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Unpacking 'The Magicians' Season 5 Episode 8: Time-warped pregnancy and regicide that isn't a respite

The significance page that Quentin left behind is finally revealed, and the Dark King offers some clues

Spoiler Alert for 'Garden Variety Homicide' — Episode 8 from Season 5 of 'The Magicians'

With the delightfulness (and confusion) of seeing Hale Appleman and Summer Bishil swap characters as Eliot Waugh and Margo Hanson swap bodies, it can be easy to forget that there were some major bombs dropped this episode. We take a look at the episode's biggest reveals and moments that deserve a closer look. 

The Dark King's Motivations

Sebastian (Sean Maguire) is incredibly charismatic. What's more, despite the reveal that he's been creating a false threat — the Takers — in order to stay in power, he seems genuinely regretful about his actions. He's put a lot of work into being the King, and staying that way for over 300 years, but he doesn't seem to be enjoying the power he holds, so the question is, why? He implies that he HAS to be King — that there's something in his past that requires him to hold onto power. Could the Takers merely be a misdirect from the show, hiding a far bigger threat that Sebastian has spent the last 300 years trying to stop?

Not even running a sword through his heart is going to grant him a moment's rest. In the last moments of the episode, he's brought back to life. Whoever he's made his deal with is not done with him. Not by a long shot. 

Pregnancy in the month of the Red Monkey

Stella Maeve, who plays Julia Wicker, was actually pregnant through this entire season of 'The Magicians'. The show has managed to hide it pretty cleverly between loose shirts and no proper shots of her from the waist down, but the show's writers have managed to come up with a way to not have to deal with the hassle of hiding Maeve's baby bump by making Julia herself pregnant. What's more, it's conveniently the Fillorian month of the Red Monkey, which speeds up things like crops, healing spells, and most relevantly, pregnancy. 

It's not a pregnancy that Julia is particularly happy with. She talks about it with Fen (Brittany Curran), whose cheerfulness makes it easy to forget that Fen lost her own child a few seasons ago. Filming that scene must have been strange to shoot for Maeve, with her character unsure about whether she wants to keep the baby or not. 

Later in the episode, we see what may be this season's first proper full body shot of Julia as she stabs the Dark King through the heart — a moment that Maeve accidentally tweeted about a week early.

The World Seed

The page that Quentin Coldwater (Jason Ralph) had, that Alice Quinn (Olivia Dudley) has been holding on to, finally reveals its significance — and it's a pretty direct tie-in to the third novel in Lev Grossman's series; 'The Magicians Land'. Despite having ventured far away from its source material, this season of 'The Magicians' has contained a lot more reference to the books than usual. In 'The Magicians Land', Quentin and Alice use a similar seed to create a new magical world — one that connects to Fillory. The instructions for creating a new world came from a page ripped out of Martin Chatwin's notebook — the same Martin Chatwin who later became The Beast. 

We don't know where Quentin got the page from in the show, but it appears to serve the same function. Does that mean it's from the same source? Whatever the source is, there's a new threat — The Couple — who are looking for it.

Wait a minute, where's Plum?

Plum, in the books, was Quentin's assistant, and instrumental in helping him create a new world and rescue Alice. The show has amalgamated Plum into a new character of sorts — Plum Merritt Chatwin (Riann Steele). If the World Seed page is indeed from Martin Chatwin's notebook, then Plum has an even closer connection to it than her counterpart from the books, but she's not been seen ever since she revealed she was a descendant of the Chatwins. Another seemingly forgotten plot point is the Signal that was calling out to Plum and Penny. It's about time we get some answers on Plum Chatwin, and that Signal.

The next episode of 'The Magicians' airs March 4, on Syfy.