The season finale of The Magicians finds everyone banding together against the forces that conspire against Fillory. Eliot and Margo bait Ember out of hiding, while Julia and Quentin work on a plan to end his magical game once and for all and a new threat comes knocking on the kingdom’s doors.
Gearing Up to Save Magic
Alice, still getting accustomed to her skin again, acts like a beaten Gollum, all contorted and solemnly gazing out the window. Cold and removed, she pushes Quentin away. Penny, who returned from the Poison Room, is healing form his near death experience, and though his external ailments are healing, he has contracted some form of magical super cancer as a result.
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Julia, now dealing with a Reynard-less life, is reliving the trauma of her life due to the re-addition of her shade, resulting in depression and anxiety. Eliot, not one to comfort all that well, retrieves a magical amulet from Julia that can help shield him from gods. Seeing her in clear distress, he asks for Julia’s help in appeasing Ember to keep Fillory intact. Finally, after a few side plots keeping them all apart, the whole Magicians gang reunite for one common goal: save Fillory. Yet, no sooner does Penny join the crew than he gets stolen away by The Order as penance.
A Party of Royal Proportions
Margo goes to rescue Fen from the basement clutches of the Fairy kingdom; however the latter refuses to leave without her baby who was taken by the fairies. Caught in their escape, the Fairy Queen requests an audience with Margo, all whilst she bathes in a pristine white tub with rose petals. Though they may be enemies, they also may be allies with The Fairy Queen offering to help Margo with the Ember problem.
Quentin, though solely focused on rehabilitating Alice, is recruited by Eliot to save all of Fillory by showing up on Umber’s doorstep. Umber, reluctant due to the fact that he faked his own death in the mystical land, takes Quentin on a quest and the destination bizarrely enough lies within a snow globe. This snow globe land is a boring, hospital-wall-white world created by Umber. The Lorian King (who is also Eliot’s “almost husband”) returns to human form and helps Eliot regain his throne, for the time being. Margo, returning from the fairy dimension is san Fen and also san eye, effectively paying the cost for her travel between realms.
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Because nothing makes sense on this show, the high King and Queen of Fillory throw a party with little cakes in an effort to use the bait the Fairy Queen bestowed upon them to draw out Ember. Somehow this works and Ember shows up pleased with Eilot for making it back to Fillory after his banishment; a twist in his boring life. They appeal to his cunning and manipulative nature, telling him how he can play the puppet master and how that is more fun than any total destruction. Quentin and Julia however, concoct a spell to get Umber back to Fillory, much to his displeasure, once again reuniting the brothers bull.
It turns out Martin Chatwin traded Ember’s banishment for Umber’s life which is why he faked his own death all those years ago. Realizing this filial betrayal, Ember sucks the magic and life force from Umber, effectively killing the once great Fillorian god. Julia runs to bear arms, grabbing the enchanted sword once meant for Reynard and enchants it to kill Ember, but Quentin is the one who deals the killing blow to mischievous Ember.
A God-Less Kingdom
So Fillory becomes a kingdom under no gods, a malleable world under the construction of Eliot and Margo, hopefully making it a kingdom for the better. Quentin returns to Alice’s side, trying a gentler, kinder manner and of course, enticing her with bacon. The bacon seems to have returned some humanity to Alice, softening to Quentin’s love for her, they kiss and they can breathe a sigh of relief for the first time all season. Kady turns to an unexpected friend to help Penny’s ailing mortality issue.
It seems though, that Quentin’s killing of Ember has not gone unnoticed. Upon telling Alice of his heroic deed, Quentin learns that killing Ember didn’t solve anything and actually made everything worse. Ember’s death angered the old gods, the gods older and more powerful than the Fillorian bulls, and they have sent an emissary (who for some reason is dressed like a plumber) to ratify the issue. The ratification comes in the form of a mass destruction of magic in both Brakebills and Fillory.
Four months later and all are getting used to a world without magic. Alice is being hunted due to her malicious actions during her time as a Niffin. Quentin and Margo are arguing over how to govern a now magic-less Fillory when Fen returns to warn them of the fairies, who aim to takeover Fillory. Julia, after a brief stint in law school, finds Quentin and instills in him a secret: she can do magic!
What did you guys think of season 2? Let us know in the comments!
The Magicians airs Wednesday at 9/8c pm on Syfy. Want more news? Like the BuddyTV Facebook page.
(Image courtesy of Syfy)
Contributing Writer, BuddyTV
