Hi Guys! Welcome back to Supertrash: Legends to discuss Legends of Tomorrow episode 3.14 “Amazing Grace.”
As always, Alyssa and Jen start off the episode with their least favorite parts of the episode which, yet again, includes Nate and Amaya. Come join us as we discuss the bathroom situation on the Waverider, the fact that Elvis seemingly doesn’t know how a regular guitar works, and the touching memorial of Axl the Rat.
On The Magicians this week, we learn the location of the sixth key and it’s complicated.
Alice and Quentin are back at it and by it, I mean fighting. Obviously, Q still doesn’t trust his ex-girlfriend after seeing her in the Library and she’s annoyed that he expects her to tell him everything. While she begrudgingly said that she was at the Neitherlands because she needed information for her grand unified theory of magic, he still feels that she’s not coming clean with everything.
You can see it from both their perspectives. On the one hand, Q is mistrustful because Alice just left and wanted nothing to do with him or the quest. When she finally does come back to Brakebills she says that she had no place else to go and doesn’t know if they really should get magic back because they’ve screwed everything. Then she changes her mind and still wants magic so Julia gives hers. But unfortunately it didn’t sit well and has to transfer it back to the hedge witch. Next she tries to get a vampire to bite her instead (which Julia stops). Lastly the ex-niffin heads to the Library in order to strike a bargain and wants to join the quest.
Meanwhile Alice is still learning to be human all over again after being a creature of magic. Understandably she’s pissed, overwhelmed, and needs space because she had such immense power and now is completely ordinary. It’s clear that she is on a journey to find a new version of herself that she can live with and struggled to deal with Quentin who seems to keep looking for the old her. It makes sense that she’s having the hardest time repairing their relationship because they had been the closest to each other. With everyone else she’s been able to open up in a more genuine way because they don’t have the same expectations of her. Understandably she also has trust issues when it comes to Q because he had also been the one to return her to a fleshy state.
As Julia walks in on their fight inside the Physical Kids’ cabin, Alice tells Quentin that they can continue this fight after the quest is over but for now just to give her the stupid book. He relents and hands it over, telling Julia once the other magician leaves that the sixth key is in the throne room in Whitespire. Had they only known earlier they could have gotten it before Margo and Eliot were overthrown as the rulers of Fillory. Though the Fillorians probably wouldn’t want him or Alice as their monarchs either at this point.
After Jules magically cures Quentin’s headache, she tells him that she needs to finish this business with the fairies because she couldn’t just leave them as slaves with their limbs being chopped off for magical cocaine. He tells her to do what she’s gotta do but to just be careful. She asks Fen for help and the reluctant Fillorian eventually agrees because while she hates fairies, she detests slavery even more. The two women go to Irene and reveal that they know she has fairies. Julia explains that she was helping Fen with a fairy problem and wanted to know how the current owner of Brakebills kept hers so docile. The elder magician then explains that it was their collar that kept them in line and that she could get one from her Uncle Edwin. In return though she wanted them to bring her back a fairy.
Uncle Edwin, played by Syfy veteran Michael Hogan (Battlestar Galactica,Teen Wolf), is visiting Brakebills along with other MacAllisters for some secret family gathering. He gives Julia one of the collars and explains that the only way to remove it was machine that he had and so she shouldn’t worry about it not working. The male magician doesn’t tell her what powers it, but it’s got to be something sinister. During this scene we also meet Dust, a fairy that’s been with the MacAllisters for 400 years.
After meeting with Edwin, Julia rendezvous with Fen and Sky who tells the two women that the other fairies don’t believe that she performed magic. Understandably if they’ve been told one thing for nearly half a century it’s hard to believe anything else. Irene soon calls for Sky and Jules asks her to keep trying to convince the others to get out of there. When the two humans are alone, Fen suggests that they bring someone even scarier than the MacAllisters.
On the Muntjac, Josh, Alice, and Q have arrived to let Margo and Eliot know that the sixth key is in the throne room at Whitespire. Alice tells the two ex-high monarchs that Tick (who is currently king) is up north near Loria. Quentin further explains that the key will only be revealed in the light of two half moons, which is apparently something that happens in Fillory. When Eliot asks why Tick is up north, Q and Alice answer that they heard that the kingdom was at war with the Lorians and the Floaters while passing through town. Margo and El are livid and prepare to send bunnies to King Idri and Queen Fomar when Quentin points out that they are no longer the heads of the kingdom. This is a true testament to how much the two magicians have grown that they feel responsible for Fillory and still want to do what they feel is right. Though also, it could be a teensy bit that they like the power despite all the other negatives. While they have been given a clean out, the duo can’t let ruling go. Margo says that they chose this and so Q can captain the key quest while they’ll stop a war.
So the trio get dropped off at Whitespire at night to find the sixth key. Alice breaks a mirror explaining that the moonlight has to hit three keystones to reveal the object’s location but they aren’t anywhere near a window. Josh meanwhile is playing referee to keep the bickering twosome focused on their task. They set up the mirrors, but it doesn’t seem to work with Alice and Q continuing to argue. She finally tells him to come out with what’s bothering him and he asks her if she’s working for the Library. The ex-niffin confirms it adding that the Librarians want to help them because they want magic back as badly as they do. Quentin finds it hard to believe after what they did to Penny, Harriet, and Victoria, which catches Josh’s attention. They then have to reveal that his ex-girlfriend got stuck within a mirror bridge. Not surprisingly the elder magician decides that the only recourse at this time is to smoke a joint because while he had been really excited to be back on the quest, he just found out his ex is dead (possibly) and they were setting his ball hairs on edge. Q turns his attention back to Alice and questions why she didn’t just tell him this upfront. She responds that she knew he would react this way. Josh interrupts and says he knows where the sixth key is as they all stare at a wall inside the throne room.
In the meantime, it seems that the fairy queen is back in her own Fillorian realm since that is where we find her with Julia and Fen (thank you portal making keys). The two women are there to convince her majesty to come to Brakebills with them so that the fairies on earth will believe that there are still others of their kind out there and that they need to flee. We discover that human magicians nearly hunted their kind to near extinction and that’s why they fled to Fillory. The queen is naturally not convinced that a lost tribe exists when Fen interjects that she hates fairies so why would she return to this place where the magical creature took her toes and her child from her if it wasn’t true. She adds that the fairies on Earth were nothing like the her and more like frightened children. As a mother she believes that they deserve a chance to live. Lastly, she yells that she needs to get off her ass because they need their queen. You tell her Fen!!
Her words reach the powerful monarch as we next see the three inside the living room of the Physical Kids’ cabin. Julia explains that the queen needs to put on the slave collar because it’s the only way to get close to Irene’s fairies. For all they knew the MacAllisters could trigger the collars remotely and it could kill everyone wearing them instantly. Against her better judgement the older creature places her trust in Julia and puts on the contraption after the other woman reveals that she still has magic. When the queen asks the hedge witch why go so far to help her kind, Jules answers that being god touched is a mixed bag and she chooses to do something meaningful with her power by saving those fairies.
Soon after, the two females go to Edwin and Irene where the latter takes a phone call that suspiciously sounds like a request for more fairy dust (ahem the Library perhaps?). Irene is eager to find out where she can get her claws on more raw material so to speak. Edwin has Dust take the queen to a holding cell and tells him that they’ll be working through dinner. Jules in the meantime texts Fen to go ahead and look for the collar-breaking machine while she snoops around some more because something doesn’t seem right. The Fillorian responds with emojis of a tiger, two knives, and a thumbs up. She can’t seem to locate anything that fits what their looking for when Edwin, Dust, and another fairy come inside. Fen quickly ducks under a table with a plastic sheet on top of it, making for a good hiding spot. The elder fairy sets up the younger one on a chair where suddenly the other’s head gets chopped off. Oh holy crap! There is no collar-breaking machine folks. The MacAllisters just kill them and then grind up their parts.
At the holding cell, the queen reunites with her lost people and explains how they are divinely spun and blessed as the embodiment of magic. Does that mean that the gods created them? An angry Fen bursts into the room with a knife at Dust’s throat and Julia hot on their heels. The Fillorian tells them all that there is no machine to destroy the collar and Dust confirms that nothing can break fairy deals. He goes on to explain that for the sake of their people, a group of them chose to stay on Earth and bind themselves to the MacAllisters so that their kind would have a chance to be free in a new world without the magicians following them. The queen confirms that it had been her mother that had found safe passage to Fillory. She had been born there and their kind thrived all thanks to Dust and his companions’ sacrifice. Julia asks if there’s a way to break the deals but the queen refuses to because it’s the foundation of their culture. Fairies are known to honor their deals as it is their limited leverage and a key to their survival. Without that they are weak and vulnerable and it would be better for her to take the knowledge to her grave. Edwin then enters the room and magically hurls Julia and Fen against the wall. As he goes into the cell and grabs Sky, the fairy queen has a change of heart and decides to negate the deal binding them to the collars. As soon as she does all the fairies turn invisible to the humans and they kill all the MacAllisters except for Irene who gets away.
Post-slaughter, the fairy queen and Julia are chatting back at the Physical Kids’ cabin where the hedge witch says she’s sorry that she couldn’t save more of them. The monarch says that if it weren’t for the other woman they would all be dead so she chooses to be grateful. While we’ve only seen the manipulative and ruthless aspects of this character, actor Candis Cayne does a brilliant job in showing us that even this hardened magical creature has the capability to show gratitude and respect for those she deems worthy. We learn though that because she had broken the deal, there will be consequences and now their word means nothing. She tells Julia that of all the humans who have ever sought her out she’s the only one that did not have her own personal agenda to accomplish. If there were more like her perhaps they could have coexisted. Julia says that maybe they still can but the queen changes the subject and reveals that she knows they are on a quest for the seven keys. One of the keys is with them, however it is what created and sustains the fairy realm, which is why they can never give it to them. Well that sucks.
NBC’s “Rise” truly is what you would get if you threw “Glee” and “Friday Night Lights” into a blender and then strained and discarded the grainy excess bits everyone hates drinking
This comparison has already been made several times, and will probably be made many more, but Rise truly is what you would get if you threw Glee and Friday Night Lights into a blender and then strained and discarded the grainy excess bits everyone hates drinking. This comparison shouldn’t come as a surprise as Jason Katmis, the creative drive behind Rise was also the executive producer of FNL, and, well, how many primetime high school musical shows have there been besides Glee. Putting aside the comparisons to shows of the past, Rise is a drama that stands on its own, and in just the pilot alone is able to deliver strong, emotional, and relatable storylines.
Lou Mazzuchelli (Josh Radon) is Stanton High’s less douchey version of Will Schuester. He is a veteran English teacher of 17 years who wants to do something more to impact the lives of his students while also bringing more fulfillment into his own. Actually, the fact that he cares about his students makes him almost the opposite of Will Schuester, but we can save that discussion for another time.
Rise’s Stanton High School is located in a rural-ish area of Pennsylvania which I assume is a Pittsburgh surrogate of sorts from the numerous images of shut down steel factories in the first two minutes of the pilot. It is a blue collar town with conservative values and football. Stanton High’s theater department though is a bit stale, having done three productions of Grease in the last decade. With the former head of the Theater Department retiring, Lou easily convinces the principle to name him as department head due to his robust theater experience: a single summer camp reprisal of Fiddler on the Roof. With his new position solidified, and the help of Ms. Tracy Wolfe (Rosie Perez) he is on his way to put together a production of the edgy and controversial Spring Awakening with the theater geeks of Stanton High School.
What is nice about Rise is that there isn’t a clear and distinct “Main” character among these teens. Each of them has their own drama and issues to deal with. Since much of the pre-premiere advertising focuses on Auli’i Cravalho’s Lilette (of Moana fame) though, she seems like a good place to start. Lilette and her mother Vanessa are somewhat of pariahs of the Stanton High community. At least in the eyes of Gwen Strickland they are. Gwen is convinced that her father has been living in a motel for the past few weeks due to an affair with Vanessa. While Vanessa initially denies these allegations, Lilette soon discovers her mother is indeed in a secret relationship with Gwen’s father, Stanton Football Coach, Doug Strickland. To make the dynamic between these girls even more awkward, Lilette just beat out Gwen (the lead of the last four school productions) for the lead role of Wendla.
After a very lackluster turnout for the first day of Spring Awakening auditions, Lou discovers the potential of the young star quarterback, Robbie Thorne, when he drops a rhyme at the school’s pep rally. Initially, Lou thinks there is no way to get Robbie to audition for the show until Robbie gets a 47 on his latest English test. Apparently, there is a state law or mandate or something that states players are suspended from athletics for a week if they fail a test. (Do you think this also applies to essays? What about quizzes?) The principal, Coach Strickland and Robbie’s father all meet with Lou requesting that he change the young student athlete’s grade. Lou has a better idea though, he will make the test score disappear as long as Robbie auditions for the musical.
RISE — Pictured: Damon J. Gillespie as Robbie Thorne — (Photo by: Peter Kramer/NBC)
Robbie is cool with auditioning for the show. The only people who seem to object are Robbie’s father and Coach Strickland who are counting on this young teenage boy for their own personal success. What they don’t know is that while Robbie may be a star on the field, he was made to be on the stage. His face and body light up as he auditions for Melchiore and he connects to the character in a way he has never been able to in any class. While his father is putting pressure on his son to focus only on football, his mother who is in a treatment center of some sort, tells him to follow his heart and do the show.
RISE– Pictured: Rarmian Newton as Maashous Evers — (Photo by: Peter Kramer/NBC)
My favorite character of Rise though is Maashous, the lights guy. I thought his name was Ignatius at first, but upon further investigation (aka looking at IMDB) I learned his true name. Anywho, Maashous has one of the best introductions of the series. After overhearing Lou practice his “Why Spring Awakening” speech to an empty auditorium, Maashous responds with:
Maashous: “What says smash hit better than repressed teenagers in 19th Century Germany”
Later when Lou discovers that Maashous is living in the theater’s lighting booth after leaving his latest foster home, he invites him to stay with his family until they figure out what to do next. Maashous is smart, adorable, and caring, and introduces Lou to one of the best chorus singers in the school:
Maashous: “Margaret Holliwell. Pretty soon he’ll be Michael Holliwell. Anyway I know we need guys for the show.”
When Michael arrives at rehearsal the next day, Lou asks him how he would like to be addressed and subsequently crosses Michael’s dead name off of the call sheet. My heart warmed and tears filled my eyes at this moment. In the pilot episode of this series, Rise introduced a transgender character without sensationalizing it, without demeaning that character, without making it be a “very special” storyline. They treated it as something everyone should accept because it is something everyone should accept.
RISE — Pictured: Ellie Desautels as Michael Hallowell — (Photo by: Peter Kramer/NBC)
But alas, the world is not as accepting as we would like, and some of the kids are struggling to tell their parents about their role in this new play, especially Simon. Not only does Simon struggle with his own sexual identity when cast as Hanschen, but he is forced to explain the play and his part to his extremely religious parents. After Simon’s parents, and what I assume would be several others as well, complain to the school about the contents of the show, the principal dismisses Lou from his newly obtained theater directorship and forces Ms. Wolfe to put on another production of Pirates of Penzance because they “already have the costumes.”
The crushed teens don’t take this news very well, and after several days of being forced to rehearse the new production, they say “screw it” and burn all of Stanton High’s pirate costumes in protest!
I really loved the pilot of Rise. It is pretty rare that I cry during a series premiere but watching Lou cross out Michael’s dead name and seeing this group of kids come together to show the administration how much Lou and the Spring Awakening meant to them caused tears to flow freely down my face.
Other Things
I feel like I say this in every single TV show about High School I review, but HOW DO THESE KIDS HAVE SO MUCH TIME BEFORE SCHOOL?!?! Robbie goes to visit his mom in the care center that has yet to be explained and ALSO has time for pre-school football practice. Also, Lilette pulls the morning shift at the diner her mom works at before heading to first period. Was I just a lazy AF teenager for not having all these pre-school activities, has HS changed, or is this just TV magic?
When Lou used Robbie’s failing test grade to recruit him to audition the first thing that popped into my head was “Well at least he didn’t plant weed in the football player’s locker to blackmail them into auditioning like Will Schuester did to Finn on Glee.” Man Will Schuester was truly the worst even from the beginning.
A review of the first episode of Jessica Jones Season 2
Jessica Jones returns for its second season and it is as evocative as ever with Krysten Ritter reprising her role as the hard-hitting, super strength sleuth that can never seem to stay out of trouble. Though the premiere episode starts slow, the first episode shows promise of a dark and hard-boiled drama reminiscent of season one. This time around Jessica Jones is focused on the mysterious organization IGH, and how it’s related to the mysterious origins of Jessica’s powers.
The series picks up about a year after the events of the first season. Jessica is back to being her self-destructive self: drinking excessively, engaging in meaningless sex, and taking on meaningless cases. She’s returned to work as a gritty, private investigator after her tiny stint with The Defenders, still trying to move on from the traumatic conclusion of season one (And maybe the Defenders).
Meanwhile, Trish has shifted the focus of her talk show: Trish Talk, to focus mainly on topics about people with special abilities. She begins doing a bit of investigative work herself, looking into IGH, the organization responsible for what happened to her ex-boyfriend, Will Simpson, in season one and possibly the organization responsible for Jessica’s innate abilities. She’s also in a seemingly happy relationship with the famous reporter Griffin Sinclair (played by Hal Ozsan).
Jeri Hogarth has an interesting arc. In the aftermath of season one, she’s having stressful PR problems at her law firm. It cultivates with apparent hostilities between Jeri and her law firm partners, with a potential story arc that seems promising, depending on how tastefully its executed.
Malcolm has stepped up as Jessica’s number two at Alias investigations, though Jessica still won’t recognize him yet.
We also get some new original characters as well with Oscar Arocho (played by J.R. Ramirez) as Jessica’s new landlord who happens to be a single father and Pryce Cheng (Played by Terry Chen), as Jessica’s P.I. competition. (On a sidenote, just for my own sanity. Do these names not sound like Oscar Eight ‘A.K.A. Oscar Myer Weiners’ and Price Change? Did the writers come up with these names at a grocery store?)
Like any good Marvel series, there are references to previous incidents set in the Marvel Universe. Including Netflix’s somewhat disappointing team-up series: The Defenders. There is also a brilliantly funny bit referencing a character from the Golden Age of Marvel comics. And though the scenes are quick, it is very difficult to miss.
Jessica Jones has never been shy about standing up about women’s issues. According to the NY Times, much of Season 2 had been written during the turmoil of the Trump and Hilary election. Just as last season was a narrative about openly discussing and overcoming abuse, this season of the series was in many ways, inspired by confronting the improper ways that men treat women in this country.
Befitting, given that the series released on international women’s day. What mostly stands out about this season is how much of an empowering step forward it is for women in the industry.
At a time of importance for the #MeToo movement and fully acknowledging the recent outlash about some of the underrepresentation of women in Hollywood, the series goes quite in the opposite direction. With each episode, this season is directed by a different female director in a series starring, written, and run by, mostly women.
In a Netflix featured commentary, Jessica Jones series showrunner, Melissa Rosenberg had this to say about her series:
“Because we have so many women as department heads, directors and writers, it has normalized it… I was very cognizant on our first episode of a woman being at the head of the table at the production meeting. And then right around the time we got to episode three or four, it just became a very normal thing.” says Rosenberg.
