The Magicians: Do You Like Teeth | Season 3, Episode 6 | Rating: 7.8/11 |
There’s almost too much happening in Do You Like Teeth. First of all, the long-awaited Felicia Day debut is here. Felicia joins The Magicians cast in the role of Poppy Kline who hands over the fourth golden key to Quentin just a little too easily (that should’ve been your first clue Q). This key brings out your inner “depression monster” as Poppy describes it and there’s no escaping it until you pass the key off to someone else. Unfortunately, Benedict Pickwick, in an attempt to stop Poppy from escaping through a magic keyhole, touches the key and Benedict’s “depression monster” convinces him to jump off the side of the Muntjac where he’s promptly eaten by a water dragon (voiced by Sera Gamble) taking the key with him. However, we learn that dragons are portals so what they ingest goes elsewhere… does this mean our beloved Fillorian map-maker may still be alive?
Meanwhile, Penny is still stuck in the astral plane and having to regularly use one of those singing Bass fish novelty wall items to get the attention of his friends. Alice and Julia are teamed up trying to figure out how to successfully transfer Julia’s magic to Alice because there’s no way that could go wrong, right? Wrong! Fast forward to the end of the episode which finds Alice collapsed on the ground from what appears to be a seizure.
Back in Fillory, Margo is now married to Prince Fomar (of the tribe of the floating mountain, that is no longer floating) who has Joffrey-like tendencies and is anxiously awaiting to “become one flesh” in order to consummate his wedding. Eliot has promised/been forced by the Fairy Queen to make sure this happens, but Eliot, thankfully, has other plans. Journeying out with the newlyweds for a “honeymoon” leads Margo & Eliot to instead discover the fairies have been poisoning their ecosystem to use Fillory as fairy breeding grounds, where Margo quickly decides to kidnap fairy babies.
I Will Survive
You know what this episode needed? Bunny messengers. But that aside, there’s a few bones to pick with this episode. Firstly, coming off last week’s episode, how can we not address the fact that Quentin and Eliot remember their entire life partner alternate timeline experience? Sure, Eliot makes a casual nod to it – “go be life partners with someone else for a little bit” – but are we not going to dissect the WHY they remember this experience further?
Also, where is Josh Hoberman? And why does nobody seem to notice his disappearance?
Lastly, how does Prince Fomar not wake up when the toad (with fangs) bites his manhood? It seems like the kind of experience that would snap anyone out of it. Especially since he definitely feels the pain when he comes to.
All that aside, Do You Like Teeth has quite a few touching and real moments too. Julia powering up Dean Fogg’s glasses with a bit of magic so he can see, and Alice recharging the glasses for him was a great use of their powers. How depression and mental health gets addressed via the power of the fourth key was brilliant. The key’s power shows us that everyone can suffer with mental health issues, some people are just able to keep it at bay easier than others. As an advocate for mental health, and someone who has dealt with her fair share of depression, sometimes knowing you’re not alone in this is the first step to mental health recovery. Just another wonderfully addressed real topic on this show.
So, will Josh return? Is Benedict really dead? Will Penny’s Bass fish alarm alert anyone Alice’s way? Will Quentin rediscover the fourth key? Is Poppy to be trusted? Will the Fairy Queen be convinced that Margo and Prince Fomar have actually consummated their marriage? Will the fairy eggs hatch while in Margo and Eliot’s care? And what about Kady?! Find out next week on an all-new The Magicians, airing Wednesday, Feb 21st at 9/8c.
