The Magicians Season 2 Episode 1 Review: Knight of Crowns
Mandy Treccia
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Channeling the power of a magical god has its perks.
So does being crowned High King of Fillory.
Or, to be accurate, High Kings and Queens of Fillory, as Quentin and his friends discovered on The Magicians Season 2 Episode 1 "Knight of Crowns."
Obviously we knew the show wouldn't let the main characters stay dead/incapacitated for long. That's not how TV works. Still, how much fun was it to watch Alice's body heal itself before she went to work on saving her friends?
She's a badass.
To Quentin's credit, he did try to get help. And it's a safe bet that healer will come back to haunt him. She basically told him as much. That's what I appreciate about this show.
It's not trying to hide the fact that trusting anyone is a bad idea.
Eliot: I vote that we don't touch it on the grounds that exploding Fillory wouldn't help.
Quentin: Okay. We need a new plan.
Margo: What plan? The Beast is gone. Our squad is a joke. What plan, exactly?
Eliot: We'll figure it out. We always do.
Margo: When it's a test to cheat on. Not when we're stuck in some epic fantasy that likes to behead heroes halfway through season one. If we even are heroes. We might be comic relief.
Margo remained the sarcastic voice of reason when the group found themselves down and out after the attack.
It's hard not to cringe whenever they come up with a plan because it will fail. Always. Which is sad since, for the most part, they have good intentions.
Plus, we want them to succeed because defeating evil is the entire point of a fantasy drama, right?
Forget High King of Fillory. Can we please crown Hale Appleman the King of Dirty Dancing monologues?
Like Margo, Eliot stole plenty of scenes last season with his dry wit and endless charm. But when Appleman turns the tables and goes for serious, high stakes, everything is resting on my shoulders drama? He hits it out of the park every single time.
Royalty, bitches!
Quentin
Seriously, how awesome were the scenes when the magicians crowned one another?
Quentin may be a huge nerd when it comes to Fillory lore, but that's just one of his lovable quirks. He lives and breathes this world and dorky or not, it's hard not to feel something for someone who has that much passion for anything.
His insistence on honoring the moment led to the heart of the episode: the group tentatively trying to be friends again. All the apologies were necessary, and even more important, heartfelt.
These guys aren't screwing around. They know everything is on the line, and they're going to need each other to get through it.
As for the Quentin and Alice kiss, not much of a surprise there. Cheating or not, you can't go from declaring love for a person to being over it. I'll never blame Alice for being sad and hurt, but I still want to see these two give it another go.
Maybe just avoid magical intoxicants for a while.
Question: Are we supposed to root for Eliot and Margo to be a couple? Are they in love?
Sometimes it feels like that's where the story's going. But Eliot's always shown more interest in men than women when it comes to sexual attraction.
And I am 100 percent fine with them just being friends. It just seems like the writing and acting leave that possibility open.
I feel bad Penny didn't get crown. Not that he seemed bothered by being left out. Of course he had bigger problems like his reattaching his hands, and now a spell controlling said hands. I'm not sure I want to find out how much worse it could get for the poor guy.
The Beast: Brilliant. That laptop. The things they come up with when they don't have magic.
Julia: Yeah, like accounts that tweet police scanner activity.
The Beast: Tweet? Birds have computer accounts?
Julia: Don't worry about it.
Speaking of not getting much worse, we need to talk about Julia and the Beast. When she betrayed her friends in The Magicians Season 1 Episode 13, she wasn't in her right mind. She's still not.
But in a weird way, the Beast understands that better than anyone. Because he's been there. He's been a victim of a man who had absolute power over him, and abused him.
The choices he made after surviving that pain are the exact opposite of what Julia needs to do in order to recover.
She's blinded by her need for revenge at the moment.
It's hard to fault her for that. We all want Reynard dead. But no matter how powerful Julia's magic, she needs to realize she can't do this alone, and she certainly can't do this with the bad guy as her partner. Basically, she needs her own crowning ceremony reckoning moment.
Unfortunately, the Beast might already be swaying her to his side. He laid out a powerful argument for letting go of her shade. He's not wrong.
Reynard will win if Julia lets the pain become her whole life. But evil will also win if she trades in her compassion and light and everything else that makes her human.
Your turn! What did you think of "Knight of Crowns?" Is Julia destined for darkness? Should Alice and Quentin shipper rejoice? How much does it suck Eliot's going to be left behind in Fillory?
Hit the comments and tell us what you thought of the season premiere.
And if you're behind, or just want a little extra magic in your life, watch The Magicians online anytime!
Mandy Treccia was a staff writer for TV Fanatic. She retired in September 2017. Follow her on Twitter.
