This was a very interesting episode; there was a beautiful segment with Harriet that was rather groundbreaking for television.  All six stories of this night of The Magicians managed to be interwoven, but let’s look at each story within the context of the episode.

As always, spoilers (and again, Episode 9 is tonight, so you know…you should probably be caught up anyway at this point).

 

Penny

Our favorite astral projection arrives at the Underworld Library and quickly escapes to try to find Benedict before the Order can make him fulfill his contract.  He comes across a refugee camp for the dead – since magic is down, they can’t process the recently deceased as easily as they could before.  He asks Security for assistance in finding Benedict in exchange for intel about Game of Thrones (because dying before the season 8 premiere in 2019 sucks).

Benedict is super excited to see him, but also a little sad because he thinks Penny is dead too.  Penny quickly clears up that he’s just astral projecting, and Benedict soon realizes that he’s just there for the key.  He tells Penny that the Library took it, and Penny resigns himself to the fact that he is going to have to back in and try not to get caught.

Before he can do that, however, he runs into Sylvia, the saucy teen Librarian who died when the two of them were infiltrating the Poison Room. She came to stop him from messing things up royally, and when he asks how she knew where to find him, she pulls out some handwritten notes from a woman named Cassandra, who looks remarkably like Alice with Rapunzel braids.

Cassandra has been a resident of the Library for thousands of years – she has the curse of magical sight after pissing off God at some point. She’s the writer of all of the books in the Library, and when they had magic, her work was industrialized by the Librarians.  However, now, without magic, she can’t write more than one book at a time.  The reason Sylvia found Penny was because she read it in Cassandra’s current writings, and she knows she’s supposed to help them with their quest for the seven keys.

They are interrupted by Cassandra throwing a crumpled up piece of paper at them, which outlines Q and Penny’s sexy time from last week. Cassandra also outlines everyone else’s part to play in the story, so all of the 5 other stories about magic we see are through Penny’s understanding of the pages.

 

Poppy

We pick up with Poppy and Q finishing up their love time, and Q is still worried that the plan isn’t going to work.  Apparently, Poppy’s goal of banging the panic out of him didn’t work.  She gets very meta with him, noting that maybe she’s supposed to be a part of the quest, and that it’s not just him that wants magic back.  Q is still feeling rather self-absorbed, though, focusing on the fact that even though he’s uncomfortable, he’s going to continue on the quest, since maybe it will make him more confident and less anxiety ridden. Poppy rightfully gets annoyed with his bullshit, telling him that instead of trying to change, he should just accept himself for who he is. She self-identifies as an asshole with no filter, and makes no qualms about it. Maybe the bravest thing Q can do it just to be himself.

Alice interrupts the end of their love fest, worried about how they are logistically going to fulfill Harriet’s plan to rob the Library.  Poppy tells her that because Victoria, as a Traveler, is technically a magical creature hybrid, they can use her blood to build a Mirror Bridge from Brakebills to the Library (the Mirror Bridge was a super cool concept used in the books to travel between areas, and I’m really glad it finally made its way into the show).  Alice is still freaking out, since the calculations have to be just right to make it work, and it will probably take more blood than Victoria has in her whole body to get them safely to and from the Library.

When they share these concerns with Harriet, Kady, and Victoria, Victoria refuses to help unless Alice can help them build a stable bridge – she’s not interested in dying or getting everyone else killed either.  Harriet is obviously upset that her plan is now going awry, and Poppy wonders what Harriet is really after when she wanders away to try to figure out what to do next.

Kady shares with them that the Librarians have been looking for something called the Alexandria Cell, a massive battery for magic created in Ancient Egypt.  Based on seeing some high-level magic used on Earth, Harriet thinks the Library has found it, and she wants to steal it to bring magic back to the masses, so to speak.

Poppy decides this is a worthwhile enough cause to steal Alice’s notes about Mirror Bridges from when she was a niffin, promising Q to return them after she makes copies before Alice even gets back from where she went off to sulk.

Their plan works, and Victoria opens a vein (literally) to transport them through the mirror to the satellite branch of the Library (where Penny, as a book, with the key, is supposed to be waiting for them).  When they arrive, and Victoria stays on the bridge to feed the mirrors with her blood, the rest of our robbers split up – Harriet and Kady going after the Alexandria Cell, Q and Poppy going to snag Penny and the key from the Bookwyrm’s book chute.

Poppy and Q start frantically looking through the books for the key, with Poppy taking a small break to look at Bookwyrm and fulfill her need to see a dragon.  When they realize the key isn’t there, Q suggests they keep looking, while Poppy tells him they need to get back and try again another day – Victoria’s life isn’t worth them screwing around looking for a key that may or may not be there.

