the reason The Magicians is so good is because it has legitimately relatable characters
From the root of the whole story being a very young millennial (allllllllllmost Gen Z) obsessed with the Fillory books, and having a hard time growing up and dealing with the real world as well as very real mental illness and feelings of isolation because he doesn’t fit in, it’s relatable.
Us young millennial and older gen z young adults have that same experience with the Narnia books, books that continue to have lasting similarities to the Fillory story.
But even more then that, The Magicians is about found families (specifically at college), people with good and bad parents, those who are affluent and poor, straight gay and everything in between, people who have nothing to connect them outside of their field of study coming together and forming a group that spans worlds, timelines, and species.
From the level of dumbassery, to the way they speak, so the half nihilist, half optimist outlook they all seem to have on life, they are all wholly relatable.
I would argue it’s one of the best shows on television, if not the best representation I’ve ever seen.
I’m reading The Magicians, after watching some of the show, and I can’t believe Quentin is even more of an incel. 50 pages in and all he’s done is complain about Julia not loving him, complain about not being happy despite having everything, and complain about not having a shot with the paramedic\Jane Chatwin.
I liked show Quentin, but I’m actively rooting against this little book turd.
So, I’m watching The Magicians, and, I didn’t wanna be so quick to say it - I mean I’m only in episode 5 but holy shit y'all, Quentin is autistic.
- He has a special interest (Fillory) and got really good at magic because he hyperfocused on it
- The way he kinda lacks in facial expressions, even when he’s emotional?
- Champion of fidgeting, messing with his hair and flailing his hands around (specially when he’s trying to talk)
- Champion of avoiding eye contact
- Only wears the same two, maybe three outfits, all which consists of similarly soft and comfy jackets
- The completely neurotypical way he likes to sit in chairs
(Also a big queer mood ngl)
- Also moves weirdly in other ways as well, like how he walks a bit hunched over sometimes
- Honestly, it’s the way he talks that sold it for me. It’s like he can barely get the words out through all the stuttering and “well, uhm"s, and he always does a little hand wave when he’s having a hard time speaking. Not to mention his voice has this kinda monotone cadence to it.
- This has been a headcanon.
@of-the-elves oh my god?!? I had no idea there were books, but this is HYPE I’m feeling really validated right now.
I know I haven’t watched much yet, but your comment suggests this particular into wasn’t stated in the show itself? Well, idk how to feel about that, but I believe they did a good job with the character nonetheless, since I was still able to tell without knowing.
Friends, myfavoritethings and I planned to release more of Entirely Too Much Blood (Episode 5.1),our TV-script sequel to You Better Be Alive, immediately after American Thanksgiving. This will be delayed until after the start of 2022. We’re sorry!
Butmyfavoritethings is a genius, and she had a sudden revelation, so she messaged me about it at 10:00PM on a Thursday because:
myfavoritethings: QUENTIN COLDWATER IS A MANIC PIXIE DREAM GIRL.
EarnestDesire: What?
myfavoritethings: MPD BOY! MPD GAY?
myfavoritethings: Think about it.
EarnestDesire: I’m thinking. But explain anyway.
myfavoritethings: He’s a complex version of the trope, for sure. He’s not Sam from “Garden State,” but he’s definitely Jack from “Titanic.”
myfavoritethings: Almost every character in The Magicians is broken, hopeless, disillusioned. After season one, every character except Quentin has become the worst version of themself. Q’s clinically depressed, but he isn’t defeatist. That’s his greatest strength, right? And who orchestrates most of the least selfish, most plot-moving plans?
EarnestDesire: Q.
myfavoritethings: Who convinces everyone around him to keep trying to better themselves? To believe in magic?
EarnestDesire: Jesus.
myfavoritethings: Who saves Alice, even when she doesn’t want him to do it? He’s OBSESSED with saving her. And later with saving Eliot. Even Margo gives up on saving El, but Quentin is very willing to kill and die for him.
