The Magicians: Heroes and Morons

The Magicians: Heroes and Morons | Season 3, Episode 2 | Rating: 9.9/11 |

There was a lot to take in this week on The Magicians. Heroes and Morons opens with a beautiful animation as we hear Quentin narrate the first chapter of their quest guide book The Tale of the Seven Keys. The epic quest is now on as our heroes try to overcome their daily hurdles to reunite with one another, survive and find these keys. On Earth everyone is hunting down Mayakovsky’s batteries, and fighting each other for them. The people who possess a battery seem to be foolishly wasting the magic just to be able to do anything magical. In Fillory, we discover that time accelerates quickly in the fairy world, so Eliot and Fen’s daughter is now a teenager and loyal to her Queen, The Fairy Queen. And now this happily dysfunctional family are departing on their first sea voyage together in search of a gold key.

SIX IMPOSSIBLE THINGS BEFORE BREAKFAST

For a show about magic, there seems to be a lot of disbelief in the air. There’s a woman magician going around casting sex magic, creating dinosaurs and who knows what else. Yet Josh Hoberman, a man who regularly enjoys a good psychedelic trip, seems to have trouble thinking outside the box claiming at one point “I honestly wake up in the morning and pretty much nothing I think is going to happen happens.” Has he never read Lewis Carroll? Where’s your sense of Wonderland, Josh?

Back in Fillory, Margo and Eliot discuss how cliche it is to have a baby turned teenager overnight all the while Eliot doubts the legitimacy of it being his daughter. Fair enough, The Fairy Queen has been quite devious, but it’s a better explanation than Fen believing in their log baby. We are dealing with magical beings here. I’m not saying Eliot should divulge his master plan to his daughter-turned-fairy spy, but you know what they say: Keep your friends close and your enemies closer. After all, your ship, the Muntjac, has a personality and a heart for Pete’s sake! Why is this so crazy to believe?

At least Quentin has his head on straight when Alice’s kitten explodes. “Sorry Officer, our friends cat was sick. And exploded. You know like they do.” That’s right – believe the impossible. Embrace it. Bask in its wonder. We have a feeling this is only the beginning of many more outside the box ideas coming from John McNamara & Sera Gamble (creators, producers and writers of The Magicians).

Speaking of kitten’s exploding, could we not? No need to see that happen ever again. Poor kitty. And after Alice swore to protect you and keep you from seeing any evil too.

What’s Love Got To Do With It

I love High King Eliot so much. Eliot was thrown into a ruling position with little time to adjust. His calm exasperation that constantly absorbs the insanity that surrounds him/Fillory is brilliant. Hale Appleman slays in this role. Great delivery, and amazing expression in his eyes.

Our Fairy Queen is that character everyone loves to hate, and that’s because of the genius of Candis Cayne who takes this character to a creepy Cate Blanchett as a mix of Galadriel & Hela type place. Kudos! All of them.

Ponder This

  • We’ve learned that Professor Lipson is the brainchild behind Mayakovsky’s battery prep. If she saw it coming, and Mayakovsky believed her, and he told people regularly about it there must be other people who prepared. There’s always that 1%. We’ve seen two batteries in episode, how many more exist?
  • After Eliot takes possession of the first key, Quentin’s messenger bag starts to bustle. Quentin pulls out The Tale of the Seven Keys from his bag and witnesses Chapter 2 appear before his eyes. With no time to take it in, Quentin is assaulted and it looks like possessed by something. Wait a second, rewind, the guy who assaulted Q seems to be the same guy we saw shortly after Alice’s cat explodes. I’ll give you a minute to connect those dots (maybe reread our recap of last week’s episode)…
  • It appears our beloved Fen isn’t lost forever! When we first meet Fen, she is this fierce woman raised by a blade maker with strong ideals and solid advice. But something about her pregnancy has left her in a sort of postpartum state of delusion leaving us wondering where did our beloved Fen go. Log baby? Rabbit baby? What’s next, a cabbage? HA! However, we do see a glimmer of that strong woman we adore at the end of this episode. Fingers crossed that was a foreshadowing moment, and not a fluke.

Episode 3 airs Wednesday, January 24th at 9/8c.