They are suddenly interrupted by Alice, and are surprised as to what the hell she’s doing there.  Not wanting to deal with the drama, Poppy takes off, encouraging Victoria to head back with her, rather than die.  Victoria chooses to stay on the bridge a little while longer to make sure the others also get back safely.

 

Alice

Alice’s part of the story starts with Harriet and Kady trying to convince her to help them with the math to create the Mirror Bridge. Alice fundamentally disagrees with Harriet about how knowledge should be shared – Harriet believes that all knowledge should be available to everyone, while Alice, having been a niffin, believes that some of it should be restricted.  Harriet offers to get her any book from the library she wants if she helps them succeed, but Alice is still not willing to risk Victoria’s life, and won’t help them with the plan.

We then see Alice drinking and brooding in the Physical Kids cottage after this conversation, when Fen comes through the clock from Fillory. The two women start drinking together, as Fen shares how shitty things have been lately.  Alice commiserates, talking about how she lost her knowledge, comparing her loss to the loss of Fen’s daughter. Fen is rightfully offended, since she’s talking about a dead child, while Alice is talking about no longer knowing magic.  She tells Alice that her loss is forever, but Alice can get hers back – so she should go to it.

Alice takes Fen’s advice and heads to a Library Book Drop, throwing rocks at it until a Traveler Librarian appears.  He tries to tell her the Library is closed permanently to outsiders, but she insists that she has important information the Head Librarian will want.  He gives in, taking her to the Library.

Alice meets with the Head Librarian, wanting to apply for a Library card.  She shares that she’s trying to get back the knowledge she lost as a niffin, and that it may be in the books of the Library.  While they are no longer taking new applications for Library cards, the Head Librarian does agree to help Alice if she helps her with the quest for the seven keys.  She’ll give Alice full access to the collection, including her own book, which documents her experiences as a niffin.

Before they can get too far into the agreement, the Head Librarian is called away to other business.  And Alice’s, Poppy’s, and Q’s stories collide here, with Alice encouraging Q to get out of there before he’s caught – Poppy has already taken off at this point.

 

Eliot

Before the stories keep going, Cassandra interrupts the flow with a page on Eliot.  And this isn’t a short story, so much as it is a run-on sentence.  We find Eliot and Margo seated and bound to makeshift thrones, after they were kidnapped by an angry mob at the end of episode 7.  Eliot notes how much he hates Fillory, but that Fillory saved him when he was lost, and now it is his turn to save it.  He notes that he can’t do that if he’s dead, appealing to a wombat, who is apparently now in charge of his and Margo’s destinies.

 

Fen

Fen is still back at Brakebills and pretty wasted.  Her drinking is interrupted by a visit from Irene McAllister.  Julia answers the door while Fen spies on them from a nearby couch.  Irene is happy to see that the transfer worked and Julia has her magic back, because she has what looks like an internal burn on her hip as a side effect of collecting the powder she gave her in the previous episode.  Julia panics for a moment, thinking that she’s going to get the same thing, but Irene tells her she didn’t use nearly enough to generate that type of injury.  She cashes in her favor, asking Julia to return to her office later that day to fix her.

Fen, meanwhile, sees a fairy meekly following behind Irene, and shares that with Julia.  Since Fen made a fairy deal, she can see them wherever they are. She warns Julia that fairies are super shitty, hiding behind powerful people and manipulating them to do their will.  Julia isn’t as convinced that Irene is being manipulated when Fen tells her the fairy was acting like a servant – Julia suspects that the fairy is a slave to Irene.  Julia shares that her magic grows when she helps people, and she needs Fen to find out the fairy’s status (to see if Irene is a slave owner or not).

Fen’s not pleased about the arrangement, but she corners the fairy in Irene’s office while Julia is working on healing her.  The fairy’s name is Skye, and when Fen asks her why she serves Irene, she shares that Irene protects her from bad magicians.  She wonders how Fen can see her, and she tells her that a deal was made on her behalf.  Skye is confused – she’s unaware of any other fairies that Fen could have dealt with.  Before they can talk more, Skye has to leave to help Irene – she tells Fen to come back the next day when Irene isn’t home.

Fen and Julia return the next day to find Skye in a locked room with her leg cut off.  Julia realizes that this is what is being used to make the powder Irene provided to her.

 

Harriet

The story then switches to Harriet, in an absolutely stunning method of storytelling.  Because Harriet is deaf, this entire story was told in mainly silence, save for a few muffled thumps that could be heard.

It is 1952, and a young girl is returning to the Library after being gone for a few hours. We can safely assume this is Harriet after she starts signing to the Head Librarian, who it turns out…is her mother! The Librarian is upset because time moves differently outside the fountains in the Neitherlands – while Harriet may have just been trying to innocently find Fillory, she could have come back as an adult.  She and Harriet argue (in sign language) about the fact that she could stay there in the Library, explore millions of worlds, and be safe.

