As we take a look at The Magicians season 2, episode 10: The Girl Who Told Time, be prepared for SPOILERS!
With the season really hotting up the ‘previously’ on this episode has some serious events in it: Penny (Arjun Gupta) reveals to Kady (Jade Tailor) that he signed the deal with the Librarians, we’re reminded of Bayler’s (Rhys Ward) manifesto for ‘Fillorians United’, Margo’s (Summer Bishil) deal with the faeries, the impending marriage of Eliot (Hale Appleman) and King Idri (Leonard Roberts) making a threesome with Fen (Brittany Curran), Quentin (Jason Ralph) releasing the Alice Niffin (Olivia Taylor Dudley), Julia (Stella Maeve) trying to feed Q to Reynard (Mackenzie Astin), Jade confronting Julia about her lack of Shade, and Jane Chatwin’s (Esmé Bianco) use of the time loops to try to defeat the beast, leading to this iteration where the only change is Julia didn’t go to Brakebills.
In a flashback to one of the previous iterations of the time loop, we see Dean Fogg (Rick Worthy) and Julia during her induction meeting, where he discovers that she is a ‘Knowledge student’, the same as he is, and that she is committed to the ‘discovery of magic’.
Back in the present day, in the Brakebills magic dungeon, Dean Fogg visits the shadeless Julia, and releases her, while urging that she should put aside her fear and search for answers.
THE MAGICIANS — “The Girl Who Told Time” Episode 210 — Pictured: (l-r) Summer Bishil as Margo, Jason Ralph as Quentin — (Photo by: Eike Schroter/Syfy)
Over in Fillory, Eliot is busy with his wedding preparations, while Q is wallowing, drinking wine. Margo kicks his arse into gear, partially so that he can get back into the real world, and partially so she has time to “rub one out in a hot bath”.
Learning that Fogg has released Julia, Jade sets off to continue dealing with Reynard, with the help of Penny. They are pulled off on a tangent however, by the Librarians, who have processed his application and expect him to start work.
In the Fillory dungeons, Eliot is visiting Bayler, and the two, now ‘friends’ are discussing why the people hate him, and how he might fix it.
Eliot has also sent Q to Brakebills to get Josh (Trevor Einhorn) to help with the wedding preparations. To help Q, Josh gives him one of his ‘magical drug cakes’ which he has been selling. The one he gives him lets him see into other worlds, and while he is in his altered state he sees Julia’s shade, lost in another world.
THE MAGICIANS — “The Girl Who Told Time” Episode 210 — Pictured: Trevor Einhorn as Josh — (Photo by: Eike Schroter/Syfy)
Returning to Fillory, Q explains to Eliot that he needs to go back to help Julia, and Eliot comforts him, but says he has to return for the wedding! Afterwards, Eliot bumps into Fen looking pensive staring out of a window, and he finds out that 3 person marriage isn’t the issue with her that he thought it was. When she still looks disturbed, we discover this is due to her seeing faeries following her, although she tells Eliot she is experiencing morning sickness.
In the Library, Kady strikes out in finding a ‘god killing’ book, and then agrees to help Penny with his job as he still can’t cast.
In New York, Q goes to see Julia, who is remorseful, but ‘doing it from memory’, as she really can’t feel remorse in reality. He reveals that he has seen Julia’s shade and that her shade wants to be found. They begin to research shades and by chance discover that Todd (Adam DiMarco) has a work study job typing up Dean Fogg’s memoirs and that the Dean has mentioned shades before.
Dean Fogg explains that he knew someone that had researched shades: Alice. It wasn’t their Alice however, it was the Alice from the 23rd time around the time loop.
In Fillory, Josh is trying to please Eliot, who is still trying to find a way to make the Fillorians like him. Eliot is also concerned with Fen, and talks to Margo for advice, as he says that it’s like Fen is seeing people that aren’t there. As he is saying this, Margo is also seeing a faerie.
THE MAGICIANS — “The Girl Who Told Time” Episode 210 — Pictured: Marlee Matlin as Harriet — (Photo by: Eike Schroter/Syfy)
Back on Earth, Penny and Kady go to find the missing book, and bring it back from Harriet (Marlee Matlin). Harriet explains that her magic is her clickbait site, which distributes knowledge as encoded spells. She also tells Kady that there is no knowledge the library doesn’t have, so they’re lying to her.
While Josh is working on the wedding in Fillory, he discovers that the dishwasher has been passing notes to the ‘FU Fighters’, and Margo hatches a plan to track the note back to the rebels encampment, and use Josh’s love potion on them; Josh is then sent on the mission.
In the library, Penny returns the book to Howard (Brendan Taylor), who, affected by a curse on the library card, tries to open the door to the ‘Poison Room’ against his will. With his last strength he kills himself to prevent that from happening.
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)
Dean Fogg, along with Julia and Quentin look to employ the ‘Tesla Flection’ in Brakebills to speak to the Alice from the 23rd time loop, although it is extremely risky. They manage to achieve the connection with the other reality, and learn that shades go to the Underworld, which can only be accessed by the living when they have a ‘gatekeeper’, an ‘ancient one’ older than the world itself. In his discussion with the other Alice he learns that she has sacrificed much since being the only survivor of the beast and they share a heartfelt moment as Q declares his love for her, releasing her from whatever guilt she may have.
Returning from the successful mission to the FU Fighters camp, Josh toasts the success with Eliot and Margo. Afterwards, Margo goes to talk to Fen and encounters the Faerie Emissary. Fen walks in and realises that she isn’t going mad as Margo saw it too. Margo comes clean, and Fen is indignant that the faeries won’t take her child. Anguished, Fen runs to Eliot, but when she finds him, it turns out to be a Faerie, who appears to abduct her.
Back at Harriet’s, Penny and Kady find that her entire company has disappeared, and that the only thing left is a card with the details of a god killing book for Kady.
In Brakebills, Julia and Q are researching how to find an ‘ancient one’, and as the episode closes, Julia finds the truth: a dragon…
