WiC Watches: The Magicians season 4
Episode 412: “The Secret Sea”
“The Secret Sea” sets up an epic showdown between Quentin and Alice, and between the monster inhabiting Eliot and his sister, who is now inhabiting Julia. All season long, Quentin and the gang have been trying to find a way to remove the monster in Eliot’s body, but during last week’s episode, they learned that its sister was much more powerful than her brother, not to mention dangerous evil.
Quentin and Alice have the ice axes Margo retrieved from Fillory, the very same axes that expel demons inhabiting a human’s body, and they’ve figured out how to cast an Incorporate Bond on special jars that will attract the essence of the monster and his sister once they’ve been removed. However, they still need a magical power-up, which comes in the form of a huge reservoir of magic called the Secret Sea.
Unfortunately, the water in the Secret Sea is cursed; it turns Josh into a Fillorian Dying Fish, meaning that if someone doesn’t keep constant eye contact with him, fish-Josh will die. Because she secretly loves him, Margo agrees to babysit fish-Josh until the others can come up with a cure…which is in a garden in a cave just on the edge of the Secret Sea.
In order to make the needed curse-breaking plants grow, Quentin has to think of his happiest moments. Since they all have to do with Fillory, he has to work through his issues of loving a magical place that he read about as a kid but later learning that the author who the books — Christopher Plover — was a pedophile.
Quentin finally pushes past the negative thoughts and remembers what he loved about Fillory and the garden began to bloom. With the curse now broken, he and Alice drink from the Secret Sea and get a huge magical power-up…and they’re going to need it, because not-Eliot and not-Julia are killing everyone in the Library, and with their new powers, Quentin and Alice might be the only ones able to stop them for good.
Meanwhile, Zelda the Head Librarian and Kady are trying to find their way out of the poison room when they come across Christopher Plover. Earlier in the season, Alice tricked him and trapped him in that room, but because he had so many magical enchantments cast on him, the poison room didn’t kill him. However, Zelda and Kady aren’t so lucky, and they’re running out of time.
Dean Fogg realizes what’s happening and comes to the rescue using every bit of badass battle magic he has and helps them escape…Plover included. Seriously though, why can’t they just let the pedophile die already?
Anyway, as not-Eliot and not-Julia are making their way through the Library one mutilated Librarian at a time, Quentin and Alice show up and call them out. The last scene we see is not-Julia looking at Quentin and Alice and saying, “adorable.” Nice cliffhanger ending.
This episode worked perfectly well for a penultimate outing. The monster and his sister won’t be easy to defeat, but I’m looking forward to seeing how the newly powered-up Quentin and Alice work together. Also, there’s the dangling thread of Zelda’s boss Everett still trying to make himself a god. I hope that loose end is tied up nice and neat by the end of next week’s finale.