Harriet, though, wants to experience the world, not just read about it, and we jump to 1985 (which technically, would have Harriet probably close to 40).  But this Harriet is a graduate student at what we can assume is Brakebills, and she and her mother are still fighting the same old fight – do you share knowledge, and trust that people won’t do horrible things with it, or do you lock it away, safe from potentially dangerous people? The Librarian still believes it should be locked up, and she tells Harriet she doesn’t want her to return to school.  But Harriet isn’t having it – she’s going back to college, even if it means suspending her privileges at the Library.

We next head to 2007 – again, given the normal timeline, Harriet should be around 60 at this point (and of course, she’s not).  She’s returned to the Library to check out a book – the one that Penny and Kady retrieved from her when Penny was first starting his service to the Library.  The Librarian shares with her how she could use her daughter’s help – the Great Blank Spot was coming.  Harriet agrees to help if she will open up the Library to others, even just a little.  They still can’t come to eye to eye on this – the Librarian is afraid that if she opens it, it will contribute to the crisis – Harriet points out that she can’t possibly know that because of the very nature of the problem, and sometimes the benefits outweighs the risks.  When they can’t come to an agreement, Harriet, leaves, book in hand.

We’re now in present time (so, seriously, Harriet should be in her 70’s at this point in real time), and we see her and Kady go looking for the Alexandria Cell while Poppy and Q go for the key.  In a room of artifacts, they find nothing that looks like a battery – they do witness, however, the Traveler who brought Alice to the Library earlier in the episode.  They watch as he opens a briefcase filled with vials of fairy dust (which I’m going to assume was made from Skye’s chopped off leg).

Kady does her signature move of knocking unsuspecting people like the Traveler out, and as he’s lying on the floor, she and Harriet figure out that it’s powerful magic, what it is.  They take off back to the Mirror Bridge with the briefcase, but run into Harriet’s mother as they attempt to leave. Kady takes off to get back through the mirrors after Harriet tells her to go.

Apparently, they never was an Alexandria Cell – they just needed magicians pre-occupied so they could illegally run the Library on fairy dust.  Harriet tries to leave with the briefcase, but by this time, the Traveler Librarian who brought it to the Library in the first place, is awake and read to stop her.  Perched on the edge of the mirror, he pushes Harriet through and snatches back the briefcase. And much to the dismay of her mother, Harriet, and Victoria, who has been waiting on the bridge, he throws through a large metal trash can to break the bridge, trapping the two women between the worlds.

 

Penny Part Deux

After reading all of this, Penny is frustrated that this is where it ends – he’s still convinced that Cassandra is really Alice, and when she doesn’t respond to his pleas to give him any more answers, he throws her book pages in the air in frustration.  After a moment of shock, she retrieves the page from earlier in the episode that started with Poppy and Q’s sex scene.

Apparently, he skimmed it and missed an important detail – Benedict has had the key the entire time.  Penny returns to him to get it, but with Penny’s amazing social skills, Benedict isn’t feeling super friendly and won’t give it up.  Penny apologizes and tells Benedict that if he gives him the key, Sylvia will take him to the Map Room in the Library to work.

Back in the Library, Penny smuggles in the key and plans to say goodbye to Sylvia and “be” the book.  However, Sylvia has an obligation to the Library and she sends the book on its way through Bookwyrm before Penny can hop in.  It turns out she’s turned him in to the other Librarians so that he can begin his lifetime of servitude.

Meanwhile, we finally see most of the stories come together – before Q can talk to Alice in the Library, Kady comes running up, having left Harriet with the briefcase and her mother.  They hear Bookwyrm barfing up the book with the key, and go to retrieve it.  Q and Kady go back through the Mirror Bridge. And we finish up with Harriet and Victoria’s troubles and the destruction of the bridge.

 

Q & A About Q & A and Everything Else

• So, at this point, Alice and Penny are in the Library, Q, Kady, and Poppy are back at Brakebills, and Victoria and Harriet are trapped between worlds.  Julia and Fen are at Irene’s house, and Eliot is somewhere under the control of a wombat.  Sooooo…typical day on The Magicians.
• Cassandra might really be Alice, given how time runs in the Library.  Then again, the Traveler guy who brought her there could also have taken her back if he wanted to.
• What is up with these fairies and the black market dealing? Does the Fairy Queen know about Skye and her enslavement?

 

This Week

Tonight’s episode is a musical, which I’m so hoping becomes a regular thing, since The Magicians was renewed for Season 4 this week! Whooooo! This week, we get “All That Josh,” so if it’s anything like the Les Miserables episode from Season 2, we will get a Chicago-themed episode.  We will see tonight, March 7 at 9:00 PM EST.

 

Photo courtesy of Syfy.com