The Magicians (2016)

In season two, The Magicians is darker, deeper, and just plain better than it was in season one, and it makes a claim for being one of the most unexpectedly great shows on television.

The Magicians Season 4 reboots its characters in exciting ways without losing any of the charm and anarchy that makes the show so delightful. Impossibly, it’s a serialized, character-driven sci-fi series that shows no signs of slowing down, and is opening up compelling and refreshing new avenues of storytelling that are grounded in emotional truth and a willingness to get funky.

A premiere packed with sexual innuendo, pop culture references, and Margo snark. [12 Jan 2018, p.55]

The students of Brakebills have never fit in and aren’t part of a hierarchy, and, like a lot of young people, can be their own worst enemy. So far The Magicians played off those reverse expectations fairly well, and has a more hip Gothic atmosphere to it. It will be interesting to see if it can keep all the balls flying in the air.

The show is at its worst when straining to be provocative and, in so doing, incorporating various Hollywood clichés (Hogwarts meets Gossip Girl, one review blared). But in terms of establishing a world and getting the plot going, the show’s first episodes are actually pretty promising.

The rushed plot leaves Grossman's rich world feeling empty. That world is still fun to live in--even if it's not as good in TV form.

There's little that's magical about the cold, poorly paced Magicians pilot. It takes 16 minutes until Quentin arrives at Brakebills and feels longer. The pilot is rife with drab colors and while the story has potential, it made me want to go find the book rather than watch more of the TV series.

The best version of this that one is likely to get. Still schlocky, but entertaining and the acting is not totally terrible. :D

[SPOILER ALERT: This review contains spoilers.]

TL;DR: **** vision of magic stuff. This series is nice enough to watch while exercising. There's a magic academy, there's a not-so-imaginary magical country and even an almost godlike evil magician that acts as the villain, still it's not a Harry Potter ripoff. We follow a group of students who train at the school, while trying to find a way to thwart the Beast (who is the aforementioned evil magician and not the 666 guy from the Apocalypse). There are enough twists and turns to keep things interesting, but there is one major fault with the show. It's a female supremacist's dream, it's a tale where super ultra incredibly intelligent, capable and driven women have to save the day constantly, while mediocre men only serve to mess things up. The male protagonist is a stupid nerd who does nothing right. He's repeatedly humiliated on several levels the moment he enters school. He repeats constantly: "I'm nothing special with magic" - and he's a sad failure at anything that's NOT magic, so go figure. His lifelong friend is a super brilliant girl who excels at everything she does and immediately commands everyone's respect. There's also a genius-level girl who excels at everything and at some point even reveals that she is much more powerful than she lets on, it's just that people hate her enough as it is, so she stifles herself. In one episode, we meet a disabled black lesbian (so many boxes ticked with this one!) who essentially creates the magic equivalent of Einstein's Relativity Theory, but without any magic education and working completely in her mind, without taking notes, being a prisoner in a catatonic body. She tells another girl: "To hell with the school, they won't help a smart girl. Why would they? They are afraid of us". Then there's a missing teleporting girl who is described as an exceptionally gifted, spirited woman, blah blah blah. Even a semi-evil witch is actually competent enough to beat the gasbags in the school and is feared by everyone, because of her power and skill. Men, on the other hand, are never more than mediocre. Good only at drinking and partying, they are clueless in school and need to cheat at exams. They are mostly socially inept and regularly fail at everything they attempt. Ethnic and sexual minorities get a somewhat kinder treatment, but not by much. There is absolutely no brilliant male. Possibly the villain, but he's another loser and derives his power from treachery, not from talent. Minor spoiler: the growth of the main character consists in learning he's inferior to women, in learning to grovel more and more and, finally, in submitting to the genius girl ("You are a better magician... and a better person") and giving up his involuntary hero role, admitting she is a much better candidate. Is the world really like this? IMO no, it isn't, and this show is a disgrace.

I loved the books. The first Season of The Magicians takes most of the plot from the first and second book of the series. I generally liked it except for the fact they treat Quentin terribly. In the book he is an awkward geek that learns to trust his friends and advances as a person. In the show he is a whiney pathetic sack. In the book he is clearly, clearly a very talented magician. In the show Alice and later Julie are both much better than him. I get it, writers today like to **** on straight white males. It was just jarring to see how all of the other characters had been elevated at the expense of Quentin as a character.

10 out of 10 until season 3; at that point just stop watching. All of sudden the "woke" crowd took over and ran the story and show into ground. They should be walked out for this tragedy. Male characters transformed into simps = check Kill or background any strong leads = check Cringe inducing scenes from the talentless = check Broken story and pushing politics = check None based on talent or merit; simply filling the equation. All at cost of show, audience and reviews... Just sad.