“The Magicians” Season 5 Premiere by Josh Davis
February 3, 2020 3:32 pm |
For the uninitiated, Syfy’s “The Magicians” could be a crude, horny, quippy cousin of Harry Potter. Rather than feature grade schoolers, the series started in late 2015 at a magical university, Brakebills, and it currently follows a handful of former students in their magical pursuits both on Earth and in the mystical world of Fillory, which is basically Narnia but with more sex and drinking.
Series lead Quentin Coldwater (Jason Ralph) grew up a Fillory fanboy, reading what he thought were fictional novels about the magical land. When he and his friends later traveled there, however, they found it inhabited by a dark being that they would later have to help vanquish. Wackiness ensued over the next four seasons and magic itself was later taken from the world, but then occasionally given back whenever the plot required it.
The fifth season picks up where the previous one left off, with our heroes now mourning the loss of Quentin Coldwater, who sacrificed himself in last year’s finale to help prevent a rogue librarian named Everett from becoming an all-powerful god.
There’s a lot of grieving going on during the Season Five premier, and the gang are once against strewn about various places on Earth, and in Fillory.
Margo (Summer Bishil) and Eliot (Hale Appleman) have been somehow zapped 300 years into the future on Fillory and are trying to figure out what happened and why. They’re eventually discovered by cosplayers who think they’re simply pretending to be Margo and Eliot, and they witness a reenactment of the overthrow of the kingdom – and hanging and beheading of their friends Josh (Trevor Einhorn) and Fen (Brittany Curran) – some three centuries ago.
Penny (Arjun Gupta), meanwhile, is offered a job at Brakebills, teaching other “travelers” who have the power to teleport between worlds. He initially tells the students the power is a nuisance at best and a death sentence at worst, but later discovers he’s been tricked into signing a contract to continue teaching.
Julia (Stella Maeve) encounters a mysterious pig-man from Fillory who is raiding her refrigerator. He was sent to recruit Quentin for an important quest, but finds out he’s dead. The pig-man is also apparently both a literal and figurative pig, and his male chauvinism causes him to discount Julia as a potential heir to the quest.
Alice (Olivia Taylor Dudley), a mess at the start of the episode, later rallies and steals a mysterious book from a magical library. In the closing scene, she appears to be trying to communicate with Quentin – or possibly to resurrect him.
After four largely up-and-down seasons, “The Magicians” continues to be a hit-or-miss drama that’s often lousy with plot and subplot overkill. Still, it’s largely enjoyable because of its core cast and the chemistry they built after more than 50 episodes.
While the writing can be muddy, it’s also responsible for the snappy dialog that, along with the magic and just-good-enough-for-TV special effects, have become the show’s signature. For fans of shows like “Buffy the Vampire Slayer,” it may not entirely fill that void or fill those lofty shoes, but it’s an enjoyable enough ride filled with quips and spells, and no shortages of gods and monsters.
PCL Rating: Taste It
Rotten Tomatoes Rating: FRESH 🍅
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