{"id":1742,"date":"2017-02-20T23:49:04","date_gmt":"2017-02-21T04:49:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/docpalindrome.com\/?p=1742"},"modified":"2017-02-20T23:49:04","modified_gmt":"2017-02-21T04:49:04","slug":"the-ardent-eccentric-the-magicians-s2e4-the-flying-forest","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/docpalindrome.com\/2017\/02\/20\/the-ardent-eccentric-the-magicians-s2e4-the-flying-forest\/","title":{"rendered":"The Ardent Eccentric – The Magicians S2E4 – The Flying Forest"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Flying Forest<\/em> lived up to its name this week \u2013 we were flying through all sorts of emotions and activities, some more convincingly than others.\u00a0 I do love this show\u2019s proclivity for taking you from laughing out loud one moment, to weeping the next – as Dean Fogg pointed out this week, \u201ccomedy and drama can exist in the same goddamn sentence.\u201d<\/p>\n

I also apologize for the delay this week – Katsucon 2017 was happening this weekend, so hopefully I will some info on that anime convention to share soon as well. \u00a0Plus, getting the review and recap two days before the next episode means you can relive and contemplate it vicariously though this article and get super excited for Wednesday!<\/p>\n

As always, spoilers if you haven\u2019t seen this week\u2019s episode (which by now, I really hope you have).<\/p>\n

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 <\/p>\n

The High King and Queen Experiences the Highs of Adulthood<\/strong><\/p>\n

We pick up this week right after the fight with the Beast, with Quentin being healed by a group of centaurs.\u00a0 Margo points out that one has the biggest dick (what is with her and horse dick?) before she tells Eliot they need to return to White Spire to, you know\u2026be king and queen.\u00a0 Eliot, however, is still deeply perturbed at the state Quentin is in and leaves him a note before distractedly returning to the castle with Margo.<\/p>\n

Their advisors share with them new problems that are troubling the land since their defeat of the Beast \u2013 Ember\u2019s befouling of the Wellspring is not that easy to clean out, and it\u2019s affecting magic, both in Fillory and on Earth.\u00a0 There are also factions in the Southern Isles, as well as those in the Outer Lands, who refuse to pay taxes, given that most of the royal Children of Earth will be dead or go mad soon, as had happened in the past.\u00a0 Abigail the Advising Sloth notes that money cannot fill the Wellspring, through her translator.<\/p>\n

<\/a>

Thanks Abigail…helpful.<\/em><\/p><\/div>\n

While Margo tries to take charge of the situation, Eliot, who has been staring off in the distance while they have been receiving their update, instead insists that they will build a 100-foot tall statue in honor of Alice, regardless of the cost.\u00a0 Margo, recognizing that this does not reflect well on the new king and queen\u2019s abilities to rule, kicks all the advisors out of the throne room so that she can talk to Eliot alone.<\/p>\n

She points out that they can\u2019t bankrupt the entire kingdom for a statue, because Alice wasn\u2019t their friend (she was a package deal with Quentin, according to Margo), and they have to be responsible to the kingdom.<\/p>\n

<\/a>

“Get your shit together, El.”<\/em><\/p><\/div>\n

Eliot whines a bit about never being able to leave Fillory and comments that he wasn\u2019t ready to be king, that he wasn\u2019t done being him (says every young parent in the world\u2026).\u00a0 They now face the horrible possibility of being (gasp!) grownups, but Margo thinks she has found a loophole that could help him.\u00a0 And yet, ironically she has to leave him and Fillory to do so.<\/p>\n

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What I want to get for both of them, although neither would ever be caught dead in a t-shirt<\/em><\/p><\/div>\n

While Margo is away, Eliot is lamenting the fact that the citizens want something all the time (right? Like enough already, citizens\u2026), and Fen uses that as her opener to talk about what she wants, since really, what the hell, let\u2019s add on another petition. This one is for sex, because Eliot is so amazing at it and huge (not surprising on either front) but before he can respond to her bit of desperation, Margo appears with an update from Earth.<\/p>\n

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Oh hai Margo!<\/em><\/p><\/div>\n

It seems she stole some living clay from Brakebills, as well as went back to see the dude who initially made the Margolem back in Season 1, and forced him to give up the golem spell so that they could make another Eliot (a Golemiot? Meh, probably not).\u00a0 She notes that if Eliot sleeps there in Fillory, he can mind control the golem to head back to Earth, thus getting around the fine print that he can never leave Fillory.<\/p>\n

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They both have that dead eyed stare so common in the golem<\/em><\/p><\/div>\n

That night, Eliot the Golem (with Eliot the Human\u2019s mind) and Margo return to the Physical Kids cottage, only to find that Todd, the dude who went on magical spring break with Margo last year, is now king of the house, rather than Eliot.\u00a0 He even has a crown, which is just some grade A silly irony.<\/p>\n