That said, episode one shows a lot of promise, a couple laughs, and an intriguing start. While it doesn’t exactly dazzle, it drops us back right into Jessica’s world and leaves with the promise of more.
Jessica Jones Season 2 Is available streaming on Netflix.
The Workprint was able to chat with the Levien recently on The Magicians as well as her upcoming new show on Freeform, Sirens.
Syfy’s The Magicians is currently on its third season and continues to surprise audiences in unique and imaginative ways. The show is also all about character development and have been able to successfully achieve this for both major and minor players alike. One such individual is badass traveler Victoria played by talented Australian actor Hannah Levien.
We first met Victoria in season one as a prisoner of Martin Chatwin/The Beast. She was a psychic, a traveler (like Penny), and a part of the missing Brakebills class of 2016. In an attempt to seal Fillory, Martin had been killing travelers to prevent outsiders from entering the realm. When Victoria came with Josh, Poppy, and other classmates during spring break, The Beast attacked them and ended up killing most of their friends. Victoria was able to bring Josh to the Neitherlands but when she returned for the others she was captured and tortured. Thankfully though she was rescued by Penny and Alice when they came to Fillory. The other traveler had been mentally calling for help and Penny had heard her. After being saved, she and Josh returned to Earth.
In season three, we find out that she had joined forces with former FuzzBeat head Harriet after Quentin, Poppy, and Penny come to her for help to break into the Neitherlands library branch. We also discovered that she and Poppy used to be best friends until Poppy slept with Josh while he and Victoria were still dating. The questers need her to create a mirror bridge so that they can get the fifth key that Penny is supposed to send up from the Underworld library. Q, Kady, and Penny strike a deal with Harriet that the elder magician would join them in the Neitherlands. In a contrast to when she first took her classmates to Fillory, the traveler is a lot more careful now and doesn’t want to embark on this dangerous bit of magic unless they are 100% sure it’s safe.
“She’s gone through this horrible ordeal, but she’s now even more dedicated to protecting the people she cares for. And protecting the rights of magicians and magic and trying to make adventures safe for people. She doesn’t want to take them over that bridge unless its 100% safe,” said Levien.
Her character has definitely grown since we first met her. She evolved from carefree grad student to a mature magician after experiencing such trauma in Fillory. According to Levien, Victoria really felt the weight of the deaths of her fellow classmates and it had changed her for the better. Returning to Earth had given her a second chance and it makes sense that she’s fighting to make a difference by joining Harriet’s cause. “Victoria has a very strong backbone. She’s such a bad ass! We get a strong impression that she’s brave, loyal and will take a bullet for those she cares about,” she said.
In the episode Six Short Stories About Magic, audiences were able to see the perspectives of characters not on the quest and it was brilliant because we got to see a larger part of The Magicians world. Having Victoria back this season was an added bonus for fans and shows us how her character has developed since returning to Earth. She unfortunately though has it super rough to go from being a prisoner of The Beast to now being stuck in a mirror bridge.
When asked whether or not she thinks that the two women survived Levien said, “They are stranded in the Underworld or multiverse, depending on where the bridge leaves them. I think they are survivors and people don’t seem to die in The Magicians. We may very well see more of them!”
The actor also explained that filming that specific scene was very challenging logistically speaking because of all the special effects involved. They had a lot to sort out between the water, the wind, and the glass exploding. But what a scene that was! Here’s hoping that they do manage to come out on the other side and we get more Victoria in the future. Levien has done a tremendous job with her character and one can’t help but root for her to make it.
Levien will also be on Freeform’s upcoming new show Siren. The series tells the story of a mysterious young woman appearing in the small town of Bristol Cove. The legend of mermaids is deeply rooted in the community and her sudden arrival causes havoc for the residents. Levien plays Janine, who is dating one of the local fishermen Calvin (Curtis Lum). Her character is a bit of a tomboy who runs with the boys and gets caught up in the adventure with them.
Siren has a special two-hour premiere on March 29 and it’s looking to be another series that I will be watching because who doesn’t love mermaids, folklore, and saving the ocean?
For more on Hannah Levien, check out her official social channels:
A Futile and Stupid Gesture stars Will Forte (left) and Domhnall Gleeson (Right)
Premiering at the 2018 Sundance Film Festival, A Futile and Stupid Gesture is an endearing biographical comedy (albeit cliched at times) that serves as an homage to the great Doug Kenney, comedy genius and co-founder of the National Lampoon.
The National Lampoon
Responsible for some of the most successful comedy films of all time such as Animal House, Caddyshack and the Vacation series, The National Lampoon brand has been shaking heads since the 1970s. Known for its low brow ‘anything goes’ type of uncensored comedy, The Lampoon’s style of comedy is known for its parody, satire and surrealist pieces, throwing caution to the wind along with the undergarments (there was often nudity in their magazines) and any sense of public decency.
The National Lampoon was something special in the 70s. Something intelligent yet stupid, but above everything else: offensive. It had no affiliation or goal in mind save for making the audience laugh, which is quite a different approach from mainstream comedies today that tend to joke with intent.
Which brings me to Saturday Night Live…
From late night talk show hosts such as Jimmy Fallon and Seth Meyers to some of the funniest females in comedy such as Tina Fey and Kristen Wiig, Saturday Night Live is renowned for its ability to scout comedic genius. Among its first few seasons, were the infamous ‘not ready for primetime players’ including Chevy Chase, Michael O’Donoghue, John Belushi, Gilda Radner and Bill Murray. All comedy legends in their own regard.
What is surprising is that much of the original SNL cast, particularly all the ones I just mentioned, had all started as employees of The National Lampoon. And if there’s anything A Futile and Stupid Gesture gets across, besides that excessive harassment and cocaine use was rampant among those that worked in the Lampoon, was that many of its players were at the foreground of countercultural comedy.
Cast, Crew, and Why You Should see this.
The supporting cast did a stellar job performing hilarious impersonations of these comedic 70s icons. It was meta-comedy gold. Oddly enough, much of the cast were influenced at some point in their careers by their respective 70s counterparts that they were portraying. The most stand out of which being Joel McHale portraying a young and very full of himself Chevy Chase (Chevy was Joel’s former coworker in their cult hit TV show: Community). If you’re a fan of comedies from the 70s and 80s you will enjoy the subtle way the movie both pays homage and pokes fun at itself.
At heart of The National Lampoon was the magazine. It’s formation serving as the beginning of when this story begins. Where two Harvard alumnae: The Lampoon’s founders Robert ‘Doug’ Kenney (played by Will Forte of The Last Man on Earth and SNL) and Henry Beard (played by the renowned Domhall Gleason of Star Wars, The Revenant and Ex Machina) decide to ditch plans of attending law school to fulfill their dreams and upset their parents. Forming the most successful comedy magazine of the 1970s. And if Henry Beard was considered The Lampoon’s logically astute yet acerbic founding father, then Doug Kenney was seen more as the Lampoon’s floppy and floundering mother. You know, the kind that liked to overindulge too much in the kitchen sherry.
Fair warning: it can seem awfully misogynistic with a lot of hetero-normative portrayals of the sexuality coming from the Animal House era. Though keep in mind that those were the times they were trying to portray.
Directed by David Wain (known for his directed classic: Wet Hot American Summer), A Futile and Stupid Gesture feels awfully familiar in its comedy delivery and aesthetic similarities (comedy actors in ridiculous wigs portraying much younger characters) to David Wain’s other works. In addition, this movie follows a very familiar story plot you’ve more than heard of before. The unrecognized genius pursuing their dreams against all odds? The underdogs building an empire out of nothing but wit and misplaced charisma? The self-destructive nature that accompanies creativity, especially after success? They even used an older Doug Kenney (played by the hilarious Martin Mull) to narrate, mulling back at the old days: of mistakes made and lessons learned in a neatly packaged narrative device.
It’s a tried and used Hollywood formula, especially for biopics, but in this case, the story acknowledges this within its self-parody. Overall, this is not a film meant to be taken too seriously. There are no great messages or industry-changing approaches to movie-making or impactful themes. It’s just a feature meant to entertain. Albeit, the subject material and comedy jokes can seem tasteless for today’s more sensitive times.
If you like the SNL cast from the Will Forte era or would like to see a more adult-themed comedy Wet Hot American Summer style, A Futile and Stupid Gesture may be for you. If you’re also just a general fan of Will Forte’s comedy style: the sharp one-liner quips and consistent turn of phrase retorts, you will more than likely enjoy this movie.
Though things are sort of amiss for anyone who knows of Doug Kenney’s life story or for anyone that had read the book by Josh Karp, of which the movie is based off. I’ll leave it there, as any more would be spoilers… and I don’t like doing that.
In short, A Futile and Stupid Gesture is one of the funniest movies about nothing, that nobody seems to be watching. I think Doug Kenney describes his own story best:
“These are some of the happiest days I’ve ever ignored.”
A Futile and Stupid Gesture is now streaming on Netflix.
THE GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED! Thank you so much for participating!!!
To celebrate the return of Shadowhunters season 3 on March 20, The Workprint is giving away some fun goodies to two lucky readers who love the show and the books as much as we do!
FIRST PRIZE
Shadowhunters season 2 tote bag
Lady Midnight postcard set from BookCon 2017
Lord of Shadows BookCon 2017 poster
Shadowhunters New York Comic Con 2017 poster
One rune pin
SECOND PRIZE
Lady Midnight postcard set from BookCon 2017
Two prints from The Mortal Instruments Coloring Book from New York Comic Con 2016
One rune pin
One “I Love NY” Shadowhunters pin from New York Comic Con 2016
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Hi Guys! Welcome back to Supertrash: Legends to discuss Legends of Tomorrow episode 3.13 “No Country for Old Dads.”
Alyssa and Jen have a very special guest to talk about this week’s episode: the one and only CloneNic (also known as Nic). If you don’t know her, she basically the GIF queen of gay Tumblr and Twitter and the #1 Authority on all things Avalance. So, OF COURSE it made sense to have her come on.
We had an absolute blast with Nic and talked everything from crazy theories of Grod being Ava’s father, to the horrible wig/hair game currently going on, and our disdain for Damian Darhk. But mostly, we discussed how we are all absolute trash for Avalance.
THE MAGICIANS — “All That Josh” Episode 309 — Pictured: (l-r) Trevor Einhorn as Josh Hoberman, Olivia Taylor Dudley as Alice, Jade Tailor as Kady Orloff-Diaz, Jason Ralph as Quentin Coldwater — (Photo by: Eric Milner/Syfy)
On The Magicians this week, the fifth key was revealed as Quentin, Alice, and Kady find themselves transported to another dimension and forced to party. Seems easy right? Not so much.
Picking up from the last episode, Quentin and Kady return to the Physical Kids’ cabin without Harriet and Victoria, who we last saw trapped in the mirror bridge. Kady laments that the two women likely didn’t survive because both mirrors shattered. They run into Alice again, who was probably dropped off on earth by the other Librarian traveler. As Kady says she needs to use the truth key to see if Penny made it back, the magical book begins to act up by shaking and fidgeting. Q takes it out of his bag (which had been locked in a drawer for safety) and it opens to reveal a set of pages with symbols printed on it. He thinks it’s some kind of code with Alice saying that it looks familiar. She wants to take a closer look, but he refuses until she finally tells him what she was doing at the Library. She reluctantly reveals that she needed information to complete her work on a grand unified theory of magic. Except Quentin points out that there is no magic right now to unify. The ex-niffin then states that those symbols are medieval musical notes and he hands over the book.
Alice sits in front of the piano and plays the keys with Kady pointing out that back then scales started with an A not a C. As the other woman sits down in Ms. Quinn’s place and performs the other scale, their environment suddenly changes with the piano disappearing and a crowd of people appearing. The three magicians are thoroughly confused and have no idea what’s going on. They don’t know who everyone is until they spot Todd. Even stranger is that Josh makes an entrance descending from the stairs as the star of a musical number. At the end of the performance, they ask him where they are and what is going on. As soon as a serious tone is used, the crowd stops partying and in unison stare at the group like mind-controlled zombies. Todd comes over and explains that the only rule around here is to be cool (or else you leave and in not a pleasant way) and that magic is back baby!
Except it’s only magical party tricks like lighting up joints. Alice’s locator spells aren’t working and Kady tries some battle magic to no avail either. Q says they are here because of the quest and so there must be stuff that they can and cannot do. Kady though loses her patience and angrily tells Alice that for all they know this could be her doing as an agent of the Library. Her frustration causes her to throw the glass of scotch against the fireplace and all the party people stop and go into zombie mode again. They restrain Q and Kady and look like they are about to attack when Alice suddenly starts to sing happy birthday. The other two magicians join in as the song seems to calm the horde down and they begin to start smiling again. The three spot Josh and Alice says that they need to figure this out now. She says that she can get him alone but that someone needs to stay downstairs as a distraction so that the others don’t get any bad vibes.
Kady volunteers and we learn that Jade Tailor has an amazing voice! She magically puts on a sparkly gold dress and engages in an impromptu show. As she begins to sing, Todd interrupts her and says that she needs to sing based on the E scale because they like E. Gritting her teeth, she thanks him and continues with the performance as Alice takes Josh upstairs for some alone time. Once she gets him into his room, Q appears from behind the door and they tie him down to a chair. It seems that the piano had been moved up to this room and Josh explains that it’s there so he can practice. Alice points out that this isn’t even his room with Quentin adding that he’s a naturalist and this isn’t his cabin. Annoyed, the elder magician tells the other two that’s about all they know about him. He asks them where’s he’s from, where did he go to undergrad and when was the last time they actually saw each other. It’s now very clear that Josh has been forgotten by the rest of the squad. He had called and texted them over and over and the only person to respond was Julia.
Kady casts a spell downstairs to keep their audience entertained while she heads upstairs to join Q, Alice, and Josh. When Quentin tells the tied-up magician that he ditched them in Fillory, the other man claims that it wasn’t the same because it was cowardice not indifference. Josh adds that its fine because they don’t really know each other and now they don’t have too since magic is back. Q challenges him to get himself out of the ropes then, but of course he can’t. Alice jumps in by saying that she’s worried the longer he stays here the less likely he’ll want to leave because it feels good. Kady however is fine with the elder grad student remaining put as long as he tells them how he got there so that they can get out.
Josh recalls how when he couldn’t get in touch with Kady he called everyone else and when no one responded he went back to Bacchus’s where the party was still raging. However, no amount of pharmaceuticals helped him get over the fact that he had been ditched by the other questers. This wasn’t a new experience for him and seemed to be the theme of his life. He recounts how he was supposed to go to a David Bowie concert with his brother (one that Kady also attended), except that his own flesh and blood decided to take a girl instead. Alice steers the conversation back on course and Josh explains how he ran into Todd at the party. Todd then tells him that magic is back and when he asks how, the other magician opened a door that lead to the Physical Kids’ cabin. He then shows Josh the fifth key and while he tries to ask how he has the magical object the party mob went into angry mode.
As Alice, Q, and Kady try to convince him that this isn’t the real Brakebills, downstairs Todd’s discovered that they have been duped by a trick. Mr. Hoberman is still resistant and says that if this is his own private Idaho then he wants them out of there. With the mob banging on the door, Josh opens it and resumes the party with a conga line. Alice tells the other two that she thinks Todd is actually a demon from German folklore that creates a pocket universe where all your fantasies come true while it feeds on your happiness. As they try to figure out why the quest brought them there, Q concludes that the key still has got to be there. Both Alice and Kady realize that demon Todd has a fetish for the E key and they rush to the piano where they find the object lodged inside the musical instrument.
As the three of them stare at it waiting for something to happen, Kady loses her patience and grabs the item. Suddenly another door appears with the sign, “Questers Exit Here!” in neon pink. To make matters stranger, they all start to hear Penny’s voice. The traveler is still at the Underworld branch of the Library where he is currently shelving books. It soon becomes apparent that the whole team has been mentally connected somehow: Penny in the Underworld, Eliot and Margo on the Muntjac in Fillory, Julia at Brakebills, and Q, Alice, Kady, and Josh in the pocket universe. Looks like this is through the power of the fifth key.
Kady and Alice want to go through the door but Quentin realizes that they were brought here and all eight of them were linked together because the key needs them to work together. Josh however has had it and tells them to leave. Demon Todd and his mob begin to beat him up in the living room and Q tells everyone else that they must save Josh (the quester who is always forgotten) and convince him to come back to the real world. He knows that they are seriously screwed as always, but if they don’t unite now the quest will be over. Q casts a spell so that all of them will know the words to Under Pressure and declares that they all have to sing.
The following scene is so incredibly powerful and moving. If you didn’t feel anything then you are dead inside. Each individual takes a turn singing (even a super reluctant Penny) and the angry mob stops beating Josh up. We switch to different places showing that Julia’s god powers level up (saving Sky the fairy after she successfully used her magic for the first time but a cursed necklace began killing her), the Muntjac falling off the waterfall and then flying, and Penny in the Underworld library stacks. As Josh joins in the singing the group is finally unified as one. Once the song ends, we see the true face of the demon who tells them that they said you’d ace it. Now who is they?? The other gods?
The demon continues confessing there was only one that he’d do this for and that truthfully after a couple of weeks he was losing faith that Josh’s friends would even come or that they’d actually be worthy. The key stops working however and they can no longer hear each other. Their demonic host then ushers them out because pigging out on Josh’s emotions have left him gassy and he needs to go to an ashram. The magicians then return to the real Physical Kids’ cabin shortly followed by Julia (with the truth key). The magical book then reveals the next chapter (they are now in chapter six FYI). Alice grabs the tome from the piano with Q looking dubiously at her. She asks him, “really?” and then hands over the item.
So the fifth key is one that unites a group together but under what circumstances? Stress? Imminent danger? Five ones down, two left!
Discovered Keys So Far:
Illusion Key – summons whatever you fear the most
Truth Key – shows all things that are hidden and reveals the truth
Time Key – manipulates time and space
Darkness Key(or Depression Key) – takes the darkest parts of a person and brings it to life
Unity Key – mentally links a group of people across different dimensions and spaces
Hailed as Lord of the Flies meets The Matrix, Genesis picks up three weeks after the events of Nemesis; the first book in Brendan Reichs’ Project Nemesis series. Nemesis followed Min Wilder and Noah Livingston through the days surrounding their sixteenth birthdays and the brutal conspiracy surrounding their hometown of Fire Lake, Idaho.
As a series of natural disasters begin increasing in severity around the world, Min and Noah learn a secret about their upbringing: the duo and their entire sophomore class have been prepped their whole lives for this event, unbeknownst to them. As the town of Fire Lake is ripped apart by earthquakes, the teens are herded together and gassed, only to wake up in a version of Fire Lake where none of the destruction has happened, but no other humans or animals exist. They attempt to figure out what has happened, only to have the Guardian, the same man who has been killing Min and Noah every other year, show up and explain that they’re all dead. Nemesis ends with the teens learning that scientists found a way to upload their consciousness to a super computer in an attempt to save life on Earth in the event of an extinction level event.
At the start of Genesis, all 64 members of Fire Lake’s sophomore class, including Min Wilder and Noah Livingston are trapped in a computer-generated world where they must fight for their lives. Or at least, the versions of them that were uploaded to the Megacom computer system must fight for their lives.
Immediately, after hearing from the Guardian at the end of Nemesis, the teens divide into different factions, fighting over territory and supplies. We see differing reactions to their situation ranging from refusal to participate in the program (Min), to frightening determination to move on to the next phase (Noah, Sarah, and Ethan). While the four beta subjects battle it out, things change when people stop resetting after death. As their numbers dwindle, the class must figure out the rules of Phase 2 in order to survive.