EarnestDesire: You cannot fuck me up like this after 9pm.
myfavoritethings: He gives Eliot a wonderful, happy life (which El does not think he’ll ever have) and then Eliot rejects him, after everything, and Q doesn’t even argue! He just lets Eliot walk away from their 50 years together!
EarnestDesire: Because a Manic Pixie can’t make real demands on the hero. He exists just to facilitate their journeys.
myfavoritethings: You get me.
EarnestDesire: That’s fucked up.
myfavoritethings: Quentin changed very little throughout the series. He’s really the same guy at the end of S4 as he was at the start of S2.
myfavoritethings: But El is braver. Alice is trying to make amends. Julia is questioning her “magic at any cost” mentality. Then, once he’s saved Alice and Julia and Eliot and helped them into better versions of themselves?
EarnestDesire: He dies.
myfavoritethings: He dies.
myfavoritethings: “If I ever get out of here, Q, know that when I’m braver it’s because I learned it from you.”
EarnestDesire: He’s fulfilled his narrative function.
myfavoritethings: Ding ding ding! Bingo!
EarnestDesire: Wow. Okay.
(Edited for grammar and such, as requested.)
We need some time to figure out how this revelation changes our fanfic for season five, plus we have family obligations at the end of the year.
You can read our script-style rewrite of the season 4 finale right here:
Episode-by-episode, all of the pieces setting up the relationship between Quentin and Eliot, and Quentin and the Monster. No fancy out-of-context editing, no extra music or lingering shots, just the actual show as it aired. It was one of the most beautiful, complicated pieces of writing I’ve ever seen. Quentin loved the Monster’s face while the person he loved was trapped. This was such a well-executed plot, as we watched Quentin spiral into depression as he couldn’t save Eliot. It seemed to be setting up such an incredible reunion; we couldn’t wait!
For the first 10 episodes of the season, this plot thread was so clear. And then… no payoff. Nothing.
It’s been 3 months and I’m still upset. I don’t understand why you would write this incredible story and just drop it. I made this video in part to see if I had mis-remembered. Was I projecting things into the story that weren’t there?
No.
I’ll never understand this.
Absolutely spot-on. And this doesn’t even address Eliot’s horrifyingseries ending… Ugh. I get upset even considering it.
Episode 4.13 is complete! We’ve also posted the teaser for episode 5.1 (Entirely Too Much Blood). Thank so much to everyone who checked it out so far. Please drop us a comment if you have the time/energy/inclination. Thanks guys!
With the Monster’s Sister on the loose, inhabiting Julia’s body, Quentin Coldwater is more determined than ever to trap and destroy these evil forces. His plan? A pair of demon bottles, a pair of mythical axes, and a group of friends finally working as a team. But not every variable can be accounted for, and Quentin knows their chances of success are slim.
In the Mirror World, where everything is backwards and lifeless, Quentin makes a sacrifice play.
That’s where the games really begin.
This time, death doesn’t have to be the end.
******
Teaser in chapter 3. Story begins in chapter 4.
A complete reimagining of the last episode of season four, written as a TV script.
******
If you’re interested, the scripts have a Spotify playlist:
With the Monster’s Sister on the loose, inhabiting Julia’s body, Quentin Coldwater is more determined than ever to trap and destroy these evil forces. His plan? A pair of demon bottles, a pair of mythical axes, and a group of friends finally working as a team. But not every variable can be accounted for, and Quentin knows their chances of success are slim.
In the Mirror World, where everything is backwards and lifeless, Quentin makes a sacrifice play.
That’s where the games really begin.
This time, death doesn’t have to be the end.
******
Teaser in chapter 3. Story begins in chapter 4.
A complete reimagining of the last episode of season four, written as a TV script. To be posted in three parts, with a new release every Saturday. Episode 5.1 will follow in this series, also in script format.
******
If you’re interested, the scripts have a Spotify playlist:
My Tumblr hiatus has been healing. I’m popping back in to share my excitement/trepidation over a project that I’m soooo thrilled to share with you all. Eeeek!
A friend of mine started a unique fanfic project six months ago. She began writing alternative TV scripts for The Magicians episodes 4.13 (Better to Be Safe Than Sorry) and 5.1 (Do Something Crazy).
