12 Epic Moments on ‘The Magicians’ Season Finale

In the season finale of The Magicians, Quentin and the squad are finally in Fillory on their dangerous quest but everything goes horribly wrong and audiences are left wondering how they’ll recover from this setback.

Here are 12 epic moments from tonight’s episode:

Quentin Writes Fillory and Further Book 7

In the first episode of the series, Jane/Eliza gave Q an unpublished manuscript of Fillory and Further book six after meeting her as a paramedic. He and Julia had found the dead body of a man who was supposed to interview him for graduate school (but was actually a Brakebills professor). The season finale opens with Q writing out “Fillory and Further Book 7,” picking up after book six and recording the insane events that’s happened to them since arriving in this fantasy realm. CORRECTION: Jane had actually been the one to write book 6 (dated 1952)!

Julia and Quentin are Characters in the Fillory Books

When they first followed Jane Chatwin through the portal, they saw her get trapped and realized that they were actually The Witch and The Fool who were supposed to help the young protagonist escape. Quentin is permitted to geek out after.

Martin Chatwin Follows Q and Jules Through the Portal

After Q and Julia travel back in time and follow Jane in through the portal, her brother Martin in turn tails them and gets back into Fillory himself after the mystical land had stopped opening doorways for him directly. Wanting to aid the boy, the two friends explain that they want to help him stop Christopher Plover but will need a blade strong enough to stop the powerful magician. Martin takes them to the man who can make the Leo Blade. Does that mean though they are indirectly responsible for the demise of Fillory since they let Martin back in?

Jane Chatwin is The Watcherwoman

Sensing the a dangerous presence, Martin runs away leaving Julia and Quentin alone. In the next moment they are confronted by the Watcherwoman, the main villain in the Fillory and Further books. Except she turns out to be grown up Jane Chatwin. Q had figured it out, realizing that some version of Jane still existed because Ember had given her the ability to utilize time magic in hopes of stopping The Beast for good. However, Q tells her that this is the final loop because she had died in their present. The elder magician is shocked but asks them to make sure she gets a memorial so she can be remembered. Jane also sends them to 2016 Fillory to reunite with the rest of the squad.

Eliot is the High King of Fillory

After Q and Julia find Penny, Alice, Eliot, Margo, and Josh at a local pub or sorts, they all head to the blade maker and find his grown up son instead. It had taken his father many years to grow the moonstones and craft it into a weapon but it was done and the payment that Julia had agreed to back in the day is finally revealed. What he had wanted was for one of his descendants to marry into royalty. Apparently they were the new wave of Earthlings into the realm and the blacksmith had a special knife that would only cut the next High Kind of Fillory. Quentin was secretly 100% sure it would be him but it turned out to be Mr. Eliot Waugh. So now Eliot had to marry the blacksmith’s daughter so that she would become queen when he took the throne. This is a difficult yet brave moment for Eliot who decides that he wants to go through with this because now he has a sense of purpose. His life on Earth was always missing something that alcohol, drugs, sex, and food could never fill. Upon getting married, he would never ever be able to leave Fillory and he accepts that. The scene between him and Margo made me teary-eyed, Eliot is all grown up now.

Penny and Alice Rescue The Beast’s Prisoners

The gang discovers that The Beast’s lair is an invisible castle, which used to belong to the royals of Fillory. Josh and Margo distract the guards while Alice and Penny manage to get inside and rescue Victoria. They end up saving one other prisoner who turns out to be creepy Christopher Plover.

Martin Chatwin is The Beast

Which leads us to find out that Martin Chatwin is actually The Beast. In order to protect himself from his molester, Martin discovers the source of all magic in Fillory, an enchanted wellspring and begins drinking from it to become more powerful. Becoming stronger though comes at a cost as Martin loses his humanity since the water from the spring is not meant for mere mortals.

Penny Learns From Victoria How to Teleport People With Him

After rescuing the imprisoned Brakebills student, Penny learns that the ability to take people with you while traveling is actually a spell. He copies the tattoos on Victoria’s knuckles and is now able to bring people along as he teleports from place to place.  Meanwhile, Josh and her peace out (they somehow got the anchor tattoo off her?).

