WiC Watches: The Magicians season 4
Episode 413, the finale: “No Better to Be Safe Than Sorry”
The Magicians season 4 has come to a close. The finale saw the main protagonist of the books and show — Quentin Coldwater — die in order to save his friends from an impending apocalypse. While getting the monster and his sister out of Eliot and Julia’s bodies was important for the overarching story of the season, the finale put into perspective what was really at stake: another Librarian (Everett) hoarding enough magic to become a god who would then take revenge on the Hedge Witches and Magicians of the world by controlling magic and wiping them all out of existence.
Throughout the show, Quentin (Jason Ralph) has struggled with depression, and has even contemplated suicide at times. But one thing or another has always brought him back from the edge. Well, after Quentin dies saving everyone in this episode, he meets Penny 40 (the original Penny) who is now in charge of seeing people who have died pass from limbo into the Underworld. Quentin’s first question to him is: “Did I do something brave to save my friends? Or did I finally find a way to kill myself?” It’s a deeply troubling question that Penny 40 helps Quentin work through before sending him on his way.
But let’s start by setting the stage for the show’s saddest moment.
The finale picks up where last week’s episode left off: The Monster’s sister is inhabiting Julia, but Quentin and Alice use their magical powerup, get her off her feet and Penny 23 comes in with the demon removal ax and lodges it in not-Julia’s back. This forces the Sister to leave Julia’s body and Alice traps her in one of the magical demon-holding jars.
Of course, Julia now has an ax wound to deal with, so the group takes her to the secret sea that is filled with magical water to heal her, only to find that Everett, the Head Librarian and guy-who-wants-to-be-a-god, has drained it dry in order to make his ascension possible. The gang then takes Julia to Brakebills where the magical healers try their best to heal her, but nothing’s working, so they consult the Binder.
He says he can heal Julia but she must decide whether she wants to be a goddess or a human. Julia is still out of it, so Penny 23 is forced to decide for her, and he chooses to make her human. When Julia awakens, she’s rightfully pissed that her choice was taken from her. It seems like she would have chosen to become a goddess, but it’s too late, so she’s stuck in human form. She and Penny 23 have some stuff to work through, and she hasn’t forgiven him, but she asks him to stay with her. Looks like these two have a future together…hopefully.
Meanwhile, the Monster inhabiting Eliot shows up in the gang’s apartment and tries to get his sister back, but Josh (no longer a fish) opens a portal to a room where mortals can petition the Old Gods. They jump through before the Monster can stop them. In the waiting room, they tell one of the gods that the Monster and his sister are on Earth and can be defeated; they just need a little help. The god tells them to go to the mirror world and throw the jars into a magical portal that is really just a tear in the fabric of reality, and the monster siblings will be lost forever.
So now, all they need to do is get the monster out of Eliot and head to the mirror realm…which they do, rather anti-climatically. Once there, Quentin tosses the jar with the Sister through the tear, and as he is about to throw the Brother in, Everett shows up and breaks the mirror holding the magical portal.
Quentin, who only just learned his magical discipline is “Minor Mending,” tells Penny 23 to take Alice and run. While he does this, he uses his hand behind his back to cast the mending spell to fix the mirror, then he tosses the Monster through the portal. However, Everett tries to stop him and it causes a massive wave of destructive magical energy to come rolling out of the mirror. It immediately evaporates Everett, and for a moment, it appears as if Quentin might escape, but he doesn’t, and Penny and Alice watch in horror as their friend is turned to dust.
Next, Penny 40 is standing at an elevator door as is opens. “Long time no see,” he says. Remember earlier this season when this exact scene happened but left us with the cliffhanger of who Penny was talking to? Well, now we know it was Quentin.
Now that we’re all caught up, sitting in Penny 40’s office, Quentin asks that heavy question. Was his death heroic or a suicide? Penny tells him he’s got something to show him, and he takes Quentin to Brakebills where all of Quentin’s friends sit by a fire and hold a memorial for him. Each person tosses a memento of Quentin’s into the fire:
- Alice, who Quentin had just accepted back into his life, throws the coffee mug he mended into the fire.
- Kady throws in Quentin’s first edition of Fillory & Further.
- Penny 23 throws in an egg from their hilarious dragon-egg-hangover experience.
- Margo tosses in Quentin’s crown from when he was a king of Fillory.
- Dean Fogg throws in Quentin’s Brakebills acceptance letter.
- Eliot throws in a peach. The peach is symbolic of the time he and Quentin spent their entire lives together in an alternate timeline.
Penny 40 tells Quentin that he not only changed all of his friends’ lives, he also saved them by sacrificing himself. He then takes Quentin to a subway platform, hands him his Underworld ticket, and Quentin Coldwater crosses over, never to return.
Sadly, although The Magicians has been renewed for a fifth season, Jason Ralph will not be returning as Quentin.
Overall, I’d say this was a very good season of The Magicians. The story got bogged down in certain places, but that can be forgiven because the chemistry between the cast members usually helps cover any flaws.
I’ll miss Jason Ralph as Quentin Coldwater. I feel he perfectly embodied the character from the books and I’m very interested to see how the group deals with his loss in season 5. We learn that Eliot and Margo go back to Fillory, but it’s 300 years into the future, which means that High King Fen and Fresh Prince (yes, he gave himself that title) Josh have been overthrown by a “Dark King.” Magic is fully back, and classes at Brakebills are in session. And finally, Julia — no longer an immortal — has magic powers once more.
Episode Grade: A
Season Grade: B-
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