The Magicians Review: ‘A Timeline and a Place’ S04E06

As we hit the halfway point of season 4 of The Magicians, it’s onto episode 6: ‘A Timeline and a Place’.  The following, as usual, contains some SPOILERS!

With the beginning of this season winding up slowly for a serious launch into a bigger mystery, things are rapidly changing and pieces are falling into place for an interesting second half of the season.  Not only do we get some good screen time for a fan favourite, we also get an answer to a burning question.

Plot wise, we are spread across four different stories, with each of them dealing with characters reassessing who they are and where their place is, as the title would suggest.  In what I see as the main story, we have Penny 23 (Arjun Gupta) and Marina (Kacey Rohl) being abducted by Stoppard (Daniel Yang), a powerful Horomancer.  Elsewhere, Quentin (Jason Ralph) and Julia (Stella Maeve) are helping the Monster (Hale Appleman) with his quest for the body parts, while Alice (Olivia Taylor Dudley) uses the world book, taking her to Modesto and a search of her own.  Over in Fillory, Margo (Summer Bishil) is back being high king, assisted by Josh (Trevor Einhorn), although things are a little tricky.

What’s great about the main story here is that it answers a few questions about the various timelines, and gives us a look at the pairing of Penny 23 and Marina 23.  The addition of Marina has always been a highlight in my mind, so having this pair featured so heavily is definitely welcomed.  In this episode, Marina and Penny are abducted as they are upsetting the quarks of timeline 40, so Stoppard wants to restore them to timeline 23.  We discover his main motivation is to try and save his mother, however futile that turns out to be.

Despite the potential for confusion with all the timeline jumping, things are kept pretty straightforward and worked very well, giving some character depth, as well as a broader canvas than some recent episodes, where some stories stayed in one location.  In typical Magicians fashion though, there isn’t a simple solution, and there is a twist.  We thus get a quick ride through another timeline and then an in-between realm where we finally get to see Penny 40 again.  This has been a long time coming, and it felt satisfying, as although it was relatively superfluous, it was a nice touch.  It also gave the fans a knowing nod about the developments over the past season.

Some of the best visual humour, and raw emotion is in the plotline with Julia and Quentin, where they are investigating the body parts, while the Monster is being his usual petty and childish self.  The whole scene with a mummy is not quite expected, is played very well and is a great balance to a brilliantly delivered scene between Quentin and the Monster, where Q implores the Monster not to hurt Eliot.  Here Q puts everything on the line, and makes his love for Eliot clear, even if he doesn’t explicitly say it.

Equally raw is a scene over in Fillory, between Margo and Josh, where there are some home truths re-iterated, and the love affair of a couple of episodes ago has its bubble burst.  At first, things seem to have developed, with Josh teaching Margo some diplomacy with Lady Pike (Miranda Frigon), before she reverts to what she sees as her true self, and in the process hurts Josh; he’s no fool though and knew who she was all along.  This is acted fantastically, and you do get that flash of regret in Margo’s face, and an exchange of honesty and pain between them.  Things have changed, and they are growing together, but it won’t be an easy ride.  I only wish we were getting more of Fen (Brittany Curran) here though, as she is underused.

A much lighter, more pleasant time is being had by Alice in Modesto, as she tries to figure out why she is there.  Here she discovers Sheila (Camryn Manheim) who has recently found her powers, and Alice helps her develop them.  Through this, Alice finds a new appreciation for magic and the positive effects it can deliver, helping her to come to terms with who she is and what has happened.  There is a darker side to the town however, and the Librarians seem to be taking a significant interest in things.  We also get the return of Whitley (West Duchovny), last seen playing Q at cards, who is obviously part of a bigger plot.  It’s good to see Alice becoming less of the tortured soul, and getting more involved in what could become a major storyline.

There is a significant issue this episode though, that I find myself mentioning over and over, which has been a problem for a while now: where on Earth (or Fillory!) is Kady??? (Jade Tailor).  We haven’t seen her for a while and we have no clue as to what she’s doing.  Is she hiding in the spare room of the penthouse or something?  It is strange for a main character to be absent for so long without any idea of her own personal journey or why the other main characters aren’t questioning where she is.  This is an unusual flaw for a show that gets so many things right.

Despite that issue, this episode was a great one, and things are shaping up brilliantly, with the hint from Penny 40 about a bigger picture.  No doubt we are going to have the rug pulled out from under us once again, in the best possible way.