‘The Magicians’ Taps The Brakes With “Marry F–ck Kill” And “Escape From The Happy Place”
By Vanessa Armstrong/Feb. 28, 2019 3:30 pm EST
The fourth and fifth episodes of The Magicians are slower paced than the beginning of the season, allowing viewers to marinate in some under-explored relationships and to circle back to some dangling storylines. The results are mixed, but the show’s quick dialogue and unexpectedly poignant character moments make both episodes—especially Episode 5—rich fodder that fans will enjoy.
“Escape from the Happy Place”
“Escape from the Happy Place” gives The Magicians fans a longed-for dose of the regular Eliot, who we find out is trapped inside what his guide Charlton calls the Happy Place, a safe zone inside the monster where the evil entity can’t destroy him. Eliot wants to escape, of course. Or at least be able to let his friends know he’s still alive. The episode also sets up a ticking clock for Eliot, as the gang, believing their friend is officially dead, has agreed to work with the goddess Iris to entrap the monster in Eliot’s body for eternity.There are other threads in “Escape from the Happy Place” besides Eliot’s entrapment. Smaller storylines involve someone unknown abducting Penny, and watching Margo in retrieving her birth box and keeping her grief under wraps while others around her publicly mourn Eliot’s supposed death. The second most prominent storyline, however, involves Alice, who has made it back to Earth after sending Plover to a very unhappy world in the Neitherlands. She shows up at Quentin’s door because she’s read his book, and knows that he is expected to die in two days when he tries to entrap the Eliot-Monster. And while she does end up saving Quentin’s life, she learns that whatever she does won’t be enough to fix their relationship. She ends up leaving at the end of the episode, going wherever the World Book she has from Plover tells her to go.But most of the episode (and wonderfully so), involves Eliot searching his most shameful memories for a secret door that will allow him to take control of his body for a short period of time. With the help of Charlton and the fighting projections of his friends, he relives many painful memories (while being chased by the monster’s failed experiments) to no avail. Right before Quentin is about to entrap the monster in Eliot’s body, however, Eliot (in a wonderful nod to the shippers out there) realizes his most shameful moment was dismissing Quentin’s suggestion they try to make a go of it on Earth after they both remember their 50+ years together in Fillory. The scene where Eliot apologies to his memory of Quentin is heartbreakingly touching, and makes his appearance to current-day Quentin all the more gut-wrenching when he briefly gains control of his body.When Quentin realizes Eliot is alive, he spoils the plan to entrap the Eliot-Monster. This has repercussions, of course—the creature ends up killing the goddess Iris (right after Iris kills the poor maenad Shoshana) and pulls another stone out of the goddess’ chest, which Julia then tells him will help construct his real body. Evil Eliot believes them when they lie that they had been secretly planning to give him Iris, and he apparates off, leaving the gang in one piece and now laden with the knowledge that Eliot is alive (although Margo, who has had to deal with Fen and others mourning in Fillory, has yet to find out). The gang will likely grapple with this knowledge for episodes to come—how much should you help an embodiment of evil in order to save someone you love? We’ll have to keep watching to find out.
‘The Magicians’ Taps The Brakes With “Marry F–ck Kill” And “Escape From The Happy Place”
By Vanessa Armstrong/Feb. 28, 2019 3:30 pm EST
The fourth and fifth episodes of The Magicians are slower paced than the beginning of the season, allowing viewers to marinate in some under-explored relationships and to circle back to some dangling storylines. The results are mixed, but the show’s quick dialogue and unexpectedly poignant character moments make both episodes—especially Episode 5—rich fodder that fans will enjoy.
“Marry F*** Kill”
“Escape from the Happy Place”
“Escape from the Happy Place” gives The Magicians fans a longed-for dose of the regular Eliot, who we find out is trapped inside what his guide Charlton calls the Happy Place, a safe zone inside the monster where the evil entity can’t destroy him. Eliot wants to escape, of course. Or at least be able to let his friends know he’s still alive. The episode also sets up a ticking clock for Eliot, as the gang, believing their friend is officially dead, has agreed to work with the goddess Iris to entrap the monster in Eliot’s body for eternity.There are other threads in “Escape from the Happy Place” besides Eliot’s entrapment. Smaller storylines involve someone unknown abducting Penny, and watching Margo in retrieving her birth box and keeping her grief under wraps while others around her publicly mourn Eliot’s supposed death. The second most prominent storyline, however, involves Alice, who has made it back to Earth after sending Plover to a very unhappy world in the Neitherlands. She shows up at Quentin’s door because she’s read his book, and knows that he is expected to die in two days when he tries to entrap the Eliot-Monster. And while she does end up saving Quentin’s life, she learns that whatever she does won’t be enough to fix their relationship. She ends up leaving at the end of the episode, going wherever the World Book she has from Plover tells her to go.But most of the episode (and wonderfully so), involves Eliot searching his most shameful memories for a secret door that will allow him to take control of his body for a short period of time. With the help of Charlton and the fighting projections of his friends, he relives many painful memories (while being chased by the monster’s failed experiments) to no avail. Right before Quentin is about to entrap the monster in Eliot’s body, however, Eliot (in a wonderful nod to the shippers out there) realizes his most shameful moment was dismissing Quentin’s suggestion they try to make a go of it on Earth after they both remember their 50+ years together in Fillory. The scene where Eliot apologies to his memory of Quentin is heartbreakingly touching, and makes his appearance to current-day Quentin all the more gut-wrenching when he briefly gains control of his body.When Quentin realizes Eliot is alive, he spoils the plan to entrap the Eliot-Monster. This has repercussions, of course—the creature ends up killing the goddess Iris (right after Iris kills the poor maenad Shoshana) and pulls another stone out of the goddess’ chest, which Julia then tells him will help construct his real body. Evil Eliot believes them when they lie that they had been secretly planning to give him Iris, and he apparates off, leaving the gang in one piece and now laden with the knowledge that Eliot is alive (although Margo, who has had to deal with Fen and others mourning in Fillory, has yet to find out). The gang will likely grapple with this knowledge for episodes to come—how much should you help an embodiment of evil in order to save someone you love? We’ll have to keep watching to find out.
