The Magicians

[psychotick]

Hi,

Anyone else watching this? I got season one dvd's and watched them and was ho hum about it. Too many twenty something girls with brunette hair and the all looked alike which left me deeply confused as to who was who. Also this whole concept of battle magic doesn't go with thumb twiddling. I mean if it takes you twenty seconds of thumb twiddling to launch your uber death spell, and your opponents got a gun - guess you're dead! Plus the ending sucked.

But season two seems to have redeemed the series - just watched the whole lot on dvd. Much clearer story lines. Someone's done something about the hair styles etc to make it clearer which brunette is which.

The only downer for me was that it turned into three separate stories running side by side - Quintin bringing back his love, Julia going for her revenge and of course Fillary. And also I keep hoping that Quintin is going to finally stop whining and become the uber magician he should be instead of the pathetic sidekick to no one.

Now I hear that season three has been green-lit. Yeah! Anyone else got any thoughts?

Cheers, Greg.

 

[Gonk the Insane]

Thanks for posting this - I hadn't realise season 2 had started. I've seen the first episode now and enjoyed it, but the series (and the first one) is very different to the books. There's a lot of common ground, but sometimes things just go in a completely different direction. Not necessarily a bad thing, but it is a little bit odd sometimes when I expect one thing to happen and something entirely different occurs.

It reminds me in that sense of the Bourne Identity films with Matt Damon. I'd read the books and loved them, and the film was different in several key ways. I still liked it but part of me's always been disappointed they changed certain things. I find this the same: it's good, but not - for me - as good as the books, which really are exceptional.

 

[elvet]

This is one of my favourite shows on TV right now, and the finale is tonight. I read the books so long ago, I can't honestly compare them, so I'm looking at this as entertainment on it's own. I think the producers have done a marvelous job. Plot lines are coming together. Characters' arcs are developing, especially the female ones. I like how they use different TV tropes to tell the story - musicals, the POV show, parallel worlds - everything goes, and it works. Season 4 is a go, so hopefully more goodness ahead. I really should go back and give the source material a reread.

 

[elvet]

I just finished watching the Season 4 finale. This series continues to amaze me by how it manages to find new ways to tug at my emotions. What they did for the finale was not just the usual culmination of the major plot, it was also a total surprise.

Spoiler

Something I had no warning about. It was done in a way that made sense for the character, irregardless of what the fans would have wanted.

It has departed somewhat from the storyline in the books (as I remember them), but is still has input from Lev Grossman, so the world, characters and magic are the same. I think it stands on its own as an innovative TV series.

 

[tegeus-Cromis]

Is anyone else still watching this? It has been cancelled as of the end of this season, so there are only three episodes left. Without Quentin, the show feels currently like some kind of unnecessary addendum (and also keeps repeating story beats done better in earlier seasons.) I watched an episode from season 2 recently, and the show was so much more alive with Quentin in it. I wonder if the runners are regretting killing him off.

In any case. Only three episodes left, as I said, so I might as well stick it out. I'm hoping the current storyline builds up to something like the end of the trilogy.

 

[elvet]

@tegeus-Cromis Spoilers!
I haven’t started season 5 yet.

 

[tegeus-Cromis]

Well, I did try to avoid spoilers for season 5, though I assumed everyone who read this had seen season 4. Just giving a critical opinion ("unnecessary addendum... repeating story beats... was so much more alive") is different from giving anything away of the content.