Scripts. Not a novelization.
I’m sure somebody, somewhere, in some fandom has tried this concept before, but neither of us have ever read one. I think it’s a really cool idea.
(And, of course, her version has Quentin/Eliot endgame.)
SPOILER ALERT for the following paragraph:
The first script is a reimagining of the original, with a few of the scenes left virtually in tact. Everything after that is complete canon-divergence, focused on the rescue/rebirth of Quentin.
My friend had some trouble keeping track of roughly four million individual plotlines, as well as the wealth of research necessary for a project like this. She asked if I wanted to help. You all know how I feel about The Magicians, particularly the end of season 4. You know I love my research. I was really intrigued to learn how storytelling differs in film versus prose. Plus, she’s an IRL friend who has never shared her fanfic before. Obviously, I said yes!
We’ve been plugging away at these scripts for such a long time that I kind of forgot that we might, you know, publish them to AO3 at some point.
But we did! Today, in fact!
My friend and I are sharing authorship of the fic, but I honestly think that’s overly generous. She’s the author. I’m the editor and research assistant, and I’ve been blown away by her plotting and dialogue throughout this process. It’s next-level.
If you LOVE filling plot holes…
This series is for you!
She’s using the handle myfavoritethings on AO3, and doesn’t have a Tumblr connected to her fic yet.
We’ll be posting each script in three parts, with each part released on Saturday. This gives us time to moderate comments (a necessity for any project with my name on it), and to clean up any last-minute errors.
While I did sign the petition to support Jason Ralph’s return as Quentin Coldwater, I also got the feeling he wasn’t interested in returning. Instead, he wanted to move on to different things:
Ralph: “I’m happy with the story that we told, and I’m ready to move on and to try on some new characters.” TV Insider 20190417
I’ll respect his decision and wish him well on his new projects. I don’t know Jason, personally, but he seems like a good guy.
This next part is a sensitive area to bring up for some and I understand… the need to protect a beautiful image. I wish I didn’t have any doubts but we are, at least, in agreement that Jason filmed all of S4, without telling his co-stars that he was leaving the series. This was all under an NDA contract.
“At what stage did you decide to kill Quentin? Gamble: We started talking about it at the end of season three with Jason Ralph.” THR 20190417
At the end of season three can be defined as before 2018’s SDCC and all the positive 3x05 SDCC comments from Jason then becomes a little less happy-inducing because writing and filming for season four would’ve started by July. We can agree that Jason knew, at the start of S4. I *really* wish Sera hadn’t clouded things by saying this.
I was so upset with the S4 finale of The Magicians that I didn’t read most of the interviews, at the time. Really, what could anyone say to make what was aired any less painful?
“Obviously, the most exciting part of this [4x05] episode was that it revisits the relationship between Quentin and Eliot that was established last season. Did you know that this is something that the writers were planning to return to? Appleman: Not at all.” Out 20190221
And…
“Were you surprised when the show decided to revisit that [3x05] moment right after they return to the timeline in episode? Ralph: I was surprised that we were returning to it.” EW 20190417
Fans complained about Q’s lack of bringing up the Mosaic…
“Do you think Eliot turning Quentin down after they returned from the “A Life in the Day” timeline, which was revealed in episode 5, played into any of Quentin’s anger toward Fillory? Ralph: A little bit. […] I know that for Hale and I, and when we discussed it with the showrunners, it wasn’t necessarily something that they remembered every moment of. […] It was more of an emotional memory. […] I think the actual memories began to very quickly disappear. I don’t know if it’s something they’re constantly living with.”
Reading Hale and Jason’s surprise at the 3x05 revisit and the general impression Queliot was a vague “emotional memory” makes the purpose of 4x05 all the more gut-wrenching in… why did the showrunners even bother? Did they not expect Queliot to be so popular? Was it to add to the cruelty of watching Q die, with Eliot’s unresolved feelings?
All this beautiful *potential* and I *wish* things could’ve been different.
