As we get to ‘ The Girl Who Told Time ‘, which is three quarters of the way through the second season of The Magicians, things are hotting up, and many things are happening that will no doubt come to a head in the last three episodes. As per usual, here’s a spoiler warning for the review ahead!
This episode sees The Magicians back in very rude health with many jokes, both broad and deadpan, alongside some more serious dramatic elements. This merging of the two is primarily when The Magicians really shines and this episode is no exception to that shininess; Margo (Summer Bishil) especially is torn in two directions dramatically, with some great lines including one about her needing some ‘self-love’, and her whole plot with the faeries coming home to roost, so to speak.
THE MAGICIANS — “The Girl Who Told Time” Episode 210 — Pictured: (l-r) Hale Appleman as Eliot, Summer Bishil as Margo — (Photo by: Eike Schroter/Syfy)
While Margo seems much more in control this episode, Eliot seems all at sea, spending parts of it being wildly paranoid and obsessed with his polling numbers, but also fretting about wedding minutiae, which in turn feeds back into his anxiety. Eliot has long been one of the more interesting characters in the show and it’s nice to spend some time with his tortured mind, even if we don’t learn a great deal, and it’s a relatively shallow look.
One thing that was good to see was Penny becoming more pro-active and not just the ‘comedy device’. This episode he’s much more involved with an actual plot, which also includes a nice turn from the great Marlee Matlin (The West Wing, Children of a Lesser God etc..); generally, The Magicians has been able to cast great guest stars such as Anne Dudek, Christopher Gorman, Keegan Connor Tracy, Michelle Harrison and the aforementioned Marlee Matlin, probably because of the quality of the show. The way things are going, this should continue!
THE MAGICIANS — “The Girl Who Told Time” Episode 210 — Pictured: Marlee Matlin as Harriet — (Photo by: Eike Schroter/Syfy)
In the scenes with Matlin, Jade Tailor’s ‘Kady’ is good value and the dynamic with Matlin makes up for the lack of Julia/Kady interaction, which was a relationship and storyline that was developing nicely. The, no doubt, temporary breakdown in their team up is an interesting one that hopefully will be examined more, the next time their stories collide. Both Kady and Julia are broken people in many ways and they seem a good match in terms of being each other’s support network, or ‘commiseration partner’ at the very least, and the cracks in this friendship will be interesting to look at more closely.
The re-introduction of the time loops and other magic lore, (such as the dragon at the end of the episode, or the Poison Room’) was a nice touch and the more expansive the show gets, the better it is, as they have tended to explore these new areas in interesting ways. It can only help the dramatic aspirations of the show if there are more ‘grey areas’, and depth in their universe’s makeup.
THE MAGICIANS — “The Girl Who Told Time” Episode 210 — Pictured: (l-r) Hale Appleman as Eliot, Jason Ralph as Quentin — (Photo by: Eike Schroter/Syfy)
While this episode has a lot of great qualities, it is clearly a transitional one, setting up the final quarter of the season with many elements that are likely to come crashing together. Something is seriously going to go wrong with the deal Margo made with the faeries, which will probably sour her relationship with Eliot, even if she can negotiate a way out of it, for instance. There is also more to come from Julia’s actions from previous episodes in Fillory, so even just taking Fillory into account, there is a powder keg waiting to explode. Add into that the arrival of dragons into the mix, and Kady needing to access the ‘Poison Room’, there is likely to be many more morality-challenging decisions to be made.
THE MAGICIANS — “The Girl Who Told Time” Episode 210 — Pictured: (l-r) Rick Worthy as Dean Fogg, Stella Maeve as Julia — (Photo by: Eike Schroter/Syfy)
Things definitely are hotting up and I for one look forward to the season run in! By the looks of the ratings, I’m not alone either, as on average this season has been better rated than season one, so hopefully that means that more people are going to be discovering this consistently good gem.
