The Magicians Season 1 Review: A Magical, Sexy Romp

I originally saw "The Magicians" when it first premiered on SyFy back in 2015. It didnt hold my interest then but I recently took another look. I'm so glad I did. Obviously, binging the episodes on NetFlix is a much different experience from viewing one episode per week. There are currently three seasons total (two viewable on NetFlix) and 13 episodes per season.The show has also been renewed for a fourth season with will air in 2019. The TV show is based on a series of books by Lev Grossman.

To catch you up on the mythology, we first meet Quentin Coldwater (Jason Ralph) in a mental hospital. He has an obsession with magic and specifically a series of books called "Fillory and Further". Quentin longs to be a hero and save the world. His bestie is Julia Wicker (Stella Maeve). She was also into magic as a child but recently seems to have given it up to pursue more adult hobbies.

in a strange twist of events both Quentin and Julia end up at a secret magic test. SURPRISE, MAGIC IS REAL! Uh, I think Harry Potter already knows that. Anyone who passes the test gets into Brakebills University for Magical Pedagogy. It's hidden from the outside world and is a grad school for magicians. Quentin passes but Julia does not. Julia manages to keep from having her memory of the experience erased (as is the SOP of Brakebills). She is bummed at being rejected and tries to pursue magic in other ways. She gets in with some questionable people-- namely a group of hedge witches lead by Marina. Magic typically involves a number of complicated finger gestures which must have been hell to memorize.

At Brakebill a whole new world is opened up to Quentin. He meets a number of other students including:

Alice Quinn (Olivia Taylor Dudley)- she comes from a family of magicians and has some mad skills. She and Quentin hook up. He later tells her he loves her. It's "complicated" folks.
Penny Adiyodi (Arjun Gupta)- He is Quetin's roommate and a "traveler". He can travel between worlds or between locations on Earth.
Kady Orloff-Diaz (Jade Tailor)- She has a thing with Penny. Kady is not what she seems. Her mother is Hannah.That will become important later.
Elliot Waugh (Hale Appleman)- He looks down on the others students and is a major partier.
Margo Hanson (Summer Bishil)- She and Elliott are inseparable.
There are lots of other students and faculty but above are the main characters.

The group experiments with various spells. Since they're just learning most do not go as planned. In an attempt to contact Alice's dead brother Charlie they instead conjure up a hideous creature known as "The Beast". He's a major baddie whose face is obscured by moths. During his visit to the classroom, the Beast blinds Dean Henry Fogg by pulling out his eyeballs.Ekkk!

Lots of things happen during the season. I won't go into all them here. Suffice to say, you should just watch the show. We do learn that Elliott is the High King of Fillory. That should be interesting to watch. Also Julia is kicked out of Marina's coven. She ends up with a group lead by Richard. They are interested in religious magic.

In the finale, all ammner of hell breaks loose. We learn that Martin Chatwin (one of the children from the "Fillory" novels) is actually the Beast. The power derived from magic has turned him into a monster. The others would be wise to check their behavior as well. It's all very intoxicating. Martin's sister Jane is the other child in the books. She has been trying for years to figure out how to defeat her brother.

They track the Beast to the Wellspring (which is the source of his power as well as the source of all magic in Fillory). It's not looking good at the end of the episode. He chops Penny's arms off and everyone (except Quentin) appears dead. Julia stops Martin saying she wants to make a deal with him. We see in flashbacks that Julia was raped by a trickster god named Reynard the Fox. He killed everyone else around her (except Kady). If that isn't bad enough, she seems to still have "something" inside her. She wants Martin to help her kill Reynard. As she holds the god killing knife to his throat, Martin agrees. And with that they disappear.

Grade: 4 1/2 Monsters (out of 5). If you dont like the show in the beginning, hang in there for a few more episodes. It grows on you. The special effects are great. The actors are compelling and the story lines interesting. The repartee is witty and there are lots of pop culture references such as the "vaguely Tardis looking portal to Fillory". Yes, it is a public phone box. Funny.

Since there are lots of very pretty 20-somethings, there's a good amount of sexy times. Plus magic gives it an extra "oomph". Sexuality is viewed here as fairly fluid--as different combinations of people hook up. Quentin and Alice get together, then apart, then he tells her loves her. Quentin had a one-niter with Elliott and Margo (named Janet in the books). I'm fine with it all as long as they're consenting adults.

One of the criticisms of the show is that at the end of season 2, you have the two people who were sexually assaulted (Martin-- ie the Beast) by Christopher Plover (the author of the Fillory books) and Julia by Reynard, set up as the MAIN VILLIANS. I dont see Julia as a baddie though. Hopefully it will be resolved in season 2 (which 'm off to watch next).