The Magicians: The Rattening Show Only
April 7, 2017 9:31 AM - Season 2, Episode 11 - Subscribe
Quentin accompanies Julia to the underworld on a journey to help her recover her shade. Penny tries to use his Neitherlands Library position to gain access to a mysterious room that houses literature about god killing, for Kady. Eliot and Margo discover that a strange spell has been cast over Fillory. Senator Gaines begins to understand his powers.
Don't panic! You're probably not going to Hell.
First rule of being dead: if you're here, you bowl.
Don't panic! You're probably not going to Hell.
First rule of being dead: if you're here, you bowl.
I'm pretty into the senator joining up with Kady to get Reynard.
The Beetlejuice-style underworld is really enjoyable (with a dash of The Good Place, no?) It also reminded me of Sarah Ruhl's play Eurydice, in which she takes an elevator to the underworld. The hole in Julia's abdomen was great and Burton-esque.
posted by purpleclover at 12:10 PM on April 7, 2017 [3 favorites]
The Beetlejuice-style underworld is really enjoyable (with a dash of The Good Place, no?) It also reminded me of Sarah Ruhl's play Eurydice, in which she takes an elevator to the underworld. The hole in Julia's abdomen was great and Burton-esque.
posted by purpleclover at 12:10 PM on April 7, 2017 [3 favorites]
So, of course my brain was all, 'well now Julia has a shade hole and they have Alice's shade and Alice is off being all niffen crazy so.. clearly there is some plot device that is going to make a Julia/Alice hybrid and lead to some crazy ass Q confusion/attraction'.
I also really enjoyed the Senator's realization bit and it gave us some more back story on the god v god stuff that has already happened which is sure to be relevant for the future.
posted by Feantari at 12:31 PM on April 7, 2017 [1 favorite]
I also really enjoyed the Senator's realization bit and it gave us some more back story on the god v god stuff that has already happened which is sure to be relevant for the future.
posted by Feantari at 12:31 PM on April 7, 2017 [1 favorite]
Yes, I definitely had a "they're creating Quentin's perfect woman" sense of growing horror. (surely they are not, right?)
posted by purpleclover at 2:39 PM on April 7, 2017
posted by purpleclover at 2:39 PM on April 7, 2017
It was nice to see Real Richard again, and it was likewise nice of Julia to keep the truth from him – though surely some of the Free Traders know the whole story? That was kind of ambiguous. I guess they've probably spent enough time in the anodyne Happy Bowling Grounds to be at the very least out of crisis mode, but it was a bit weird.
I'm really not sure the show knows exactly how to write or direct Shadeless Julia except as a full-blown villain (which bodes weirdly if they push her down a more book-like path later on). As soon as she realized exactly how bad she should feel, the way she has acted has been almost indistinguishable from someone with an actual conscience – and the goalposts were moved from "losing your shade makes you merrily amoral instantaneously" to "living without a shade, provided you have at least one friend, is a slow descent into eventually irreversible merry amorality".
posted by lumensimus at 9:42 PM on April 7, 2017 [1 favorite]
I'm really not sure the show knows exactly how to write or direct Shadeless Julia except as a full-blown villain (which bodes weirdly if they push her down a more book-like path later on). As soon as she realized exactly how bad she should feel, the way she has acted has been almost indistinguishable from someone with an actual conscience – and the goalposts were moved from "losing your shade makes you merrily amoral instantaneously" to "living without a shade, provided you have at least one friend, is a slow descent into eventually irreversible merry amorality".
posted by lumensimus at 9:42 PM on April 7, 2017 [1 favorite]
Why did King Idri tell Eliot they couldn't touch each other? Was it just a 'not before the wedding' thing and I missed a line?
posted by oh yeah! at 6:40 PM on April 8, 2017 [1 favorite]
posted by oh yeah! at 6:40 PM on April 8, 2017 [1 favorite]
"As soon as she realized exactly how bad she should feel, the way she has acted has been almost indistinguishable from someone with an actual conscience – and the goalposts were moved from 'losing your shade makes you merrily amoral instantaneously' to 'living without a shade, provided you have at least one friend, is a slow descent into eventually irreversible merry amorality'."
