The Magicians: Oops!... I Did It Again
February 14, 2020 7:15 AM - Season 5, Episode 6 - Subscribe
It's the end of the world as we know it, and I feel fine. OK, not fine. "Am I crazy, or this already happened, right?"
'The Magicians' Season 5, Episode 6 Review: The worst keeps happening in an insane Eliot-dominated chapter -- The apocalyptic and personal stakes are a tense backdrop to a fun, Eliot-centric episode that is 'The Magicians' at its finest (Armaan Babu for Meaww)
'The Magicians' Season 5, Episode 6 Review: The worst keeps happening in an insane Eliot-dominated chapter -- The apocalyptic and personal stakes are a tense backdrop to a fun, Eliot-centric episode that is 'The Magicians' at its finest (Armaan Babu for Meaww)
Every once in a while, the events of a show are just so strange and so bizarre that you need to take a moment to summarize its events in one increasingly madcap sentence just to appreciate the sheer insanity of what you have just witnessed.
So, this episode, after the moon was broken in an attempt to save the world, Eliot Waugh (Hale Appleman) and Margo Hanson (Summer Bishil) get trapped in a time loop because the moon's breakage released a world-destroying Kraken.
The Kraken was guarded by magician whales that set time back 12 hours if it ever escapes in order to change the events that released it. It's crazy to think that all of this was foreshadowed right from Episode 1 in the Adams St graffiti.
I enjoyed this less than the previous one, mostly because I felt very mislead in the wrong way that the person tormenting Elliot was not the monster but Charlton.
posted by KTamas at 7:38 AM on February 14, 2020
posted by KTamas at 7:38 AM on February 14, 2020
Oh goddamn the title image kraken+whales thing is smart.
posted by KTamas at 7:40 AM on February 14, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by KTamas at 7:40 AM on February 14, 2020 [1 favorite]
I loved this one. I am a sucker for a good time loop episode as tropey as they are, but at least on this show they make sense in the universe and they didn't have to spend half the episode convincing them selves and other of whats going on. That the whales were behind it fun, also them kicking Margo out of the time loop for deciding to kill them all. [its weird having read the books how as far off plot we are on the series bits and pieces from the stories still show up from time to time...I remember the bit about whales being magicians being an almost throw away line in the third book...and is a fun include for the fans]
The Charlton reveal was...almost random? Like I had totally forgotten about him until he walked though the door (for a hot second I almost expected it to be Quentin...but I guess that was just wishful thinking, though my wife is convinced he may some how come back at the end of the season for at least a one off). That whole bit between him and Elliot was great though.
Interesting to see what they are going to do to and with Fillory and if Todd will step up and save the world!
posted by Captain_Science at 8:54 AM on February 14, 2020
The Charlton reveal was...almost random? Like I had totally forgotten about him until he walked though the door (for a hot second I almost expected it to be Quentin...but I guess that was just wishful thinking, though my wife is convinced he may some how come back at the end of the season for at least a one off). That whole bit between him and Elliot was great though.
Interesting to see what they are going to do to and with Fillory and if Todd will step up and save the world!
posted by Captain_Science at 8:54 AM on February 14, 2020
But damn, Hale Appleman is just SO TALENTED. I would still watch the show if no one else but him was on it.
posted by cooker girl at 9:07 AM on February 14, 2020 [4 favorites]
posted by cooker girl at 9:07 AM on February 14, 2020 [4 favorites]
I was really delighted by the solution to the time loop. (Now I'm even more delighted learning that the episode ties back to the graffiti.) I'm so glad that Hale Appleman and Summer Bishil have been getting so much time together on screen. <3 <3
This season has been much less visually/viscerally horrifying than I expected. I'm 100% here for that.
posted by esker at 9:31 AM on February 14, 2020 [2 favorites]
This season has been much less visually/viscerally horrifying than I expected. I'm 100% here for that.
posted by esker at 9:31 AM on February 14, 2020 [2 favorites]
I loved the Charlton reveal. I was all "God, don't bring back Nameless, that's done", but this was great!
