After a life of feeling like a square peg trying to fit into the round hole that is this world, Quentin got everything he wanted upon entering Brakebills. Not only did his issues with anxiety and depression dissipate once he was admitted to the university, he was able to find a group of friends who shared a common interest/ability, spark a romantic connection with the girl of his dreams, and go on a cavalcade of adventures he could’ve only imagined happening in his favorite book series. To beat it all, ignored, anxious Quentin Coldwater was named High King of Fillory, culminating a lifetime of yearning for belonging and purpose with ruling a land he was only too familiar with. But Quentin’s dream life came crashing in around him with the rise of The Beast and the untimely demise of Alice, leading him to face a sadness he thought he had been finally freed from. Rather than try to pick himself back up after experiencing significant trauma, Quentin effectively pulled the ripcord and bid adieu to a life that previously seemed tailor made for him.
On the next episode of The Magicians, Quentin finds himself living the life he left behind for Brakebills. Instead of enchanted forests, moth-fueled magical beings, and literal gods, his everyday existence consists of staff e-mail, a communal kitchen, and a whole lot of silence. It’s a destiny every fiber of his being rejected prior going to Brakebills, but it’s something that now offers the type of safety and comfort that he wouldn’t get elsewhere; Quentin doesn’t have to worry about the fate of his loved ones while chained to a desk smack dab in the middle of corporate America – his supervisor isn’t going to be consumed by magic, the guy he passes in the hallway every day isn’t going to be harmed by a god he summoned. But in the middle of the crushing mundanity that has become his new normal, Quentin soon realizes that magic hasn’t completely left him, that even out in the real world, there are people with whom he shares an ability. The only question now is what’s he going to do with the realization that magic can exist even outside the world of Fillory.
Elsewhere on The Magicians, Eliot and Margo struggle with the dangers of ruling Fillory, while Dean Fogg sends Penny to Professor Mayakovsky for help with his malfunctioning hands and Julia and Katy discover another consequence of Reynard’s attack.
The Magicians airs Wednesdays at 9:00 on Syfy.
How long will it take for Quentin to return to the world of magic from his desk job in corporate America? Will Professor Mayakovsky be able to help Penny restore the magic in his hands? What will it take for Julia and Katy to successfully banish Reynard from Earth once and for all?
