After it’s fantastic Season 3 premiere last week, The Magicians had some pretty big shoes to fill tonight – we’re on an epic quest after all, so I expect nothing short of epic episodes. But of course, The Magicians doesn’t disappoint and “Heroes and Morons” continues to set the bar high establishing quite the trend for the rest of this season.
Eliot is off on a solo journey, since Evil Fairy Queen can spy through Margot, it is up to him to find the first key on his own. But of course there has to be some sort of twist thrown into the mix, Fen decides to join him, and the Fairy Queen bestows upon them quite an extraordinary gift…their teenage daughter. Apparently time works a bit differently in the Fairy Realm and where she should only be 2 months old, she’s already into those talking back / I know everything there is to know teen stages. Fen sees it as a family vacation, the Fairy Queen gets her spy through their daughter, and Eliot is just annoyed by the entire situation. Under the premise of “collecting taxes” from the outer islands to build up the Royal Treasury, Eliot’s real plan is to find and recover the first key. I just want to use this time to point out just how much I love Hale Appleman and his portrayal of Eliot, he is damn good in every single episode and always leaves me wanting more. From declaring himself king of these lands, appeasing Fen on this “family vacation”, and sending his teenage daughter (who he isn’t convinced is actually their daughter) to her room for talking back, Eliot is an absolute delight each and every episode.
We get to meet another great character in Fillory, The Muntjac – not only is it a beautiful boat but she very much has a personality of her own. Which I think will be interesting to see play off in future episodes once more of the questing crew arrives. As for the current adventure, the boat is probably the least of Eliot’s worries when it comes to the women in his life. Margot also gives Eliot the most epic best friend speech ever – and yes it was still full of pop-culture references, gotta love it!
What’s the difference between a live hero and a dead moron? One dumb decision. So when it’s be brave or be smart, you know which one. – Margot
He easily makes it to the island where the first key is supposed to be located and even wins over the townspeople. However their leader, The Father, insists that he needs the item as it’s their only form of protection against a monster that attacks every few days. Right on cue an attack begins and one of the residents dies from what appears to be a shadow-bat. But apparently you can’t pull a fast one on children raised in the Fairy Realm, as their daughter is quick to tell Eliot that the man didn’t die of shadow-bat wounds. The key holds a bit of illusion magic inside of it, only making these villagers think that a shadow-bat is attacking. The villager died from blade wounds, meaning that The Father isn’t quite the protector those islanders first assumed. After proving that the key holds illusion magic and outing The Father for the liar that he is, he leaves the man in the villagers hands – to do with as they please. His daughter is quick to point out that they didn’t try and collect taxes on this trip, but a golden key that holds magic – what could be more valuable than that? Eliot wouldn’t have been able to obtain the first key without her insight on the shadow-bat, so maybe she won’t be so bad after all…
Back in our world, things are getting a bit strange, magic incidents are starting to happen, but it isn’t Julia behind them. Looks like Mayakovsky has been out hitting the town, and brought a few of those magic filled batteries along with him – don’t jump too far ahead though, he isn’t the one doing magic either. And we’re not talking regular magic here but orgy spells in the middle of the park and conjuring dinosaurs in front of the children’s hospital. Something is happening with magic and our team needs to get their hands on those batteries. They’ve obtained the clock that will get them into Fillory, but it’s useless without enough magic for Julia to work it. If they can find out who is wasting precious magic on silly tricks, just maybe they can get to Fillory to help Eliot. After all, The Great Cock said they would have to work together, Eliot will f**k it up if he tries to do it all on his own.
THE MAGICIANS — “Heroes and Morons” Episode 302 — Pictured: (l-r) Trevor Einhorn as Josh Hoberman, Jason Ralph as Quentin Coldwater, Stella Maeve as Julia Wicker — (Photo by: Eric Milner/Syfy)
Turns out, Mayakovsky showed up at Emily’s doorstep after breaking free from Brakebills South. They ended up married, spent a few drunken days together and then after an argument at a Hedge’s bar, she turns him into a damn bear. Alas, it isn’t Emily who is running around the city completing strange magic either….
Josh & Kady investigate the dinosaur at the kids hospital while Quentin and Julia fight off the urge to join random couples in the sex magic going on at the park. Which is where they run into Alice, who is also investigating the strange occurrences around the city. Turns out her early warning alarm for the lamprey is a young kitten, goodness that can’t be good for the poor animal. And it’s not, they apparently explode when a lamprey gets too close. Blech. I don’t even want to begin to think how many poor tiny kittens Alice is going to go through this season. (Especially since Quentin is taken by one at the very end of the episode.)
THE MAGICIANS — “Heroes and Morons” Episode 302 — Pictured: Olivia Taylor Dudley as Alice Quinn — (Photo by: Eike Schroter/Syfy)
Their chase to find Mayakovsky’s battery leads them to none other than Professor Lipson, who is ready to off herself off the top of a post office over the fact that magic is dead. She swears that the only reason why Mayakovsky had the batteries to begin with were because of her. She is on a rampage though, over the fact that Mayakovsky sought out Emily and the fact that he had the batteries. In Quentin’s effort to save her – the battery is lost, shattered on the streets of New York. Emily is a bit crafty though and is holding onto one of the batteries too. But before Quetin and crew are smart enough to realize that, Kady has already gone and stolen it from her. She could care less about the epic quest and going to Fillory, but she does care about saving Penny’s life. And for that, she needs magic – probably more desperately than what any of the others are feeling.
It was another action packed episode, with solid writing and plotting out more threads that will tie together the rest of this season. After the premiere made such big waves, I was a tad worried that the follow up episode might not be able to keep up. I will admit that my worry was unjust, because The Magicians kept things right on track this week, continuing to set the bar high and, like a fine wine – showing that it only gets better with time. I can already tell that this is going to be one hell of a season and we’re only two episodes in.
The Magicians airs on Wednesday night at 9pm on SyFy.
Comment below or find me on social media! #TheMagicians #Fillorians
Official Magicians Website
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