The Magicians: Remedial Battle Magic   Books Included 
March 29, 2016 5:59 AM - Season 1, Episode 11 - Subscribe

The old traveler takes aim. Julia finds her faith. Quentin gets screwed. Alice gets screwed.
posted by leotrotsky (16 comments total) 4 users marked this as a favorite
 
"Magical creatures."
"You mean like vampires and unicorns?"
[scoffs]
"Uh, I think unicorns are a myth."
posted by leotrotsky at 6:03 AM on March 29, 2016 [2 favorites]


Oh, for folks who didn't catch it on the show. This is the second magical creature they encounter: a Lamia.
posted by leotrotsky at 6:08 AM on March 29, 2016 [1 favorite]


Ugh, you know, I really kind of hate this way of doing it. I mean, of course it was going to have to happen earlier because everything is, but it's very different when they're all basically in college rather than having houses and lives together. And it's very different when Quentin goes for it because of some "feeling relapse" rather than just because he's bored and self destructive and it seems like a good idea.
posted by corb at 11:57 AM on March 29, 2016 [2 favorites]


"I really don't want them to do a threesome."

"Sigh."

There's about zero room for cares about messing with the drama of the relationship between Alice and Quentin...and they did it anyways. Is that in the book? I get it as part of an emotional aftermath to their messing with those emo-jars, but eh.

Julie and the Goddess. Interesante. Though, was this goddess supposed to be the power behind Mary worship?
posted by Atreides at 2:27 PM on March 29, 2016


Yes, Quentin cheats on Alice with Margot/Janet in the book, but he does it basically looking to wreck his relationship with Alice because he's afraid of loving anything. Wasn't a threesome there, although the book certainly makes him look like an awful human being for doing it.
posted by tautological at 5:00 PM on March 29, 2016 [3 favorites]


So, apropos of nothing, I just realized The Magicians is pretty much The Secret History except with magic.
posted by BungaDunga at 5:21 PM on March 29, 2016 [1 favorite]


They're really leaning heavily on the "Plover is the Beast" thing. Like to the extent that I'm wavering in my conviction that it is misdirection from Martin. But maybe that's the point? That it will be a shock when Martin turns out to be the Beast?
posted by Justinian at 8:01 PM on March 29, 2016 [1 favorite]


I'm thinking that the "Plover is the Beast" is a misdirection.

My wife, who is a bit of a slash maniac, was doing a fist pump during the threesome. She's been through so many shows dropping little hints so this was a payoff for a shipper like her. I must have sat through about a half dozen rewind/freeze frames on the DVR before I said, "can we just get on with the rest of the show now?"
posted by Ber at 8:11 PM on March 29, 2016 [3 favorites]


I was really hoping for a Brad Pitt cameo as the skeezy vampire as they opened the door (would cost them their entire season 1 budget, I know).

Also, while Quentin cheating on Alice with Margo/Janet makes less sense (in that it had to be kickstarted by a convenient magical plot token) than in the books, Alice's sleeping with Penny in return is going to make way more sense. And I'll take that trade.
posted by 256 at 8:11 PM on March 29, 2016 [1 favorite]


Definitely a misdirection. Remember, Penny asks for information about the Beast and she gives him the book labeled "Martin"?
posted by corb at 8:59 PM on March 29, 2016 [3 favorites]


It was a threesome in the book- Eliot was involved. There was reference to Janet/Margo's hands in Eliot's crotchal region, at least.
posted by aabbbiee at 2:50 AM on March 30, 2016 [6 favorites]


OK, I found it in the book. Eliot was involved but the details are light. I suspect that even as I type this there are diligent souls on Archive of Our Own fleshing out the missing bits.
posted by Ber at 10:52 AM on March 30, 2016 [1 favorite]


... fleshing out
posted by Justinian at 10:58 AM on March 30, 2016 [4 favorites]


Yup, there's a super-drunken party, but Alice leaves early, then Q and Janet hook up while Eliot is passed out on his/a bed, but he wakes up and participates. The circumstances are different, but the result is the same.

I figured they were going there when Alice and Penny got closer through their unenhanced training while Quentin, Margo and Eliot bottle their feelings to be war magic bosses. A different sort of pairing off, parallel paths but different plot points from the books.


"Uh, I think unicorns are a myth."

Which made me think about the poster in Quentin's room, and that fits with Margo's comment about Quentin really believing in and loving magic before he knew it was real.
posted by filthy light thief at 10:23 AM on March 31, 2016 [2 favorites]


Yeah, I admit I had a lot of phrases I could have gone with but "fleshing out" somehow seemed appropriate.

Now I'm just waiting for someone like The Whelk to pop in here and insist that the one true pairing is Q/Penny.
posted by Ber at 11:58 AM on March 31, 2016 [2 favorites]



I was really hoping for a Brad Pitt cameo as the skeezy vampire as they opened the door


Especially after the joke about vampires talking your ears off for twelve hours.

They've def made these character a lot more like able than the book characters. A huge amount of effort has gone into making each of them vulnerable.
And while the threesome as a result of unrelenting terror/magical backwash is more forgivable to the viewer, they've tweaked things to make it less forgiveable by Alice - after that backstory from
her visit home it's pretty clear that she is not going to be down with orgy stuff bc her parents burned that right out of her with bacchanalias in the backyard growing up.

If Quentin is a jealous resentful loser after Alice sleeps with Penny, though, I might throw rocks at the screen.
posted by bq at 10:46 AM on April 1, 2016 [3 favorites]


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