on the flip side.

[snuffles]

 

The woman they euthanized, Kira, wasn't the goddess. The goddess was played by Garcelle Beauvais. Kira was played by Yaani King.

Oops, thanks for the correction. As some others have posted, I also do not watch the Julia scenes closely.

I still think it is incredibly dumb Julia has to do all these things in order to speak to the Goddess who is already talking to her. I hope the show goes into more explanation for Julia having to go through all these cumbersome hoops.

 

On a shallow note, I absolutely love all of Margo's clothes. The dress she wore in the opening scene while sitting on the couch was cool. The jacket she wore when they were walking outside was so cute. Alice on the other hand has the worst outfits. They are ill fitting and most of her skirts are ridiculously short. I wonder if the stylist likes the actress playing Margo more. ;)

 

The Beast's distinctive walk reminds me of the bad guy's walk from the "Charlie's Angels" movie.

 

I too hope they explain why the Beast is fixated on Quentin. Penny, Alice and now Julia are being portrayed as extra special snowflakes. They seem to be going to great lengths to show how average Quentin is.

[Lemur]

Hmm, Julia's bathroom discussion was with a depiction of the Madonna. Then in her dream a woman supplies her with milk and then, what, silver coins? There weren't 30 of the silver coins were there? That would be a Very Bad Sign that we aren't dealing with the Madonna but something on the flip side.

 

Julia could have been speaking with the Black Madonna, which depending on the historical or theological school of thought you ascribe to, is believed to be the ancient Earth Goddess who was "converted" to pre-Reformation Christianity.

[HunterHunted]

I too am starting to think that the beast is Martin.

[ElectricBoogaloo]

When Hale said that there is something about Eliot and Quentin where they kind of identify with each other and that sometimes that creates something sexual, it reminded me of Rayanne sleeping with Jordan on My So-Called Life, not because she was attracted to him, but because part of her always wanted to be Angela and that was her weird way of finally getting to be Angela if only temporarily.

 

Edited March 31, 2016 by ElectricBoogaloo

[Inquiry]

 

In some ways I think the series kind of forgot to repeatedly structure in reminders that Penny is always supposed to be trying to get away from a lot of psychic pain.  When he first goes up to the psychic classroom, the instructor even tells him "That's where everyone can process....and cry..."and then someone comes busting out of of one of the cubbies, sobbing... I think it's just supposed to be part of his life.   Having said that?  I'm with you there.   Arjun Gupta is really good in the role and capable of handling the funny stuff as well, but Penny can be tough to take.

 I completely agree that the show has made a minor misstep in Penny's characterization. I think the writers ignored the adage "show, don't tell." and made it worse by not even telling enough. I mean, a few characters have stated that Penny's gift is mentally taxing, but's the writers have largely glossed over the issue. As you said, tonight was the first episode where we were really shown how taxing Penny's powers can be and how much it would suck. Nevertheless, he can be a real shit sometimes and I think it needs to be toned down a little. 

 

That said, I'm thinking/hoping that Penny's relationships with Quentin and Alice will soften his edges a bit (albeit, still being a bit of an ass) and I think this episode really jumpstarted that. While Alice/Penny were predominant (please don't go there, show. At least, not romantically), I thought there were some nice subtle moments between Quentin and Penny. I loved that Penny randomly (and genuinely!) complimented Quentin's sweater and that fact that Quentin instantly understood that Penny's one condition to going for Fillory was saving the Traveller girl. 

Edited April 1, 2016 by Inquiry

[paramitch]

Another home run for the show. I loved the "emotion bottles," and my single favorite moment of the episode is one nobody's commented on yet -- that when they drink their emotions again, Alice's response is one of overwhelming love, while Quentin's is one of overwhelming abandonment and loneliness.

 

So it's awful: Alice goes, "I love you Quentin, I love you, I love you so much!" And Quentin gasps and goes, "I'm alone. I'm completely alone. I'm so alone." It's horrible and heartbreaking upon rewatch. They are instantly divided in that moment. And poor Alice! So much risk on her part for someone so bottled up (no pun intended) -- no wonder she starts sobbing instantly when the emotions return. Alice breaks my heart.

 

I was so incredibly moved by Julia's petition to the Goddess, and to her response -- the silver coins and the milk/water(?). It was a beautiful and much-needed moment of peace for Julia and for us as viewers of her journey.

 

Julia told Kady that she wasn't her mother but someone/thing else. I didn't get that. Who was she really? I found most of the Julia segments confusing. Frankly, I get annoyed when the storyline derails to Julia as I still don't really like her.