Yeah, this has bothered me, too. I think maybe the actor didn't have the best instincts or direction on this, though. It seems to me that the idea that you could intellectually recognize and endorse ethical behavior while feeling highly disassociated from a need to do so emotionally makes a lot of sense. I mean, haven't we all experienced that with something or other? That we are very certain intellectually what's right, and that matters to us, but it lacks that emotional certainty which otherwise makes it less a choice than a necessity? So it is purely a reasoned choice. Which is really weird when your reasoning is very certain that it's right.
So I think they could have done this with Julia from the beginning. And maybe it makes sense that she wouldn't grapple with this right away, instead just relying upon her (missing) gut intuition about ethics and so unthinkingly being sociopathic until she's forced to really think about it. I can see how that could all make sense and be a valid evolution for the character. But, as filmed, it really hasn't been convincing to me and instead just seems haphazard.
posted by Ivan Fyodorovich at 6:50 PM on April 8, 2017 [4 favorites]
Yeah, this has bothered me, too. I think maybe the actor didn't have the best instincts or direction on this, though. It seems to me that the idea that you could intellectually recognize and endorse ethical behavior while feeling highly disassociated from a need to do so emotionally makes a lot of sense. I mean, haven't we all experienced that with something or other? That we are very certain intellectually what's right, and that matters to us, but it lacks that emotional certainty which otherwise makes it less a choice than a necessity? So it is purely a reasoned choice. Which is really weird when your reasoning is very certain that it's right.
So I think they could have done this with Julia from the beginning. And maybe it makes sense that she wouldn't grapple with this right away, instead just relying upon her (missing) gut intuition about ethics and so unthinkingly being sociopathic until she's forced to really think about it. I can see how that could all make sense and be a valid evolution for the character. But, as filmed, it really hasn't been convincing to me and instead just seems haphazard.
posted by Ivan Fyodorovich at 6:50 PM on April 8, 2017 [4 favorites]
Why did King Idri tell Eliot they couldn't touch each other? Was it just a 'not before the wedding' thing and I missed a line?
There seem to be some deep magical restrictions on fidelity in Fillory, but I genuinely don't remember when those were first introduced. Probably around when Eliot got married the first time.
posted by lumensimus at 6:32 PM on April 9, 2017
There seem to be some deep magical restrictions on fidelity in Fillory, but I genuinely don't remember when those were first introduced. Probably around when Eliot got married the first time.
posted by lumensimus at 6:32 PM on April 9, 2017
Honestly, if there are magical restrictions on fidelity I would LOVE to know what they are. Like what happens if you are unfaithful?
Also no one mentioned that the dragon was voiced by the actor who plays Osgood on Doctor Who!
posted by miss-lapin at 11:05 AM on April 10, 2017 [1 favorite]
Also no one mentioned that the dragon was voiced by the actor who plays Osgood on Doctor Who!
posted by miss-lapin at 11:05 AM on April 10, 2017 [1 favorite]
I expected that they would find Martin's shade at the orphanage, but the series seems to have moved on from the Chatwins.
Alice's shade's outfit was reminiscent of the sort of design that adult Alice wore, and with roughly the same volume of fabric.
posted by Parasite Unseen at 3:18 PM on April 10, 2017 [4 favorites]
Alice's shade's outfit was reminiscent of the sort of design that adult Alice wore, and with roughly the same volume of fabric.
posted by Parasite Unseen at 3:18 PM on April 10, 2017 [4 favorites]
"...and with roughly the same volume of fabric."
Heh. And also, yech. That was always so annoying.
posted by Ivan Fyodorovich at 7:50 PM on April 10, 2017 [1 favorite]
Heh. And also, yech. That was always so annoying.
posted by Ivan Fyodorovich at 7:50 PM on April 10, 2017 [1 favorite]
I must say I'm enjoying this season more than the first, and I'm glad I struggled through that. This is just High Wacky, with Penny hitting on Zelda, The Underworld Bowling Paradise and Margo undermining Elliot.
posted by arzakh at 4:58 AM on April 12, 2017 [1 favorite]
posted by arzakh at 4:58 AM on April 12, 2017 [1 favorite]
I liked the confirmation that Our Lady Underground is actually real and the implication that Reynard went after Free Trader Beowulf because he has a specific grudge against her.
posted by tobascodagama at 5:11 AM on May 24, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by tobascodagama at 5:11 AM on May 24, 2018 [1 favorite]
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posted by filthy light thief at 11:35 AM on April 7, 2017 [1 favorite]