'The Magicians' Episode 4 promo sees the Dark King summon the Takers and Julia negotiate with Clarion
It was a jaw-dropping reveal at the end of Episode 3, where the handsome stranger, who saved Eliot's life from the Takers, turns out to be none other than the Dark King (Sean Maguire) himself. The trailer for Episode 4 sees Margo (Summer Bishil) and Elliot (Hale Appleman) call upon the Dark King. We also have Margo state, very clearly, her suspicions about the too-charming Dark King. "A benevolent dictator by necessity or a psychopathic despot by choice?" she asks Eliot, to which the latter replies, "well, he did save my life."
When the two visit the Dark King, the latter patronizingly praises Eliot, saying, "I am impressed by your skills as a magician -- I could use you." It is not the most reassuring of statements since the very next scene in the trailer shows the Dark King summoning the Takers to surround Margo in a forest and Eliot is nowhere to be seen.
Till now, besides his name, there are some things about the Dark King that just don't add up. His supposed immortality (he has been ruling Fillory for 300 years) and, most importantly, his connection to the Takers.
The story he fed Alice and Eliot on their mountain hike might be sanitized or an altered version of his true origin story. And, as Eliot had surmised he is a "s**t-stirrer". It is not a stretch to realize that he was probably instrumental in some way in bringing the Takers to Fillory and taking advantage of the power vacuum after the deposition of Fen and Josh.
Meanwhile, Julia (Stella Maeve) is trying her best to prevent the next apocalypse or the so-called "Harmonic Convergence". She summons the Goddess of Melody aka Clarion (Juliette Goglia), who tells her that the Harmonic Convergence will be much worse than they could ever imagine, starting with fires, floods, plague and finally, cannibalism -- this could be a thinly veiled commentary on the state of our world now.
But as far as the show goes, Clarion says she can take care of it all and make it all go away. But as expected, she needs something in return, as all gods do. What this "something" is, we'll know when the show airs on February 5 at 10 pm PT, on Syfy.