The book alternates between Min and Noah’s perspectives each chapter, and while I enjoyed seeing both of their emotional journeys, to me, Min is the stand-out character in this book. At times her frustrating inability to accept the reality of the program makes it impossible not to root for her to succeed. Although Noah ended Nemesis by shooting her, I couldn’t help but hope Min would forgive him, especially when we’re treated to his tortured inner monologue. Tack gets his fair share of hero’s moments in the book, and I loved watching him struggle to follow Min’s moral code, but accept what he had to do to ensure her survival.
We find out the purpose of the program, the history of the Guardian, and the truth about what has been going on in Fire Lake for the entirety of Min and Noah’s lives. The book ends on another cliff hanger, but readers will be satisfied to gain answers to some of the series’ bigger questions.
Hi Guys! Welcome back to Supertrash: Legends. This week Alyssa and Jen discuss Legends of Tomorrow episode 3.12 “The Curse of the Earth Totem.”
There was SO much to discuss this week, starting with Amaya’s hair and Nate/Ray’s wigs. We got to see Wally pants Gary and call Rip a douche. We got to see Amaya work a sword, speak with an accent, and bond with Mick. But most importantly, we got to see the AVALANCE DATE!
After you listen to the podcast, let us know where you weigh in on Sara’s outfit. Was it a dress, or a jumper?!?
After learning that the title of our podcast “Supertrash” may lead new listeners to think our podcast is about trashing the shows we watch, we are considering changing our name. Please vote and let us know what you think! #PodernFamily#Avalance#QueerEl#SuperCorp
— Supertrash: A Supergirl (and Legends) Podcast (@Supertrashcast) March 1, 2018
THE MAGICIANS -- "Six Short Stories About Magic" Episode 308 -- Pictured: (l-r) Marlee Matlin as Harriet, Jade Tailor as Kady Orloff-Diaz -- (Photo by: Eike Schroter/Syfy)
On this week’s episode of The Magicians, the hunt for the fourth key continues and we learn Harriet’s surprising backstory, heads up it’s going to break your heart.
The show continues to take unexpected twists this season and tonight’s episode is another stellar example of sheer creativity. We are treated to six short stories focusing on a specific character and their journey. As each tale is revealed, we learn that the darkness key is still in the Underworld, Q and associates try to intercept it in the Neitherlands branch of the Library, Alice is trying to finish a grand unified theory on magic, Eliot and Margo have been found guilty by the Fillorians, Fen meets Irene’s fairy slaves, Julia just wants to help in general, Penny meets Cassandra (from Greek mythology) and most intriguingly we learn all about Harriet’s past.
Since we first met her last season heading FuzzBeat, Harriet was a mysterious character. We knew she was a former Brakebills student and had an overdue library book that Penny and Kady collected. The older magician takes a liking to the younger woman and agrees to help her save the traveler’s life. In exchange though he was going to be her mole in The Order (though he wouldn’t have known it). Harriet eventually gives Kady a book with a spell to summon the demon Asteroth. After she and Julia perform the summoning, the creature manages to take Penny’s tumor out and eat it, but the Penny’s body doesn’t survive.
Now during the quest for the seven keys, Kady reaches out to Harriet again and this time offers her access to the Library in order for Victoria to help them (since the other traveler was now working with the elder magician). We discover that Harriet and her group are after a massive battery called the Alexandria Cell that Librarians from ancient Egypt had made.
Through Harriet’s story in this episode (hers is one of the six stories about magic) , we learn that she is actually the daughter of Head Librarian Zelda Schiff. Ever since she was a young child, she had a thirst for knowledge and the heart of a wanderer. Her mom got upset when as a girl she disappeared for a few hours exploring the fountains in the Neitherlands, looking for the one that led to Fillory. Later on we see Harriet as a young woman attending Brakebills in 1985 and Zelda is angry that she brought her magician friends when she wasn’t supposed to. They have a major disagreement with Harriet believing that information should be shared while her mother felt that certain knowledge in the wrong hands was too dangerous. We begin to understand why Harriet is the way she is and what her freedom of information group is all about. Zelda wants her to stop attending Brakebills and remain at the Library to return to her duties. Her daughter says no and that she won’t stay at a place where she isn’t trusted.
She visits again as a grown adult in 2007 and greets her mom saying that she’s here to borrow a book if the Head Librarian lifts her suspension. Harriet asks for Principles of Conjuring Elementals, the same book that Penny and Kady came to collect in season 2. Zelda asks her if she ever thinks about coming back to work, but the other woman honestly responds with a no. The Head Librarian adds though that they could use her help as challenging times are coming. It seems that they knew about the great blank spot even back then. Harriet tells her that she would be back here tomorrow if they opened up the Library even just a little bit. She’s made friends who could actually help. However, Zelda still doesn’t agree with her child. She says that her daughter has a tendency to acquaint herself with criminals and what if giving away dangerous information is what causes the blank spot to happen. Of course there is no way they could know that with Harriet argueing that you can’t fix this by reading a book. She tells her mom that if they aren’t going to open the doors to the Library then there is nothing more to talk about.
The next time the two women see each other is when Harriet returns in 2018 with Quentin, Kady, and Poppy. After she tells Q and Poppy the Bookwyrm’s location, she goes to the Priceless Artifacts Room with Kady. Once there, they don’t find a giant battery but they do see the other traveler Librarian (the same one who was investigating Penny’s death) enter with a briefcase full of fairy powder. Kady quickly knocks him out from behind and asks Harriet what that stuff is. The elder woman snorts it and conjures a ball of flame. As they take the case and make their way back to the bathroom, they run into Zelda. Harriet tells Kady to go without her and then asks her mom what the substance is. The Head Librarian says she wouldn’t want to know and that she can’t take it.
Zelda casts a barrier but her daughter is able to take it and runs to the bathroom. Just as Harriet is about to go into mirror bridge, the douche traveler pops in, pushes her into the mirror (without the briefcase) then takes a trashcan and smashes the surface much to Zelda’s dismay. The next moment is horrifying as this entire time during Harriet’s tale there has been no sound (only subtitles on the screen) and suddenly we hear the shattering of glass. The Head Librarian’s daughter and Victoria are pelted with sharp shards and trapped in between. We don’t even know if they survive.
I don’t understand why Zelda didn’t stop the other Librarian with magic because she had it after all. Harriet is her daughter and now she could be stuck in this nowhere land forever. Did it happen to fast that she wasn’t able to react? In any case this was so horrific and heartbreaking. Both Marlee Matlin and Mageina Tovah did such a phenomenal job in portraying their complicated mother-daughter relationship. It’s obvious that both care for the other and yet still have fundamentally differing viewpoints on life. Sadly it’s ended so tragically for them.
While their characters were introduced as minor roles, what a gift to discover such a rich and compelling backstory for both women. This episode has shown audiences a different part of The Magicians world and allowed us to witness important moments happening to other people in other places, yet still connect them to our questers. It makes me want to learn more about other secondary characters and find out what going on in their lives.
With the show being renewed for a season 4, we might just get that chance!
The Magiciansairs on Syfy Wednesdays at 9 PM/8 PM CST.
12 MONKEYS -- "Theif" Episode 309 -- Pictured: (l-r) Aaron Stanford as James Cole, Amanda Schull as Cassandra Railly -- (Photo by: Dusan Martincek/Syfy)
Today showrunner Terry Matalas posted a small sneak peak of 12 Monkeys season 4 with Cassie (Amanda Schull), the Missionary (Christopher Lloyd) and presumably a teenage Pallid Man/Pallid Boy.
Cassie appears to be a bit worse for wear with a cut lip as young Pallid Boy points a gun at her. The Missionary tells the doctor that before the day is done he imagines that she’ll understand. Understand what is the question? The three also look to inside the Emerson Hotel as there is an “EH” printed on the elevator door behind Cassie.
We last saw Lloyd’s character in season 3 episode 6 where he managed to leave the tent with his wife and child during the first gathering of the faithful.
This upcoming season will be the show’s final one as the fight between the Army of the 12 Monkeys and Team Splinter will come to a close. Who will triumph in the end? Can Cole and Cassie prevent the destruction of time and stop Olivia? We’ll find out sometime this summer!
Till then catch up through our coverage of 12 Monkeys.
Hi Guys! Welcome back to Supertrash: Legends. This week Alyssa and Jen discuss the Groundhog/Hedgehog’s day episode of Legends of Tomorrow “Here I Go Again.”
What was there not to love about this episode (besides Nate and Amaya). We got to see Gideon/Zari flirting, Avalance flirting, Ray Palmer dressed like Freddie Mercury, and Mick Rory writing a romantic novel. This episode was like a gold mine of awesomeness!
Also, Alyssa is trying to start a campaign to get Legends to release at least an excerpt of Mick’s novel, so check her out on twitter to support the cause!
THE MAGICIANS -- "Poached Eggs" Episode 307 -- Pictured: (l-r) Felicia Day as Poppy, Jason Ralph as Quentin Coldwater -- (Photo by: Eric Milner/Syfy)
On The Magicians this week Quentin, Penny, and Poppy team up to break Kady out of a psych ward, Margo and Eliot find leverage against the fairies, and Alice goes to extreme measures to keep Julia’s magic.
Upon returning to Brakebills from Fillory, Quentin, Poppy, Eliot, and Margo find Alice having a seizure from using Julia’s magic. As ex-niffin recovers, Q is reluctant to leave her side but is persuaded by Julia with the promise that she’ll get them through this safely.
He focuses his attention back to getting the fourth key in the Underworld. His plan? Well first he approaches Penny about going to the land of the dead to retrieve it from Benedict because if they don’t get it before the mapmaker moves on then they won’t know where the key will end up next. The traveler states that he doesn’t care but Q points out that the lack of magic is everyone’s problem and that he knows occasionally Penny stops being a dick when the fate of the world is at stake. The other man finally agrees to help however it’s not like he can just zap himself to the Underworld. Q agrees and says that they need a gatekeeper (aka a dragon). Poppy cuts in then and suggests that they use the Library’s dragon (called the Bookworm), which Penny confirms. It’s apparently used to send books to and from the Underworld. Penny though says that the creature is too small to send a fully grown human back and so Q proposes that he become a book then. The astral projection concedes the point but asks what happens next because if he’s able to send the key back it will be stuck in the satellite library, which is on another planet. Quentin declares that they just need another traveler. Poppy interrupts yet again by saying that the only other one she knows was kidnapped by the Beast. She’s obviously talking about Victoria. Penny had personally rescued the other Brakebills grad student who had then gone off the grid when she returned to Earth with Josh. Poppy claims that she can find her.
It turns out to be true and they show up at Victoria’s apartment. The other woman is pissed because Poppy slept with Josh in Fillory while she was still dating him. Unsurprisingly Victoria isn’t interested in helping them, but Q asks her to hold the truth key so that she can see Penny. The two travelers then chat where she explains that even if magic was back her situation was more complicated because she is currently working with a group headed by Harriet and they secret plans that involve freedom of information. Hmmm mysterious much? Penny tells Q and Poppy that Harriet won’t talk to him but the woman does like Kady. Except of course Kady is still stuck inside a psych ward and she’s not doing so good.
So their next step is break Kady out of the hospital with Poppy and Q posing as outside doctors that have to come to evaluate her (since facilities can’t hold people against their will for more than 15 days unless they are certified as crazy by an outside evaluator). The plan doesn’t quite work out due to numerous circumstances, although eventually they do manage to get her out thanks to multiple distractions. Kady meets Harriet at a diner and asks for a favor but the older magician doesn’t want to help because she still hasn’t been paid back for the last time. Desperate, she makes a deal wherein they’ll help Harriet’s group get into the Library so that they can rob it. As Kady tells the group this, Q isn’t happy about it but doesn’t see any other way. Penny tells his lady that the Library has crazy defenses with her countering back that she knows what she’s doing. Reluctantly he gives in and she tells him to do what he’s gotta do. Before leaving the traveler tells her that he loves her and he’s sorry that they are cursed. Awwwwww.
Back at the Physical Kids’ cabin, Q has a mild freak out telling Poppy what if Penny can’t find Benedict or the key and their plan fails. She kisses him suddenly and says that she’s short circuiting his panic attack because it’s getting annoying. They should just have some fun because there are a lot of things they can’t control. Quentin decides to go with the flow and the two continue their make out session.
Meanwhile, Dean Fogg tells Julia that her power is killing Alice and she needs to transfer it back to herself. However, she needs magic to be able to do that and so he contacts Irene MacAllister and they explain the situation. The elder female magician isn’t exactly keen on assisting them, though does offer her help in exchange for a future favor. I also don’t think she’s realized that they took a key from her home. Julia agrees and she is given a substance that looks an awful lot like cocaine except it’s made from a magical creature. With Alice gone, the hedge witch is forced to snort the white powder in order to cast a locator spell. Ms. Quinn is out with a vampire that she’s paid to turn her so that she’d be able to retain the magic. She is stopped by Julia and in her anger hurls the other woman against a wall with the hedge witch being knocked unconscious. When Jules wakes up, Alice apologizes and says that she’s transferred all the magic back. The two women have a heart to heart, recognizing that each has had to deal with problems they didn’t ask for. Julia confesses that the thought of Reynard’s magic in her still makes her sick though Alice tells her straight up that it isn’t the fox god’s anymore, it’s hers.
In Fillory, Eliot and Margo tell Tick to cover for them as they take the fairy babies back to earth as ransom. They hide the mushroom eggs inside a cabinet in the Physical Kids’ cabin and ask Todd to look after them. Unsurprisingly he fails as Fray discovers the stash and reveals their actions to the fairy queen despite Fen asking her to trust Eliot. The high king and high queen had asked the magical monarch to cut a deal with them where they would return her babies and in exchange she would gift Fillory her bathtub. But once she learns of their duplicity she proposes another arrangement where if they don’t hurt her children she won’t hurt theirs. The fairy then does something to Fray who looks shocked that she would be harmed but the older creature explains that she betrayed her own parents so how could she ever trust her. Fen looks at Eliot who looks at Margo and says that he doesn’t want to be the parent who turns their back on their daughter. Having grown a conscience, Fray suddenly blurts that she isn’t actually their kid and she’s just another human. Margo tells the other queen to spill and the other woman uncomfortably reveals that the princess actually died during childbirth. Poor Fen!!! Later on she tells Eliot that she just can’t be in Fillory right now because it’s too hard. Guessing he sends her to Earth to get away from all the craziness.
In the end though, it’s still the fairy queen who gets the last laugh because while Margo and El think they’ve trapped her, she easily flips the script on them. In a carriage ride to who knows where she tells them that the children of Earth have been making a mess here for some time and she can no longer cover for them. As their vehicle stops, a mob forms and the two magicians are taken away by extremely pissed Fillorians.
Final thoughts
So Victoria must still be able transport herself like Penny, but needs the magic infused tattoos to be able to take other people with her right?
What could Harriet and her posse be planning? What sort of freedom of information act could this be?
Will spirits in the Underworld be able to see Penny as an astral projection? Specifically will the Librarians be able to see him? And if so can they detain him?
What is the fairy queen’s actual end game? Do they want to conquer multiple worlds? But they can’t be as powerful as the gods who surely wouldn’t stand for that right?
Netflix’s tragicomedy romance, The End of the F***ing World, is nothing short of extraordinary.
The first time I recommended The End of the F***ing World to someone they were put off by the title. Concerned that any show that must swear or speak of the apocalypse in the immediate was distastefully trying too hard. Let me reassure you: this is not another post-apocalypse show. Nor is there an abundance of cursing in it. There is, however, a lot of trying though. But mostly it’s trying to fit in…
Adapted from the similarly titled indie comic by Charles Forsman, The End of the F***ing World is the story about Alyssa and James, two mentally deranged teenagers from the Southern England suburbs, running away together Bonnie and Clyde style. Alyssa wants to get away from her heartless bitch of a mother and perverted stepfather. James joins along to finally pursue his lifelong dream of murdering a living breathing human being. In this case, Alyssa.
If this premise disturbs you, The End of the F***ing World may not be for you. Though rest assured, the tone of the show is often more playful than dreadful. More Wes Anderson than Wes Craven. Even though the two leave behind a path of mayhem and crime in their wake, it’s done out of youthful malcontent rather than maliciousness. Alyssa’s rebelliousness, a way of proving that she’s above the rules. That she’s an adult. That she doesn’t need the attention though she desperately craves it. Meanwhile, James comes along with her in order to get closer to his victim. After a lifetime of murdering animals and having a self-proclaimed lack of emotions, he’s decided to finally become the psychopath he believes he’s destined to be. But is he getting closer to Alyssa to murder her or is he getting closer because he’s starting to feel something? Emotions James thought to be long distant, resurfacing because of a girl he can’t seem to stop thinking about.
And we get that literally from just the first few minutes of the series. It’s a funny and sweet tale told in an awkward demeanor and set in a very dark world. Well executed for an 8-episode miniseries set at a 22 minute run time a piece.
Adapting the Story
The script adaptation by Charlie Covell is fantastic. Universally acclaimed by critics as some of the best writing in television. Which is not an easy feat, given the excess material she’d cut and changed from the comics.
For one, the original story takes place in the American Midwest over a series of months whereas the TV show, is set in Southern England and takes place over a handful of days. And though the settings are similar enough: rural and roadside with lots of scenic shots of the country; adapting to the cultures is never an easy transition. There’s even a nod to this in the first episode, as the Diner Alyssa and James attend to is American Themed.
“If this were a film. We’d probably be American” – Alyssa
Though probably the biggest shift from comic to screen is in its moral viewpoints. While the TV show touches on various adult-themed subjects (which I won’t list due to spoilers but take it from me, it’s really dark), much of it stems from the natural world itself. That life on the run and outside of home is filled with very evil and exploitive individuals. The world itself is bad, per se.
In contrast, the comics have much of these same conflicts stem from a villainous organization identified as a murderous cult. One whose influences permeate not only some of the shadier characters met in the series but also some of the police force that are hunting for James and Alyssa. Thus, the world isn’t necessarily bad, but this cult sure is.
The reason I separate the two is because this is what the TV show does a fantastic job at: characterizations. It’s the selling point of the series. James and Alyssa are cringeworthy and selfish characters. Whose apathetic British deadpan is met by sly inner monologues about how and why they’re better than their world at large. Yet, as the series unfolds, we see endearing acts of both passion and compassion. Characters that behave with depth because even though they might not act with the best intentions, it’s still better than the evils of their world itself. All this moral ambiguity makes the series unpredictable. And thus, exciting.
Atop that we get excellent acting performances all-around. James (Played by Alex Lawther from Black Mirror) and Alyssa (Played by Jessica Barden from Penny Dreadful) have such contrasting energy on screen and it pulls in the viewer like magnetism. Where we’re never entirely sure what they’ll do next. Atop that, officers Eunice (Played by Gemma Whelan from Game of Thrones) and Teri (Played by Wunmi Mosaku, BAFTA winner from Daimilola, Our Loved Boy) do a uniquely comedic yet emotional take on the investigator roles. One that’s equally intimate as it is conflicting, much like our main protagonists. The portrayal of the parents is also very exceptional and provoking, yet I must omit details for spoilers sake. Suffice to say, the actors did a very fine job.
