TV Review: The Magicians 2.11 “The Rattening”

The Magicians
Season 2 Episode 11: “The Rattening”
Directed by James L. Conway
Written by Mike Moore
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, April 5th, 2017, 9:00pm

Last time on The Magicians, Penny (Arjun Gupta) got his first task, to retrieve a way overdue library book. The borrower had advice for Kady (Jade Tailor) and put a spell on the card, so another librarian killed himself rather than be forced to open the “Poison Room.” Eliot (Hale Appleman) was acting like “Groomzilla.” Margo (Summer Bishil) confessed to Fen (Brittany Curran), who told her to fix it before being kidnapped by the fairies. Quentin took drugs and saw Julia’s shade in a vision, who asked him for help. Dean Fogg (Rick Worthy) helped Julia and Q (Stella Maeve, Jason Ralph) talk to another version of Alice (Olivia Taylor Dudley) who knows about shades (they have all lived and died 39 times). She told Q that they are in the Underworld and they need an ancient one, a dragon, to get there and come back.

Spoilers below.

The Magicians 2.11 “The Rattening” review: Julia and Quentin find the ancient one. In exchange for the Fillory button, the dragon gives them 24 hours to get back from the underworld or she will eat their bodies. They get to the check-in station and watch the death orientation video. They are told to wait somewhere until they can get their time loop glitch straightened out. Julia finds her hedge witch friends and the real Richard (Mackenzie Astin) in a bowling alley. Richard causes a scene so Q and Julia can find the location of the shades. It’s Elysium. They find Julia’s shade, and Alice’s too. Quentin gets his heart broken again, but there is some happiness in there too. They head out, but not before Julia grabs Alice’s shade for the escape as well. That is not going to be without consequences.

King Idri (Leonard Roberts) arrives and he gets some alone time with Eliot… and then turns into a rat along with half the castle. Eliot puts Margo in the dungeon (with her coconut oil) after she fesses via truth serum about the fairy deal. He decides to hold free elections to get some governors, and gets promptly kicked out of Fillory. Margo drinks a potion to go to Fairy world and save the day.

Penny is working hard in the library and visits Kady in her sleep for “incepti-sex” and strategy. He reluctantly teams up with a smart mouth teen, his supervisor, who wants to get into the Poison room too.

Senator Gaines (Christopher Gorham) tries to do things his dad’s way, but ends up hurting someone. So he shows up at the cottage to join up with Kady. Is he for real? Controlled by his dad? On his dad’s side?

I love when shows go into other realms, and for a show like The Magicians, that is already set in a few different realms, to expand that even further is more of a delight. I’m dying to see what is in the poison room too.

All of this Alice and Q contact convinces me that we will get real Alice back soon. But I wonder what their relationship will be like after all of this. All couples say “after all we have been through together,” but none is more true than these two.

Great episode. I knew that one of them was going to take Alice’s shade once we met her. I would have been disappointed if they hadn’t. Shadeless Julia seemed a little more shady (the good way), and the entire Underworld adventure was a blast.

The Magicians airs Wednesday nights at 9:00pm ET on Syfy.

Videos

THE MAGICIANS | Season 2, Episode 11: ‘Stealing Shade’ | Syfy

Margo takes it upon herself to fix Fillory, and Julia and Quentin escape from The Underworld with a stowaway shade.

THE MAGICIANS | Season 2, Episode 11: Sneak Peek | Syfy

After they have incepti-sex, Kady and Penny devise a new plan for getting into the poison room. Wednesdays at 9/8c on Syfy.

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