Fun
Frisky
Nostalgic
Intense
Adventurous
Choked Up
Curious
Romantic
Weird
Technically, The Magicians brought Quentin back. Technically.
Let me be clear: Former star of the show Jason Ralph does not make an appearance in Season 5, Episode 2, “The Wrath of the Bees.” Instead, child actor Luca Padovan makes an appearance as young Quentin. You might recognize Padovan as Paco on You or Tucker from Crazy Ex-Girlfriend. Padovan is freakin’ adorable as baby Q, not mention the perfect, heartbreaking blend of innocent and wise. But it only made me miss our Q even more.
If you’ll recall, Quentin died when he sacrificed himself to save the universe in the Season 4 finale. A lot of people were very angry about this, including yours truly. Then the Season 5 premiere ended on a cliffhanger that heavily implied Alice (Olivia Dudley) was going to use dark magic to bring back a golem version of Q.
Which she does. But she messes up. It’s not adult Q that Alice brings back, it’s a 12-year-old Q. Julia (Stella Maeve), who of course was Q’s childhood best friend, recognizes him instantly. This child is not the real young Q, but he does have all of Q’s memories. Alice was hoping that golem!Q could translate a mysterious document Alice found in Q’s stuff. Unfortunately, 12-year-old Q can’t read the document, and because the spell keeps the golem alive until he completes his purpose, that means they’re stuck on babysitter duty indefinitely. Don’t worry, baby Q imparts some wisdom, and everything gets fixed.
Speaking of timey-wimey magic fixing things involving Quentin: This episode of The Magicians implied there might be another way to bring him back. Eliot (Hale Appleman) goes to visit Jane Chatwin and learns that Quentin considered him his best friend (sob). Eliot finally asks the question we’ve all been dying to ask: Why, exactly, can we not just turn back time and save Q? Especially if we’re going to turn back time to save Josh and Fen?
Well, according to Jane, it’s because if we took away Quentin’s sacrifice, everything that was gained from that sacrifice would be lost. That list includes Eliot’s life, everyone else’s lives, magic, etc. Eliot, thank god, does not listen. He steals the time machine gadgets and runs off.
One of those gadgets is a perfume that “protects from timey-wimey whatever,” meaning they can change the past and not erase themselves in the future. That sounds like a great way to bring Q back to me! They start with Josh. First, they try to bring him back with time bees. But Josh is allergic to bees, so they end up killing him again. Eliot proposes giving up and letting Josh stay dead. Margo (Summer Bishil), rightfully, tells him to piss off. For the next attempt, Margo uses magic stamps to send a magic letter to Josh 300 years in the past that tells him everything he needs to know to survive. And after a first failed attempt, the letter works! Josh goes to the clock dwarf and gets himself, Fen, Tick, and “a dozen other people” forward 300 years. Great! How about a letter for Quentin now?
No one brings this up, for some reason, but the final shot of the episode is Eliot leaving a letter addressed to “Quentin Coldwater Before He Went To the Seam.” Once again, The Magicians ends on a cliffhanger that implies Quentin might be returning to the show. Is it possible? Sure, it’s possible. Is it likely? I’ll be honest: Not really.
Showrunners Sera Gamble and John McNamara, and Ralph himself have all said, very firmly, the actor is not returning in Season 5. Ralph is not in the Season 5 trailer, and he was off doing other projects while Season 5 of The Magicians was in production. Never say never, but don’t get your hopes up too high.
