'The Magicians' Season 5 Episode 11 Review: Early Effing signs warn Earth's magicians may be the bad guys
Spoiler for 'The Magicians' Season 5 Episode 11 'Be the Hyman'
The show's protagonists are growing steadily more powerful, doing increasingly radical things. They've killed gods, lost magic, restored magic, nearly become gods, moved, broke and restored the moon and are now considering the destruction of Fillory to save the Multiverse, to grow a new Fillory in its place. They're playing around with the fate of worlds, and it's been such an exhilarating ride that it's easy to forget that a lot of these are the kinds of moves villains make, especially regarding Fillory.
Rupert Chatwin (Sean Maguire) has tied himself to Fillory so completely that the only way of killing him is to destroy Fillory, which seems drastic. It's notable that this is the second time that the characters have turned to the more drastic option instead of trying to reason with the person causing the problem. When they find that conditions for magic are wonky because the moon is upset, not one person attempts to reason with the moon before Alice Quinn's (Olivia Dudley) plan to fire the moon and replace it with a new one. Their solution is the same for Rupert Chatwin: Destroy Fillory and replace it.
Alice and Kady Orloff-Diaz (Jade Tailor) push moral boundaries even further, as they bring out Marina Andrieski's (Kacey Rohl) worst side to get what they want. Everyone is barrelling through and taking very little time to figure out who they're hurting in the process. Fen (Brittany Curran) is the only person whose home is being affected, and she rightly points out that if Earth was the planet that had to be destroyed, everyone would work a lot harder to find another way.
It's Sir Effingham (Sean Maguire), of all people, who brings the point home, as we find out the danger he's been warning everyone about since the start of the show was Julia Wicker (Stella Maeve) and her friends themselves. It's hard to say whether everyone has always been this inconsiderate but are now in a place to affect greater change, or whether they've all dealt with grief by hardening their hearts, but either way, the point remains: The magicians of Earth are shaping up to be the bad guys.
Oddly, though, this is a lighter, fun episode, with some great moments from the series' smaller characters. Hyman (Dustin Ingram) has his body back, and the scene where Penny-23 (Arjun Gupta) helps him adjust is one of Penny-23's best. The return of Ember (Dominic Burgess) and Umber (Nico Evers-Swindell) is delightful, while still serving as a strong reminder of how petty the gods or avatars of the gods can be. It's another warning to the protagonists that great power does not automatically come with a great sense of responsibility. It's something they need to be consciously aware of.
The next episode of 'The Magicians' airs on March 25, on Syfy.