<\/a>

“You have a better crown than me? Well, where is it?”<\/em><\/p><\/div>\n

Todd tries to tell them that when he thought they were dead, he threw a rager in their honor, and from there the rest of the house just kind of put him in charge of partying.<\/p>\n

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Todd knows better than to call it a rager…<\/em><\/p><\/div>\n

Eliot notices that Todd is wearing one of his vests, and he sulks in a corner over a drink with Margo, saying his new goal is to leave Fillory and destroy Todd for being a usurper – his Physical Kids Cottage kingdom is at stake.\u00a0 Margo wisely points out that his real<\/em> kingdom of Fillory is actually at stake, and then says that she doesn\u2019t think this is really about Todd.\u00a0 Eliot sarcastically wanders off and she reminds him that there will be no killing of Todd this evening.<\/p>\n

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My new catch phrase for anything that goes wrong<\/em><\/p><\/div>\n

Eliot is trying to make his signature cocktail to win back his role as king of the Physical Kids cottage when he meets Javier, a Welters player and second year student from a Spanish university, staying at Brakebills for a tournament.\u00a0 They both end up in bed together, and a very odd and sad golem to human sex scene takes place, Golem Eliot with Javier, and real Eliot with Fen.\u00a0 I say sad because El is constantly going to have to try to keep Fen happy by doing things like this, but may never\u00a0experience a truly happy relationship again. \u00a0Still, despite the poignancy of it, this scene was shot incredibly well.<\/p>\n

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Sexy time with Eliot<\/em><\/p><\/div>\n

The next day, Eliot goes to see Dean Fogg because he\u2019s totally freaked out about being a king, and that his mind is half here and half there.\u00a0 Previously in the episode, Dean Fogg had been having issues casting – he thought it was his hands, but it kept getting worse, not better.\u00a0 He discussed it with Professor Lipson, (the one who diagnosed Eliot and Margo last season), who was also having brownouts (heh), which at first she thought were from Xanax, but then realized they weren\u2019t after talking to Fogg.<\/p>\n

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Now speaking to Eliot about Ember\u2019s shitting in the Wellspring, things start to make a little more sense.\u00a0 He notes that while he cannot relieve Eliot of this duties, he can help him\u00a0rule Fillory from Earth by consulting with politicians, leaders, and other historians.\u00a0 Although, this is kind of to his and every other magician\u2019s benefit too.<\/p>\n

<\/a>

This should be the motto of this whole show<\/em><\/p><\/div>\n

Eliot returns his mind to Fillory, and Margo catches up with him at White Spire (after her own confrontation at Brakebills, which we\u2019ll get into) and insists that they build the statue for Alice precisely because<\/em> they weren\u2019t her friends.\u00a0 He reiterates that there is no funding, and she points out that they are magicians and can just build it themselves.<\/p>\n

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If we build it, Q will come…<\/em><\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

Quentin & Penny Experience the Highs of Adrenaline\u2026and, Well, Other Shit<\/strong><\/p>\n

Quentin, meanwhile, finally wakes up in the centaur hospital after three\u00a0weeks – he now has a prosthetic wooden left shoulder from the wound he received from the Beast.\u00a0 Then the show breaks my heart by having Quentin read the letter Eliot left for him when he and Margo had to return to White Spire.\u00a0 They left him a box of Alice\u2019s personal effects, and while Eliot\u2019s note is tender, of course he has to sign it \u201cyour high benevolent overlord Eliot\u201d because we know he can\u2019t be too raw with his emotions.<\/p>\n

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No, YOU’RE crying<\/em><\/p><\/div>\n

Penny shows up at the infirmary – Margo sent him there to have them look at his hands. When she was at Brakebills obtaining the living clay for Eliot\u2019s golem, Penny crash traveled into the classroom in which she was searching.\u00a0 His traveling aim was\u00a0off, having apparently gone through three\u00a0different worlds before getting back to Brakebills, one of which lacked oxygen. So he\u2019s had a hell of a morning.\u00a0 Margo makes his morning worse – when he asks if they managed to kill the Beast, she has to break the news that while they did defeat him, Quentin was pretty mangled, and Alice was dead.<\/p>\n

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“Well, I guess I’ll go back to not caring about anyone ever”<\/em><\/p><\/div>\n

Now at the centaur hospital, he tries to express sympathy to Quentin, but Quentin, being heartbroken, lashes out, trying to blame Penny for Alice\u2019s death.\u00a0 It\u2019s not really clear how he comes to this conclusion, it\u2019s more just \u201cdefensive pain arguing,\u201d and the two go their separate ways in the hospital to try to heal.<\/p>\n

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“Just go Penny…I need to be irrational and angsty on my own.”<\/em><\/p><\/div>\n

