#the magicians meta

[asofterhibou]

to add on to the previous post, the fact that Alice is so into Quentin is one of the many layers of why him cheating on her is fucked up, one of the other fun layers being what we see in ep 10 of Alice's parents' very libertine sex life - like how much of Alice's stuff (pastel sexy librarian look, lost her virginity with her clothes on, difficulties talking about her and Quentin's sex life) is consciously or unconsciously tied up in rebellion to her parents? Or a result of the damage they left her with? was dating Quentin the nice sweet shy boy (who reminds her of her brother *cough*) supposed to be another rebellion? And then he cheats on her with two people, one of them a man, so the betrayal is also of the idea of who Quentin was supposed to be, who Alice maybe thought he was, on top of everything else.

#the magicians #the magicians meta #unauthorized magicians rewatch #qualice #alice quinn

[arithmonym]

re-reading the locked tomb, and i'm thinking about how harrow identifies alecto as a "girl" rather than a "woman."

obviously, john had other sources of inspiration... but did you know that the original barbie doll was only supposed to be nineteen years old?

#given that tamsyn says she writes books for angry girls and her seventeen-year-old self: it feels VERY thematically relevant #i’m kicking myself a little for not picking up on it earlier!!! #also: contextualizes john and alecto’s relationship Differently to say the least. sidenote: everyone should read the magician’s apprentice #(the 2013 short story by tamsyn muir) #the locked tomb #tlt #tlt meta #alecto tlt #john gaius

[felicitywilds]

The Magiciatron

A couple of posts came across my dash recently in quick succession about Crowley and Aziraphale’s costuming, and boy howdy did they get me Thinking™. The details of those posts are not super relevant, but they did inspire this one and were quite insightful, so I’d recommend giving them a read anyway, as well as the several other posts I have linked throughout where ideas were taken. Please do give those a read/reblog as well!

And then take a look at this post I saw:

“You’re not trying to trick me, are you?”

Now kindly consider the fact that Crowley is beside Muriel’s left shoulder (like an angel) and the Metatron is on Aziraphale’s right (like a demon). And notice, like I did, that the lapels on his coat are some of the lowest we’ve seen. Which, for an angel-who-isn’t-Aziraphale, and you know, the literal fucking voice of God, is pretty fucking weird. But I digress.

Because what’s important here is that you’re reminded, like I was, how weird it is that the Metatron is wearing so much black.

Surely the most important angel we’ve ever met-- who up to this point, has only ever been depicted as a brilliantly glowing white head, and is (stage blocking-wise, literally) above inhabiting the typical corporations that other angels have, even while in heaven-- surely he would be sporting the cleanest, purest, whitest clothes imaginable, right?

But... he isn’t. He’s not wearing grey or beige like any of the other angels, or even white like Muriel’s constable uniform, he’s wearing black. That’s weird! Angels don’t wear black! Oh... well except when they’re magicians, of course:

(X, X)

But even in his magician costumes, Aziraphale retains many elements of his angelic nature: the upward-pointed lapels; the white cuffs poking out of his sleeves; the floppy bow ties; the single-button or open jacket revealing the soft gold and velvet vests. This is merely a flashy costume! Don’t worry folks, he’s still the same, good old angel underneath!

The Metatron, on the other hand, does not have any of these angelic indicators. Underneath his magician’s coat-- which is big and loose, falls closed in front of him in a way that obscures his suit, and has extremely downward-pointing lapels-- he wears a dark tie, and a very normal-looking, white, pinstripe shirt. No angelic tartan to be seen, either. It’s a very understated, business-minded look compared to Aziraphale’s flashy stage getups. Also worth noting imo is that in many scenes, the Metatron has his hands in his pockets, which obscures his form even more.

Now this might be indicative of something more, some larger scheme we haven’t deduced yet, but by itself it’s a brilliant move by the costuming department, adding yet another perfectly conniving layer to the Metatron’s manipulations:

Dress him in the magician’s coat and send him on stage, where his tricks are hidden in plain sight...

Engage the audience to participate in a dramatic reveal...

Reassure his volunteer that his props are completely normal by offering them up for inspection...

Have the assistant do all the flashy presentation for him...

So that while the audience is distracted, they fail to notice...

... that a swap has been made...

And then the curtain falls. Show over. Audience fooled. Job well done.

The End.