Likewise, the writing progresses and slowly puts actions into context. Granting justifiable reasons as to how and why James and Alyssa ended up this way. With a few flashbacks and some side stories, we see layered depictions along the way: of incredibly flawed parental figures, traumatic beginnings, failed attempts at intimacy and silly unadulterated mistakes. Sometimes comedic. Sometimes sad. Yet the series doesn’t necessarily condemn nor condone. It just showcases that life is… complicated.
As such, we root for these incredibly flawed protagonists. Find joy in their awkward moments of discovery. About who they are and what they mean to each other. As the two overcome their woes by working together in a very two against the world sort of mantra.
The Soundtrack
It would be a sin to talk about The End of the F***ing World without mentioning the soundtrack. It’s perfect. For the setting of the show and the sense of young awkward romance. A mix of 1950s and 1960’s teeny-bop and do-wop, series showrunner Jonathan Entwistle collaborated with comic creator Charles Forsman on creating a large playlist for the series that would perfectly encompass the tone of the series. Atop of that, Entwistle had convinced Graham Coxon, the lead guitarist of the band Blur, to help with some of the in-between scores. The result is one of the greatest utilizations of music in a series on par with something from Quentin Tarantino. Best yet, scores accompany not only credits and transitions, but do a fantastic job playing in line with the pacing. There is a surprisingly large amount of moments to breathe in these 22 minutes episodes. Many of which, are covered with beautifully haunting establishing shots over the songs. By far, one of the best mixes of audiovisual sensation.
Final Impressions
The End of the F***ing World is an adult show featuring teenagers. A stylistic doo-wop about a wanton girl meeting sociopathic boy, set in southern England. The show seems dark, but so is navigating through adolescence. It is in this naivete, this fallacy of youthful certainty, where the heart of this story takes place. Alyssa and James are both incredibly self-aware yet broken people. They see themselves as outcasts in a world that’s in pieces because they both had lost pieces of themselves at an early age. Their actions and credence: that the world is a messed-up place, that mom and dad are to blame, it leads them on this disturbing journey of self-discovery and self-fulfilling prophecy. And while they can’t see it: how their worlds and childhood innocence are essentially ending. We the audience do. And that’s the beauty of it.
Hello, fellow trashers and welcome to our first episode of Supertrash Legends where Jen and Alyssa discuss Legends of Tomorrow.
First and foremost, we discuss just HOW FREAKING GAY this episode was starting off with Jen thinking the episode title “Daddy Darhkest” referred to bears. We also touch on Nate’s purpose on the ship. Most of all, we just rave about how much we love this show.
Filming wrapped on Sky One and NOW TV’s A Discovery of Witches, based on the popular novel of the same name by author Deborah Harkness. Starring Teresa Palmer as witch Diana Bishop and Matthew Goode as vampire Matthew Clairmont, the series follows an alchemical historian (Bishop) who has been running away from her magical heritage since the horrific death of her parents. Her world changes though as she comes upon an enchanted manuscript that every supernatural creature seems to want and finds an unlikely protector in a vampire geneticist (Clairmont).
The series will air later on this year in the UK and Ireland. Currently there hasn’t been a U.S. broadcaster tied to the project yet.
Here’s a delightful teaser that was released last year that I may or may not have watched 100 times already…
Sky One’s official synopsis:
What happens when a witch and a vampire fall in love? History professor and closet witch Diana Bishop and geneticist and secret vampire Matthew Clairmont find out when they are thrown together in pursuit of the truth behind a strange manuscript found in the University of Oxford’s Bodleian Library.
The cast and crew have been sharing tons of behind the scenes looks and we can’t wait to see the show on the small screen.
Watch Palmer and Goode announce the series 1 wrap.
In additional news, if you’re obsessed with the novels like me, Harkness announced the latest addition to the world of All Souls called Time’s Convert, set to be released in September 2018. This book will be focusing on Matthew’s vampire son Marcus.
Here’s the official synopsis:
Set in contemporary Paris and London, and the American colonies during the upheaval and unrest that exploded into the Revolutionary War, a sweeping story that braids together the past and present.
On the battlefields of the American Revolution, Matthew de Clermont meets Marcus MacNeil, a young surgeon from Massachusetts, during a moment of political awakening when it seems that the world is on the brink of a brighter future. When Matthew offers him a chance at immortality and a new life, free from the restraints of his puritanical upbringing, Marcus seizes the opportunity to become a vampire. But his transformation is not an easy one and the ancient traditions and responsibilities of the de Clermont family clash with Marcus’s deeply-held beliefs in liberty, equality, and brotherhood.
A passionate love story and a fascinating exploration of the power of tradition and the possibilities for change, Time’s Convert will delight fans of the All Souls trilogy and all readers of magic, the supernatural, and romance.
THE MAGICIANS -- "Do You Like Teeth?" Episode 306 -- Pictured: (l-r) -- (Photo by: Eric Milner/Syfy)
In this week’s episode of The Magicians, the fourth key is found and it’s just the worst…
Quentin, Eliot, and Margo returned to Fillory after discovering that all the keys are able to create portals, which is highly convenient by the way. While both the high king and queen have to go about the business of ruling their kingdom and dealing with the fairy invasion, Q finds himself questing on his own. He believes that the fourth key is somewhere in an uncharted stretch of ocean called The Abyss. It’s also always permanently night there. Eliot wishes he could go but duty calls and he suggests that Q take Benedict instead. That’s a logical choice since the mapmaker should be a good resource as they go through an unexplored body of water.
On the Muntjac, Quentin is living out his fantasy of being a swashbuckling pirate of sorts. He can’t help but let out a whoo, play with a very sharp-looking sword, lookout with his telescope, and get a card game on with the crew. As they reach The Abyss, Q and Benedict hear the voice of a woman calling out for help. At first, we’ve got to wonder if this is some kind of sea monster luring unsuspecting sailors (much like a siren). But it turns out to be another Brakebills student from the missing class of 2016 (the same class as Josh and Victoria). Poppy Kline (Felicia Day) introduces herself as a draconologist, post-graduate fellow and field researcher. While changing out of her wet clothes, she begins to tell Q how she came to Fillory with a bunch of students for spring break and it didn’t end well for them. Poppy then suggests he pour her a drink and she’ll reveal the whole story. Weirdly she looks over her shoulder then as if there is someone there, but when the camera pans over the space is empty.
As the two are drinking their libations, Poppy explains how their boat got wrecked off the coast of the Truth Waters. She had spent two years on that ship and then it was over in an instant. Somehow she had managed to survive on a raft for three weeks by herself. Poppy mentions how it was extremely hard especially when magic suddenly went out and asks him if he knew anything and that hopefully someone was fixing it. Q jumps in and says that someone is actually him and dives into the quest for the golden keys. Hold your horses though second king of Fillory because the other graduate student whips out a key that is strung on a leather cord. Quentin stares dumbfounded as she says that she stole the key. Her group had stumbled upon a small island covered with treasure and it turned out to be dragon breeding ground. The massive magical creatures were too busy to notice and so she was able to steal the key. Poppy then takes off the cord and gives it to him from one quester to another. He asks her then if she knows what the key does because each one has a unique functionality. She claims that she doesn’t but pushes the magical item closer to him and says maybe he can figure it out.
As Q gets super wasted and passes out, Poppy then takes his hand and forcibly has him hold the key. When he wakes up, he is staring at another him and this version is mean and horrible. As Quentin freaks out and asks one of the Muntjac’s crew members if they can see his doppelgänger (of course the other man can’). Pissed off, Quentin goes to find Poppy who is doing yoga in another room. He asks her what the hell is going on and she comes clean saying that the key does have a power. It takes the darkest parts of a person and projects it into some kind of depression monster. She adds that it can’t actually hurt you unless it gets into your head and gets you to hurt yourself. Poppy tells him not to sweat it though because he was so happy, positive and a lot of her other shipmates were psychologically damaged (they had passed the key around amongst themselves since it only affects the last person to touch the object). This is not what he wants to hear because he isn’t positive and happy normally. Q does suffer from depression and had been prone to suicidal thoughts, hence being in a facility back in season one. Poppy advices to just pass it to someone else on the boat, but Q is unwilling because of the 50% chance that someone might kill themselves because of it. He is just going to hold onto it until they get back to Whitespire.
The depression monster is the critical voice in your head come to life.
“Your problem is your hair. I know you’re just trying to hide your face but it only really makes it worse. Seriously, have you ever noticed that your face kind of looks like a foot. Feet head frown lines, I mean you’re definitely aging prematurely, which is a symptom of early onset Alzheimer, which funny both your grandparents had and you will definitely get. So then you’ll be a senile frowny foot face.”
Q tries a number of activities to try and distract himself but nothing works. While the depression monster started with the annoying surface insults, it starts to get to the deeper stuff like telling Quentin it was his fault for keeping magic from Julia that led to her sexual assault. Next it talks about how he killed Alice and she’s never going to be the way she was before. It tells him that he’s willing to destroy everyone around him to find something that makes him feel ok, but that he is never going to feel ok. Q and the depression monster head to the deck of the boat where it continues to rain the magician that nothing can save him, not Fillory, not Brakebills, not the quest and to just do it, kill himself. Geezus. As he stares at the water, two glowing red eyes seem to appear from the dark murky depths below and it looks like a dragon! Just then Benedict grabs the Fillorian king from the edge and confesses that he understands what Q was contemplating and that he’s thought about it as well. The mapmaker though has never told anyone about it because his parents taught him never to talk about his feelings. Benedict comments that in the old days when sailors went mad they would tie them up on the mast so that they couldn’t harm themselves or anyone else. Quentin thinks this is a brilliant idea. He makes the other man swear that no matter what he says he won’t untie him until they get to Whitespire.
Sometime later, Poppy checks in on Q at the mast and apologizes for giving him the key and the depression monster because she thought he could handle it. She offers to take it off him for awhile but he says that he doesn’t trust her not to pass it off to someone else. He says that the keys aren’t always bad and sometimes they help like with the keyholes. Poppy though had no clue that all the keys could create portals until Q tells hers so she looks for it in his jacket pocket then bids him adieu. She’s been stuck on Fillory this whole time and now has her way to go home. He calls for Benedict to untie him, but of course he doesn’t because his king had instructed him not too! Q commands the mapmaker to stop Poppy and not to let her leave with the key. Just as the grad student opens a magical door on the Muntjac’s wall, Benedict tackles her. Looks like this passage leads to the Neitherlands? It looks like a very dark cave of sorts.
When Benedict comes back up the deck, he tells Quentin that he’s a failure but the king notices that the other man actually has the key. But oh crap that means the depression monster is now with the Fillorian. Q tries to tell him to not do whatever it tells him to do, but the other man is too far gone and jumps off the ship. A crunching noise is overheard as a dragon emerges having just consumed Benedict and says “yummy” before disappearing back into the water.
Poppy had actually been knocked out by the now deceased Benedict and when she comes up looking for him. Q fills her in on the other man’s sudden death. She unties him and the two go down to the cabin where he tries to figure out where the key went. The dragon expert does give some useful information that since the magical creature is a gatekeeper, aka a portal itself, likely the key went to the Underworld. Well now that sucks because his last trip down there didn’t end so well.
So while the squad have three keys in their possession, the fourth is still yet to be fully claimed. But at least Q has an idea of where it’s gone.
To recap:
Illusion Key – summons whatever you fear the most
Truth Key – shows all things that are hidden and reveals the truth
Time Key – manipulates time and space
Darkness Key (aka depression monster key) – takes the darkest parts of a person and brings it to life
UPDATE: Thanks to the reader who pointed out that Penny had the darkness key and Alice had the truth key!
Based on the season three promo art above, it seems that Julia, Quentin, Alice, Penny, Kady, Margo, and Eliot each get a key. It could be that each key is meant for a specific magician with Eliot having the illusion key, Penny the darkness key, Alice the truth key, Julia the time key and Quentin, Kady, and Margo have the three others that haven’t been discovered yet.
In this episode of Supertrash, Alyssa and Jen discuss the second midseason finale of Supergirl “Both Sides Now.”
While this episode had its ups and down, there was one thing it had in spades: Kara/Supergirl Hope! We discuss the introduction of Julia/Purity and marvel over how awesome Team Worldkiller is becoming. We also share our confusion and frustration at the wrench the show randomly decided to throw into Imra and Mon-el’s relationship. Lastly, Alyssa ends up shipping Imra with every single character on the show.
Also!!!! We will be covering Legends of Tomorrow during the Supergirl break, so be sure to check that out later in the week to hear Jen and Alyssa rant and rave about the Waverider crew!
The quest for the seven keys have been the main narrative driving season three of The Magicians as Quentin and the squad search for these magical items in the hopes of restoring magic on Earth as well as other realms.
The mission was given to them by the Great Cock of the Darkling Woods, the brother of the White Lady (who is one of the seven questing creatures in Fillory). He tells Eliot that he will need all his friends to fulfill this task and that they must go to a library in New Jersey to find a book with no author. Julia and Quentin are able to locate the book (mostly Jules since she still has a touch of magic) and it’s called The Tale of the Seven Keys. It’s magical tome naturally and initially, only the first page is written. Eventually, more pages get filled and we discover the story behind the keys.
Once upon a time, a knight had a very brave daughter and while the two were close, the father had always yearned for a son that he could pass on his knowledge to. One day, a witch kidnaps him and his daughter pleaded for his release to no avail. However, she tells the young girl that he could be rescued if she completed a quest to find seven keys that would open his prison inside the castle at the end of the world. The witch even reveals the location of the first key on an island beyond her kingdom.
This island turned out to be After Island on Fillory where Eliot, Fen, and Fray went to retrieve the object in the guise of collecting taxes. The key was in the possession of a charlatan named Father Poe who was using its illusion magic to oppress the villagers into making him their de facto leader through fear. He had been conjuring a shadow bat that couldn’t actually harm anyone and then murdering a person pretending that the creature had killed him/her. After Eliot reveals his trickery, the high king takes the key and lets the islanders do what they want with Father Poe. When Muntjac is attacked by pirates, we learn that the illusion key can also create portals. A door with a keyhole appears on one of the ship’s walls where Eliot is able to use it to open a door into the Neitherlands. Unfortunately, their troubles aren’t over because magic has vanished there as well and the place is in ruins. Cannibals are running amuck and trying to eat the Fillorian royal family. However, the key comes to their rescue again as Eliot tries to use it to conjure a shadow bat, but instead gets an illusion of his angry dad. But hey, it does come in handy regardless because he sends his father to set the cannibals straight and they are able to sneak down to the library and use one of the doors to portal into Brakebills. This key conjures up whatever the holder fears most.
Side note: Is Eliot able to leave Fillory because magic is gone? Was it some kind of magical restraint that prevent the high king from ever leaving?
Later on, the book revels more of the story as the knight’s daughter finds the second key inside a sentient cave. Quentin recalls that in the first Fillory book, Rupert Chatwin entered a magical cave filled with countless treasures. He ends up only taking one item, a golden key. Q concludes that it may be on Earth because Rupert gives the object to one of his friends from the war. This friend turns out to be Lance Morrison, who attended Brakebills in the 1940s. However, we discover that Lance had only been a student for a short white due to a Code 7. Dean Fogg explains that this is either death by suicide or explosion. But the dude is actually a ghost haunting the West Dorm, which was closed by the dean’s predecessor because back then it was considered taboo to have a campus spirit. Since magic is gone, Quentin and Julia are able enter the West Dorm and see Lance’s ghost. They witness Rupert give his friend the golden key and say that it reveals the truth of things. Once Lance holds the small item he realizes that they are attracted to each other and the two begin making out. The scene shifts to Mr. Morrison enraged that his son is gay and ends up choking the younger man to death. He also keeps the key. This little field trip though informs the magicians that Lance is a MacAllister and so Quentin and Julia ask Dean Fogg to help them get into MacAllister house. Earlier in the season, we met Irene MacAllister, a member of Brakebills’ board and a former student of Fogg’s. She had been visiting the graduate school on behalf of the board to have the educational institution focus on finding a way to bring magic back. The dean uses this angle to bring Quentin and Julia to Irene’s home in order for them to search for the second key. Once inside, the hedge with is able to cast a locator spell that shows her where the item is residing. Back at Brakebills they exchange stories with Eliot, when the high king takes the truth key and sees Penny, who has been stuck in the astral plane.
In this week’s episode, Alice takes the truth key to Kady who is in a hospital psych ward so that the other woman can talk to Penny. Understandably, she freaks out once she is able to see the traveler again because of everything she’s already gone through. Kady is pissed beyond belief because he’s the reason she’s in there and she just wants this to be over.
(Photo by: Eric Milner/Syfy)
Back at the Physical Kids’ cabin, Quentin and Eliot are working on discovering the whereabouts of the third key. The book has filled in some more and this time talks about how the girl is training to become a knight herself. Eliot asks him to skip to the part to where they can find the next key and Q shows him a page with a drawing of the girl and a mosaic. They would have to create a design with the mosaic that shows all the beauty of life and their prize would be the key. However, the puzzle is in Fillory so they would need to find a way back to the other realm. Remember the ram grandfather clock? It’s back and it’s in the cabin! Quentin tells El that it had been a portal to Fillory and so it’d make sense that they could use it again if they somehow figure out how to wind it up magically. The men momentarily get distracted by two bunnies appearing with Margo’s message saying that she’s getting married and needs help dickwads. When they turn back to the clock, a keyhole has now mysteriously appeared. The high king puts the illusion key in, winds the timepiece up and a white light suddenly radiates from inside. Q wants to gather the troops, but the key pops out and they figure this round is just for the two of them. They enter the portal and find that they are in Fillory alright, but just not during their time. As they are walking through the woods, Q tells Eliot how in the books, Jane tries to complete the mosaic but she’s too late and someone had solved it first. El asks who and Quentin responds maybe its them. As they come upon a cabin with an old man seated on the ground, he turns around and angrily says that it’s all theirs if they don’t mind wasting their time.
The twosome start the work and Q first tries to calculate their odds and the different possible tile combinations. He tries to cast a spell, but unfortunately magic doesn’t appear to work on the mosaic so they have to try the old-fashioned way. As they continue the difficult task of puzzle solving, years ago by where Eliot and Q’s relationship evolve and grow into an incredibly deep relationship. They even slept together for a hot second, Quentin meets a pretty Fillorian fruit seller named Arielle and ends up marrying her. They have a son! When his wife passes away, the high king was there for his friend. Q’s kid eventually grows up and leaves home, promising to come visit. We flash forward to the two magicians as old men still at it and Eliot asks if he thinks about them. Q wonders if he means the grandkids, but the other man says no their friends. Quentin responds that he dreams about them sometimes. Even more time passes by and Eliot dies in his sleep. Ugh my heart!!! Q wraps up his companion of many years in a blanket and begins to dig a hole in the ground to bury him when his shovel hits something solid in the dirt. He bends down to investigate and discovers it is a single gold tile that had been covered by soil. Q takes it to the emptied mosaic and places it at the center of the space.
As soon as he does, the spell is broken, and the tile vanishes with a key emerging. As he stares at the key that’s taken both his and Eliot’s entire life to find, a young Jane Chatwin appears asking if he’s solved the mosaic. He was right after all! Jane pleads with him that she’s trying to stop her brother. The dwarves built her a pocket watch so that if things get too messed up she can reset time, but she needs the key to power it. Q realizes that this is how Jane created the time loops during season one. Eventually he decides to give her the key knowing that she needs it in order for the events from his past to occur. She gratefully takes it, gives old man Quentin a kiss and departs. As he stands there alone I’m sure he must be asking himself was this all worth it?