Quentin and Julia’s Encounter with Ember is Disturbing

While the squad does have the Leo Blade in their possession, none of them can wield it because they are not master magicians. Q gets the idea to seek help form Ember since he is a god and has more strength than them. They find his severely dilapidated temple and encounter a very disturbing creature. Ember has been hiding out for years because he has been foiled by The Beast at every turn and has basically given up. He agrees to help them though and gives Q a jar of his semen that he must drink in order to have the power of a master magician and use the blade. Eeeewwwwwww. He also ends up removing Julia’s altered memory of what really happened when Free Trader Beowulf summoned a god.

What REALLY happened with Julia, Richard, Kady and the rest of Free Trader Beowulf

It wasn’t pretty folks. It fact was horrible, gruesome and terrifying. Instead of summoning a kind and benevolent goddess, a trickster god went through the door. It ripped Richard’s heart from his chest, ate it, and them inhabited his body. Then he kills Bender, Silver and Menolly by slicing their throats. He is about to do the same to Kady when Julia steps in front of her and tells the god to get away from them. What happens next is awful beyond words as she is raped by the powerful being, but it seems like Kady was able to run for her life. For some reason it leaves Julia alive and she calls my girl Marina for help. The other woman arrives and Julia begs the hedge witch to change her memories because she didn’t want to remember this. Marina aids her with cleaning up the bodies in her apartment and agrees to alter Julia’s mind.

However, once Ember undoes Marina’s work, the truth of what actually happened to her and her friends crashes down on Jules. She eventually is able to tell Q the terrible truth.

Alice Becomes The Chosen One

Quentin and Alice finally have a heart to heart talk and after everything that’s happened in Fillory their fight seems small and petty. He knows that he screwed up big time but admits that he loves her. On Alice’s part, she understands that they are both a part of something bigger than them and says that she’s got his back on this, even after what he did. Q then tells her all his fears that he wants to be the chosen one that takes The Beast down but what if he’s not supposed to be? In his gut he thinks it should actually be Alice because she is the better magician and the better person. So the task falls on her to drink Ember’s essence and wield the Leo Blade. Once she does, her eyes flash a green light and she is able to hold the weapon.

The Final Battle Goes Horribly Wrong

The gang find the wellspring and it turns out to be a shed. Once they enter it however it transforms into Plover’s office (where Martin had been molested all those years ago). Q tries to appeal what’s left of The Beast’s humanity (we see a grown up version of him for the first time without the moths), but instead the powerful magician slices off one of Penny’s hands, slams Margo and Eliot against the bookshelf knocking them unconscious and chokes Alice who then drops to the ground with blood gushing from her nose. Just as The Beast is about to kill Quentin, Julia comes up from behind with the Leo Blade to his throat. Turns out because the trickster god had sex with her, she too had absorbed some of his essence and could use the knife. However, instead of actually vanquishing him, Julia wants to make a deal. The two of them vanish, leaving a freaked out Quentin alone with his fallen comrades.

So this was a roller coaster of a season, filled with so many insane moments that made for addictive television. Throughout all the action, drama, and craziness all the characters developed and have changed from who they were in episode one. Eliot and Margo both matured during their time in Fillory, Penny learned that it was okay to lean on others for help, Alice was able to open up and let someone in her life, Julia was able to adapt to change even when it was hard and unfair, and Quentin finally accepted that there was nothing wrong with being average and being a real hero meant that he had to put aside his own selfish desires. Unfortunately everything still went to hell at the end of this episode and we are left wondering are Alice, Eliot and Margo still alive? Can Penny get his hand reattached? Will Julia end up getting screwed again in her bargain with The Beast? Lastly, what will Quentin do now that he’s still alive since in every other instance Martin kills him?

The Magicians is a huge win for scripted shows on Syfy and thank goodness we’re getting a season two. The series definitely lives up to its pitch of magic for grown ups and while a fantastical aspect is ever present, it is also very grounded in the mundanity, ugliness, and challenges of being human. There is sex, drugs, death, violence, and cruelty but there is also friendship, love, and loyalty. The world of The Magicians is a duality of both good and bad, just like real life.

The Magicians is on Syfy Mondays 9/8 central.

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