The Magicians
Season 2 Episode 9: “Lesser Evils”
Directed by Rebecca Johnson
Written by Sera Gamble
Created by Sera Gamble & John McNamara
Based on the novel by Lev Grossman
Starring Jason Ralph, Stella Maeve, Olivia Taylor Dudley, Hale Appleman, Arjun Gupta, Summer Bishil, Rick Worthy, Jade Tailor
Syfy
Air Date: Wednesday, March 22nd, 2017, 9:00pm

Last time on The Magicians, Julia (Stella Maeve) had no shade and therefore no limits. Quentin (Jason Ralph) barely saved her from Reynard (Mackenzie Astin) because of her lack of judgment. He plopped her in Fillory for Margo to watch her (as if she did not have enough to worry about). Margo tried to reason with the trees to no avail, so Julia blew them up. Margo (Summer Bishil) threw her in a dungeon. Eliot (Hale Appleman) finally woke up after a kick ass speech from Margo to Fen (Brittany Curran). Alice (Olivia Taylor Dudley) took Q’s body for a spin for a Niffin escape. She was told to free herself from Q for the answers. Penny (Arjun Gupta) declared his love for Kady (Jade Tailor) and sentenced himself to a life of servitude to help her. He went into Q’s head and saw Alice who tried to kill him.

Spoilers below.

The Magicians 2.9 “Lesser Evils” review: Quentin is in a cage in Brakebills. He will be “dead in days” if he doesn’t get Alice out of him.

Fillory’s troops are on strike in protest of the decimation of the trees. They cannot fight without an army, but there is one possible way. If the kings duel, they can fight one on one for the victory. Eliot loves the idea (although nobody thinks he can win). He will be known as the greatest king ever. But with magic so shaky because of the soiled wellspring, his chances are slim. Sword magic takes months to master, Eliot has never held a sword, and his opponent is undefeated. Then Fen walks in with a sword made to wield magic for a king, instantly, and Eliot feels “less f***d.”

Penny and Kady rescue Julia from the dungeon, plus they found Reynard’s son. He’s a magical senator who doesn’t know it. They show up at his office.

Julia: “Magic is real.” Then she tries to kill him. Penny and Kady freak and try to stop her, and the senator unwittingly lets loose some magic and faints.

Margo is told about the complex mercurial fairies. Hope!

Margo to Eliot:”Your face. I’m an obsessive fan. So tell.” I love that. She talks about when he was in Les Mis – Eliot was Valjean. Get. Out.

And then they break out into a rendition of “One Day More.” Yay! Appleman’s got pipes. The sword fight begins and goes “into the woods.” Margo has to cut out because the fairy ambassador shows up. He wants Eliot and Fen’s baby in exchange for restoring magic.

Julia goes to visit Q and gets Alice instead. Hmmm…

Reynard talks to John (senator) in his head, and everyone is freaking. Dean Fogg (Rick Worthy) accepts the senator’s presence with aplomb.

The wellspring goes black. Eliot has no magic sword. The wards fall down and everyone panics as Reynard walks in laughing. Julia pushes Q in with Reynard and tells him to free Alice. He doesn’t, but his son shows up and leaves with daddy fox. Kady locks up Julia.

Back to the fight, the 2 kings flirt as the King of Loria starts chopping down the tree that Eliot is hiding in. Magic comes back and you think one will die… but they come back engaged. Turns out you are allowed “one of each” and the 2 kings are going to get married. Margo (and Fen) don’t like it, but Margo has other worries (of the baby kind).

Q frees Alice.

I have been blessed to see 2 of my shows make musical magic this week (see The Flash). But what The Magicians did was not only make music, but draw inspiration from my favorite Broadway show of all time, Les Miserables.

This was my 2nd favorite episode of the season (bank heist, duh!). So much movement, some closure on the Fillory and the Alice problems. Just a well written, well directed, well acted episode.

The Magicians airs Wednesday nights at 10pm ET on Syfy.

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THE MAGICIANS | Season 2, Episode 9: Sneak Peek | Syfy

The High King is going to war, his soldiers are abandoning ship, the wellspring of magic is drying up “” and he decides to duel. Wednesdays at 9/8c on Syfy.