The Magicians Season 2 Episode Guide
2.01 "Knight of Crowns" - Review
2.02 "Hotel Spa Potions" - Review
2.03 "Divine Elimination" - Review
2.04 "The Flying Forest" - Review
2.05 "Cheat Day" - Review
2.06 "The Cock Barrens" - Airs March 2
2.07 "Plan B"
2.08 "Word as Bond"
2.09 "Lesser Evils"
2.10 "The Girl Who Told Time"
The Magicians 2.05 Cheat Day - Review
Directed by Joshua Butler & Written by Mike Moore
We're now halfway through the series and despite the major, big talking point of this season being the death of Alice it's clear that the show has not lost any momentum with its separate storylines which are all starting to pick up and gather pace. Quentin, Julia and Eliot and Margo all seem to be the main talking points of this eisode as each have their own problems to deal with and overcome as this episode saw Quentin address the question - is magic worth all the problems that it leads to? He's one of the few people to actually walk away from something that seems like it would be everyone's dream to have, but for now it turns out that the real world isn't as easy for Quentin to adapt to either now that he's been exposed to what's out there.
The show decided to bring Emily Greenstreet back this week as Quentin's co-worker, someone who like him had given up on magic after accidentally causing Alice's brother to become a niffin. It's something both of them believe only creates more problems whilst not fixing any of the old ones established in the first place. They were both able to bond over their shared rejection of magic, and Emily then was able to show Quentin that she still cast her spells occasionally and reveals that they can both transform in the person who they desired more than anything to be with. For Quentin it's obvious that Emily turned into Alice whilst Emily turned into a Professor who she was having an affair with. It turns out that for Quentin this isn't a solution at all to his problems and in fact this only makes him feel even worse, forcing him to end things between them almost as quickly as they had begun. It's clear that he's starting to have regrets about staying in the normal world forever, when it's becoming clear to him just how lifeless it is for him.
Eliot also had some interesting news this week back in Filory when he discovered that his wife Fen was pregnant with his child. However not everything is ideal in Fillory and Eliot isn't exactly a King who's popular with everyone and was almost assassinated by the Fillory Freedom Fighters. This leads to Eliot and Margo debating on what to do with the captured would-be assassin who turns out to be Fen's ex Bayler. It's also worth noting that Fen herself who was part of the rebel group before she married Eliot and was pregnant with his child. It turns out that both Eliot and Margo may be both right in how to deal with the solution at hand, as they don't want Eliot to end up like Ned Stark but he also wants to be a better man than his father was. The fact that Eliot and Margo aren't quite on the same terms anymore may lead to some fallout in the future, especially once Margo learns that Eliot's wife was a part of the resistance. But they cannot be seen to struggle, especially as they're both targeted due to being from Earth. Eliot decides to attempt to rectify the situation by going against Margo's wishes of an execution by talking to the assassin to find out what he would do were he in charge of Fillory, but we'll see how this plays out in the long term.
A new development on Julia's storyline took a turn for the worse for her anyway as she soon discovered that she'd been impregnated by Reynard and now was carrying a baby which she desperately wanted to get rid of, because any baby of that particular God is always going to be bad news. However, the creature inside her was so determined not to be killed that it even forced the person who was trying to perform the abortion to gouge her own eyes out in the process. It's pretty clear that this is not a normal baby and things are only going to get more complicated further down the line, but for now the writers keep making her character go through hell and I wonder if she'll ever get a happy ending. The 100's Raven Reyes knows her pain of near-constant suffering all too well.
Penny's storyline is also progressing, albeit fairly under the radar this week as despite the fact that he was able to get his hands back from the White Lady, he's now unable to use magic. It turns the White Lady's wish has come with a double edged sword, the hands gifted to him aren't his hands, and Brakebills don't know how to help him so he's forced to go to Brakebills South. They have an answer, but it's one that's against a ticking clock. Mayakovsky knows that it's only a matter of time before the Wellspring finally dies so he has decided to create a backup plan in what is essentially a battery. Unfortunately it's not ready yet but he offers Penny a a lifeline, if he gets what he needs for Plan B, he can have magic restored for his hands. Regardless of what happens next it's an interesting development and will no doubt lead to interesting consequences further down the line, and out of all the storylines on display here, Penny's may eventually have the most important role to play.
For now though, Cheat Day was a very solid episode of The Magicians that for the most part was effective in its execution, dealing with its various storylines well as none of them really lost any momentum from the previous week, exploring some interesting character-driven dilemmas on various different fronts. It remains to be seen what the end-game of the season is (especially for non-book readers), but for now this episode shows that there's plenty of material still to get through and next Wednesday's episode should be a very interesting one indeed.
What did you think of Cheat Day? Let me know in the comments section below and be sure to check out the next episode of The Magicians at 9pm this Wednesday on SyFy!
