The Magicians Season Three Review
Major Spoilers are included in this season review. Please read with caution.
The third season of The Magicians explored the Quest for the Seven Keys. They took this concept from the second novel of the book series and made a masterpiece that went to shit in the season finale.
I enjoyed all the character journeys, especially Juliet and Margo, but we’ll get to that in later paragraphs. Let’s talk about where season two left off first.
Season two ended with magic being taken away by the Gods, and all the magicians were made powerless. Well, except Julia. She has magic and reveals to Quentin that there is hope to be had. Having this power is a blessing and a curse for our heroine. Julia is one of my favorite characters in the entire series. She is instrumental in the season three plot, bringing all of the separated characters together for the next adventure.
Compared to season one and two, season three appeared more mature and dove into the mythology of The Magicians’ world. They are even self-aware of how complicated the rules are. It’s hilarious because the show throws so much at us, but they usually attached entertainment, so it’s all good.
Penny and Penny 23 was an interesting choice to make. I’m not sure why this transition happened other than to give us a mellowed Penny without backtracking on his characterization. I do ship Penny 23 and Julia together, but I miss the original Penny. Josh is also a character who got to do more this season, and had his existence acknowledged by the other characters.
The flow of the season was pretty good. I was entertained the entire time with the pop references, and the Harry Potter comparisons to literally everything they encounter. The expansion of The Library, the Gods, and the complicated rules on magic were very welcomed.
Margo is a bad ass woman and didn’t back down once the entire season. I loved seeing her kick ass and how she rose to High King of Fillory. Her dialogue and attitude was incredibly entertaining to watch.
Elliot took kind of a backseat this season. I can’t recall anything significant happening to him, other than that episode where he lived a full-life with Quentin in the past. Oh, and getting possessed by the monster, but that happened right at the end of the season. He was otherwise occupied with Fillory’s reign and / or the Quest for the Seven Keys.
Overall, season three improved the flaws seen in the past two seasons to a certain degree, the characters are amazing, Julia’s journey to Goddess status was beautiful, and the cliffhanger with the new identities has me excited to start Season Four. I hope to have the first two episode reviews of season four done by the end of the week at the latest.