 

The entity Julia and Kady visited was a Lamia. They talk about them before they go. A powerful psychic kind of vampire. Julia also warns Kady to prepare herself before they greet the woman as well. So her appearing as Kady's mother I thought was really smart and cool (and subversive), and a great moment by the scriptwriters. I also loved that actress as Kady's mom and was glad she had another moment on the show, as well.

 

But hey, I've wanted Elliot to get a shot at Quentin for a long time now so good on him.

 

I agree on wishing everyone was on board with the same storyline. The imbalances have always bothered me. Julia's stuff, while annoying, has always felt more important. She's hooked on magic/drugs. She's in a rehab center. Kady's mom gets killed. Julia's new mentor is trying to reach a god to make things better. Sometimes the fight against the Beast to save Fillory doesn't seem as grounded or real in a way.

 

This is really interesting. First off, I'm so with you on Eliot and Quentin. The actor who plays Eliot, Hale Appleman, always plays him with a kind of sweetness and yearning for Quentin (I'm a sucker) so I have always shipped them. So seeing Quentin hook up with Eliot? Hell, yeah. I may have cheered.

 

Meanwhile, I agree that in a subversive cool way, Julia's search is actually weightier and more important in some ways than Quentin's -- and ultimately maybe more selfless. Her realization that she just wants to do good was so moving. I loved it. She deserved it.

 

The woman they euthanized, Kira, wasn't the goddess. The goddess was played by Garcelle Beauvais. Kira was played by Yaani King.

 

I loved that Garcelle was back -- almost certainly a McNamara touch, as she was wonderful in McNamara's regrettably short-lived (but marvelous, funny and dark) show "Eyes."

 

I do think Margo knows she's in love with Eliot. I just think she doesn't know how to tell him (and justifiably so, as she full-well knows who he is and what his predilections are). Poor Margo. And poor everyone. But at least they had their moment. I can't begrudge them that -- it's what youth is for.

 

One of the most hilarious moments was Alice calling her mom from a pay phone on campus. I guess in the world of The Magicians, no one has cell phones and the dorms/cottages don't have landlines.

 

I really liked watching them practice their battle magic. I wonder how difficult it is for the actors to learn all those hand movements on top of their lines. I was not surprised that Alice decided to practice battle magic without the aid of bottling her emotions, but I was pleasantly surprised that Penny decided to go that route too (especially considering that his first emotion after he drank his bottle was to laugh). Hahaha, but Penny complimenting Quentin's sweater and then Quentin trying to figure out if it was still an insult was hilarious.

 

I thought this was cool, and that it was implied that magic messes with wireless, so that the students/faculty need "wired" connections.

 

I loved everything to do with the gorgeous battle magic scenes, with the bottling of their emotions, with the unbottling of emotions. I also continue to adore the gorgeous hand-motions of the magicians when they do magic. I love them and think they're really incredibly choreographed and beautifully imagined and interpreted.

 

Yeah, well that was actually sort of a good way to handle that material for the story.  Having everyone be overwhelmed by having to re-ingest their feelings after learning to do battle magic made that Quentin/Margot/Elliot hookup a little less out of left field.  They all had their emotional equilibrium destroyed repeatedly.  

 

I'm always really blown away by the cast on this show.  The scenes of everyone having to drink their feelings and then just being the hyper-realized versions of themselves were funny and touching at the same time.  I guess that's why they had the Margolem last week, to illustrate that she does have romantic/sexual feelings for Elliot.  

 

Man, I wonder if everyone ended up hyperventilating while shooting this episode?  There were a bunch of scenes where everyone had to lie around gasping for air between the probability coins and the "keep all your feelings in this handy dandy, overwhelming tincture necklace!" .  That made me wonder what would happen if any of them dropped their bottles.  

 

I thought the emotion-bottles were pure genius. They enabled us to see what people were most desperate to hide as well as what they were most desperate to communicate.

 

And I think the cast of this show is hitting it out of the park. I love what they're bringing to their roles, I love the sweetness and bittersweetness of most of their choices; I love the subtext involved in the emotion-bottles and in what they have to hide (or show). Love.

 

I liked that Quentin told Kady you don't just stop caring about someone because they did something crappy. Heh, and I loved that he knew she wanted to ask about Penny. I just wish that he had known Penny was struggling so much with hearing the Beast so he could have told Kady.

 

One of my other favorite moments -- Quentin and Kady being honest about loving people who are disconnected/angry and afar. And I loved that there was this softness to the scenes, to both of them being honest. We just don't always get those moments on TV. Usually people just follow the script and don't say what we wish they would. I'm very grateful this show allows them to say what real people might say, and in a loving way. So much less boring than inflated antagonism.