(Source: Syfy)
Back in Fillory during the present, Margo is opening gifts delaying her eventual consummation with the young prince she was forced to marry (he chopped off his own older brother’s head so that he could wed her instead). She finds a letter from Q with the illusion key inside. The missive explains that he and Eliot are dead and that they had been sent back in past to find the time key. He had arranged for this letter to arrive to her way in advanced and now she needed to go to the Clock Barren to find Jane Chatwin and get the magical object from her. Margo is proceeds and finds a still alive Jane. The elder magician was able to create a space outside of time and tells the high queen that in the linear plane the key is with her dead body in Brakebills and that she can send her there. She manages to get it and arrives at the Physical Kids cabin just as Eliot and Quentin are about to put their key into the keyhole within the grandfather clock. She shows them both keys and explains what happened. The three then head back to Fillory where Q finds the letter his other self had sent Margo (who leaves the two men to get some much needed rest). Eliot grabs a peach and begins to eat it. They then both sit down, a feeling of déjà vu takes over as memories from their other timeline come flooding back. The duo are both flabbergasted at how they could be remembering they life that they didn’t actually get to lead.
Meanwhile Alice and Julia have a drink together and this is the first time the two talented women are alone. Earlier, a god possessed Ms. Quinn and told the hedge witch to help the ex-niffin. At the bar, Alice tells Jules that she should want to know why she has magic still and to use the truth key to find out. She suggests using a mirror to help her focus. As the other woman stares into her reflection, she suddenly sees her eyes turn into Reynard’s fox eyes and it freaks her out big time. When Julia removes her hands from her face, the bar has become empty except for Our Lady Underground who is seated at a table nearby. The two talk and we finally discover that the goddess had taken her son’s magic and put it in the young hedge witch because she earned it when she showed mercy. Understandably Jules wants nothing of Reynard’s in her given that the god had raped her, gotten her pregnant, and then lost her shade through the exorcism/abortion. But OLU says that this power is no longer his but hers. Back in the linear plane, Alice tells the other woman that maybe she can transfer her magic over.
Season three of The Magicians continues to throw audiences for a loop in the best way possible. For a show that’s based on a series of novels, it still manages to be surprising and inventive as the story unfolds. We’ve seen plenty of books, TV shows, and films take on the magical school trope, yet The Magicians manages to keep themselves fresh, a task that is no easy feat.
With three keys discovered we have four more to go and it’s going to be such an adventure to see what they can do.
(Source: Twitter/@MagiciansSyfy)
TL;DR: Illusion key creates an conjures up whatever you fear most, the truth key shows the truth of everything and reveals hidden things, and the time key manipulates time (can send people to the past and present; can also create time loops and spaces outside of time).
UPDATE:
To read all about keys four and five, click below:
THE MAGICIANS -- "Be the Penny" Episode 304 -- Pictured: Arjun Gupta as Penny Adiyodi -- (Photo by: Eric Milner/Syfy)
This week’s episode of The Magicians is all about Penny as the traveler tries to figure out how to communicate while stuck in astral form. Hint: it does not go well.
When we last left off, Penny’s body had just died with Kady and Julia still in the room with him. Kady storms off angrily just as he tries to talk to her. It soon becomes apparent that no one can see him, though I wonder why the demon Asteroth (who could see him) didn’t tell the two women that hello, Penny’s soul was still alive before leaving. He tries in vain several times to get people’s attention and fails each time. While observing Julia telling Quentin the bad news of his death, the traveler gets offended at the other man’s uncontrollable laughter.
Kady, Q, Julia, and Dean Fogg gather around the living room inside the Physical Kids’ cabin to commemorate his life but no one can seem to say anything about him. It’s Kady who declares that none of them really knew him (even her) and that’s how he liked it. Ouch. This is a wake-up call for Penny at how screwed he is because how can he expect these guys save his ass when it’s hard to say that they were really even his friends. But can he blame them because he did often keep people at a distance through his acerbic personality.
Luckily though, it seems that he is still able to teleport himself all over and so he heads to the Library in the Netherlands to find a book on astral projection. Unfortunately, he still faces the same problem of not being able to touch anything. To make matters worse, all is not well there as cannibals seem to have taken over and most of the books have been taken or destroyed. Two such men talk about how they hadn’t eaten fresh meat since they caught a librarian two weeks ago, but had new entrees upstairs. Penny follows them and sees Eliot, Fen, and Fray who have come there from Fillory thanks to one of the golden keys. He tries to warn them that it’s a bad idea and of course, that doesn’t work because nobody can see him still. We do find out though that all the fountains have frozen over and so they are basically stuck there. The two cannibals in the meantime arrived there via a magic bean. Eliot gets offered a rib (a human one unbeknownst to him) and he begins to eat with gusto.
Penny grossed out beyond belief returns to Brakebills and finds Alice and Quentin talking. He thinks Alice is pouring her heart out that she had actually loved him only to discover that she was talking about her father Daniel who had also died. She also briefly mentions that she had no place else to go since she can’t be in the same room as her mom. Q says that they could use her help on their quest, but Alice is torn about it because sometimes she thinks that they are better off without magic after the mess they made. Fair point. It seems the only thing good that’s come out of this is that Quentin’s father had some form of magical cancer and now it’s in remission. Well, that’s super unfair because wasn’t Penny’s the same? Why didn’t he go into remission?
Q sends a bunny to tell Eliot and Margo about Penny’s death and the traveler follows the animal to Fillory where the high queen is still on the Muntjac. Pickwick mourns him as his best friend and Margo sadly expresses that she always thought they would bang. Penny nods and agrees. Us too guys. Us too. He travels back to Brakebills where Kady is in her room looking for drugs. In her grief and anger, she’s planning to get high and Penny can’t stand and watch her do this to herself, so he heads downstairs. He catches a God possessing Todd’s body and tells Julia to help Kady now because she’s the only one who can. She then races up the room, uses her ability to open the locked door, and finds Kady having a seizure. Julia places her hands on the other woman’s stomach and thankfully is able to revive her through magic. Suddenly another voice interrupts and Penny turns around to see a person he’s never seen before. The guy freezes and asks if he can see him to which the traveler asks the same thing.
The duo relocate to the living room where we meet Hyman Cooper and hear his tale. It turns out that Hyman is the pervert ghost of Brakebills and was a student at the school in the 1920s. He practiced traveling by astral projecting himself into lectures, dormitories, showers, etc. As a prank, someone moved his body and he never found it again since you can’t cast a locator spell without actual fingers. Penny asks him why he hasn’t figured out more about their condition when Julia walks in and Hyman runs off to observe her and Quentin. The lives of the living have basically become his only source of entertainment and he watches them like a reality TV show. Q, who has been researching the second key explains that the knight’s daughter found it in a sentient cave that kept asking her riddles. Julia comments that sounds familiar and he refers back to the first Fillory book where Rupert Chatwin found the same cave. Inside is a mountain of treasure and yet he only takes one thing, a golden key, and gives it to his friend that he met during the war. So if the story is real, then the next leg of their quest is on Earth.
Penny looks at Hyman in disbelief and asks him if he was serious about liking these two the most. The other traveler explains that as a man born in 1902 he finds a white heterosexual male very relatable. Obviously. Q tells Jules that they should send a message to Eliot which reminds Penny that the high king was going to be food back in the Netherlands.
He finds the royal family running for their lives and Fray realizes that Eliot lied to her about collecting taxes on After Island. She demands to know what the key is for to which her dad responds back that it doesn’t matter if they are dead. The high king then remembers that there are doors downstairs in the library and so the trio try to make their way down there in order to use the key.
Penny returns to Brakebills looking for Hyman who is in Dean Fogg’s office with Quentin and Julia. Q tells the principal that they think Rupert gave the key to an American named Lance Morrison and it turns out that after the war he went to a magic school. The dean points them to a cabinet drawer at his assistant’s desk for files from the 1940s. However, their sleuthing activities are interrupted by the arrival of a traveler from the Library inquiring after Penny. The dude gets sent to Kady at the infirmary where he asks her if Penny had died a violent death. She begrudgingly confirms it and the librarian explains that her significant other never made it their underworld branch. He muses that Penny may be on his way to become a vengeful spirit and it was best that they nip that in the bud. His solution is for a corpse eater to consume the body in order to send Penny’s soul to where it’s supposed to be. They need to do it fast however because the soul is only tethered to its body for seven days. Uh oh, this isn’t good. Kady goes to get Alice’s advice and the other woman actually feels that it would be better to use the corpse eater. She also adds that Quentin said the underworld wasn’t that bad, there’s a bowling alley! Kady is unsure though because she’s still clinging to the hope that somehow they can bring Penny back with the small amount of magic Julia has.
Against a ticking clock, Penny finds Hyman and tells the other traveler that he needs to help him find a way to talk to Kady or else he was going to cock block him for the rest of time. Hyman then reveals that when he first got stuck in the astral plane he spent months trying to push objects, but it never worked until he became it instead. So, he instructs Penny to pour his whole being into a penny, to envision actually becoming the item. Three hours later they are still arguing with no result. In frustration Penny suddenly vanishes and is now inhabiting the coin. He then manages to somehow flip it over all my himself! Determining that he needs something bigger that can talk, he heads to the Muntjac to try and possess a bunny.
We see a furious Margo with retribution coursing through her blood as tells Tick that when they get back to Whitespire he’s going to get a bunch of soldiers to go to the fairy repellant wing and grind one of those bricks to dust. He is then to put the powder into the fairy queen’s bath and when that knocks her on her ass Margo’s going to cut out her heart and eat it in front of every fairy in the kingdom. Penny astutely comments that she gets it done. That reminds him of the Margolem, who happens to be currently stored inside Todd’s closet in the Physical Kids’ cabin. He manages to inhabit it but before he can say anything that is intelligible, Quentin starts to beat it with a stick so that plan fails.
Dean Fogg comes by and Quentin and Julia tell him how they found out that Lance was only Brakebills student for a semester because of a Code 7. The elder man explains that is either a student suicide or that he magically exploded. Julia voices that the key might still be here since Lance died on campus. Q interjects that Lance had lived in the West Dorm but that building doesn’t exist, to which Dean Fogg says that’s because it’s buried. Apparently, in the 1940s there was a haunting in that student hall and at the time it was considered in poor taste to have a ghost on campus so the former dean buried the whole dorm and magically protected the entrances so that students couldn’t find it. This conversation begins to freak Hyman out and he tells Penny that the ghost will kill them. Also fun fact, this ghost terrorized him for a week back in the day so he refuses to step foot in that building. Penny though sees the upside that if the ghost can harm whatever it is they are then it can also see them.
Q and Jules make their way into the West Dorm where a door opens leading to a lit room with a student inside. Penny pops in though and is able to physically touch the ghost who also reacts to him by saying, “I’m not a bitch!” Surprised, Quentin asks Lance about a key that he could have gotten from Rupert when another figure enters the room revealing himself to be Mr. Chatwin himself. The two friends hug and we witness the key being given to Lance, with Rupert explaining that it will show the honest truth of things. The two guys then start making out but the scene quickly changes to Lance talking to his father. We discover that he is also a McAllister on his mom’s side and Mr. Morrison is pissed that his son is gay. He then magically flings both Lance and Penny who was still trying to get the apparitions to say that he was in the room. The older ghost then begins to strangle his son. The dude is about to attack Q and Julia when Penny intervenes and starts beating the old man up still trying to get the dead to say his name. But Mr. Morrison argues with him and the two living individuals high tail out of there. The duo return to the Physical Kids cabin and relate to Dean Fogg what happened. He in turn explains that the MacAllisters were one of the oldest magical families around and were on the board of trustees. They ask if the principal can get them into the MacAllister house since Mr. Morrison would have likely kept the key because it was a valuable magical object. The older magician says that Irene MacAllister has been calling him every day so perhaps they can give her something she wants.
Meanwhile, Kady and Alice go to see Harriet who recommends that they burn Penny’s body instead of making him a slave to the people who caused his death to begin with.
Penny then finds Hyman again who’s with Todd and excitedly says that the golden key can show the truth of hidden things and that he’s something hidden. He is running out of time though as today is the seventh day since his body died. The other traveler then comments that Eliot already had one of the keys so Penny goes back to the Neithlands. The high king and family are still trying to escape the cannibals and Eliot comes up with a plan to use his key to summon a shadow bat to scare away their pursuers and then they find a book chute to get the hell out of there. Instead of conjuring a bat though, Eliot’s father appears spouting angry homophobic rhetoric. Penny tells his fellow student that he may be more screwed up than him and goes back to Earth.
We find Julia, Q, and Dean Fogg at Irene MacAllister’s house where her family has their own personal magical batteries that her father gathered for decades. Over martinis Irene asks which one of them can do magic and Quentin proceeds to show and tell that he had actually been doing translocator spells without knowing it back before he knew about real magic. He was able to make an olive disappear from his hands and reappear in Irene’s drink, though likely it was Julia did that. Speaking of the hedge witch, she excuses herself for a bathroom visit and when Penny follows her we see that she’s actually casting a locator spell to find the key. The flame leads her to a study where she starts to poke around trying to find the key. Penny walks with her but as the sun sets he leaves to go find Kady and learn what fate has in store for his body. If he had only stayed a few moments longer because Julia does find the key and we see two fairies in the room with her. So interesting that Penny actually saw them as shafts of light the way he saw other magical enchantments in the MacAllister house. Julia though didn’t notice them. She puts the key back in its box and then into her purse.
So why are the fairies there? They must be spying on the magicians on behalf of the fairy queen. Guess they can traveling to different worlds too.
Kady is lighting a candle and preparing to burn the body when Alice comes and tells her that it’s not too late and that the corpse eater will be there any minute. She asks Ms. Quinn why she even cares and the ex-niffin answers that she knows what it’s like to be trapped and to totally lose yourself, but in the underworld he still gets to be Penny. Kady pours out her emotions that she gave It her all to try and save his life and he died anyways, but at least now it can be over. Oh that’s got to hurt poor Penny. Alice tells her that she doesn’t have to take responsibility for this and asks for the matches. Not wanting to be shackled to the Librarians for the rest of his existence, Penny becomes the lit candle and burns his own body.
Back at Brakebills, Quentin and Julia are examining their newly acquired key. It turns out that she unlocked chapter three and that their next mission is back in Fillory. The dean comes in though and relays some bad news that their show didn’t convince Irene and as of this morning the board put the school up for sale and he’s out of a job. He tells them that he’d evict them but he actually has no idea who owns the building. The dean then grabs a bottle of hard liquor and goes to lie down. Their next interruption comes in the form of Eliot barging through the door with Fen and Fray behind him still trying to get away from the cannibals. As he begins to tell Q and Jules his story, they ask who Fray is and the high king tells them that’s his daughter and to hold their questions till the end. Turns out his key creates illusions of what you most fear and they were able to use his shadow dad to trick the cannibal (he fed his fake dad to them basically). They tell him about their key (dubbed the truth key) and Eliot takes it. Just as he says that it doesn’t seem to work on him he sees Penny and says hi. Penny then gets up from the ground yelling wait!
Final Thoughts
This is one of those episodes that reminds us why The Magicians is just so damn good. It is a totally unexpected and playful way to tell a story that is a bit reminiscent of the fourth episode during the first season when Quentin was being inceptioned by Marina and Julia. Except this time, of course, it’s the real world just that nobody can see Penny who is on a different plane of existence. It was super interesting to see how ghosts though seem to inhabit both planes and therefore can interact with both the living and the not quite dead.
Tonight was all about Penny and it was fascinating to see that he could still travel with a dead body and even without a body at all after he burned his. It makes one wonder what kind of magic is it and that it must be tied to his soul somehow. But since fairies could also jump from world to world could travelers trace their magical ancestry back to them? Though why would the fairy queen send a bunny then…mmmm….must think on this more. Speaking of travelers I hope Hyman got out of Brakebills and saw the world since the 1920s. It’s not like they are tethered to their bodies so that would have been such a waste if he just stuck around Brakebills for all these years.
Also it seems like some of the old Alice is coming back since she felt motivated enough to help Kady out with Penny’s body. Some semblance of compassion is returning and this could help her figure out what she wants and who she wants to be.
Now that Brakebills is officially closed and on sale, what does it mean for all the students? Kicked out? Well that isn’t good.
Forest of a Thousand Lanterns tells the story of Xifeng, a young and beautiful peasant girl destined to become empress, but it would come at a great cost. Written by Julie Dao, the world of Feng Lu is a rich narrative filled with complex characters, deep conflicts, and magical mythology.
Xifeng comes from a very humble village where she lived with her aunt Guma. Since she was a young child, Guma had groomed her to become a lady worthy of the royal court, but had also abused her mercilessly both physically and mentally. As a result, Xifeng grew to both crave and despise the prophetic predictions of her aunt’s cards that she would one day be empress of all Feng Lu. It seemed so out of reach for a poor country girl like herself. Finally deciding to seek her fortune on her own terms, she leaves home with Wei, the boy who had loved her since they were children. She eventually makes her way to the imperial court and there her life changes forever.
Her journey from a young girl to a powerful woman was such a pleasure to read because of the many struggles she endured along the way and the steps she took to overcome them. Xifeng learns that her beauty is a weapon to wield and that every choice came with a price. She battles her dual natures and eventually carves out a path that is hers alone. In many ways her story is one of independence from the expectations of others in a society where one’s sex and class dictated their future. In Xifeng, the author manages to create a well-rounded anti-hero full of many contrasts that make her all the more relatable.
Dao’s world is lush and complex as men and women of varying social standing interact with each other on different levels across familial strife, court intrigues, and political maneuvers. In addition, gods and beings from mythology and folklore make their presence known as forceful entities playing their own complicated game.
Forest of a Thousand Lanterns has been hailed as an East Asian retelling of Snow White through the eyes of the Evil Queen. With that said I didn’t read anything about the novel while devouring the text and so I was incredibly shocked and pleased with the twist because Xifeng’s evolution was so gradual that I couldn’t help but root for her the entire time. This tale shows us as well that people aren’t all good or evil. Everyone is capable of great benevolent acts and horrific undertakings motivated by love, hate, fear, greed, lust, and other human emotions. All the major characters had their own competing agendas, but still familiar cultural themes dominated their lives. Themes like family honor and respect for one’s elders really resonated with me as these were a part of my own upbringing.
This tale is a beautiful, provoking, and at times gruesome voyage that will tug on the heartstrings in the best way possible. Go read this now!
Forest of a Thousand Lanterns is Julie Dao’s debut novel and the first in her Rise of the Empress series. The next book will be titled Kingdom of the Blazing Phoenix and is expected to come out October 2018.
THE MAGICIANS -- "The Losses of Magic" Episode 303 -- Pictured: (l-r) Summer Bishil as Margo Hanson, Rizwan Manji as Tick Pickwick -- (Photo by: Eike Schroter/Syfy)
On this week’s episode of The Magicians, the lamprey catches up to Alice, Margo tries to resue Eliot on the Muntjac, while Julia and Kady summon a demon to save Penny.
