‘The Magicians’ Season 5 Review: Dealing With Loss, One Spell At A Time

SYFY’s The Magicians has a Quentin Coldwater (Jason Ralph) shaped hole in the middle.

At the end of the show’s fourth season, the series suddenly — and shockingly — killed off the character that was ostensibly the star of the show. Though The Magicians has always functioned as an ensemble, Quentin was the adult Harry Potter stand-in; the white, male nerd who believed in magic and kicked off the darkly comic adventures that followed. Over time his role and relationships morphed, and changed, but he was still the fulcrum that the rest of the characters revolved around.

When Quentin sacrificed his life to save the universe(s) in “No Better to Be Safe Than Sorry,” it left not just the characters in the series reeling, but fans, as well. The death was sudden, seemingly untelegraphed by a season that had mostly sidelined Quentin in favor of other characters, and abruptly changed paths from a crucial relationship that had started with the fandom — Quentin and Eliot (Hale Appleman) — before becoming canon in the most beautiful, heartbreaking way possible.

Killing Quentin without resolving the #Queliot relationship (or really even having the two talk at all over the course of Season 4)… I think it’s fair to say that broke a good portion of the fandom, and caused a visceral, negative reaction for a section of the fanbase. Ralph’s acting in his final episode was undeniably excellent, and his goodbye scene with the rest of the cast grueling in the way only dark fantasy shows can accomplish. But the execution left fans divided, with some vowing to quit the show entirely.

In case you’re like me, and found yourself curious after the nine month break to revisit a show you dearly loved before it broke your heart, the good news is that The Magicians is aware of your pain, and dives head first into it during the first few episodes of Season 5. Post-Quentin, things haven’t just changed for his former friends and lovers, but for the entire world… They brought back magic, but the cost is that they brought back too much magic. Surges are making spells go wild at unpredictable rates, and it’s not too much of a spoiler to say that if it isn’t gotten under control, the world will end. Again.

Those are the overall stakes, but where Season 5 succeeds in the early going is not letting go of Quentin’s memory. It hurts, and the reason I said there’s a Quentin shaped hole in the show is that his absence overwhelms nearly every interaction; meaning the end of the world through too much magic seems far less pressing than, say, Quentin’s ex-girlfriend Alice (Olivia Taylor Dudley) figuring out how she can get out of bed in the morning knowing he’s gone. But that’s how fans feel (well, this fan feels), and it’s good to be able to work through all that with the characters on the screen.

There’s even the overall metaphor of the challenge they’re facing: when something traumatic happens to you, your emotions are unpredictable. One moment you’re perfectly fine and composed, the next you’re sobbing in the corner, the next you’re raging and want to break everything in sight. The staff behind The Magicians is savvy enough to know that fantasy is perfect for metaphor, and that’s what they’re playing with here… In a world with magic, even if you’re told a death is permanent, as was explained with Quentin, why would it be? And what would you do to try and get that person back? With your world out of control, how would you seek to bring back your one, stabilizing element?

Without delving too far into spoilers, Alice’s storyline over the first three episodes may somewhat feel like it’s teasing fans with this possibility, and I had a visceral reaction to some of the story choices as they happened on screen. But whatever you feel, hang in there for the third episode, which finally delivers some catharsis not just for Alice but also (finally) for Elliot. Your mileage may vary on whether it makes up for the choice made at the end of Season 4, but it should at least offer some measure of comfort.

Speaking of Eliot, as usual he and Margo (Summer Bishil) have the most delightful storyline as they attempt to figure out how they were thrust hundreds of years into the future of the fantasy realm of Fillory; though true to the tone of the season there are moments of pathos and sadness throughout. Fillorian native Fen (Brittany Curran) and Margo’s nerdy romance partner Josh (Trevor Einhorn) are hilarious as always, while Julia (Stella Maeve) and Penny (Arjun Gupta) get new notes to play with now that they are romantically involved. Even the latter, though, is affected by Quentin’s absence: he was once in love with Julia, and Penny (though an alternate universe version) was his nemesis. Without Mr. Coldwater, the two are free to move forward, though without the dramatically pleasing tension.

And Kady (Jade Tailor) continues to grow into her own as she investigates the magical surges… Her plot involves the most intriguing magic, though often feels separate from what the rest of the cast has going on.

That, in essence, is the issue The Magicians will need to figure out over the course of Season 5, one that will point to the longevity of the series as a whole. Is the bond strong enough between these disparate characters — who often seem to barely tolerate each other’s presence even when romantically involved with each other — without the common link of Quentin Coldwater? It’s an open question, even after the three episodes sent for review by SYFY. But based on the evidence, the show is still charming enough, tongue-in-cheek enough, and the cast game enough that I’m willing to stick around to find out.

The Magicians returns to SYFY on January 15 at 10/9c.

Where to watch The Magicians