The Magicians: A Life In The Day   Show Only 
February 7, 2018 8:36 PM - Season 3, Episode 5 - Subscribe

 
Best episode of the season so far.
posted by Pendragon at 12:18 PM on February 8, 2018 [2 favorites]


So, we going to meet Quentin's descendants at some point, then?
posted by Karmakaze at 12:40 PM on February 8, 2018


Margo’s storyline was not fantastic, Alice’s top was a whole new level of implausible, but good golly was Elliot and Quentin’s time-lapse the best thing that this series has ever done.

But... now that it’s been a few episodes I need to raise a very important question.
posted by Parasite Unseen at 7:36 PM on February 8, 2018 [2 favorites]


Has the time slip between Earth and Fillory disappeared as a result of losing magic?
posted by fiercekitten at 8:03 PM on February 8, 2018


Wow. That time lapse was a gut punch that came out of nowhere. Deeply reminded me of TNG’s “The Inner Light” which is one of my favorite episodes of television, ever.
posted by annekate at 9:10 PM on February 8, 2018


holy crap that was an episode.

yes I assume Quentin's son and descendants will make an appearance. also, is Quentin bi now? or just for Elliot?

the book wasn't kidding about the magic of life unlocking that puzzle.

poor prince jawline.
posted by numaner at 9:54 PM on February 8, 2018 [1 favorite]


is Quentin bi now?

Well, Quentin had slept with Eliot once before (and also Margo, in the threesome that sparked Quentin and Alice’s breakup). Since we’ve not really seen Quentin express interest in any other men, the only two things that we know with any certainty are that Eliot is very pretty and Quentin’s Kinsey score has a measurable correlation to his blood alcohol level.
posted by Parasite Unseen at 11:26 PM on February 8, 2018 [5 favorites]


And can we take a moment to appreciate how OH MY HELLO DADDY middle-aged Eliot looks?

Because that. I’m dealing with that right now.
posted by Parasite Unseen at 11:40 PM on February 8, 2018 [1 favorite]


"We had a family." So cute! Now I wonder... delta or vee triad?
posted by fritillary at 11:48 PM on February 8, 2018 [1 favorite]


This season has been breath-taking - I'm sad it's not getting more coverage. Loved the Penny/Kady interaction that blew up in everyone's face, loved the heartbreaking solution to the mosaic and Margo's part in retrieving the key, even liked the Julia origin of magic reveal. The fairy stuff is frustrating, but I suspect that's by design.
posted by crepesofwrath at 7:07 AM on February 9, 2018


As long as the awful young prince isn't their descendant. I'm wondering if it's Tick?
posted by mygothlaundry at 8:00 PM on February 9, 2018


Quentin's son should be at least late middle-aged. They lived quite a long time after he moved out and yet Jane Chatwin was still young when she began to find a way to stop her brother.
posted by Ivan Fyodorovich at 12:05 AM on February 10, 2018


Oh okay, for some reason I was thinking they had been hundreds of years in the past so this would be a distant descendant.. .Fillory time , like Narnia time, doesn’t work the same as earth time, right? But if we figure that Jane was there in the 1930s then Quentin could well have a grandchild who is his own age.
posted by mygothlaundry at 7:38 PM on February 11, 2018


QUENTIN IS HIS OWN GRANDCHILD FIGHT ME
posted by numaner at 7:10 AM on February 12, 2018 [7 favorites]


This ep was flat-out gorgeous. SO MANY FEELS!
But I think the most important thing it did was portray non-hetero relationships as, *gasp* what they are - NORMAL.

There was no huge "come to Jesus" moment, it was simply two people loving each other over a lifetime, and how those relationships change and grow and evolve, not excluding other (peaches and pear girl, I'm looking at you.), and that at the core, they were a family, no matter how blurry those boundaries were - there was real love there, and love that doesn't often get portrayed in such a simple, graceful way.

This episode might be my favorite yet.
And yes, my OTP is always Q+E.
posted by the_royal_we at 6:31 AM on February 16, 2018 [1 favorite]


I was happy and sad that Quentin and Eliot got to lead full lives. Did anyone else notice that the quilt that Quentin wrapped Eliot in looked like tiles too? I would've found it amusing if the quilt came first and they never noticed it...
posted by Pronoiac at 11:24 PM on February 16, 2018 [1 favorite]


I know I'm a week behind but I want to point out that Margot references ending up chained to a wall full of arrows by a young prince which is of course a Joffrey reference. The woman who ended up chained to a wall full of arrows by Joffrey was Ros, played by Esme Bianco. Bianco also appeared in this episode (and previous ones) as the adult Jane Chatwin.

Trippy.
posted by Justinian at 12:51 AM on February 18, 2018 [2 favorites]


Wow. They have been building the feels and the gravitas for the last couple episodes. Now we've seen a culmination. Everything that happens after this ep is just gravy. I shudder to think how much slash fic will generate from this.
posted by Ber at 3:30 PM on February 20, 2018


Wow. The Elliot/Quentin storyline in this episode is one of the most moving things that I have seen on TV. It's so nice to see that others feel that way, too. What was so remarkable to me is that it just came out of nowhere. This idea that two people would spend a lifetime on a puzzle seems like something that would totally not work in the context of this TV show, but the characters' commitment to the plot line makes it totally work.
posted by Betelgeuse at 5:46 PM on February 20, 2018 [1 favorite]


Like everyone says, the time lapse is beautiful in itself, and on top of that the frisson of the sudden realization that this *is* the solution - fantastic.
posted by vibratory manner of working at 3:32 PM on February 26, 2018


This is the episode that prompted me to rewatch and catch up on the series and

a) achingly beautiful

b) in retrospect Eliot has been either crushing or head over heels for Quentin since Episode 2

c) Quentin the bisexual dweeb makes me feel extremely represented and I'm claiming him

d) however, it didn't really feel like ... they were husbands. I can't pin down why. But like, the son said one "dad" when he left, not two.

e) That's what aches. Q got to have a wife and son, but I don't think Eliot really had a husband. he had a devoted, lifelong love, and yet it still somehow feels different and unfair.

f) that doesn't mean it's wrong. Love isn't fair and no one really gets what they deserve.

g) I wonder if they ever tried to work that out, what kind of feelings they had and how reciprocal they were. Would you, really? What if you didn't like the answer?
posted by Rainbo Vagrant at 10:28 PM on March 30, 2019 [1 favorite]


that was incredibly beautiful (great episode in general but the Q & E story...) I was mesmerized especially as I began to realize that the life they were living was the solution. feeeeelz.
posted by supermedusa at 9:31 AM on April 15, 2019


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