Alice Goes Home
Having dodged the lamprey so far, Alice manages to find another cat and makes her way home to her parents. She is greeted by her disgruntled mother who is pissed that it’s taken her this long to come see her folks. Upon entering the house, Alice’s new kitty freaks out at Carol, a friend of Mrs. Quinn who apparently used a lot of glamour magic to maintain herself. The ex-niffin suspects that the lamprey is in the other woman and tries to warn her mom but Stephanie won’t hear it. So Alice finds her dad instead who is the more supportive parent and quickly helps figure out that they can electrocute the creature out of Carol. Father and daughter tie her up poor Carol and then shock her with a homemade device. Sadly it doesn’t seem to work and the lamprey doesn’t come out of her body. Enter Quentin who actually has the wee beast in him. Daniel notices something weird going on with Q’s neck and goes to tell Alice. When they turn around, the other king of Fillory is gone. Also if you were wondering, Carol breaks her electrical tape bonds and storms out of the house.
The battery for their improvised lamprey weapon is out and Alice’s father suggests getting one from the car. Alice then saran-wrap’s herself (because the creature could get into a human body via their skin) and heads to the garage where she finds an unconscious Quentin. He manages to convince her that the lamprey left him when she sees a viscous trail leading outside the window. The two then rejoin the parents inside the house where they’ve sealed themselves off in a room. As Daniel, Q and Alice strategize on their next move, Stephanie with a wine glass in hand decides to leave the confines of their protected space to go use the bathroom. As mother and daughter fight, we find out that Alice is called the torture artist because she performed gruesome experiments and murdered the lamprey’s entire family in an attempt to figure out how their magic worked. It also wasn’t the only creature she did this too and that there were many others. But we do get a little sense of remorse on Ms. Quinn’s part as she tells her mom that she wants to be absolutely clear on who the real monster is here. Is it possible that Alice’s anger is also with herself? She could be angry for a number of reasons including not being able to defend herself, not being able to do whatever she wanted anymore, and having guilty feelings from torturing creatures. Q volunteers to go after Stephanie who’s left the room to get away from her child.
In the kitchen, Stephanie tells him that they are losing their house because they haven’t paid taxes in thirty years and that she can’t do anything without magic. She cries at how desolate the situation seems. As Quentin tries to comfort her (while being very uncomfortable himself) Stephanie makes a move and begins kissing him. Alice and Daniel see them and Stephanie rants that they are two consenting adults. Mr. Quinn then claims that he saw his wife’s neck move and Alice tells her mom to back away from Q. The two women still can’t manage to de-escalate the situation and so the elder female gets zapped. Alice then tells the two men that the lamprey intends to just lay eggs inside them and then they’ll die when they hatch (the baby lampreys will feast on their dead corpses after). Daniel then wonders if the beast is actually still in Quentin and that he tried to kiss Stephanie to switch bodies. Q realizes the only way to prove he isn’t possessed is by electrocuting himself, which he does. When nothing comes out of him, Alice turns to face her father and the lamprey applauds her. When it asks her what she learned from torturing and killing each one of his children, she says that she wasn’t actually seeking knowledge. When they died they made pretty lights and that’s why she did it. It taunts her by saying that it wasn’t able to lay eggs in her mother, but it was so much crueler to keep her alive because Alice hates her. Her father though has a weak heart and it asks her if she wants to take the risk (since Daniel might not survive an electric shock). She goes ahead and does it though and the elder magician tells her to kill the creature. Once she does the creature indeed bursts into tiny beautiful flames.
Alice puts a juice together that is supposed to kill the eggs that the lamprey left inside Q which also makes him barf a lot. Afterwards they have an honest conversation where he asks if what she said about not being able to forgive him before is true or was she just pushing him away because of the lamprey. She doesn’t answer the question but explains that she knew he was fine with the way things were while she wasn’t. Alice is extremely confused at the moment because of the other life she lead that’s still a part of her. All she sees reflected back in Quentin’s eyes is the old version of herself and it’s too hard because that person no longer exists.
Circumstances get worse though when Daniel collapses and Q tries to revive him. Stephanie is screaming but Alice is frozen from shock.
Margo To the Rescue
Back at Whitespire, Margo gets word that pirates have hijacked the Muntjac and she manages to convince the fairy queen to aid her in getting to the ship to help Eliot. She explains that it’s all well and good if her majesty wants to rule Fillory behind the scenes but if other kingdoms find out that they can’t even protect their high king then good luck with trying to get some mushrooms planted (it was another one of the fairy leader’s commands for Margo). The magical being saw her point for once and agrees to help get her, Tick, and Gillen get to the Muntjac via Pegasus (the two men also were finally able to see the fairy queen once she agreed that they could come). Upon their arrival, Tick not so subtly hints to the high queen that his pickpocketing skills could come in handy in retrieving her eye, which she greatly appreciates of course.
Below deck, Margo learns the the pirate king is actually a woman and she’s highly pleased to meet another formidable female. The two get their flirt on but the high queen is here on business first and perhaps later they can work something out. Margo demands to see Eliot and when she’s taken to where the royal family blockaded themselves we discover Pickwick by himself. Where have the high king king, Fen, and Fray gone? Somehow the golden key retrieved in After Island created a magical key hole on one of the walls and the trio were able to escape. Margo though continues negotiations with the pirate leader who wants gold and weirdly enough for her boat to have sex with the Muntjac. Say what? You read that right reader. The two vessels are both magical creatures of sorts and so have the same urges are other living beings. She consults with Tick and Pickwick who confirm this but also explain that essentially it would be allowing their boat to get raped and the Muntjac would likely suffer from PTSD.
Margo goes to the heart of the ship and explains their situation. She states how she used to think pirates were cute in a Johnny Depp kind of way but now knows how seriously messed up they are. She asks the vessel what she wants to do and while she doesn’t get an answer, we see that the fairy queen has been listening. Margo’s consideration for the Muntjac moved the magical monarch and so she kills all the pirates and takes their teeth. The fairy queen then asks the other woman to give back the eye. Margo takes the blame for her advisors, but the fairy decides to punish Gillen by putting a song he doesn’t like into his ear, slowly driving him mad. Pissed off beyond belief, the Brakebills student squishes her own eye before dropping it into the other queen’s palm. The elder woman snidely comments that isn’t the only way she keep tabs on them and that Margo can think about what she’s done in the week’s journey back to Whitespire. A week without her royal pain in the ass? It’ll be a vacation for them surely.
Kady and Julia Summon a Demon
Kady takes a dying Penny back to the Physical Kids’ cabin. There she prepares for the demon summoning using chocolate because it supposedly it helps distract it from wanting to eat humans. She and Julia are able to perform the spell thanks to Mayakovsky’s batter and the being Asteroth (Julian Richings) appears (not Astaroth, who is his cousin FYI). The guy says he can remove the tumor via surgery but it’s going to be painful. He then stabs his pointed fingers into Penny’s abdomen and wisely the traveller astral projects his soul so that he doesn’t feel a thing. Asteroth sees him and says, “No shame bro.” The demon is able to remove the cancer, which he deems juicy and closes the wound. But Penny doesn’t make it and dies a few seconds later to a frantic Kady. Fear not however because not all is lost! The guy actually was still astral projecting and so his soul wasn’t in his body when it expired. Does that mean he’s a ghost? Hopefully we’ll find out in the next episode.
Final Thoughts
It’s kind of fascinating to watch how both Julia and Alice have gone through similar journeys so far where one lost her shade and the other became a creature of pure magic but both no longer had human emotions. While the hedge witch tried to check herself towards the end after realizing that she didn’t have a moral compass, Alice went over the edge and tortured countless creatures. Now that they both have their feelings back, Julia is the one who seems to be dealing with everything better while the ex-niffin chose to be on her own.
However, it does look like Alice is growing a wee bit of a conscious because she chose to go back home with the lamprey after her. Were her motivations truly to try and protect her parents somehow from getting killed or was she feeling desperate and had no other place to go?
It’s been interesting to see how other magicians have been coping with the lack of magic. Most can’t seem to function normally and goes to show how much they’ve relied on it to the point where they have no skills to function in a world where they are just as ordinary as everyone else.
So wonderful to see Julian Richings on the show! He also brilliantly played Death on Supernatural.
The Adventures of Ghost Penny would make a great webisode series btw Syfy.
Margo having to deal with the fairy queen by herself is really forcing her to grow up in many ways. The fairy queen only cares about her own agenda and the high queen of Fillory was like that early in the show as well. This experience is forcing her to care about other people (aside from Eliot) more and consider what it means to be a good ruler.
Quentin just can’t seem to quit Alice and while things still aren’t ideal, at least they are one step closer to possibly becoming friends again.
EASY -- "Spent Grain" Season 2, Episode 4 -- Pictured: Zazie Beetz as Noelle and Dave Franco as Jeff
Before I start discussing Easy, I’d like to talk a bit about its creator, Joe Swanberg, and the Mumblecore film movement, a style of independent filmmaking that originated in the early 2000s. If you’d like to just read the review on Easy Season 2, scroll down to that section
Mumblecore is a subgenre of American independent filmmaking noted for its low-budget production, on-location settings, flexible story scripts, and emphasis on naturalistic dialogue and acting. It is in many ways, a result of the rise of independent movies of the 1990s (think Slacker, Clerks, and Before Sunrise). Where 1980’s cinema was defined by big-budget blockbusters (think Star Wars, Back to The Future, Ghostbusters) and large competing multiplex theaters, the 1990s saw a resurgence in independent films: movies that steered away from traditional Hollywood structure using a more intimate and down-to-earth approach to storytelling.
To be fair, independent movie making outside of a major studio has been around since the beginning of movies. United Artists, technically the first independent movie studio (and now one of the largest), was founded by key figures of the Golden Age of Hollywood. People like Charlie Chaplin, Mary Pickford, and D.W. Griffith, sought to operate outside of a big studio system, where movies were produced in excess and decisions were dictated by greedy moneymen during a time of little financial regulation, and even smaller entertainment competition.
So independent movies have been around for a long time. Though much of today’s indie scene, including Mumblecore, has its roots in the styles of French New Wave cinema of the 1960s. Characterized by subversive film techniques, French New Wave was an avant-garde exploration of style and expression where the director could share their subjective world in all its quirks and absurdities. In a post-WWII France that refused to break from narrative tradition, French New Wave represented a voice for its youth that acknowledged that things could never return. Nor should they. Its outside-the-box approach included long tracking shots, jarring narrative jump cuts, themes of existential absurdity, and sarcastic irony and meta-references to other films and movie techniques. Above-all-else, the driving factor that defined French New Wave cinema: subversion of expectation (think 1, 2, kitty). Kitty? See, subversion of expectation. You expected the number 3. Ya got a kitty.
I shall name you… Schrodinger.
French New Wave was about bending the rules and less about traditional story telling. It’s obsession with characterization included making both the style and the audience characters participating in part of the film watching experience (think breaking the fourth wall. Or my kitty example). French New Wave would later influence the boom of American indie cinema of the 1970’s (think Easy Rider, Midnight Cowboy and Bonnie and Clyde), who then in turn, inspired many of the filmmakers of the 1990’s.
Like how this scene from Jean-Luc Godard’s ‘Bande à part’
Would go on to influence this scene, from Quentin Tarantino’s ‘Pulp Fiction’
So how is this related to Mumblecore?
In the early 2000’s, film school growth and costs grew exponentially. The cost of tuition at a prestigious film school became comparable to that of a micro-budget film. Atop that, film schools were slow to adapt to the newfound digital landscape. Digital cameras and editing software was cheaper and more accessible to use, yet schools still more or less focused on shooting with traditional film (And a lot still do).
Enter mumblecore. Intimate yet less cinematic, mumblecore was the style many film school dropouts and fresh out of college artists were using to approach movie-making, mostly by using a whatever works approach. Applying much of what French New Wave had done with dialogue and characterization, this subgenre was known for being shot with minimal camera technique utilizing cheap and localized settings. It’s most defining attribute: it’s collaborative effort. Many mumblecore filmmakers pull real life experiences and natural conversations from its actors, trashing scripts for real drama caught on camera. And while the dialogue and story threads often feel meandering at times, the portrayals in mumblecore films are about as real as they come. A result of capturing human interaction in a very raw way.
But where French New Wave’s intent was to subvert with style, Mumblecore’s was to generate content their way. To make films anyway possible using a do-it-yourself approach because the alternative was costly and inaccessible. What mumblecore didn’t realize at the time, was how much it would come to represent the throngs of aimless young adults unable to articulate, or comprehend, what they’re supposed to do next. To become the voice of the millennial hipster.
Prominent careers that have come out this movement. Greta Gerwig (Director of the Golden Globe winning Ladybird) was a frequent collaborator and actress on a number of Joe Swanberg’s early films. Lena Dunham (creator of HBO series Girls) got her big break through her mumblecore film Tiny Furniture. And the Duplass Brothers (Tangerine, Jeff who lives at Home) co-produced a mumblecore movie called Safety Not Guaranteed, an indie gem that would go on to attract Hollywood attention to its director Colin Trevorrow, writer and director of the Jurassic World movies.
Coincidentally, Mumblecore’s rise and fall coincided with hipsters and the genesis of YouTube. Its do-it-yourself mantra of filmmaking, permeates almost every aspect of internet-related content making. That is not to say mumblecore was responsible for the DIY approach, but rather its accolades and coincidental boom and acceptance into the culture, helped pave the way for modern indies.
Joe Swanberg is considered one of the founding fathers of mumblecore. His movies Kissing on the Mouth and Hannah Takes the Stairs, are considered staples in the genre’s history, with emphasis on Swanberg’s stylistic approach on topics of sex, love, and technology, all mostly set within his hometown of Chicago. Easy, the Netflix original series, is precisely that. Vignettes shot in mumblecore fashion, dealing with issues about love, sex, and technology, all taking place within the second city.
‘Easy’: Season 2
Critics hailed season one of Easy as one of the best shows no one was watching. From its overt motifs about sexuality (The show is called Easy for a reason) to its low-key marketing pandered towards aging millennial hipsters, Easy seems like yet another indulgent melodrama of the snowflake generation. While the show is similar to Joe Swanberg’s previous works in mumblecore, most notably, in its exploration of growth and responsibility, what differentiates the series lies in its sincerity. It’s well-contextualized exploration of taboo and modern romance.
Covering the gamut of relational subjects regarding role play, activism, feminism, and even polyamory, Easy is by far one of the most representational shows about romance and sexuality I’d ever seen. Even more compelling, is it’s shot in mumblecore fashion, using outlines over full written screenplays.
For this reason, Joe Swanberg was very particular in his casting. It’s cast ranging in age from individuals in their 20’s to 50’s. Just like other works by Swanberg, many of the actors pulled from real-life experiences, with several playing slightly altered versions of themselves. For instance, in season one Mark Maron, a stand-up comedian/podcaster, plays a graphic novelist who writes stories taken from his personal life. In that same episode, Emily Ratajkowski, the famed model, portrays a selfie-artist that who showcases personalized selfies for a living.
Like in season one, season two takes place mostly in Chicago’s north side by Lincoln Square. There are also many returning characters, but you don’t have to watch season one to understand. In this sense, the series is similar in style to Paris Je T’aime or New York I love You. Stories about romance between the city and the respective culture of its people. Each story operates like its own slice-of-life movie with something poignant to express.
I reviewed each episode individually below with a short premise and take away, minus the spoilers. Overall, I felt that this season was stronger than season one, and that it opened the door for covering more relational and culturally sensitive topics beyond sexuality. To me, easy season two took a step forward, With Joe Swanberg’s style moving beyond its romantic adolescence and moved into budding adulthood.
Ep. 1: “Package Thief”
A group of residents at a very friendly neighborhood band together to decide what to do about a package thief. Lindsay (Aubrey Plaza), the main character, tries to maintain the voice of reason, as bored suburban neighbors take matters into their own hands, hilariously escalating matters into paranoia.
This episode is very much about mob mentality and how it effects intimate relationships. It works well as a sitcom episode premise. I can really envision this happening in a show like “Friends”. There are strong performances all around and a lot of familiar comedic faces. One of the funnier episodes of the series.
Ep. 2: “Open Marriage”
Returning from last season, Kyle (Michael Chernus) and Andi (Elizabeth Reaser), are married with children living the typical suburban dream life. Everything is seemingly fine except their sexual intimacy issues (as seen/hinted in season one). They decide to try something new by having an open marriage.
So when Andi goes on a date, Kyle decides he needs to pursue other partners as well. Hopefully, as the audience realizes early, it’s with Amy (Lindsay Burdge), his affectionate co-worker whom he blatantly has much better chemistry with.
What’s great about this episode is that it subverts expectations. It goes out of its way to not conform to societal norms, but also portrays intimacy in a raw yet realistic fashion. With great contrast between perspectives: of the comfortable yet boring partnership and the awkward yet exciting prospect of new. This one’s a bag of mixed emotions reflecting upon the nature of open relationships.
Ep. 3: “Side Hustle”
Sally (Karley Sciortino) is a sex-positive feminist writer who writes about relationships and sexuality. She is also a sex worker. Odinaka (Odinaka Ezeokoli), is a stand-up comedian from Nigeria who jokes about cultural discrepancies. He is also a driver for Uber and for a Chicago city tour bus.
Both of their side jobs give each character the material needed for their actual professions. With Sally, her moonlighting as a sex worker allows her to divulge into different sorts of kinks and explore taboo sexual practices. With Odinaka, his interactions with different wakes of life at his jobs gives him plenty of stories about American culture.
The two stories cross but not in a cliché. Instead, the episode focuses on their parallelisms. That both are doing what they must to get by while embracing their professions. What I really like about this episode is that it’s not shameful, but rather, embraces two incredibly similar lifestyles that couldn’t be any more different.
Ep. 4: “Spent Grain”
The return of what some would argue were the main characters from last season. Set years after their season one episodes, brothers Jeff (Dave Franco) and Matt (Evan Jonigkeit) have expanded their beer brewery. What started as an illegal operation in the garage, has grown into a legitimate budding business. But with growth comes the difficulty of balancing passion and responsibility. With Jeff, he’d like to keep to the dream and stay creative, brewing the beers he wants to versus what’s in demand: their hot ticket IPAs. He reminisces about the old days of no rules and open possibilities. Matt in the meanwhile, just tries to keep the business stable, compromising parts of their dreams just to keep the business operational.
Running on a parallel yet similar journey, are the brothers’ wives Noelle (Zazie Beetz) and Sherri (Aya Cash). Both families have grown significantly since their first episode, and the wives have undergone rather prominent story arcs about maintaining level-headedness in the face of conflict, in contrast to the brothers’ frequent issues of keeping secrets and mistrusting loved ones. In this episode, we see that the women have started a doggie treat business, finding much easier and streamlined success in contrast to their spouses.
It’s a pretty interesting contrast between two start-ups. It’s also intriguing to see how this story about relationships between families and spouses and business, can both come together and tear apart, when brewed all together. Of all the episodes in the series, this might be the only one worth watching the prior preceding episodes of before viewing.
Ep. 5: “Conjugality”
Returning from season one, graphic novelist Jacob Malco (Marc Maron) is doing a publicity circuit for the twentieth anniversary of his autobiographical breakout novel. His publicist (Kate Berlant) gets on his case in regards to his lack of online presence. Ultimately, Mark’s representation requests Jacob ask his ex-girlfriend, Karen (Michaela Watkins) for a blurb, or really, any sort of interaction that could garnish public media attention. Jacob then has a choice: respect his ex’s privacy after building a career out of their failed relationship, or meet up with her and try to sell more copies of his best work for as author in the twilight of his career.