Later that night, Quentin is looking through Alice\u2019s personal effects, and he glances up to see an odd white creature standing at the edge of the woods.\u00a0 His nurse interrupts his thoughts to apply simulated skin over the wooden shoulder, and he asks her about the creature.\u00a0 We learn that she is the White Lady, one of the seven Questing creatures of Fillory, and Quentin apparently happened to catch her presenting herself to a centaur for fucking (according to the nurse).<\/p>\n

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“Oh yes…she comes by every Thursday for a good time from our surgeon”<\/em><\/p><\/div>\n

By nightfall, Penny has seen a centaur surgeon named Sawbones, who refused to treat him after learning that his hands were cursed\u00a0after offending the River Watcher.\u00a0 He punctuates his conversation by shitting on the floor (as one does), but tells Penny he can\u2019t help him.<\/p>\n

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Yep Penny, we had the same reaction<\/em><\/p><\/div>\n

Penny\u2019s situation gets worse while he is sleeping, as his crazy hands attempt to strangle him. Penny wakes up Quentin for help after having to break his own arms to stop them.<\/p>\n

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\u201cThe Bronies can\u2019t fix me.\u201d I love you, Penny.<\/em><\/p><\/div>\n

After getting shitfaced off centaur wine to dull the pain, he provokes Quentin into cutting off his hands with an axe. Just asking doesn\u2019t work since Quentin is hesitant to do the chopping, for obvious reasons.\u00a0 Calling him a floppy haired, limp dicked dork, who couldn\u2019t get Alice off if he tried, though, motivates Quentin to cut off one hand; however, Penny\u2019s plan to use centaur wine to not feel the pain was ill advised.\u00a0 The two of them both start screaming as Quentin whacks off the other hand.\u00a0 Slapstick at its finest.\u00a0 It felt like we were in some Will Ferrell sketch on SNL.<\/p>\n

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And much screaming and cursing ensued…<\/em><\/p><\/div>\n

The next day, Quentin is trying to practice\u00a0archery as his physical therapy, but well, he\u2019s Q, so of course he is terrible at it.<\/p>\n

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“You did i – oh…oh dear…”<\/em><\/p><\/div>\n

Penny, who is now handless but moving around after the centaurs stopped the bleeding from the two students\u2019 previous evening cutscapades, offers Quentin some advice about using a variation of Popper 31 to help him aim true.\u00a0 It\u2019s also because he can\u2019t shut out Q\u2019s low self-esteem thoughts, which is annoying the shit out of him.\u00a0 Quentin demands Penny show him the hand motion variation, to which Penny rightfully tells him that had he had HANDS, he would flipping him off, rather than teaching him tutting techniques.<\/p>\n

<\/a>

“Asshat…remember these?”<\/em><\/p><\/div>\n

When Quentin does the variation correctly, and his archery improves, he suggests that they go after the White Lady, since if they catch her she is obliged to give them anything they want, which could mean new hands for Penny, and Alice brought back to life.<\/p>\n

The two take off for the Flying Forest to search for the White Lady, and after only a few moments, they are definitely flying\u2026high as kites.\u00a0 The forest tries to disorient them, with Penny getting his mouth grabbed by a confused \u201cQuincy,\u201d and then being horrified because he doesn\u2019t know what happened to his \u201cstuff touchers.\u201d<\/p>\n

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This seems to be a common theme for him this episode\u2026<\/em><\/p><\/div>\n

Soon neither Quentin nor Penny can remember who they are or why they are in in the forest. They end up going around the same path repeatedly without realizing it, but Quentin is finally pulled out of their pattern when he spots Alice\u2019s necklace on the ground. He can\u2019t recall if he is supposed to be rescuing this girl, but his need to know pushes him and Penny to take a different path, and they manage to make it out of the forest.<\/p>\n

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“Right seems to be the popular selection…”<\/em><\/p><\/div>\n

Once the effects of the forest wear off, Quentin breaks down, realizing again that Alice is gone.\u00a0 Penny encourages him to keep going despite the pain, noting that although Alice is gone, other people need him, including him.<\/p>\n

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“I need you man”<\/em><\/p><\/div>\n

That evening, they come upon the White Lady, and using the tutting Penny showed him, Quentin\u2019s arrow flies true and strikes her in the shoulder.\u00a0 Penny almost gets himself in trouble again by initially being disrespectful, but she approaches them after pulling the arrow out of her shoulder.<\/p>\n

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“You could have just snuck up and yelled out, ‘haha!’ like Jane Chatwin did with the questing pig, but nooooo”<\/em><\/p><\/div>\n

