Brakebills Or Bust
We can all have a little magic, as a treat
There is an absolutely batshit show on the SyFy channel that I adore with all my heart and it is called The Magicians.
I repeat, it is absolute anarchy. It is also doing some of the most interesting and personal storytelling on TV and I will die on this hill.
Let’s back it up. What the hell is The Magicians and why are you telling me about it right now.
Based on Lev Grossman’s novel of the same name, The Magicians premiered on the SyFy channel in 2016. Of note to possibly just me, one of the executive producers of The Magicians is Sera Gamble who also produces You. I would pay good money to live in Sera’s head for a day, but I digress.
On the surface, The Magicians is the story of Quentin Coldwater (Jason Ralph), an innocent and endearing every man who is invited to enroll at Brakebills University to train as a magician. It is here at Brakebills that Quentin learns that the magical world of Fillory from his favorite childhood books is indeed real. While Quentin is admitted to Brakebills, his childhood best friend Julia (Stella Maeve), is not. And this is where the tale begins.
Why am I telling you about this now? Because season 4 just dropped on Netflix. I finished it last night. It was the second time I’ve seen the season finale and I wept through (and I timed this) 20 minutes of it’s gorgeous storytelling.
So, as I mentioned above, this show is incredibly thoughtful, messy, beautiful and entertaining.
And now I am somehow going to talk about this show without spoiling all of it or bursting into tears, which is very difficult for me.
I’ll be honest, the first season of this show is WEIRD! It lays a groundwork that only vaguely makes sense but is entirely necessary for the rest of it’s 4 seasons (season 5 is set to air later this month).
What this show does in the first season, however, is to subvert our natural inclination to see Quentin as our Harry Potter. And it’s a very strong inclination.
How do they do it? Well, one of the wisest moves Gamble makes is taking Brakebills and making it a grad school. This is not Hogwarts, these students are not children. They are adults who have very real lives. They’ve experienced heartbreak, mental illness, grief, addiction. These are not their formative years.
For Quentin specifically, all of his wildest magical dreams have been validated, but his own demons did not just disappear. Q cannot magic his way out mental illness or loss, none of them can. It’s to the shows credit that they never allow Quentin or his friends to circumvent the harsh realities of life with magic. It’s so… human.
Even the way they express this magic, through a series of elaborate hand movements, seems to emphasize just how human these magicians are. Magic is not their entire being. In fact, in most episodes (and through an entire span in one season) there is no magic whatsoever! Really it’s at times wholly shocking to watch a show about magic that is so grounded in it’s protagonists humanity.
The other, most interesting part of this show for me is it's true ensemble. If Quentin is our way in, Penny is our escape. Eliot is our heart and Alice is our frustration. Margo is my own personal joy and Kady is our realist.
The Magicians arcs in and around these characters, a set of strangers at the top and weaves an unlikely and recognizable journey for each and every one of them. They break the wheel, then burn it and toss the ashes in the air episode after episode.
It is astonishing as a fan of this show to go back and rewatch the initial seasons. To watch Julia flourish, to watch Kady forge her own path, to watch Alice flounder and then take flight.
Once, when I was discussing The Magicians, I told a friend that they spent the entire first season creating foundation of madness and in doing so, ensured they can tell any story they want without bounds. That holds true through the end of season 4, and I’m sure beyond.
Everyone is also very hot.
I’m not too naive to think that won’t sway some people. They’re a smoke show in Fillory, folks. The Magicians is a very horny show.
Frankly, the fact that Hale Appleman isn’t heralded as a sex symbol is beyond me. Also, Arjun Gupta who is not only bonkers hot but has such a redemption arc that it’s almost difficult to remember the cocky jerk who showed up to Brakebills on their first day of school.
Interesting, The Magicians really hides Jason Ralph’s hot in the Quentin role which is why when he appeared on a red carpet beside his wife, Rachel Brosnahan, I lost my fucking MIND.
Q is hot??!!? Our bi king, we salute you.
I honestly can’t even talk about the women because Summer Bishil’s Margo is not only the heart of this show, but LOOK AT HER
Is this a fucking JOKE to you, Summer??
This show is exceptionally smart. I have re-watched this scene of Margo and Eliot in Fillory (yes, Margo is wearing an eye patch) at least 17 times since it first aired because the depth of skill in not just the writing but the delivery is so utterly watchable.
Folks, they aired this WITHOUT the subtitles. Imagine. Imagine just inserting this coded exchange into an episode of television without an ounce of explanation.
You LOVE to see it.
You’ll note a reference to the musical episode of Buffy in the above clip and I am pleased to inform you that The Magicians did a musical episode.
If none of this has convinced you to watch this wild little show, all I have left is what I truly believe is one of, if not the most, beautiful love stories I’ve seen on TV.
In 2018, The Magicians dropped an episode called A Life in a Day. For reasons I will not get into here, Quentin and Eliot are on a quest for a key. If they complete this puzzle by placing all the colored tiles in the correct places, they will get the key. What unfolds is 5 minutes of television that left me fully weeping into a pillow. It is so intimate and gutting, and like most things on this damn show, lovely.
I cannot in good faith tell you what happens after this but it’s somehow more wrenching than the thing itself. Which speaks to the journey this show is on.
For many shippers, this was their moment to shine, but for me (an AVID SHIPPER I should note) it was so unsurprising and right to see this story told. Because the work the show has done on Eliot and Q and the stories it has been telling led here, to this moment.
It led to a multiverse library.
It led to an underworld that evokes such pain and catharsis I can’t type this out without choking up.
It led to LITERAL sloth who holds a seat in the high court of Fillory.
There is nothing this show cannot choose to do and it seems, with Gamble at the head, nowhere it will not dare to go.
I don’t have a lot to add here except there are times when I wish I could go back and recapture the way I felt reading Harry Potter that first time. The way I suddenly knew nothing about this magical world and yet felt everything our protagonist was going through.
The Magicians feels, in a small way, how I imagine discovering magic as an adult would feel. Baffling, delightful, challenging and hopeful. Watch the show. Tell me everything.