If you're a true fan of magic and fantasy and you have a Harry Potter sized hole in your chest, then this show will hit that sweet spot.

The Magicians is an adaptation of a series of books about a group of new adults who get pushed into taking a test at a gorgeous university called Breakbills. It's like Yale or Harvard for Magicians. After the test, the ones who passed are greeted by the dean who explains what they're all doing there. The ones who don't pass, get their memories erased and a convenient alibi for those missing hours they were gone.

Really, the main character is Quentin played by Jason Ralph, but it does follow three other characters. Quentin's your typical nerd who's into books, fantasy, and little magic tricks with playing cards. His friends love him because of his weirdness but you can tell he's one of those damaged souls who hates the mundanely boring real world and would rather be in one of the worlds he reads about. He feels lonely in a crowd and among friends. He'll stop talking in the middle of a story because he realizes no one's listening. I know, because I'm one of them.

So his ultimate wish came true. Magic is real. How many of us geeks out there would leap at the chance to run away with the Doctor, win the Hunger Games, become Divergent, go to Hogwarts, or travel to Narnia in the back of our closets? I know I would. I would leave this boring world so quick, it'd make my head spin.

Before you start thinking that this show is cheesy or for little kids, I can assure you, it's far from it. It airs on SyFy and I don't know who they have in charge of programming, but they deserve a raise. Lately, they've realized that they've entered camp and light fare and that they're missing that Battlestar Galactica spark. Ever since they changed their name, people were making fun of them. But in the last three years or so, they have updated their slate of shows to reflect more space operas like Ascension, Killjoys, and Dark Matter, and science/horror like Helix which is currently cancelled but still worth watching. Or first contact with aliens in Childhood's End.

The Magicians is part of that new direction meaning it's more serious, more darker, more attention to detail or production design. It's a grown up sort of hard core science fiction. And they are churning out really good content.

Quentin is in this world of magic and the message the show is trying to push is that magic comes from pain, not fairy dust and lollipops. Most people find out they can do magic because of something dark they ended up doing with it. It's a drug and it can turn people rotten. The school is just there to teach magic, what people do with it after is on them. 

But there's a problem. Quentin actually kind of sucks at magic because he's so concerned with not failing. Failing at Breakbills means getting your memories erased. It's a very steep price for someone who just discovered that they could do magic. So his eagerness is understandable. 

The show also follows his best friend Julia played by Stella Maeve, off a fresh arc on Chicago P.D. She shows up at the school to take the test with Quentin but she fails it. Julia is the type of overachieving know it all who'll cry if she gets anything less than a A- on a test. She hates to fail at life or come in second place. She and Quentin grew up together reading all about magic. The difference is that Julia grew out of it after high school and got with an equally serious and overachieving pretty boy, played by Michael Cassidy, the kind that always gets the girl. 

Not one to take failure, she forces herself to remember Breakbills and falls into a deep depression. Her boyfriend doesn't know what to do, but Quentin doesn't want to help because finally, he feels like he belongs somewhere. He's found his tribe and it helps that it keeps him from pining after Julia. Still not satisfied, she meets up with a group of other people who failed the Breakbills test but know they can do magic. Finally, she's found people who don't think she's crazy and she practices magic with them but they're more like a fringe group following their leader, Marina played by Kacey Rohl, who is a little eccentric but all Julia cares about is that she gets to practice magic.

The other story is Alice played by Olivia Taylor Dudley, and the search for her brother. In magician lore, she's like royalty. Her parents were really good Magicians which means she grew up knowing magic was real and how to use it. But she's a shy, closed off girl who's used to people talking about her and being fake, so she keeps to herself. But Quentin and Alice are cut from the same cloth and find unlikely allies in each other. 

Previously, Alice's brother went to Breakbills but shortly disappeared. All she wants to do is find out what happened to him because he was the reason she knows magic. Not her parents. For a chance for her to help him not fail, Quentin goes along with whatever Alice conjures up to try and find her brother.

But it's not all casting spells and cracking jokes at Harry Potter. In an effort to summon her brother, Alice and Quentin and two other students open a window through a mirror but nothing happens. During class, a man steps out of the mirror whose head is completely surrounded by moths. Its impossible to see his face and he basically terrorizes the classroom. He's defeated of course and sent back through the mirror, but it's more than clear that's not the last we'll see of him.

Quentin is just trying to keep his head above water with his two new friends, Eliot and Margo played by Hale Appleman and Summer Bishil respectively, who immediately accepts his eccentrics. And those two are just awesome. They pass no judgments on Quentin, they try to help him out, and they just exude confidence and coolness that Quentin gravitates towards. He almost feels reluctant, like why do these two care about him? But they do and they understand what Breakbills means to Quentin. It means never having to be an outsider again.





















Quentin also keeps getting visions of this other world with a strange mid 20th century British girl who tells him that what he should be focusing on is so much bigger than passing a final. The show makes this huge deal about a place called Fillory. I had to do a little research because I didn't know anything about the books. I don't know how accurate the wiki is, but basically the author of the books, Lev Grossman, was disappointed in C.S. Lewis' version of Narnia. He felt like there were no clear rules to Narnia. Lewis would bring in all kinds of magical creatures that suited his needs. There were talking animals, elves, fauns, etc, with little to none structure of how their ecosystem existed.

So he created Fillory as a sort of Narnia with a tighter structure and clearer rules. He even put the story of two boys and a girl from England who went through a grandfather clock and haven't been seen since. Quentin thinks the girl that's been talking to him is that same English girl and he believes Fillory is real. Whether it is or isn't remains to be seen because I'm only 5 episodes in but it's an expansive world that has many turns and twists and the minute you think you have something figured out, it changes on you. 

The characters are deeply complex and the storytelling is rich and builds on itself as the show progresses rather than introducing more concepts or raising questions but not answering any of them. You can follow along in this show while it still surprises you and you don't feel lost. It's a really good show that I highly recommend watching.

I deviated from the norm a little bit because I can't really say that there's anything wrong with this show. It's serious and its funny. There were moments where I had to pause the TV to genuinely laugh out loud for a good two minutes. Mostly at the hands of Penny played by Arjun Gupta who had bit roles in How to Get Away With Murder and Limitless, who is gorgeous and just the type of guy I love in fictional characters. He's angry at life and with everyone, sarcastic, arrogant, mostly self serving with a very small gooey center. Le Sigh.

The only problem I have is with Julia's character. I rather like Stella as an actress but some of the things she does or says and the way she tries to justify it is just.....I won't spoil it but if you comment on here or post a message on Facebook, I'd be more than happy to discuss it with you. 

That's all for the Magicians folks! I really do hope you give the show a chance and if you liked my review or if you didn't, let me know! Don't hesitate to comment or follow me on Facebook! You can find the link below or under the linked button!

https://www.facebook.com/Recap-Rewind-Rewatch-751814448187535/