When Q requests that she bring Alice back to life, she points out that wish is beyond her capabilities – she can however, grow back Penny\u2019s hands.\u00a0 Since the White Lady can do nothing to soothe Quentin\u2019s Shade, and because she can\u2019t nap until she fulfills his wish (because that\u2019s the most important reason for fulfilling her obligation\u2026), she offers to take away his memories of Alice, but he refuses.\u00a0 Instead, Quentin asks to go home to New York, so that he doesn\u2019t end up like Martin Chatwin, always running from sadness and trying to stay there in Fillory forever.\u00a0 Within the blink of an eye, the White Lady sends Quentin back to Earth, where he throws away his bow and arrow and heads home.<\/p>\n

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And again, no one in New York notices anything out of the ordinary<\/em><\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

Best Bitches Experience the High of Friendship, as Opposed to, You Know\u2026Meth\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n

Regrouping from last week, Julia acts on rumors she has heard about a woman fulfilling miracles among addicts, or \u201cturning tricks,\u201d by visiting a meth house to find Kady (Penny\u2019s old girlfriend and the one who escaped Reynard\u2019s clutches from Julia\u2019s sacrifice) passed out with a needle still in her arm.<\/p>\n

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“The shit I have to go through for magic…”<\/em><\/p><\/div>\n

Julia takes Kady back to her apartment, and after a hot shower, a nap and some methadone, Kady is feeling up to talking.\u00a0 Kady regrets just running when Reynard attacked, rather than running for help, but Julia shares\u00a0that she can help her now.<\/p>\n

Julia pulls out an enchanted preserved Marina from the freezer, much to Kady\u2019s dismay, to show the other woman a code or message carved into Marina\u2019s forearm.\u00a0 Kady recognizes the number as a locator code for a book in the Brakebills Library.<\/p>\n

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Worst…penmanship…ever<\/em><\/p><\/div>\n

The girls make a plan to obtain the book using Richard\u2019s alumni key to get into Brakebills, but because Kady was expelled, she can\u2019t even step foot onto campus without setting off alarms.\u00a0 While Julia can use the key, she has no idea where to go to even find the book, since she doesn\u2019t know Brakebills’ layout.\u00a0 The women enchant a \u201cbest bitches\u201d broken heart charm necklace so that Kady can follow Julia in a mirror off site and guide her towards the book they need.<\/p>\n

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They need to start selling these at Claire’s<\/em><\/p><\/div>\n

They find the book, but it is charmed with a magical library lo jack, which will cause it to set off alarms if they try to remove it from Brakebills.\u00a0 Since Julia will need to hand copy the book, Kady suggests that she hide in the Physical Kids cottage, sneaking in under the cover of the constant parties that are always happening there.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, Julia has snuck into the cottage on the night Margo and the Eliot golem visit.\u00a0 The next morning, Julia is still copying the book when Margo stumbles upon her and confronts her about her traveling to Fillory with Martin, since it caused Penny to lose his hands, for Alice to die, and for Quentin, her childhood friend, to be almost ripped in half and die.\u00a0 Defensively, Julia points out that had they let her follow through with her plan, both the Beast and Reynard would be dead.\u00a0 The two women continue to fling insults at each other, with Margo belittling her for being a hedge witch, and Julia pointing out that a dozen more women have died at Reynard\u2019s hands because Margo was probably too concerned about her hair or social life to care.\u00a0 Margo retaliates by noting that at least she didn\u2019t get her friends killed, and Julia cuts deep, telling her she doesn\u2019t have friends, just people who are so afraid of her that they would rather be on her side.\u00a0 Clearly having struck a nerve about Margo\u2019s loyalty to her friends, Margo offers a blank book and a mating box without further insults, which will produce a baby book that is a copy of the one Julia has spent all night trying to hand copy.<\/p>\n

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“Stop being right and copy your damn book”<\/em><\/p><\/div>\n

When Julia returns to her apartment, she and Kady realize it\u2019s a necromancy book, which will bring Marina back for a short amount of time to elaborate on what she was trying to tell them.\u00a0 After they cast the spell, the final item of which is to burn the book, Marina wakes up in one of the most horrific scenes ever.\u00a0 She has been somewhere horrible in the great beyond and cries that she doesn\u2019t want to go back, that she can\u2019t go back.<\/p>\n

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There’s no spin to put on this-it was just awful<\/em><\/p><\/div>\n

She tells Julia before dying AGAIN (bravo for that, Julia) that there was a girl 40 years ago who banished Reynard from Earth, and he was trapped in the other world until Julia called him forth again.\u00a0 She needs to banish him back to that world in order to defeat him.<\/p>\n

With both Kady and Julia shaken up by, you know, bringing back a clearly tortured woman who died in an unspeakable way just to get a few bits of information from her, they make a vow to work together to take out Reynard – after all, they are best bitches.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Q & A & Thoughts about Q & A & Everyone Else<\/strong><\/p>\n