The Magicians: To Watch or Not Watch?
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I need you guys to know, before reading this piece on The Magicians, I write from a place of conflicted views. There are elements about this show that really makes it hard to sit through. And THEN there are elements that make this show awesome. I’ll give you guys the 411 and then you can decide for yourselves if you want to indulge but I ultimately am on the side “This is a Great Show.” I will say that if you are a fantasy-geek like I am, you’ll love it.
The Season 1 Story
Based upon Lev Grossman’s best selling books. Quentin Coldwater (Jason Ralph) enrolls in a school dedicated to training Magicians. Some of you (if you’ve read the books) know this school as Brakebills University. Here. Quentin and fellow students Alice Quinn (Olivia Taylor Dudley), William “Penny” Adiyodi (Arjun Gupta) and Kady Orloff-Diaz (Jade Tailor) make the fatal mistake of summoning a being known as the Beast whose intentions aren’t really clear in the season but one thing is for certain: He has a strange interest with Quentin. Eliot Waugh (Hale Appleman) and Margo Hanson (Summer Bishil) somehow gets wrapped up in the drama and now they all must figure out a way to stop the beast before it kills them. Meanwhile, Quentin’s childhood friend Julia Wicker (Stella Maeve) gets rejected from Brakebills which leads her to this growing obsession to pursue magic on her own, taking a very dark and dangerous path to do so.
Room for Improvement? Hell Yes.
I wish I could tell you that the Season 1 story is just that simple but it’s not. It’s a convoluted, hot mess with a shit ton of pot holes that leaves you either wanting more or confused as hell. The concept of time in this show is the major issue. When the show attempts to solely focus on Quentin and his journey to self-actualize as he navigates this new world of magic, the other characters get just as much equal screen time if not more. But isn’t Quentin the main character? After watching the season, I’m pretty sure this feels like an ensemble. But the problem with this is that when you try to give SEVEN characters big story moments in a 13 episode season, at some point you’ll ask yourself; What happened to Quentin’s story? What happened to Alice’s story? What the hell happened to Kady’s story? Julia Wicker is the only character in the series that gets more screen time (then anybody) and an “attempt” full season character arc. And that’s just the meat of the problem.
What makes The Magicians fun then?
If you can bypass the show’s unorthodox concept of character time management, you’ll find that this show has some major potential. For starters, it loves to make fun of the fantasy-science fiction-adventure world from other books, films and television shows. In addition to this, all the characters react to each and every situation as we (the audience) would if it were happening to us. A place of disbelief. Wonder. And Amazement. It keeps the characters pretty grounded. And there is one episode “cough, episode 4, cough” that is absolutely magnificent in how it’s structured within the well-established rules of the world. And on top of that, the way show’s characters conduct magic. No wands! It’s all a unique sign language and it’s pretty awesome to watch.
The first season of The Magicians is on Netflix. I encourage any and all to watch it (pass the first two episodes before giving up). I guarantee you that you’ll find enjoyable moments but I can not guarantee you that you’ll comeback for season 2 which premieres on Syfy Channel Wednesday Jan. 25th.
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