The Magicians
Season 1, Episode 03
Episode Title: Consequences of Advanced Spellcasting
Brought to you by OBS reviewer Omar
This week’s episode starts with Dean Fogg given a speech to the new student about what type of curriculum and reason why they teach magic the way they do in Brakebills. At the same time, we see Julia dive into spells and forgetting about her life outside the Hedge Witches. Dean Fogg tells the students that they will be tested to see what is their area of concentration, their Discipline.
Pete advises Julia to try and manage her personal life as her boyfriend James seems to think that she is having an affair. He tells her that they don’t need him following her to the warehouse and learning about magic.
Alice is tested by Dean Fogg and professor March, while Quentin is tested by professor Sunderland. Alice in the psychical cottage with her discipline in Phosphoromancy, Quentin ends up being undetermined, but still place in the psychical cottage, and Penny is placed as a psychic. Quentin and Alice go the cottage, but are unable to get in as they need to open the door by their means. With her Phosphoromancy, Alice opens the door. They get drunk and decide to look for Charlie with a locating spell that leads them to the Woof fountain. Thinking that nothing happened, they leave, but they don’t see a hand coming out of the fountain, and given them the middle finger.
Later, two students are attacked (killed) by the hand in the fountain, the school tells the student that the fountain is off limits for the time being. Alice finds many glass horses in her room and believes that the attacker is Charlie. Eliot asks Quentin to help find the missing book that Kady took the on the previous episode, so the school doesn’t notice and stop their parties.
Julia seems to have trouble concentrating on her spells and Marina tells her that having a double life is not going to help her learning. Alice takes Quentin advice and ask Margo for help. Margo tells her about a girl that left Brakebills around the time of Charlie’s dead, but knows where she is working and both of them go to talk with her. They find Emily Greenstreet working in a mundane job, she tells them that she had an affair with a professor, but when he stopped seeing her, she tried to use untested magic to turn herself more beautiful, but failed. Charlie tried to help her, also with different combine spells, but the overload of arcane magic burned him and turned him into a niffin, a creature of pure energy.
When meditating with the other Psychics, Penny starts to hear more voices and he is transported to some place in Asia. He is later found by professor Sunderland driving a truck and Dean Fogg in the back seat. They inform him that they misplaced him and that not only he is a psychic, but also a traveler, explain why he transported to where he heard the voice.
Using the second volume of the lost book (its mate), Eliot and Quentin arrived to the Bodega where the Hedge Witches practice. Their Quentin is reunited with Julia and Eliot asks for the missing book. Pete denies having the book, but the stolen one flies from upstairs and reunites with its mate, and appear to have sex. While leaving, Quentin is confronted by Julia, who accuses him of not telling Brakebills about giving her another chance. He responds that he feared that this time they would have erased her memory for good, and tells her that she only wants to be the best in everything, and shouldn’t be with the Hedge Witches because they aren’t nothing compared to the student of Brakebills. She argues back that magic is much more to her, and that he should know how she feels, as he feels the same.
Back in the Physical cottage, Quentin and Eliot are drinking and he contemplates if he should have said the things he said to Julia. While talking it can be heard that there is a new member trying to open the door and failing; the door blasts off and Kady walking and sits in the middle between Quentin and Eliot, and drink wine with them.
Julia asks James to see her in their apartment and tells him that she had been doing things that have made her want to forget about everything else. For a moment it appears that she is going to tell him about the magic, but instead uses a spell to change her key-chain to look like she is going to AA meetings. She lies and tells him that she got addicted to Adderall because of the pressure of school, and now is trying to get better. Later that night she sneaks out when Marina texts her about a new spell for her.
Alice shows her research about niffins to Quentin and a wood box to seal on inside. She doesn’t plan to use the box, but instead to bring Charlie back with different types of spells. Quentin steals the box as they are heading out to find Charlie. Alice tries to attract the attention of Charlie, sings the song of the Breakfast Club movie that he always sang to her when she was sad.
Charlie doesn’t seem to care about Alice and hurt her, and starts to attack Quentin. Alice tries to reason with him, but it’s in vain, and starts to cast the spells. Alice starts to look like when Charlie was burned in the memory. Quentin takes the box and chants the sealing spell. Once Charlies is trapped in the wooden box, Alice gets angry with Quentin for interfering in her spellcast and leaves.
The episode ends with Alice packing her things, she tells Margo that she is leaving so she can be happy without competition, to what Margo replies that she likes having competition.
For those you are starting to see the series and are planning to read the books, the character of Margo was called Janet in the books. Her name is the only thing that changes in her. Kady also doesn’t appear in the books, but there is a girl that attacks the beast in the book and can be from where her character was based on, it was great seeing her blast the door of the psychical cottage. There are changes in the series, but so far they give the TV show a different aspect that the book, and a little mystery. I liked that they brought Charlie and gave him a part to play and not only on a memory and what a niffin looks like. Another thing that we see is Penny learning about his traveling discipline, I think that it was a great idea to show him learning to control his power, as he just briefly mentions it on the books. We are starting to see more professor and different types of magic. I can wait to see what more the Magician has and new things that they add to the story. We are almost halfway to the middle of the season, and so far the series looks good. What did you think of Consequences of Advanced Spellcasting? Tells us in the comments.
