Hi! So, I’ve seen a bunch of stuff about The Magicians going on, and cuz you posted some neat things I was thinking of checking it out, but, something happened? You super aren’t obligated to explain what, but since you’re a fan I was wondering what you thought. Would you still recommend it? I also don’t mind spoilers if you decide to answer this at all. Thanks!!!
This is a super complicated question. The Magicians has always been something I recommended with caveats. There is a very violent rape at the end of season one, which I feel people have to know going in for trigger reasons. Much of season 2 deals with the aftermath of that assault, in a way I personally feel was well done. But some people are not going to want to have that in their fantasy TV show.
There’s a ton I love about the show. It’s incredibly funny, and irreverent, with a fantastic ensemble cast of diverse characters. And then there’s the Queliot ship. It’s one of my favorite ships ever on TV. I’ve shipped them from episode one and it’s a slow burn friends to lovers to friends to…well, death now. It’s been a show that seemed like it was giving a queer romance the same weight and focus as straight romance usually gets. The same openness and acceptance.
Season four has been my favorite season of The Magicians for at least 10 of 13 episodes. It contains two of my favorite episodes of television ever. (4x05 and 4x10) But then, for reasons none of us can really fathom, they came in and dropped a bunch of story lines, dropped the main motivating force of the season (two men in love with each other), all for the shock of killing off their main character. And in a way that is super offensive to all the people who related to a queer, depressed nerd main character. I would not recommend watching if you are triggered by suicide or suicidal storylines.
I tend to be anti-spoiler. But I think there are some things you have to warn about to prepare someone for. And this is one. I think there’s SO MUCH in the show that is beautiful and awesome, but you have to be prepared for the season to end in shit.
As it stands I probably won’t watch S5. They might find a way to rescue this, to address the MASSIVE backlash they are getting. The story might ultimately turn out to work as a whole, but for now they delivered 3.75 pretty damn awesome seasons of television. I’d like to just recommend people stop after 4x10 but like that leaves things so unresolved.
Massive sigh.
