The Magicians Season 2 Review: With Great Magic, Comes Great Responsibility

At the end of season 1 most of the main cast appeared dead. See my season 1 reviews here This included Alice, Eliot and Margo. Penny had his hands chopped off. Julia took the god-killing knife (that Quinten and crew were planning to kill the Beast/Martin Chatwin with). She instead threatened the Beast into helping her seek revenge against Reynard The Fox (who raped her). What could possibly go wrong with this plan?

In season two, our gang recovers in short order thanks to Alice's healing powers (courtesy of Ember's uhm "seed"). Penny is able regain his hands by putting them in a magical creek. Unfortunately he offends the keeper of said waterway. His hands not working correctly becomes a side plot for several episodes.

Penny becomes indebted to the Order of Librarians for a million years in order to regain his magic. Not all bad news though. There's a lot of hidden intel at the library. Penny locates a book on god killing in the Poison Room (but it has that name for a reason). Penny is now dying of a magical cancer. On a happier note, Penny and Kady rekindle their relationship.

The group (sans Julia) spends most of the season in Fillory. Being children of Earth, they have been crowned kings and queens and have a kingdom to run. There are LOTS of problems. They still need to find a way to kill the Beast. He uses the wellspring to supply his magic. The god Ember decides to take a crap (yes, you read that correctly) in the wellspring (thus shorting our magic to the entire kingdom).

Eliot is married to Fen (who is not what she seems). But he prefers boys. More on this later. Also did we mention Eliot is High King and can never leave Fillory? Have no fear, he ends up with a doppelganger. Is this world (or any world) ready for two Eliots?

The group searches for battle magic to defeat the Beast. Eventually they get Cacodemons (demon tattoos on their backs). In a confrontation with the Beast, Alice sacrifices herself but becomes a Niffin (an unstable ball of energy). Quentin then has to use his Cacodemon to defeat her before she kills everyone. I'm not crying. You're crying!

Meanwhile Julia is still trying to defeat Reynard (by using the Beast's powers). This gets Marina killed in a horrific way. She is later awakened from the dead to give Julia intel on who originally defeated Raynard 40 years prior (hint, her name is Dana). Julia and Kady join forces to find her. And it should come as no surprise that Julie is preggers. She tries to terminate but every time she does, Reynard stops her.

After an exchange of gold for service rendered, some ladies at a Chinese butcher help Julia (that is after they try to kill her a few times). EvilBaby problem is gone but so is Julia's shade. That means she has no soul or conscious--a bad thing for someone who is very angry.

Julia's next plan is to find the child Dana gave birth to and use him to kill Reynard. Dana has Reynard's baby safely hidden. She traps Julia in the basement (for her own good of course). Julia escapes, turns off the wards protecting the house and takes Dana's Haxenpaxen (a human like creature that can block Reynard's detection). This leads to Dana being killed.

Quentin is back in New York (after the White Lady grants him another wish when she cant bring Alice back to life). He meets a girl named Emily. It turns out she was having an affair with Professor Mayakowsky. Remember back in season 1, Alice's brother died trying to fix her disfigured face (after she tried to make herself prettier). Anywho, that was a strange aside which I honestly could have done without.

In other Fallory news, Fen becomes pregnant, there's a war with Loria, and Eliot takes a husband (King Idri). Oh and Margot promises Eliot's first born child to the fairies in exchange for him winning a duel (which wasnt needed since Eliot solved the problem with a little lovin').

Quentin and Julia head to the Underworld to recover her shade. They locate it and also find Alice's as well. Alice has been living in Quentin's back tattoo for some time and driving him crazy. And in a shocking turn of events, Our Lady Underground/Persephone (whom Julia was trying to conjure up when Reynard appeared) is actually his MOM. Say what? And Reynard has been doing horrific things because she wasnt around for him? She agrees to take Reynard far away and gives Julia her shade back. Seriously? I thought she was going to kill the dude for sure. It's a bit of a letdown.

Margo ends up losing an eye to the fairies (in exchange for getting a plant gods really like. They have a big party and make little cakes which we know Umber cant resist. It seems he is the one that has been causing all the problems in Fillory. His brother Umber faked is own dead in order to hide from the Beast. He and Umber create lots of new worlds but Ember has grown tired of Fillory and is threatening to destroy it.

The finale has the group tricking Ember into killing Umber and they then killing Ember. But the plan has some unforeseen consequences. Alice berates the group. Where do you think the goat gods came from? Now their parents (even older gods) are seriously pissed and all magic is yanked from both Fillory and Earth. And in one of the final scenes, we see the fairies massed outside and about to attack the castle. Uh oh.

Grade: 4 Monsters (out of 4). An enjoyable season that greatly expands on the mythology of both Fallory and Brakebills. There's still plenty of pop culture references, sexy times and snarky quips to go around. I really like how "The Magicians" has allowed it's characters to grow from kids in grad school to adults. They are learning that magic must be used responsibly.. and magic doesnt solve all your problems. Sometimes it makes matters even worse.

Another thing I find interesting about the characters is that they are not very likeable at times. Sure they're young and beautiful. But they are also morally ambiguous. They do whatever benefits them. To hell with everyone else. Example: Julia finds Dana (the woman who took Reynard down the first time). Instead of working together she turns off her wards which leaves Dana a sitting duck for Reynard. Julia also gets Marina killed in a horrific way. Oh well, at least Julia is safe.

Speaking of Julia, I know her rape (and pregnancy) story lines have caused a lot of discussion. I understand why some are upset about it. What I think the show does correctly is depict the aftereffects of such a violation. We witness the destruction of her psyche and her relationships with others. Stella Maeve does an excellent job of depicting a damaged Julia.