It’s a continued story about artists and their public image. Their relationships both fictionalized and real. Although Jacob is narcissistically cringeworthy, he is also charming in his own defeatist way, and the context of his relationship with Karen very much puts him in his place. The actors really sell this one, so this episode will be or will not be for you depending on how you find their portrayals, Marc Maron’s especially.
Ep. 6: “Prodigal Daughter”
This was hands down one of the funniest and most insightful episodes of the season for me. Grace (Danielle MacDonald) is a typical privileged teenager. Her family has noticeable wealth and she appears rather spoiled, with a bit of a defiant streak. One day, she’s caught trying to hook up with a boy in her room. Her parents, Andy (Peter Gwinn) and Gretchen (Judy Greer), punish her by forcing Grace to attend Church.
This is where it gets interesting. Grace starts reluctantly attending church and its functions, rebelliously questioning some of its scriptures, particularly the one about rich people not getting into heaven. She then proceeds to get revenge by donating her life’s savings to the church, a whopping $48,000, much to her parent’s chagrin.
What happens next is rather touching, but you’re going to have to watch it to find out. It’s a nice episode with a good lesson up for discussion. Not cliché as much as it is honest about religion, hypocrisy (between Grace and her parents), and what it exactly means to be good. Or at the least, hold good intentions.
Ep. 7: “Lady Cha Cha”
A continuation of the most socially progressive storyline from season one, Chase (Kiersey Clemons) and Jo (Jacqueline Toboni), are two socially cognizant feminists who’ve gone from fun hook-up, to dating, to now full-on living together. Where season one was a story exploring Chase’s adaption of Jo’s lifestyles and beliefs, mostly out of mutual interest and romantic affection; season two sees each woman acting independently, preaching feminism through their respective arts.
With Chase, she is getting into burlesque dancing, a very niche and underrepresented group amongst black feminists. With Jo, she is running an art show, though a very post-modern female-driven one. Though they both rightfully love their causes, the problem is that in both forms of progressive feminist art, each partner gets into quite provocative circumstances of femininity and sexuality. This beckons issues never seen in Chase and Jo’s relationship. Matters of insecurity and especially, possessiveness.
It’s a beautiful piece about modern feminism, particularly the struggle with artistic open expression. Though it’s not so much about who’s right or wrong, as much as it is a story about perspective: two intelligent female activists in love with each other and with similar goals, that have differing views about what’s okay.
Ep. 8: “Baby Steps”
Returning for the finale is the talented Kate Micucci portraying Annie, the adorable music teacher who’d also just happened to have a three way with two of the most gorgeous people on the planet (Orlando Bloom and Malin Ackerman) in season one.
Recently dumped by her douchebag boyfriend (Portrayed by Danny Masterson. Befitting choice and real-life scumbag), Annie is thirty-seven years old and wants kids, but knows that her time is limited. Emotionally heartbroken, it doesn’t help that she spends most of her days around children, and seems for the most part, very good with them.
Enter Samantha (Megan Ferguson), a woman Annie babysits for. Samantha is called away for the weekend due to an emergency. She asks Annie to babysit her baby, Abby, and for the next few days, Annie sees what it’s like being a mom.
What happens next is somewhat of a different take on what it means to be a family. Though it’s fitting, it’s also somewhat lackadaisical in execution. The biggest takeaway of the episode is that it’s a look into loneliness and healing, through caretaking. And though it hits the right emotional beats, it also leaves a lot to be said.
‘Easy’ Season 2, is available streaming on Netflix.
THE MAGICIANS -- "Heroes and Morons" Episode 302 -- Pictured: Olivia Taylor Dudley as Alice Quinn -- (Photo by: Eike Schroter/Syfy)
The epic quest begins in earnest on this week’s episode of The Magicians where Eliot, Fen, and the rest of their royal entourage sail to a far-off island to find the first of the golden seven keys. Meanwhile, Quentin, Julia, Josh, Kady, and Alice are on earth trying to locate Professor Mayakovsky to get their hands on his magical batteries.
Do they succeed in both missions? Find out below.
A Bear Walks Into a Bar
At Brakebills, Q, Julia, and Josh are trying to locate Mayakovsky (who’s gone MIA since magic vanished) believing that he’s got to have more batteries stashed somewhere because he’s a lying devious snake. They use the only tool they currently have their disposal, Google, to try and find the missing instructor. While surfing on YouTube, Josh stumbles upon a newly uploaded video of a bear attack inside a hedge witch bar. He points out a number of things to support his case and convinces Quentin (mainly because the bear was obviously a dick).
Julia brings Kady in and they show her the video, hoping that she recognizes the bar and can get them in. The hedge witch also shows the ex-Brakebills student her small amount of magic by creating some sparks. They also explain that if they can find Mayakovsky and his batteries then maybe they can help Penny as well. Kady’s pissed still but Julia tells her that if he doesn’t need the magic then fine she can walk away but obviously that’s not the case. So the four head to the bar where they are able to confirm that it was Mayakovsky there with a young woman. Q realizes that had to be Emily (the person he was working with and slept with last year while grieving Alice) and tells the group that he should go and see her by himself since even at the best of times the other woman was vulnerable.
Quentin heads to her apartment where she appears to be massively hungover. Emily reveals that after magic disappeared, Mayakovsky appeared at her door a week ago and professed his love. They even got married! When Q asks how the elder magician became a bear, Emily claims that she doesn’t know but remembers that they met a woman at the bar and that her husband owed something to this female. Needing to use the ladies room though, she left and then heard a commotion as Mayakovsky was turned into a bear and destroyed the place. Q is led to believe that it could have been this other woman who turned the professor into an animal.
Alice Adopts an Early Warning System
In the last episode, Alice got some information from a vampire about how to protect herself with a lamprey after her and he suggested that she get herself an early warning system. What does that entail you might ask? That systems appears to be a kitten. She goes to an animal adoption center where she takes Hester, a five-month-old ball of cuteness. The only condition is that she must swear that the kitty will see no evil. Erm, good luck to you Hester.
It’s a good thing though that Alice has gone ahead and adopted the kitty because the lamprey has taken over a body and its out looking for her.
Another Mayakovsky Victim
After Quentin regroups with the others, Kady informs them that the woman must possess one of the batteries because there have been reports of weird events happening around the city that could only be a result of magic. Julia and Q go check out the sex orgy at Central Park, while Kady and Josh investigate a dinosaur at St. Brennan’s Children’s Hospital. At both places, a female magician in her 30’s and a little off her rocker was spotted.
Kady and Josh chat with a young patient who explains that one of the kids drew the reptile and the woman made it come to life in the courtyard. Just as the nurse asks for their credentials a tremendous roar is heard that sends everyone to the windows to see what’s going on. The two then head outside to see if they can follow the creature, hoping that it will return to whoever conjured it. Meanwhile, in Central Park, groups of men and women are making out like there’s no tomorrow to the confusion of police officers and other onlookers. As Q and Jules try to talk to the kissing folks, the spelled participants attempt to pull them into their orgy. Julia nearly falls victim but Quentin pulls her out just in time. Suddenly Alice shows up, having followed the trail of weird magic hoping to find Mayakovsky herself. It’s still super awkward between the two ex-lovers and Ms. Quinn hightails out of there as quickly as possible with Hester in tow. Jules finds out that the unknown female magician was talking about the lack of magic, the need for wonder, and where she could find the nearest building to jump off of. Quentin immediately knows that it’s the old post office building on 58th because it has roof access and a great view. Apparently, it was one of the locations he was considering when he was into that sort of thing.
Upon arriving at the old post office, a woman is seen on the roof ready to jump to her death. Q rushes inside while telling Julia to dial 911. He gets up there pretty darned quickly and discovers that the mysterious female magician is Professor Lipson. Sadly, the Brakebills teacher is another woman who was snared by Mayakovsky’s charms. Turns out that she had been the one to help create the batteries and that she had given him everything he (Mayakovsky) had asked for. When the Russian instructor came into the bar with Emily, Lipson lost it because she was in love with him and he broke her heart. Q tries to talk her off the ledge by agreeing that Mayakovsky got what he deserved but she is totally confused. Just as she jumps off, he is able to grab onto her arm. While struggling, Lipson drops the battery and it shatters on the street as Alice and Julia watch helplessly, arriving a few seconds too late.
The group meets up at a hospital where Lipson is being examined and Q relays that he doesn’t think she was responsible for the bear transformation. Just as they ponder who could have done it, Hester begins to freak out big time and suddenly explodes. Alice knowing that the lamprey is dangerously close by, leaves without a word (it show up moments later following her down the hall). Josh, Q, and Jules rush to Emily’s place after realizing that she was the only other person with the motive to do that to Mayakovsky. Unfortunately, Kady beat them there, punched the other woman in the face and took the battery. The three then split up to look for their former classmate. Meanwhile, a dying Penny is waiting for Kady at work because he felt that it was almost his time and he just wanted to be with her. Kady hurry up and save him!!
The Search For the First Key Begins
Meanwhile in Fillory, Eliot and Margo speak to their council about needing to sail to the outer islands in order to collect taxes because they desperately need the money. This little performance though is also for the eyes of the fairy queen who lounges casually on the side and likely suspects that this little trip is more than what it seems. We are then introduced to the Muntjac, the fastest ship in the Fillorian navy and is also a living creature herself. Tick is eager to warn his high king of the uniqueness of the vessel but Eliot wants to be able to enjoy the moment for just a second before getting yet another dose of bad news. As you should sir! Having been given permission to continue, the advisor explains that the Muntjac was created from sentient trees therefore has a personality. The admiral of the vessel takes them on a tour and adds that she was designed to be fast, wise, explore and do battle in the sea. Eliot seems dubious, but Tick is insistent that the boat can be a bit of an a-hole and shortly after the man is pushed off the deck by the boom acting on its own accord.
Back at Whitespire, Fen tells her husband that she’s coming with him on the voyage and it looks to be the idea of the fairy queen. The creature appears suddenly next to them and informs the duo that she also requires someone she trusts to accompany them. The queen introduces them to their daughter, Frail Human or Fray for short. The fairy leader explains that in their realm time folds in on itself and accelerates thus their child is now a teenager. Both parents are understandably shocked but Fen is quick to accept that the person standing before them is their progeny. Eliot in the meantime is highly suspicious especially after Fray says that her allegiance is to the fairy queen and feels nothing for them. On the day they leave, he confers with Margo that only individuals who have never had television in their lives could fall for such an obvious ploy because hello Angel, Buffy, and Twilight. Before setting sail, the high queen tells Eliot that the difference between a live hero and a dead moron is one bad decision so when it comes to being brave or being smart, he should know the right choice to make. Summer Bishil does such a fantastic job in these scene as Margo tells her bff not to be stupid and to stay alive. Clearly she’s struggling to not cry and it’s so beautiful to see how much these two really love each other.
On the boat, Fen is watching Fray sleep in one of the cabins when Eliot enters. She tells her husband that she knows he has doubts but she really does feel that this is their daughter. He admits that he wants to believe as well except Fray is huge for a two-month-old and that the young woman is a spy for the fairy queen so it’s probably better that she’s not actually their kid. Fen is stubborn however and says that all her life she’s wanted a family of her own, understandably this isn’t ideal but it’s not Fray’s fault. She just wants to give the teen her love.
Amazingly, they manage to reach After Island without incident and Eliot declares it a province of Fillory upon arrival. Because this is The Magicians, things don’t quite go as expected as there a local monster that attacks the village inhabitants every few days. A man named Father Poe however protects them and he also happens to be in possession of the first key. When Eliot asks for it, the priest explains that he can’t give it because it’s the only thing keeping them alive. A flying beast then appears overhead and the villagers run into their homes while Father Poe and a few unlucky souls remain outside. Eventually they emerge and Fray explains that the monster is a shadow bat and can’t be killed because it’s not really alive (they have this in the fairy realm). Fray also notices that the villager who was supposedly mauled by the monster had injuries inconsistent to what she’s seen. The fangs of the creature are serrated and victims were left in a much gorier mess. Fen also adds that as a daughter of a blade maker she recognized that it was a blade that killed that poor man. Realizing what was happening, Eliot has his swordsman put his weapon near Father Poe’s neck and commands the priest to do it. The other man feigns ignorance but the high king gives him no other choice. The village protector then takes the golden key and begins an incantation that summons the shadow bat, except it’s actually just illusion magic meant to keep the people afraid. Eliot then states that there is no monster but supposes that Father Poe qualifies as one because how many people among them have died so that the other man would remain their uncontested leader. The priest himself is then stabbed by the villagers as retribution for their lost loved ones.
On the Muntjac, Fray tells Eliot that he didn’t do what he told the fairy queen he was there for and that he only took the key. Fen jumps to say that it’s made of gold and has magic so what could be more valuable than that? Just as the younger woman protests, her mom tells her not to talk to her father like that and Eliot adds a semi-stern go to your room! Awww their first family squabble.
Quentin Gets Possessed
On his own, while looking for Kady, Quentin notices movement in his bag and it seems that the magical book, TheTale of the Seven Keys, has printed new text. At the beginning of the episode, he narrated the tale of a girl who was born to a noble knight. Her father was kidnapped by an evil sorceress and the only way to save him was to find seven magical keys that would open his cage. The rest of the pages were blank but now were filling up as Eliot completed his part and retrieved the first key. Suddenly however Q is attacked by the lamprey and it takes up residence in his body.
Final Thoughts
RIP Hester! You were a good kitty and are gone far too soon. Also, the show has already killed two cats, first Marina’s (via consumption by Reynard the Fox) and now Alice’s. Beware felines looking to audition for parts.
Why are women falling for Professor Mayakovsky? Are they trying to reform a douchebag?
Speaking of which what happened to Mayakovsky? Did animal control come in to sedate him? Is he now in the Bronx Zoo?
It’s interesting that Alice is on her own so far this season. It seems like she and Julia have traded places where the hedge witch is the one fully involved in team missions.
The Magicians are really freaking out at having to be ordinary again and while yes it is hard to go back to living a non-magical life, at least it’s not really the actual end of the world. Think of the poor starving regular people!
Speaking of which, Kady is obviously the individual most equipped to deal with life without magic. She’s got a job and she can throw a mean punch. Girl knows how to take care of herself.
Is Fray really Eliot and Fen’s grown daughter? Or is the fairy queen just messing with them?
BEYOND - Freeforms's "Beyond" stars Eden Brolin as Charlie, Jeff Pierre as Jeff, Dilan Gwyn as Willa, Burkely Duffield as Holen, Romy Rosemont as Diane, Michael McGrady as Tom, and Jonathan Whitesell as Luke. (Freeform/Craig Sjodin)
Freeform’s Beyondmakes its return on January 18 with a special two-hour premiere beginning at 8 pm. At the end of season one, Holden and Willa survived their last visit to the Realm but the destruction of the bridge has some serious consequences that the characters must now face in the real world.
The Workprint sat with Burkely Duffield, Dilan Gwyn, and Eden Brolin at last year’s New York Comic-Con to chat about a much darker season two, their characters, and the love triangle that’s surely going to be an interesting journey for all three.
Watch the full interview:
We also spoke to show producers Tim Kring (Heroes), David Eick (Battlestar Galactica) and creator Adam Nussdorf on what challenges the main characters will face now that the Realm is crossing into their world.
In the first season of Beyond, we were introduced to Holden Matthews, who woke up from a coma after being unconscious for 12 years. He struggled to integrate himself back into society as he still had the mentality of a teenager but was physically an adult. To make things even more complicated, Holden discovered that he had gained physical and mental supernatural abilities, making him a target of the mysterious group Hollow Sky.
The series also stars Jonathan Whitesell, Romy Rosemont, Michael McGrady, and Jeff Pierre.
With season two only a few days away, here’s a sneak peak from Freeform to tide us over until then!
THE MAGICIANS -- "The Tales of Seven Keys" Episode 301 -- Pictured: (l-r) Hale Appleman as Eliot Waugh, Faran Tahir as The Great Cock -- (Photo by: Eike Schroter/Syfy)
Picking up from the end of season 2, magic has disappeared everywhere and that’s left everyone royally screwed. Margo and Eliot are trapped in Fillory where fairies have invaded, Penny still has super cancer, a very human Alice has enemies after her, Kady is desperately trying a find a way to save her dude, and Quentin was wallowing in self-pity until Julia shows up with her sparkly fingers.
Magic is Still Gone, Mostly
Q and Jules have been trying to figure out how she still has some fraction of magic while everyone else has none. The hedge witch is frustrated that there doesn’t seem to be any pattern to it and that she can’t do anything substantial. Quentin argues though that there is some reason why she still has some power left, but she believes that it’s a fluke and that Our Lady Underground may have accidentally given her some juice that will fade in time (when she got her shade back). Still, she’s given him hope that there’s still a chance that they can fix this somehow and they need to keep trying. Q’s also declared himself an official sidekick to whatever Julia turns out to be.
Meanwhile, Penny is still performing his duties as a librarian and fetching overdue books. We first see him waking up after being knocked out, wearing a dapper suit and tied in some sketchy-looking basement. An older magician seems to be holding him captive and the man is trying to work a concoction that was created by Mayakovsky. The traveler tells him that it doesn’t work, prompting a rant about the disappearance of magic being the fault of the former Brakebills professor. Penny spots the book he’s come to collect and teleports himself from his bindings, grabs the book, and vanishes. At least that the lack of magic hasn’t affected his traveling ability. In addition, we also found out from their exchange that magical creatures are totally fine (because of their DNA and whatnot). Before he heads back to the Library though, Penny stops by to see Kady who is both happy and upset to see him because duh he’s still dying. Later on, she ends up seeing Harriet who gives her a book that can help the traveler, but she’ll need a lot of magic to use it. Better get on that.
The Fairy Infestation Continues
Back in Fillory, poor Eliot and Margo have to deal with the fairy queen and her minions who remain invisible to the other Fillorians. The two monarchs are constantly having to watch their backs because the fairies seem to see and hear everything. During a session with their advisors in the throne room, Eliot and Margo observe the fairy queen be handed a rabbit and she then whispers something to it then the animal is magically dropped into nothingness. Fen in the meantime seems to be suffering a mental breakdown as she is cradling a log whom she believes is her baby girl. As Eliot tells Tick and the others that they’ll discuss the border issue after lunch, the fairy queen turns to Margo and says that they have their own matters to chat about. Looks like the high queen has been fetching a number of whimsical items for the other queen and she’s about had enough. Except that she can’t really do anything about it since her eye is still being held, hostage. This time she has been ordered to collect a specific kind of earthworm that is abundant in the grounds of Whitespire. Margo waits until none of the fairies are around and tells a guard to complete the task for her. When she returns to see Eliot in the throne room, the fairy queen appears and admonishes her. Apparently, the worms need to be picked by female hands and the other woman wishes for Margo to do it. The current high queen of Fillory is saved though when another fairy appears and whispers something in his lady’s ear. Margo can’t help but wonder how the hell did the fairy queen find out so fast about her giving the task to a guard.
However, Eliot learns from Abigail the Sloth’s attendant that there is a specific corridor in the castle that the fairies are highly allergic to due to the substance that the walls are made from. With that, he rushes to tell Margo and they try to find a way out of their current creature problem. He debates sending a letter to hubby King Idri of Loria to ask for help. When the twosome return to the throne room, the fairy queen there again waiting for them and explains that writing to the Lorian ruler would be pointless because their library has also been purged of any books pertaining to her kind. Well now me thinks Eliot and Margo need to borrow some reading material from the Library when Penny gets better.
