The Magicians: The Mountain of Ghosts

January 30, 2020 7:17 AM - Season 5, Episode 3

Eliot and Alice go for a hike. Fen gets a haircut.

The Magicians returns to mourn its past and try to figure out its future (Lisa Weidenfeld, TV/AV Club)

Any show heading into its fifth season may feel the need to take some big risks to find new stories to tell, and it’s safe to say The Magicians took a pretty massive one at the end of the fourth season by killing off its main character. The new season finds its remaining core characters unusually out of imminent danger, but the show returns suffused with grief, as all of them struggle to figure out what their lives mean in the aftermath of Quentin’s death.

What makes the entire situation more complicated is that the show gave Quentin (Jason Ralph) a hero’s exit: He died saving the world. Which means that his death weighs even more heavily on the survivors. What can they possibly do now to make his sacrifice worth it? What meaning can their lives have to earn what he did for them?

‘The Magicians’ Finally Gave Quentin and Eliot Closure, Even If They Deserved More (Anna Menta, Decider)

The Magicians finally offered closure for heartbroken Queliot shippers, and while it likely won’t heal the gaping wound that the Season 4 finale inflicted, it might act as a band-aid. (But, like, one of those really tiny ones reserved for treating paper cuts.)
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With that emotional bombshell, it’s hard to pay attention to much else but here’s a quick rundown of other things that happened: Margo and Fen enter a Centurian tournament in Fillory. Unfortunately, it’s a full moon, and when Margo realizes that Fen, too, is a werewolf, Fen confesses she and Josh slept together “less than a dozen times.” They battle it out—literally—and Margo, hyped up on werewolf hormones, straight-up stabs Fen. Thankfully, it’s a child’s play knife, and Fen is fine. But Margo admits she thought it was real.

‘The Magicians’: Hale Appleman on Tonight’s Big Episode and Eliot’s Growth to Come and ‘The Magicians’ EP Sera Gamble Breaks Down Season 5’s Big Eliot/Alice Episode (Adam Chitwood for Collider)

posted by filthy light thief (4 comments total)

As a Queliot shipper I loved this so goddamned much. Nice twist with the Dark King. I somehow love this show more than ever?
posted by KTamas at 3:49 PM on January 30, 2020 [2 favorites]

I loved Margo in this, she's good at being a bloodthirsty warrior queen.
posted by GoblinHoney at 2:03 PM on January 31, 2020 [3 favorites]

I appreciated Fen's Indiana Jones callback.
posted by mikepop at 10:52 AM on February 5, 2020 [2 favorites]

I liked that they devoted substantial time in this episode to acknowledging Q and Eliot's love for each other and that it's important, too. (It felt a little like the writers were saying "we're sorry we fucked up and made you feel queer-baited last season; we know we can't change that, but we will try to do better". )

It was also such a relief to me that Alice and Eliot ended the episode feeling closer and more comfortable with each other.

I wonder if the Dark King a descendant of someone we already know, or someone entirely new.

tbh I'm surprised/disappointed in Josh that Fen's a werewolf now. Not too long ago Josh was willing to die rather than pass on the curse. So what's up with that? Did Fen ask to become a werewolf?

I wonder what's going to happen with Penny and Julia. Like.. it seems like he feels like the relationship is as comfortable and confident as the one he had with Julia-23, but it also seems like a lot to expect that Julia-40 feels the same way.
posted by esker at 8:42 AM on February 7, 2020 [2 favorites]