 

I think what made Quentin's hookup even sadder is that it came hot on the heels of a bunch of things Alice did to open up to Quentin.  Not the least of which was taking him into the emotionally warping sideshow of her childhood home and then having enough courage to be sexually uninhibited with him.  I do think the setup for that hookup really helped underline why it happened.  

 

Whereas Elliot was re-ingesting his horror and heartbreak over and over, his desperate need to dull his feelings for a bit, Margo kept having to re-confront her own feelings of loss over her changed friendship with Elliot, with the addition of her romantic feelings for him.   Meanwhile, Quentin kept having to down bottles of Liquid Depressive Tendencies.  Yikes.  

 

My heart broke for Alice in this episode. I've gradually become a huge fan of poor quiet Alice on the show, and I love what they're doing with her. The gradual revelations, the emotion-bottles, it kind of breaks my heart. Quentin doesn't see how brave she's being for him, how open and how much she's risking emotionally to do so. And then it's so tragic because the bottles end and Alice is overwhelmed with emotion and Quentin is horrified. They're on two different trajectories.

 

I utterly understand poor Eliot's sadness and mourning. I also feel so bad for him at having to relive that murder of the boy he loved without a ton of outside understanding. And what understanding poor Margo can give is certainly kind of complicated and tainted, bless her heart.

 

I hope they get around to explaining why The Beast has to walk around with butterflies/moths swarming his head.

 

To me, it seems like it can be two things -- like the Beast's terrible-playful avatar (one designed to evoke horror), or that it's a real and legitimate depiction of the fact that he's simply no longer human at all, but just an amalgamation of parts/natural aspects.

[ElectricBoogaloo]

I loved that Garcelle was back -- almost certainly a McNamara touch, as she was wonderful in McNamara's regrettably short-lived (but marvelous, funny and dark) show "Eyes."

Yay, someone else who watched (and liked!) Eyes. I was so mad when ABC canceled it and didn't even burn off all the remaining episodes.

I still remember Garcelle Beauvais from Models, Inc., the show that taught me using hemhorroid cream will hide the bags under your eyes when you're hungover.

Edited April 7, 2016 by ElectricBoogaloo

[AudienceofOne]

Ah, the return of Quentin the Dick. I have not missed your clinically-depressed ass one bit. 

On 4/8/2016 at 4:15 AM, paramitch said:

I loved the "emotion bottles," and my single favorite moment of the episode is one nobody's commented on yet -- that when they drink their emotions again, Alice's response is one of overwhelming love, while Quentin's is one of overwhelming abandonment and loneliness.

So it's awful: Alice goes, "I love you Quentin, I love you, I love you so much!" And Quentin gasps and goes, "I'm alone. I'm completely alone. I'm so alone." It's horrible and heartbreaking upon rewatch. They are instantly divided in that moment. And poor Alice! So much risk on her part for someone so bottled up (no pun intended) -- no wonder she starts sobbing instantly when the emotions return. Alice breaks my heart.

 

This. Just because Quentin's a total douchebag doesn't mean I don't feel for him. The truth is that if Alice didn't want to use the bottles anymore she should still have been there for him when he drink his feelings again. Instead, she stayed trying to solve the magical problem and left him to deal with those emotions on his own.

But I still feel Quentin's actions are driven by his penis issues. His feelings of inadequacy around powerful women and the way it makes him lash out is a pretty unattractive quality. There's a little too much of the wish fulfilment in his relationship to Alice and his inability to deal with her as a person rather than the 'smart hot chick that finally likes him back'. And I do feel a lot for Alice who can't understand why every conversation ends up being about Quentin's feelings and Quentin's insecurity rather than about her. Depression is always (of necessity) incredibly self-absorbed and she needs someone who'll put her first.

I do have to give the show credit for establishing all the ways in which Quentin and Alice were doomed.

But I do wish the main character wasn't such a douchecanoe.

[Camera One]

I liked the gang learning battle magic and the emotions bottling concept was neat.  With all this tension and suspense leading up to a battle with the Beast, I don't see why they needed to throw in cheating in a threesome.  I'm glad Alice found them and it's not going to be a dragged out secret, though.  

[Laina]

I'm hoping that someone can answer a question for me about this episode. 

In this episode, was the threesome scene between Eliot, Quentin and Margo cut out when shown on the Syfy network and only put on the DVD's?

I've seen pictures of Eliot and Quentin kissing, and I saw a few clips of them in bed on youtube, but when I watch the ep on a streaming service, it goes straight from Margo crying about Eliot/talking to Quentin, to all three of them naked, with Margo and Eliot asleep, and Quentin awake and lying there.

[festivus]

I can't watch right now but I think the scenes you're thinking of happen to Quentin later in a flashback. I don't remember if it's this episode or the next one.