The two monarchs head into the woods for a chat out of earshot of their guests and an awesomely pop-culture-coded conversation takes place. Eliot asks Margo if she remembers Grace Park’s storyline in season 1 of Battlestar Galactica, which duh of course she does. He interrupts her and says that she’s Grace Park, aka she’s an unwitting sleeper agent (as noted in the subtitles heh). They move on to Gossip Girl where someone is xoxoing the crap out of their shit (aka someone hidden in plain sight is spying on them). He then asks her to remember James Mardsen in X-Men because her Marsden is xoxoing them, meaning that through her plucked eye the fairy queen has been able to see everything that she’s done. Margo is undoubtedly pissed but her bestie reminds them both that they are dealing with a Cersei Lannister and so whatever they do they need to be very hushed about it. I love how much of a nerd Margo is deep down, she’s a fan of Buffy, Game of Thrones, BSG, and X-Men. She asks him how they can Lizzie Borden the hell out of this situation (ahem kill the fairy queen) because she’s ready to go ’07 Britney (she’s prepared to beat the other queen with an umbrella if needed). Eliot though is out of ideas and thinks that they might have been able to do something if they still had magic but Margo replies that even without a wand their Harry (Quentin) would figure something out. E puts himself in Q’s shoes and knows that they must consult the Fillory books for an idea.
Brakebills is in Imminent Danger of Closing
Meanwhile the magical graduate school finds itself in trouble funding-wise when Dean Fogg gets a visit from Irene McAllister who is on the board of trustees. She relays the information that the board is seriously freaking out after several of their companies went belly up when magic disappeared. Fogg is understanding of course but he says that the school must continue teaching because otherwise the knowledge will be lost. However, Irene cautions that the other trustees are ready to shut down Brakebills to divert the funds for the search for magic. The dean must be able to show them something to keep the educational institution open.
Q Has a Plan, Sorta
Quentin comes up with a plan to somehow find a minor god and attempt to get more information on what’s going on. Julia understandably is not thrilled with the idea because she knows how dangerous they can be. Still, she’s willing to try but doesn’t have the juice to do a summoning spell. Q wonders how other cultures throughout history have done it and says that there has to be another way. In comes Josh Hoberman to the rescue! Turns out that Josh from time to time parties with the god Bacchus. Bacchus is from the Greco-Roman pantheon and is also known as Dionysus, god of fertility, wine, and ritual madness.
The trio go to a nondescript building where the god is having a party. Apparently, Bacchus is on social media because how else are worshipers supposed to follow him? Josh is allowed in quickly but Quentin and Julia are told to come back when they are fun. Their solution? Get super wasted because how else do you please a wine god? To sweeten the offer, the duo remembers a dance they choreographed in tenth grade to 50 Cent’s 2007 song Ayo Technology (featuring Justin Timberlake). Thankfully this does the trick and they are allowed into the festivities.
Once inside we get a party that is a bit reminiscent of rave from the 2000’s with lots of neon, bikinis, dancing, drinks, and bongs. Bacchus immediately has Q and Jules do shots of who knows what. Quentin tries to have a conversation with the god but the guy isn’t interested. The hedge witch interjects and explains how they’ve lost magic. When Bacchus asks how that happened the magician reluctantly fesses up that he sort of killed a minor deity, Ember from Fillory. For a few tense moments the wine god looks ready to murder them but then laughs it off saying that he didn’t know that dude. He then makes Q open his mouth and puts in a pill before walking away from them. Clearly this is going to be more challenging than they anticipated.
Q starts tripping and thinks he sees Alice at the party. We get a flashback of Alice leaving Brakebills, telling her once boyfriend and love that she thought that if they hung out and had sex that it would feel the way it did before but it doesn’t. She still hasn’t forgiven him and she can’t study dead magic. The former niffin then abruptly leaves without a care for his feelings. Well that’s got to hurt. After everything they’ve been through it’s rough that they are still miserable and can’t seem to catch a break. But of course it’s not Alice at the party, it’s just some random blonde haired woman who also wears glasses.
Julia finds her way into a neon pink room, lays down on a fuzzy bed and suddenly sees her rapist Reynard the Fox laying down next to her. She blinks and it turns out just to be some dude, but clearly both her and Q are having flashes of their recent trauma. She gets up and wanders into another area where Josh is seated on a bench smoking a joint. He opens up to her and reveals how depressed he is now that magic is gone because he got to see and do amazing things like bang a werewolf. Josh voices that he wasn’t just some average nobody because he was a magician and he could belong anywhere because of that. Julia decides to show him that she can still do something by taking a hit of the joint, blowing out the smoke, then casting a small spell that forms the smoke into first a giant star then to smaller ones. Q interrupts though and pulls her away because he’s worried that if the wrong people see what she can do it will put her in danger. Julia protests that she just wanted to bring Josh some hope because everything is depressing enough as it is.
Quentin, later on, manages to corner Bacchus and be annoying enough to have the god tell him about Prometheus who would totally help them because he loved magicians. Unfortunately, a faun informs them that a specific god died a long time ago. Bacchus though recalls a story Prometheus told him about a secret back door to magic or was it a brothel? The powerful being’s face was apparently melting off and so he wasn’t paying attention to details.
Eliot Meets the Sexiest Creature in Fillory
After finding another copy of Fillory and Further, Eliot goes hunting to try and find the White Lady (whom we met last season) in order to get a wish granted. Tick is with him and he reveals that fairies have infested their castle. As he hunts for the magical creature, he instead comes across a mysterious figure who compliments him on his fine thighs and asks for some praise in return. Cautiously the high king says that the creature has an incredibly fine voice and in fact sounds super sexy. The being reveals himself to be the Great Cock of the Darkling Woods, the sexiest creature in Fillory and brother to the White Lady (he’s part peacock FYI). The two have a chat with tea magically appearing as well as a chandelier because what’s the point if the aesthetics are crap? Eliot then dives into his fairy problem and hopes that he could have one wish granted. The Great Cock though explains that’s not his thing and that people always get screwed by their wishes. Instead, he declares that he’s going to give him an epic quest that will solve a greater problem, their lack of magic. He explains further that Eliot’s going to need the help of all of his friends to succeed because they are all parts of a whole. They must find the book with no author in a public library in the shire of Chester in New Jersey. The high king rushes back to the castle to consult with Abigail about bunnies and she confirms through her attendant that the animals are able to easily travel in between worlds as messengers. Eliot then sends one to Q in Brakebills with the message, “Need help, love Eliot.”
Julia and Quentin head to the library in Jersey where she’s located the book the Tale of the Seven Keys with no author. Only the first page has text and the rest are all blank. Q of course geeks out that they are on a real quest. They send bunnies back to Fillory with the message that they are a go for the epic quest and that they are searching for keys which may unlock magic. The duo also believes that the first key is in Fillory. Unfortunately, it’s on an island that isn’t quite friendly and of course difficult to get to. Fen jumps in though and know exactly the boat they need to take for the journey.
Alice Makes a Bloody Deal
What has Ms. Quinn been up to this whole time since she left Brakebills? She’s basically been on the run from the lamprey. We find her inside a diner where a vampire is sucking blood from her wrist. Once their transaction is complete, he tells her that she needs an early warning device to give her a chance to run when the lamprey is nearby. Alice then sits alone in a booth and orders some bacon as she contemplates her next move.
Final Thoughts
Alice is still so angry from losing her magic and being human again, but I hope she finds some kind of middle road this season.
The fairy queen is such a force to be reckoned with and such a fun villain. It’ll be interesting to find out what her end goal is and what she really wants from Eliot, Margo, and Fillory in general.
Eliot and Margo are stuck between a rock and a hard place but still going with the flow. They are actually taking their responsibilities as rulers seriously and trying to save their people. They’ve come such a long way from season 1 and I couldn’t be prouder of them. The two are using their powers of sass for good!
The pop culture coded scene with the Hale Appleman and Summer Bishil SLAYED SO HARD.
It’s also kind of nice to see Julia and Quentin being friends again for a united cause of bringing magic back. They’ve also been through a lot together and despite everything it seems like this is how it should be. Jules looks to be spending a lot of time in Brakebills though it’s not mentioned if she’s an actual student now (since she had been in previous time loops but not this one). At first she had been given sanctuary because Reynard had been after her but now that threat is no longer there (thanks to OLU), but with the magical wards gone maybe Dean Fogg is fine with her coming and going since it would be hard to stop her anyways.
Is Penny some kind of magical creature? Are all travelers the same that there is some kind of magical properties in the DNA that allows them to teleport despite the magical shutdown?
Also suspecting that Harriet has hidden magical batteries herself, there’s no way she wouldn’t have a backup plan of sorts.
With all of the tragic and messed up events that happened last season, having the team embark on a quest brings a welcomed lightened mood and it’s hard not to be excited to find out what exactly the seven keys are and how do they unlock magic?
The true heroes of the season 3 premiere were clearly the bunnies.
This week on Marvel’s Runaways…. THE TEENS FINALLY BECOME RUNAWAYS! Also, if you haven’t heard the good news yet, Runaways has been picked up for a second season but before we get ahead of ourselves, let’s discuss the season finale of Marvel’s Runaways: “Hostile.”
The Parental Standoff
The episode begins as the teens stand face-to-face with their evil parents.
Mutant eyes: Check
Fistigons: Check
Rainbow Brite: Check
Genetically Engineered Dinosaur: Check
Staff of One: Well, technically it’s now in Tina’s hands so….. No Check
These teens are ready to rumble! Unfortunately, so are Pride and they are able to thwart off their children’s initial attacks. The parents are then granted reinforcements as Jonah emerges from the shadows and starts blasting glowing beams of light at the kids.
After seeing Jonah glow light, Karolina realizes that she and Jonah are connected, although she is not 100% sure how. She does know that she is the teen’s only chance of holding him off so she tells the others to run. While Nico initially protests against Karolina’s demands, she succumbs to Karolina’s warm and soft smile and obeys her gf’s wishes.
What happens next is very confusing. Jonah starts glowing white, Karolina takes off her bracelet and starts glowing Rainbow (I will never stop loving how gay it is that Karolina glows rainbow), and they shoot light beams at each other a la a Harry Potter/Voldermort showdown. Jonah, being full-light-god, is able to overpower Karolina and win the fight. He then takes her back to the “Private” room at the Church of Gibborim and lays her down on what is presumably the bed she was conceived on to nurse her back to health with that weird-ass blue mask.
The Other Runaways
The other teens run off when Karolina instructs them to and while Nico wants to save her boo, the group decides that they need to get to safety, regroup, and make a plan. This leads to one of my favorite images EVER from this show (and that is saying a lot since Runaways has had a Chuppa sex scene and lady kisses) as they make their way up to the hills of LA to take cover.
Nico and Alex have different ideas on what their next move should be. Alex wants to peace the fuck out of LA and Nico is appalled that Alex would leave Karolina behind, especially since she risked her life to save them. Some of the others are tepid and unsure of what the best decision is.
Chase: “If it was me in her place, I would want everyone to go.” Nico: “Well if it was you in her place we would. But it’s not.”
This is only one example of the AMAZING writing that is going on in this episode. The one-liners and comebacks were on point this week!
It doesn’t take much for Nico to convince the team that Karolina is worth saving, and in the end Alex reluctantly agrees to a Karolina rescue mission. Unfortunately for Gert, the team has decided that she has to dump Old Lace which leads to an emotional goodbye (more on this later).
The first stop on “Mission: Rescue Karolina” is the local thrift shop so that the teens can buy disguises to hide their true identities. Nico and Chase take this time to discuss their respective romantic trysts from the night before. Guys, I know I have said this so many times before, but I will say it yet again: I LOVE THIS VERSION OF CHASE! I mean if we ignore the fact that he starts the following conversation by joking that the only reason Karolina wasn’t into him was because she was gay… the fact that it ends like this is amazing:
Nico: What about the girl that is into you? Chase: It’s complicated. Nico: Cause she really likes you? Chase: No, because I really like her.
I LOVE CHASE! I love how he is open about his emotions and how he is just as scared as Gert is about getting his heartbroken. I love it! I love it! I love it!
The teen’s first attempt to learn Karolina’s whereabouts was so ridiculous I am having a hard time keeping a straight face as I write about it. Their plan is to steal the coffee of Leslie’s Gibborim lackey at the CAFE THAT STILL ONLY HAS ONE BATHROOM and then try to convince him to spill the beans regarding Karolina’s whereabouts. It is moments like this that make me remember that we are dealing with teenagers here. When that brilliant idea ends up failing, they opt for Plan B: pretend to be wayward runaways so The Church of Gibborim can shepherd them into their herd.
This plan does the trick (with Leslie pulling some strings in the background to make it happen) and Molly and Chase are able to break Karolina out and lead her back to the hideaway, where she is reunited with Nico.
I have been cautious about getting too emotionally invested in a Nico/Karolina pairing because I was worried that the feelings were too one-sided and I didn’t want my heart broken. Thankfully this episode mitigated my fears. Nico leaves a conversation with Alex to find Karolina in the back of the van changing her top. She takes a moment to admire the girl who she is developing feelings for before prompting Karolina to turn around with this:
Nico: What you did for us, was… was epic. Karolina: Yeah, well. What you guys did for me was pretty epic too. You should have run. Nico: Some of us wanted to. Karolina: Not you. Nico: Nope, not me.
Then she walks up to Karolina and kisses her. With that kiss, and Nico’s look, I let my barrier for this ship down and guys, I am all in. ALL IN!
Want to know what can make this even better? The next morning Gert and Chase wake up holding hands and Nico/Karolina wake up spooning!
Pride
With their kids on the run Pride gathers together to discuss their next move (obviously leaving out Leslie because she literally was in bed with Jonah). After Tina reveals to the group that Leslie was the one who killed the Hernandez’s, they decide to find out what really is down in that hole while also figuring out a way to get their kids back.
Dale and Stacey gather all of the Hernandez’s old geological seismic sonar equipment to finally discover what’s down the hatch… I mean hole. They are surprised and amazed to learn that the hole does not contain the clean renewable energy source that they originally thought, instead of in the depths of the hole lurks an unknown living life form. I know I harped on this last week, but I will never get over the fact that Pride’s “Master Evil Plan” was drilling for A CLEAN RENEWABLE ENERGY SOURCE. What I hate so much about this is that in their mind they can rationalize the sacrifices because it was for the greater good. They were saving the planet and while it was unfortunate that they had to kill teens, in theory, the discovery of the renewable energy source would save even more. I am not saying that this is an argument I believe, but that fact that it can be made, and that they can worm their way out of being monsters is maddening.
Anywho, moving on, Leslie calls another Pride meeting, but the Wilder’s do not show. At this meeting, Leslie admits that she was wrong to blindly trust Jonah and asks for their forgiveness over killing the Hernandez’s. She promptly follows this with admitting to killing Amy. Or at least knowing who killed Amy at the exact time it happened and never saying anything. Remember that warning text Amy got as she was about to run away? That was from Leslie. Remember that man who walked into Amy’s room as she was about to run away and looked like Jonah from behind? That was Jonah. See, when Amy hacked into the Wizard server an alarm was sent not only to Tina, but also to Jonah. Jonah didn’t want to risk the chance that Amy saw the footage of the sacrifices, so he killed her. Suffice to say, Tina and Robert do not take this news very well, and Leslie “attempting” to warn their daughter provides them very little comfort.
At the moment though, Tina and Robert have to work with Leslie in order to obtain their common goal: destroying Jonah.
While the reveal of Amy’s cause of death was very emotional, and I felt for the Minoru’s, the entire Amy storyline fell flat. This was a huge focus of the first 4 episodes or so and then midway through the season the plot seemed to have dropped off the face of the earth only to randomly reappear again two weeks ago. The reveal of Jonah killing Amy essentially has no impact on the teens and will only create strife among Pride, which seems like a missed opportunity.
The Runaways Run Away
With all six of the teens out of the clutches of their parents, and Alex packing heat and a wad of cash courtesy of Darius, they head to the bus depot to get the hell out of LA. While contemplating where to run off to they see their faces on the TV. Their parents have framed them for the murder of Destiny (remember Destiny!) and the kidnapping of young impressionable Molly Hernandez. With that, the teens are wanted fugitives, and can officially be called Runaways.
So that’s a wrap for Season 1! While I had some issues with this first season, I have to say I am pumped for season 2! My favorite part of the comics is how the teens take care of each other while out on their own and hopefully, that will be a major theme throughout the second season! See ya’ll next season!
Other Tidbits
While I love Chase and Gert, the true OTP of this show is Gert and Old Lace, who finally gets named this week. I love their connection so much, and it brought me my favorite line of the episode:
“It’s also my first day without my emotional support dinosaur. Yeah, I’ll be fine.”
I have no idea what is going on with Frank and Jonah still. After Karolina escapes Jonah receives a text saying “Mission Accomplished” but we have no idea who it came from or who is working for him. Also, he is starting to decay already, so starting next season he is going to be even more hungry to get whatever is at the bottom of that hole.
I loved Nico playing matchmaker for Gert and Chase. I am also interested in how she will get the Staff of One back into her possession. I know that Jonah blasted it out of Tina’s hands at the dig site, but I am assuming she picked it back up before heading home. Will Nico have to go head to head with her mom to get it back?
The Animaniacs are back and this time they’ll be wreaking havoc on Hulu thanks to a new deal between Hulu, Amblin Television, and Warner Bros. Animation.
The Warner brothers and sister, Yakko, Wakko, and Dot, along with Pinky and the Brain will return in a two-season straight-to-series order with Steven Spielberg helming the reigns again as executive producer of the series. Sam Register, President, Warner Bros. Animation and Warner Digital Series, and Amblin Television Co-Presidents Justin Falvey and Darryl Frank will also serve as executive producers.
In addition to announcing the new series, Hulu and Warner Bros. Domestic Television Distribution also inked a new pact that makes Hulu the exclusive streaming home to the complete library of all 99 episodes of the original Animaniacs, as well as Pinky and the Brain, the subsequent Pinky, Elmyra and the Brain, and the complete Tiny Toon Adventures collection. Hulu users can begin watching the classic episodes starting today!
“We cannot wait to work with Steven Spielberg and the entire Amblin and Warner Bros. teams to bring more sketches, catchphrases, songs and laughs from the Animaniacs to kids and adults everywhere,” said Craig Erwich, SVP of Content, Hulu. “Now one of the most beloved, inventive and funny animated franchises in history, Animaniacs and its cast of witty characters can live on, on Hulu. This marks yet another big move for us as we continue our efforts to be the #1 streaming destination for premium animated content.”
“I am so pleased and proud that Animaniacs will have a home at Hulu,” said Executive Producer Steven Spielberg. “Together with Warner Bros., we look to bring new audiences and longtime fans into this wild world of Yakko, Wakko, and Dot. I am also excited that the full library of Animaniacs and Tiny Toon Adventures episodes are included in the deal.”
“Yakko, Wakko and Dot have been waiting impatiently inside the water tower, and now their hilarious brand of animated chaos will be unleashed — again! We’re incredibly excited to be partnering with Amblin and Hulu for new episodes of Animaniacs, filled with endless laughs — and ongoing plots for world domination by Pinky and the Brain,” said Sam Register, President, Warner Bros. Animation and Warner Digital Series. “Parents who grew up with the cartoon now have new episodes to share with their own families.”
