‘The Magicians’ Review: One Last Heist

In the second to the last episode ever of Syfy’s The Magicians, the team find themselves undergoing one last heist to steal the world seed from The Couple while Julia and Penny 23 search for the traveler’s mom.

One Last Heist

Marina 23 having had her terrible impulses released again explains what happened when she and her cohorts tried robbing The Couple the first time around. The Nave hotel is set up to be a super safe zone and very difficult to do anything nefarious. There are emphatic golems who patrol the floors making sure that there are no fights, lies, or trickery on the premise. There is also a highly warded vault in the basement that Gavin and another individual were attempting to crack in order to get the world seed, except when they finally managed it the item wasn’t in there. Since it took so long the traveler was severely injured by a golem and the other man lost his life. Fen interjects that Marina 23 had bad info because the instruction page is actually in an ancient Fillorian language and it said that the seed can only be stored in a place that is 99 degrees with 99% humidity.

The heist book is unveiled and it’s a very detailed 3D map of The Nave hotel. Marina 23 also reveals that The Couple took the world seed from the top hedge witch of the west coast and Margo figures out that they must have spelled a fake Birkin handbag as an incubator to transport it. So Fen, Margo, and Josh are to go locate the bag in The Couple’s suite while Eliot, Kady, and Alice are tasked with cranking the temperature to their room down from the controls in the basement. Kady is also to cut the phone line as the guard in the suite will freak out because of the drop in temps and when he tries to call his bosses won’t be able to. As soon as he/she takes the seed out of the room in panic mode, Fen, Margo and Josh will be there to intercept. Marina 23 brings up the golem guards though and Alice suggests they pull the fire alarm to blend in with the emotional pandemonium. They only have one other problem because the what’s happening in the basement needs to be timed with what’s going on in the seed room and it’s Zelda who comes up with a solution. She proposes a conductor spell that will allow the group to act like orchestra and be in sync by only hearing the conductor and not each other. Added bonus is that the spell is designed to help artists and is innocuous enough not to trigger any of the hotel’s defenses. The last piece is of the puzzle is who plays the conductor and while Zelda would have been happy to do it, the job goes to Marina 23 because she knows the building’s layout and the plan. The librarian though will watch the other woman to make sure nothing goes wrong.

Z casts the spell when they suddenly hear a loud voice outside and it turns out to be Sir Effingham who is at the door with a musket of sorts. Unfortunately, because he was in range during the casting he has been added to the group mind link. The Fillorian male is there to ask one of them to kill Julia, which sets the group off and when he asks the men to control their women the spells goes haywire from all the heightened emotions. Sir Effingham begins to sing and dance and we get another musical episode!! The rest of the team all join in and all sing Cruel To Be Kind. To get Sir Effingham out of their hair, Josh promises to kill Julia. Zelda supposes that their emotions overloaded the spell somewhat and because it was originally created by a conductor he/she used music (which is the purest manifestation of feelings). To get around this issue Alice suggests they bottle up their emotions so they don’t break into song. This has the added bonus of helping them stay under the radar with the golems.

The heist begins with Pete checking in and once he gets inside his room Fen, Margo, Josh, Eliot, Alice, and Kady emerge from his suitcase. They’ve all bottled up their emotions and now Kady’s second in command is up creating a distraction. Pete sits with the villainous duo, says that he deals with top of the line spells and totems. He’s just ordered a very fancy bottle of wine for them to drink as they discuss business. Meanwhile, Margo uses a make-up bedroom sign in order to get into their taget’s suite after the cleaning staff leaves. Josh manages to find the transport bag and Fen informs them that The Couple’s translation of the world seed page is wrong. They take the two items but are stopped from leaving by Fogg 17 who seems to be serving as a guard. Downstairs, an attendant whispers something to The Couple and they quickly depart. Soon after Pete is thrown out because he lied about the fancy wine. Marina 23 tells the rest that team incubator was stopped by Fogg but Kady decides they should rescue the other group. They get momentarily stopped first by The Couple showing up at the elevator banks which resulted in a threesome make out session and then by a golem who is looking for unauthorized guests in the building. This results in a scuffle and Alice’s bottle breaks returning her emotions. She breaks into song as the golem is strangling her two companions but it begins to malfunction being overwhelmed by the ex-niffin’s feelings. Back inside another room, Eliot has Kady take out Fogg 17 while he stays and helps the phosphoromancer. He takes a sip from his bottle and tells her that she can tell him whatever is bothering her. Alice answers that she can’t stop thinking about what The Couple did to her and how useless she feels. The two then launch into another musical number.

Upstairs Fen tells The Couple that their translation is incorrect and they’ll end up killing the seed and she can do it accurately because she’s Fillorian. She’s willing to help them as long as they don’t kill her friends. They take her up on it and proceed to the seed room while Margo and Josh are still with Fogg 17. Fen tells the duo that they will need to tell the seed why they want a new world as the object is alive and will know if they are lying. The Couple reluctantly reveals that they were cursed with infertility on Earth and on a new world they would have a chance to have a family.

