On this episode of The Magicians, Josh and Julia are dropped directly into the twenty-third post-Beast timeline after alternate universe Josh tells them he needs their help. Once Josh and Julia arrive, they realize it's a trap set by alternate Josh and an alternate (and very alive) Marina to give the Beast what he wants. Showing her powers, Julia manages to convince Josh (2) and Marina to help her stop The Beast and get the key from him and the set out on a journey to find the spell Alice used in Julia’s timeline. After getting the spell from a dead Eliot and Margo, she and Marina bump into an alternate version of Penny. Upon seeing Julia he kisses her before sharing that in his timeline they’re soulmates. After explaining how things are different in her own timeline, Penny agrees to tag along to help stop the Beast.

After returning to Marina and Josh’s hiding spot, the Beast shows up and reveals himself to be a shade-less Quentin. Julia attempts the spell and fails, and soon after Penny uses his traveling powers to whisk them away to Alice. She reveals how Quentin came back shade-less, and offers the weapon that can kill him. The team jets to the Beast’s nest, where he kills Alice before Julie force her shade into him. Coming face-to-face with what he's done, Quentin kills himself but not before revealing the next key's vision of the future of a terrifying future.