The Magicians – Knight of Crowns

By: Naomi Johnson

So, let’s begin with where we left off shall we? In the Season One finale Q (Jason Ralph) and crew went off to take on the beast with their trusty dagger. Unfortunately, “The Beast” (Charles Mesure) was too much too handle because the only thing they succeeded in doing is either being left incapacitated or killed. Right before Q thought all was lost, Julia (Stella Maeve) got the upper hand and had the only weapon capable of killing The Beast positioned right at his throat. Well, Julia had other plans for The Beast because she wanted revenge for the atrocities committed against her by the god Reynard (Mackenzie Astin). A deal is struck and together they disappear. Cue the sickest music intro to the start of a new season with Q running through Fillory crying for help.

He comes across a small cottage with candy lining the front yard. A woman (Karin Konoval) emerges from the cottage asking if he was on the run. Q, obviously a little nervous because this is Fillory and a candy cottage…you all know the story. She assures Q that the cottage is mostly made of wood and she sees herself as more a healer than a witch. Q is desperate for help, but the woman only allows her services if he gives her a vial of his blood. They end up running into his friends who were healed by Alice (Olivia Taylor Dudley) using her god powers, but Alice is distraught and blames herself for hesitating. Q consoles her and tells her she is not to blame and Margo (Summer Bishil) couldn’t agree more. In fact, she blames it all on Julia who left them all high and dry and they need to get more powers before The Beast returns to finish them off. Sadly, the Beast is two steps ahead of them and drained the power from the well spring.

Speaking of The Beast, he and Julia are back in NYC finalizing their deal at what looks to be something like a kids Chuckie Cheese. While Julia hashes out her terms, The Beast stares creepily at the children playing…not cool dude. My punch factor officially went up for that character when I saw that. But, I digress. Back in Fillory, Q fills in the rest of the group in on what happened to Julia and they sympathize yet the main priority is taking out The Beast. Quentin tells them about an armory described in the books filled with knowledge that can help them fight against The Beast. Quentin, Alice and Elliot (Hale Appleman) set out to find it while Penny (Arjun Gupta) and Margo search for a river of healing water to reattach Penny’s hands.

Q and the group face some difficulty on their search because no one will help them and until Eliot is crowned High King of Fillory no one will believe them. Cut to The Beast calling out Julia on all her loopholes in their contract. They then move on to pick up Reynard’s trail and come across a crime scene. They disguise themselves as detectives to find clues. While Julia goes to talk to a witness The Beast goes inside to investigate. Inside there are numerous bodies that have obviously had their hearts torn from their chests. He notices something and magically has it appear in his hand. When he shows it to Julia they realize it is the same image of “Our Lady Underground” and that those killed were performing the same ritual Julia and her friends had performed.

At the river, Penny and Margo meet a man who claims to oversee watching the river and its magical healing gifts. The man tells Margo she must first sew Penny’s hands back on and once she does Penny dives into the river completely nude to finish the healing process because apparently clothes just get in the way. Once Penny reemerges from the water, the man asks to be reimbursed for his money. Penny refuses so he casts a spell on Penny’s wrists. You can’t really blame him because Penny isn’t exactly the sweetest guy, especially when he thinks you’re a con man. But it seems in Fillory kindness comes at a cost.

In New York City, The Beast and Julia are in her apartment where he gives Julia a list of things he needs to cast the net to trap Reynard. Then, he asks for her to drop him off at the playground so he can watch the children. Margo and Penny rejoin the others as they cross the Rainbow Bridge to go meet the Knight of Crowns who apparently has the crowns needed for them to become true High Kings and Queens of Fillory. They find what looks to be a dead knight who wakes up and tells the group that he did indeed die while waiting for them to arrive. Eliot tells him he is the high King due to a blood test. Once again, witty one liners are delivered brilliantly by Eliot. Before the knight can give Eliot the crowns, he tells them there’s one more test: a series of pop culture questions from the 90s.They successfully answer the first two questions, but its Eliot’s rousing delivery of monologue from Dirty Dancing that gets him the crown.

Quentin insists on respecting the moment and having a formal ceremony to honor their ascension to royalty. He crowns Eliot naming him High King Eliot the Spectacular, which is totally fitting and like Eliot said is “as natural as underwear.” Eliot then bestows the honor onto Margo and Alice. He takes the time to apologize to them both. First, Margo is named High Queen Margo the Destroyer in the best sense possible and in a touching moment tells her he has known who she truly is since the day they met.

Finally, Alice is crowned High Queen Alice the Wise and promises never to betray her again. Before he can crown Q, Margo steps in to take on the honor. She tells Q that though she could easily make fun of him because he is an easy target, she finds his honest in what he loves inspiring. She also apologizes for messing up Q’s relationship with Alice. He thanks her, but knows he messed it up all by himself. He is crowned and now all are officially “royalty b*@#^$!”

Penny, meanwhile, struggles with his magic. Margo notices and he tells her he’s heading back to talk to the man at the river. Alice and Quentin have a heart to heart where she admits that it was not the initial cheating that hurt her, but that it forced her to lose him. Anyone else confused? Because you would think cheating would be the big issue, but I guess since it is their first real relationship they don’t really know the ins and outs of relationships. She’s also scared she’ll freeze again when confronting The Beast again. Quentin encourages her to practice and tap into her powers because he knows she is capable of extraordinary things. She succeeds and then tells Q they’re not getting back together right before kissing him.

The Beast tells Julia she needs to get over what Reynard did to her and move on with her life. For those of you who don’t know, Reynard not only tricked Julia and killed her friends – he raped her. So, I think her revenge is quite justified and not exactly that easy to get over. The Beast suggests she lose her shade, the part of her that contains her soul and what makes her human. He tells her that it is what will make her stronger. It is what he did and out of everyone he can understand what Julia went through the best seeing as how he too was physically violated by someone he trusted. She declines, but it is very clear his way doesn’t sound so bad. We shall see how long she can resist his suggestion.

Back the castle, the new royals discover the armory is barren, but Alice finds a book that suggests they need to return to Brakebills school. We see Penny begging the river man to help him. The man hints that Penny will soon be occupying a certain position and reminds him that his words have consequences. So, he refuses to help. Quentin says goodbye to Eliot, who must stay in Fillory. Eliot puts on a brave face, but admits he’s worried time being different in Fillory will change them. He may be dead when his friends return. The Beast gives Julia a taste of what it would be like without her shade and it feels good. She orders him to put it back despite his reassurance that everything will be ok. He warns her Reynard will win if she holds onto that pain and we end the episode with a crying Julia contemplating her next move. So, all in all a solid episode and I am excited for next week’s, which no doubt will have even more witty Eliot one liners.