posted by Pendragon at 10:19 AM on February 14, 2020 [2 favorites]
posted by Pendragon at 10:19 AM on February 14, 2020 [2 favorites]
yeah this pair of episodes was just great. I enjoyed every second of it. I had to double check though what last happened to Marina (who's Marina-23, a detail I keep forgetting, because Marina-Prime/40 was killed by Reynard), and turns out Penny-23 up and left her after they got back to 40 (oh wait, he might have left her in 36?), after they got kidnapped by Stoppard the horomancer (who tried to help Eliot but none of his stuff worked because timey-wimey moon/whale magic).
posted by numaner at 1:31 PM on February 14, 2020 [2 favorites]
posted by numaner at 1:31 PM on February 14, 2020 [2 favorites]
But damn, Hale Appleman is just SO TALENTED.
This was my biggest takeaway from the episode too. It's a shame that shows like this don't actually get any kind of attention at awards season because he has turned in some absolutely staggering performances, especially this season, and this episode in particular was 100% Emmy-worthy IMO. He nailed every single nuance of Eliot's slow breakdown.
I felt very mislead in the wrong way that the person tormenting Elliot was not the monster but Charlton.
It was...kind of a letdown, plot wise, although I was grateful we aren't in for another round of dealing with the monster. And while this show loves subverting expectations it's possible to go so far with subverting expectations that the subversion then becomes the expected thing; the two episodes back to back had a bunch of major twists piled on top of each other in a big messy heap and while I love the show for its messiness I feel like it might need to occasionally pick one or two things to actually play sort of straight, just to keep us guessing.
posted by mstokes650 at 10:32 PM on February 14, 2020 [2 favorites]
This was my biggest takeaway from the episode too. It's a shame that shows like this don't actually get any kind of attention at awards season because he has turned in some absolutely staggering performances, especially this season, and this episode in particular was 100% Emmy-worthy IMO. He nailed every single nuance of Eliot's slow breakdown.
I felt very mislead in the wrong way that the person tormenting Elliot was not the monster but Charlton.
It was...kind of a letdown, plot wise, although I was grateful we aren't in for another round of dealing with the monster. And while this show loves subverting expectations it's possible to go so far with subverting expectations that the subversion then becomes the expected thing; the two episodes back to back had a bunch of major twists piled on top of each other in a big messy heap and while I love the show for its messiness I feel like it might need to occasionally pick one or two things to actually play sort of straight, just to keep us guessing.
posted by mstokes650 at 10:32 PM on February 14, 2020 [2 favorites]
'Are you... the Kraken?'
posted by BungaDunga at 7:34 PM on February 16, 2020 [2 favorites]
posted by BungaDunga at 7:34 PM on February 16, 2020 [2 favorites]
i kinda love that the world is ending but this one dude decided to go snorkeling as one of his last activities on earth, and he's super satisfied with it.
posted by numaner at 6:48 AM on February 18, 2020 [3 favorites]
posted by numaner at 6:48 AM on February 18, 2020 [3 favorites]
Snorkeling somewhere within spitting distance of Manhattan, no less.
This show is not trying hard at all to make their exterior shots remotely resemble the NYC metro area.
posted by BungaDunga at 9:58 AM on February 18, 2020
This show is not trying hard at all to make their exterior shots remotely resemble the NYC metro area.
posted by BungaDunga at 9:58 AM on February 18, 2020
Alternatively, they're trying really hard and BC just doesn't offer much...
posted by BungaDunga at 10:02 AM on February 18, 2020
posted by BungaDunga at 10:02 AM on February 18, 2020
- We cast Vinnola's Oxygen Saver on Penny 23,
then he travels to the moon. It's easier to do a portal there.
May I just say ... I tried?
posted by dmd at 6:41 PM on February 20, 2020 [2 favorites]
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Anyway, bonkers and beautiful, and I loved it all.
Eliot: Those messages? That was you, too? "I'm still here"? "Let me out"?
Charlton: Yes. I wanted you to know that I was still here and I wanted to be let out.
Eliot: In red paint?
Charlton: Right, like strawberries and Santa Claus.
Eliot: And blood, Charlton.
Charlton: Well, perhaps it was a touch ominous.
Eliot: As was the creepy whisper.
Charlton: I was trying to be polite.
posted by filthy light thief at 7:27 AM on February 14, 2020 [9 favorites]