Meanwhile Kady heads to The Couple’s suite where Fogg 17 greets her. She tricks him into drinking scotch in her flask as she’s dropped some Archie in there that sends him to the etheric realm. Somewhat back on track, Marina 23 tells Eliot and Alice that Pete got booted out with the suitcase (which was supposed to be their exit strategy) but the ex-niffin has an idea and sends a message off via enchanted paper airplane. Another mishap happens though when Anna appears at the apartment and gets royally pissed at her lover. Anna ends up snapping the baton and severing the conductor spell connection. Marina 23 tells the other woman that this is who she really is and if she (Anna) can’t get on board with that then she can leave. Needless to say Anna departs angrily.

At hotel basement, Alice and Eliot are ready to turn the temperature down when another golem appears. El downs his bottled-up emotions in order to short circuit the creature. They manage to take out the golem temporarily and lower the temps. Upstairs, team world seed is on their way to find Fen and The Couple when they themselves come upon two more golems. Josh, Margo, and Kady all drink their bottles as well and are able to overwhelm their own enforcers. The trio make it into the seed room and accost Paloma who goes outside. Kady has a blade to her throat when they enter the suite and Paloma’s hubby puts a knife to Fen’s neck. But as the temperature is decreasing Margo tells them to both put their blades down so that she can put the seed in the bag so that it doesn’t die. Another complication arises when the spell on the fake Birkin conks out. Quick thinking though Margo shoots the hubby and Kady punches Paloma but the seed is also dislodged from its little stand. While The Couple are distracted by a bleeding hand, Fen drinks her bottle and tells Margo that she’s got the seed under control. Marina 23 then mentally tells them to head to the roof where Alice has an exit for them. Also kudos to Fen because she explains that their package is tucked away in a place that is warm and moist. At the rooftop, the phosphormancer explains that the escape plan is more of an escape plea to Santa Claus. Just then bells can be heard and Christmas has come early!

We Meet Penny’s Mom

Julia wants to track down Penny 23’s mom (though technically it would be original Penny’s mom right?) so they can find out what happens to traveler moms and the only one they can talk to is his. She’s even managed to already find the other woman (she’s in Connecticut) through a locator spell. So they head on over there and as Jules asks a nurse if she could see a patient named Neela Adiyodi, the other woman says there must be some mistake because that’s her. When the two magicians chat in the hospital hallway, Penny 23 is shocked that his mom seems fine because he had always thought she was a basket case. Julia says that she can’t even imagine what this is like for him right now, but she promises that he won’t be alone through this.

Penny 23 reunites with his mom and at first things are going well between them. He tells her that he’s going to be a dad and that’s why he’s there, to find out everything that she went through. She started hearing voices three months into the pregnancy and it got worse after he was born. The doctors thought that it was a latent psychological condition that she probably inherited that was triggered by the stress of parenting. It’s so heartbreaking to see the two of them when Neela explains how sorry she was the first time she had to send him away. The voices went away when he did and they returned when he did. She had truly wanted to protect and raise him but she turned out to be the the one he needed protecting from. Suddenly she calls out saying that someone was asking for her. Penny 23 is confused because he doesn’t hear anything and when Neela freaks out that her condition is back. He goes to find Julia who is inside a room behind the nurses’ station. She shows him through a glass that there’s a magical bond between him and his mom. The former traveler is annoyed that his abilities don’t work and yet he’s still screwing over the woman who gave birth to him. Julia says that they just need to figure out what that tether is and figure out a way to cut it.

Julia goes to Neela and shows her the bond between her and her son and reveals that magic is real. She even goes to say that she’s a magician and so is Penny 23. But the elder woman refuses to believe and sadly tells Jules that she just can’t go through this again. Before Neela leaves she asks the hedge witch to tell William that she’s sorry. Unbeknownst to her he’s watching the scene via a monitor. As the two magicians leave the hospital, Julia gives Penny 23 something from his mom. It turns out to be a picture of the two of them when he was little.

Final Thoughts

• So it seems like a traveler’s tether to their mom crosses over from different timelines!
• Much respect to Fen for thinking fast and storing the seed in a very safe space.
• So glad they were able to sneak in a musical episode before everything is said and done.
• Will we ever see Sir Effingham again?
• Marina is definitely a sociopath but at the end of the day no one can force her to change. While she must love Anna to try, the other woman is going to have to accept all of her or not.
• Santa’s back!!!
• We’re almost at the end of this journey and what a crazy, emotional, and amazing ride it’s been. Every major character has shown incredibly depth and grown tremendously. The storylines have been whimsical but also raw and thought provoking. Still not ready to say goodbye.

The Magicians airs on Syfy Wednesday at 10/9c.