'The Magicians' Episode 3 sees allies Fen and Margo fight while adversaries Elliot and the Dark King flirt
All hail the creative team behind 'The Magicians'. If you are a fan of fantasy shows, so often relegated to the realm of lazy writing and bad structuring, the show is a gift that keeps on giving, even in its fifth season and even after its main lead has been killed.
In episode 3 of season 5 'The Mountain of Ghosts', we see two of the core storylines being orchestrated in a way that allows them to inversely mirror each other, balancing out the comic and the tragic elements. In plotline one, we have Margo (Summer Bishil) and Fen (Brittany Curran) competing in Fillory's annual tournament to find "elite, Centurion guards". This narrative starts with Josh remembering that the 12 tournament winners get their criminal records wiped clean, including "banishment marks" like the one Margo is sporting right now. Fen, who gets excited seeing one competitor wielding knives, wants to compete too.
But with a double full moon expected, Margo's sexually transmitted curse of lycanthropy (that Josh passed on to her) is acting up. Summer Bishil as Margo, like always, knows how to nail the comic timing of her going wolf-mad at exactly the moment she discovers Fen also has the lycanthropy curse. This means Josh cheated on Margo with Fen. Since no one betrays Margo and gets away with it, she looks ready to go full-Terminator on Fen. When Josh (Trevor Einhorn) sidles up to trying to get her to go easy on Fen, she comes out with the sarcastic zinger about knowing how to "properly slightly maim someone, thanks for your concern".
This whole sequence is played for laughs, from Fen and Margo's hastily made-up fake names for the tournament (Fencicle from House Walburger and Janet of House Plutinski), to how the two make short work of the other competitors (with Fen pulling off an 'Indiana Jones' homage of the whip vs. gun scene), to the repartee-filled conversations between Margo, Fen and Josh.
As the battle starts, Fen asks Margo to please let her just "stab her" as Margo raises her ax and goes at Fen, full tilt. When she gives Fen an accidental haircut with her ax, she messes with that sacred womanly vanity -- hair. This makes Fen lose it as well and charge at Margo with a battle cry. In the ensuing scuffle, Margo grabs hold of one of Fen's knives and stabs her. It is only after this that Margo comes to her senses, horrified at what she has done. It turns from a comic narrative to a horrible tragedy.
Juxtaposing this comedy-to-tragedy narrative, we have Alice (Olivia Taylor Dudley) and Elliot (Hale Appleman) trudging to the top of the "Mountain of Ghosts" on their grief-stricken pilgrimage for Quentin so that Alice can throw his soul fragment into the well at the summit, whose depths reach the Underground, where souls go. Sadness and animosity mark their interactions as they alternately grieve and bicker about their loss. Horror strikes in the shape of a "Taker", who attacks Elliot.
But, then a handsome, mysterious Stranger (that will remind some of Strider from 'Lord of the Rings') arrives on the scene. Just like in a typical rom-com, meet-cute, the handsome Stranger rescues the swain-in-distress, Elliot.
After that, the Stranger and Elliot flirt lightly, make googly eyes at each other and star-gaze, after Alice, the light-weight, goes to sleep early after she gets super-drunk on the delicious wine from the Stranger's stash.
The Stranger and Elliot share confidences and there is some beard-stroking as well. But Elliot stops the Stranger just before any sexy time can occur because he doesn't want things to "get complicated".
The story arc by this time has turned from being a tragic narrative to exhibiting full-on rom-com cheesiness. Then comes the jaw-dropping revelation at the end of their hike. The Stranger is none other than Team Magicians' nemesis for the season, the Dark King -- yup the same suspicious character who has been ruling over Fillory for the last 300 years after the deposition of Fen and Josh.
At this point, Elliot says it best: "I think I almost f****d the Dark King!" as Alice raises her eyebrows in surprise and disbelief about the "nice guy" being their supposed Enemy No. 1. It doesn't help, of course, that the Dark King asks Elliot to "call on him" if he needs anything -- code for a booty call invitation on any world.
Meanwhile, to Margo's relief, Fen wakes up and praises Margo for picking up her "play knife" for the killing blow that guaranteed her safety and continued existence. But Margo, who is horrified at what she almost did, rejects Fen's attempts to make it all better.
"Stop trying to forgive me," Margo says and then she gives Fen the final piece of bad news. It wasn't her who thought of rescuing them but Elliot. Teary-eyed, she tells Fen that she was okay with letting both of them die. She also tells Fen she meant to stab her -- she wasn't fake-fighting her.
Fen is genuinely hurt by this and wonders if her loyalty had been misplaced all this while. Fen and Margo's plot turns from comedy to grief while Elliot and Alice's plotline goes the other way, balancing each other out beautifully. It is a bit of inspired writing by Sera Gamble, John McNamara, and Lev Grossman that we hope to see more of this season.
The next episode of 'The Magicians' airs January 29 at 10 p.m. PT, on Syfy.