The Magicians Continues to Conjure up Thrills and Surprises
If you haven’t been watching SyFy’s “The Magicians” you should be! I had been hesitant to watch the series in the beginning, because I am a fan of the books, and usually, books into movies and television shows “gang aft agley.” The writers and showrunners have excelled themselves with this series, though, and I almost hate to admit it, I’m beginning to like the series better than the books.
A lot of comparisons to Harry Potter have been going on since the book’s publication in 2009, and of course began anew with the series debut. But this is more like the illegitimate child of the Harry Potter series and of Narnia, grown up, mixed up, and maybe a little bit on crack. The third episode airs tonight at 9 p.m. on the East Coast, and you will not want to miss it.
The story continues to expand and grow, with Quentin (Jason Ralph, absolutely Quentin of the novel to the T), Alice (Olivia Taylor Dudley) and Penny (Arjun Gupta) are taken in for individual testing to see what their primary power is, resulting in some jaw dropping displays of magic. Julia ( Stella Meave) meanwhile continues her alliance with the hedgewitches, pretty much ditching every aspect of her old life, including her boyfriend, James (Michael Cassidy). Alice continues to try to find a way to find her brother Charlie, suckering Quentin in once more, and I’ll leave it at that. What ensues has to be seen to be believed.
There’s lots of subtle humor to watch for, and I guarantee after one such scene, you will never trust your books again. Always notice how your TBR pile grows magically almost overnight? There’s a reason for that.
I believe that SyFy has hit the right chord with The Magicians, and the fact that I’m not-so-secretly fangirling over the series should say something, coming from a usual “book purist.” I can’t wait to see what happens next, and that I have to wait a whole week for the next episode has me squirming.
The Magicians airs on Mondays at 9:00 p.m. East Coast time on SyFy.