S02.E13: We Have Brought You Little Cakes

[CigarDoug]

On 4/19/2017 at 10:29 PM, Poltargyst said:

It was a clever plot to get the brothers together.  Why was Ember so much more powerful than Umber?  What did Julia do with the sword?  Why could Q kill a god with it?

Other people have addressed this, but to sum it up and connect all the dots:

• Julia and Kady learned a spell that could kill a god, but it required the essence of a god or a demi-god.
• Kady killed Reynard's son (the Senator), and Julia made a bullet from the energy.
• Reynard's mom (Our Lady of the Underground, who is also Persephone, Queen of the Underworld) took Reynard so Julia couldn't shoot him.
• Julia used the same spell to transfer Umber's essence to the sword as Ember killed him. That was the whole plan.
• Ember and Umber are equal in power. Just as one man can kill another man, one god can kill another god. But Ember was more willing to kill, as he represents chaos, and Umber represents order. Umber just wanted to build a more organized world.
• Julia still has the bullet, which might be used next season.

[CigarDoug]

On 4/19/2017 at 10:10 PM, ketose said:

Crap. I have to wait 8 months now?

You think that's bad, I just finished season one and two on Netflix, season four premieres in January, and SyFy doesn't have ANY episodes of season three! Can anyone explain the logic of not making all of your old shows available online?

On 4/19/2017 at 10:10 PM, ketose said:

I guess we can assume that if Reynard caught a bullet, the powers that be would have shut off the magic plumbing even earlier. There are quite a few questions in this episode, like how Julia has magic. Does it have to do with Reynard? I hope they find magic again pretty quick, or it will really detract from the show.

Probably true, but Reynard not dying was part of the plot.

It will be answered next season. If we can assume that there is a pecking order to magic: Humans who can learn magic < Creatures that are magic (fairies, dragons, etc.) < Demigods and Gods (Reynard, Ember, Umber) < Their parents (unknown), that means Julia being touched by two gods leaves her with some abilities. Just a guess.

On 4/19/2017 at 10:10 PM, ketose said:

Also, what's "magic" and not in Fillory? Do the animals still talk? 

They didn't show any animals, centaurs, etc. But the fairies are magical, and from another dimension. They can still travel between worlds, and fly, so they still are magical, or maybe still magical and weaker, so they plan to take over Narnia (oops, I mean Fillory).

[CigarDoug]

On 4/20/2017 at 2:09 PM, Hanahope said:

so when Alice was a niffin living in Q's back (episode 8), she had access to his body for one hour a day.  One day, she tracked down what looked like a little girl, which was some sort of beast (research says "angler" beast, but it also had a long body).   We did not see the entirety of her conversation with it, but it provided her with some info to track down Friar Joseph (the niffin that can't be boxed) and then Alice killed it.  She gave Q's body back to Q immediately afterwards and Q saw the girl's body, and Alice told him to leave quickly before he was found by it.  I think at the time, the impression was police/other humans seeing him over the body of a child.  But now we know that the Lamprey has parents too, just like gods, and they're now after Alice because they know she killed the Lamprey, so I think that "the lamprey" is the 'angler-beast thing' that Alice killed in this scene.

I'm not convinced the angler beast she killed was the lamprey. We didn't see everything Nifflin!Alice did offscreen. She may have killed/wounded/aggravated other mystical beasts in her search for Friar Joseph. I guess we will see next season.

On that note, I just LOVED the fact they showed an angler beast on this show. In a world of magic, there are magical creatures. We have only seen a few, and I am totally down with a show that features magical creatures living alongside us, hiding in the shadows. More D&D creatures, please!

[CigarDoug]

On 4/24/2017 at 7:57 PM, Terrafamilia said:

With magic shut off for mortal magicians but that not affecting magical creatures like dragons and vampires et al. where do magical or enchanted items fall? What happened to Alice's parent's house which had more space inside than could be accounted for on the outside? Does it stay as is because its dimensionally transcendental state is now just the way it is or was it the result of an ongoing active spell effect that has gone kaput and all the stuff that was inside is now suddenly jammed into a smaller space? Oh, and Chekhov's bullet?

More than likely, the writer's haven't thought the idea through. The wards around Brakebills that made it invisible and kept people out simply went away, so they show a chain link fence and "keep out" signs to indicate the change. They probably haven't considered the physical effects. For example, what about Brakebills South? They used magic to get there, and to send food there. Does Mayakovsky starve now?

Edited December 14, 2018 by CigarDoug
Fixed our favorite Russian professor's name

[CigarDoug]

On 12/14/2018 at 8:34 AM, CigarDoug said:

I'm not convinced the angler beast she killed was the lamprey. We didn't see everything Nifflin!Alice did offscreen. She may have killed/wounded/aggravated other mystical beasts in her search for Friar Joseph. I guess we will see next season.

On that note, I just LOVED the fact they showed an angler beast on this show. In a world of magic, there are magical creatures. We have only seen a few, and I am totally down with a show that features magical creatures living alongside us, hiding in the shadows. More D&D creatures, please!

So, in the RECAP for Episode 1 Season 3, they show the same conversation with Nifflin!Alice and cut to the scene with the angler beast, to clear it up for any of us who weren't certain. Yeah, I'm convinced. I was convinced after reading other opinions online. But I still want to point out, they didn't use the word "lamprey" in the show prior to her meeting it (and killing it). She and others called it an angler beast. I think I like angler beast better.

On 12/14/2018 at 8:14 AM, CigarDoug said:

You think that's bad, I just finished season one and two on Netflix, season four premieres in January, and SyFy doesn't have ANY episodes of season three! Can anyone explain the logic of not making all of your old shows available online?

Probably true, but Reynard not dying was part of the plot.

It will be answered next season. If we can assume that there is a pecking order to magic: Humans who can learn magic < Creatures that are magic (fairies, dragons, etc.) < Demigods and Gods (Reynard, Ember, Umber) < Their parents (unknown), that means Julia being touched by two gods leaves her with some abilities. Just a guess.

They didn't show any animals, centaurs, etc. But the fairies are magical, and from another dimension. They can still travel between worlds, and fly, so they still are magical, or maybe still magical and weaker, so they plan to take over Narnia (oops, I mean Fillory).

Still not happy with SyFy for not making ALL their previous episodes available online. But thankfully Netflix has released Season 3 and I am binging this week waiting for Season 4 to start on regular ol' cable TV.

In case there was any doubt, it's established that magical beasts still have magic, it's only humans casting spells that are shut off. But Penny can still travel, so his is more an innate ability than a learned spell. Learned spells still don't work (except for Julia). Minor, minor minor spoiler for first five minutes of Season 3.

[Ymmit]

I realize this is way after the fact, but if any one is doing a re-watch or know the answer -  please, please explain how they turned all the rat-people back into people!

it is seriously driving me crazy… it’s the only bit of plot  I’ve never managed to figure out in all my rewatches.