With lots of issues up in the air, things get a little awkward all round in Season 4, episode 4 of The Magicians: ‘Marry, F**k, Kill’. As per usual, the following contains some SPOILERS!
Every week, The Magicians continues to show that it has true quality at its core, and has the confidence to usurp our expectations time and time again. While the show has always been an ensemble piece, despite the early days seemingly focussing on Quentin (Jason Ralph), they have really outdone themselves this episode by completely changing the dynamics, and giving us a look at some new character interactions.
The title of the episode comes from something that Josh (Trevor Einhorn) says in relation to his plot this week, but it could also be used to describe the theme for each of the groups in the story, except for Alice (Olivia Taylor Dudley), which is something else entirely.
In Alice’s case, we have been served with a completely leftfield development, whereby she encounters Christopher Plover (Charles Shaughnessy). By this point we should not be surprised that such an inventive show should keep delivering such unexpected events, but even so, the return of the child-molesting author was not one anywhere near the top of the list. Suitably, Alice is disgusted by him, and wants nothing to do with him; circumstances however, mean that she needs his help, as much as he needs hers. How this narrative element continues will be interesting to watch, as so far it has been handled well, but they need to make sure there isn’t a misstep here.
Elsewhere, the story has taken an intriguing turn, with events giving us new combinations of the main group. Primarily the two new duos are Josh & Margo (Summer Bishil), and Julia (Stella Maeve) & Penny (Arjun Gupta). For Josh, his week is about to get a lot worse, as his ‘sexually transmitted lycanthropy’ is acting up, and he is about to be hit by the ‘quickening’. Admitting this to Margo, she vows to help him try to beat the curse and survive. This plotline delivers, yet again, some brilliant work by Summer Bishil and Trevor Einhorn, with Margo especially on fine form. Somehow they manage to include a multitude of levels in the relationship between the two, with both the usual sass and comedy, but also extremely tender moments of understanding and friendship, which thematically and unexpectedly result in fitting the ‘f**k’ part of the phrase.
With Julia and Penny, we see them interacting closely in a much different way than we have before. Obviously, we have to remember that this Penny is from the 23rd loop and is in love with Julia, which becomes a key point in the ensuing plot. Julia, determined to find out why she is indestructible, yet can’t do magic, travels to Fillory with Penny to find a Maenad, who may be able to help. In the aftermath of Bacchus’ death the Maenads are not in a good place, and they arrive just as Shoshana (Jolene Purdy) is about to kill herself. Luckily they convince her to help them, but to fully diagnose Julia’s issue, they need someone who worships her to perform the ritual; this brings the elephant in the room out in to the open, and breaks that particular ice between Penny and Julia. This also gains Julia a new disciple in Shoshana, so that definitely marries a couple of things together, if it isn’t stretching the link too much.
Sadly, there is no sign of Kady (Jade Tailor) this episode, as it would have been interesting to see her reaction to some of these developments. Potentially, her absence might be explained next episode, and narratively, her new determination and ruthlessness displayed at the end of the last episode may have unbalanced what they were doing here; it could yet prove to be the wise decision.
In the ‘Kill’ portion of the theme, Quentin and the Monster/Eliot (Hale Appleman) are most definitely present though. Quentin is trying to deal with both the loss of his Father, who has died because magic returned, and the guilt associated with his role in that. The Monster initially isn’t helping in that effort, but then, strangely, is somewhat sympathetic. This opens a door for a potential shift in his character, only to have it slam shut again when he says that Eliot is dead. Everyone seems to have been assuming this, but we get given a little twist in the final reveal, that Eliot is still trapped inside, lost and alone. That we get to see this and it isn’t used as a cheap ‘shock reveal’ in several episodes time is to the writers credit. This way, knowing what we do, there will be extra layers of sorrow, and duplicity on the part of the monster, to experience in a more complex world.
As usual, The Magicians has delivered a fantastic episode, which not only drives the narrative forward coherently, but does so in an engaging and inventive manner. It continues to be one of the best shows on TV right now, and will hopefully keep growing, as it doesn’t show any signs of hitting the limit of what is possible.
