When Penny lost the magic in his hands, his sense of purpose quickly evaporated. Without magic in his life, he didn’t really know who he was or what he contributed to this world; it had been a guiding light for him, something that both made him feel special and directed him toward the life he wanted, and not having that managed to shake the confidence of arguably the least shakeable of Quentin’s peer group. Penny may work hard to come off as aloof and distant, so as to protect himself from the hurt that comes with being vulnerable, but there is a beating heart beneath the billowing open shirts and embracing that helped push him toward agreeing to indentured servitude with the librarians in the Neitherlands. Yet for as forlorn as Penny might be about the loss of his freedom and the fact that the entirety of his life has already been decided, he can actually use his new position to help his friends – no magic required.
On the next episode of The Magicians, Penny and Kady try to figure out how to get into the Poison Room and snag the book that could defeat Reynard once and for all. The main obstacle standing in the way is the head librarian, whose reaction to Harriet’s spell nearly getting the door opened was less than optimal; there’s absolutely no way that she would give the code to get into the Poison Room willingly and where Penny has to spend the remainder of his life (and the the beginning of his afterlife) hid away with this woman, making an enemy this soon after starting his term in the library wouldn’t be the wisest thing. However, the librarian is like everyone else in that she has a book of her life in the actual library, a book that Penny could sneak off and find the code therein. It’d take another person to set up a distraction to keep his boss occupied while he sniffed out the book, but this is a non-magical way for Penny to contribute to saving his friends and allow Julia the opportunity for vengeance against the being who raped her. And right now, he needs to know that he’s still valuable and capable even without being able to cast, so success here could provide the confidence boost necessary to keep him motivated in his quest to restore magic to his hands.
Elsewhere on The Magicians, Margo struggles to find a way to fix her deal with the fairies, while Eliot becomes overwhelmed with the mounting pressure in Fillory and Quentin teams with Julia to find an Ancient One and, subsequently, a way to the Underworld.
The Magicians airs Wednesdays at 9:00 on Syfy.
Will Penny be able to get the book Kady needs to defeat Reynard? Is there any way for Margo to alter the agreement with the fairies, even with them already having Fen and the ambassador still smarting from her behavior at their negotiations? Even if Quentin and Julia are successful at finding her shade, how difficult will it be to fuse the two back together?