#good omens #good omens meta #good omens analysis #good omens season 2 #good omens spoilers #gomens #gomens meta #aziraphale #the metatron #by me #hes got such a smug look on his face as aziraphale steps into the elevator #he performed his trick flawlessly #be advised the stand-ins for audience and volunteer and assistant are mutable in this metaphor #the only constant is that the metatron is the magician #ok i think thats it SHOOTING THIS OUT INTO THE ETHER NOW #this line of thinking was MOSTLY inspired by the crowley post #and his turtleneck being his 'spy outfit' #which got me thinking about if his white server uniform at warlocks birthday counted as a spy outfit #bc it has lapels (pointed up) whereas no other servers do #which then got me thinking about how hes wearing white and aziraphale black #and then i saw that first post and remembered that metatron ALSO wears black #and then i thought about it for four days then posted this #this is not supporting evidence for coffee theory!!!!!!! #this is a doyalist analysis of costuming and what metatrons role is in that scene #ty for reading

[amarriageoftrueminds]

steve probably spent a lot of time bedridden or in hospital, and playing cards have always been cheap. i bet he knows how to count cards, got invited to play cards with the other candidates at camp lehigh on their first night, sharked the game, and never got asked to play again.

Also offers up the possibility of Steve and Bucky playing as a team, during the war, with Bucky card-counting and secretly signalling, while Steve (the guy with the USO money) pulls the big dumb blonde act, ('oh look fellas, my bet came through! what're the odds!') with his big blue eyes all innocent, every time he strikes it rich.

Takes the Howlies ages to catch on (and they can still never work out how exactly Sarge is signalling!)

Steve's photographic memory would probably come in super useful for this too...

Also: imagine Bucky trying to keep bedridden Steve entertained by learning...😬...magic card tricks. Only half works because he's so appallingly bad at it that Steve ends up laughing himself into a coughing fit.

#toAyourQ #dat's me #hey nonny #pre-serum steve ask #mcu meta #meta #stucky #steve meta #bucky meta #stucky meta #steve rogers #bucky barnes #historically accurate stucky tag #omg magician bucky the theater-nerd!sebstan vibes he's such a nerd he totally would #other possibility: steve knowing how to card-count but being bad at it.... before serum #him and bucky only finding out by accident when steve cleans up in a card game during the war... #and that's when they start up their card sharking team #and another reason it takes everybody so long to notice... #(other than how subtlely steve and buck can communicate with each o ther) #is because no one pays attention to bucky when THE captain america is around #yet each man queues the thing he loves

[aletterinthenameofsanity]

something something tragedies based on stretching out the tension-filled would-die-for-you-and-then-I-did devastatingly genuine human connection is the absolute best and most fertile breeding grounds for fanfic due to the forever unresolved (and thus fixable) nature of the ending, thanks to the one-two-punch combo of The Human Desire For Resolution and the Human Desire To Spite Writers By Fighting Them In A Denny's Parking Lot. In this essay I will-

#merlin #merthur #supernatural #destiel #the magicians #queliot #janto #ianto jones #jack harkness #tragedies #fix it fic #fanfic #meta #trobed #troy barnes #abed nadir #dean winchester #castiel #castiel novak #arthur pendragon #merlin emrys #quentin coldwater #eliot waugh #swanqueen #emma swan #regina mills #the avengers #tony stark #irondad #spiderkid

[impossibledial]

fellow clara oswald enthusiasts, why do we think clara said she “had” to be with danny pink in dark water?

#read tags #i always felt it was odd choice of words when watching. #the obvious thing to say to someone you love is ‘i need to be with you’ not ‘i have to be with you’. #before anyone jumps me: i’m not a dannyclara anti. i’ve grown to quite like them actually. #but whether or not danny had died i don’t i think they would have worked out and not due to doctorclara! #series 8 constantly showed they wanted different things from life. danny wanted to settle. clara wanted the adventure. #this is even shown to be true in last christmas when clara’s an old woman. #with or without the doctor she’s made for the adventure. #moffat himself said they wouldn’t have worked out because clara was too ready to lie to him. #it was in a behind the scenes commentary for the magician’s apprentice i think. or the whole of series 9. #but it’s on video and it’s there. #so back to clara saying ‘i have to be with danny pink’ #she says she will do WHATEVER IT TAKES and go WHEREVER HE IS to be with him. #she must know that includes dying. so why does she say she has to? #perhaps i’m looking to much into it. #clara oswald #twelfth doctor #danny pink #doctor who #clara oswald meta #doctor who meta #just tagging twelve because it’s his era.

[vamptits]

#magicians mentioned....... #you are both fandom big names to me for art and meta.

[artbyblastweave]

Nearly all the way through The Magicians, and one thing I find interesting about it is that it’s very much running off of the same kind of “Make shit up as we go along” extremely loosely defined plot-deferent magic system and worldbuilding as the 7-book children’s series it’s so aggressively riffing on. However I’m infinitely more forgiving of this because I find it genuinely extremely funny, and more broadly the show is absolutely under no illusions about the fact it’s central cast is a bunch of former-gifted-child burnouts and fuckups who solve slightly, slightly more problems on balance than they cause, and moreover this is true of literally every magician in the setting. The wainscott society that’s initially dangled in front of the clinically-depressed protagonist as a form of escape and wonder is consistently portrayed as a catastrophic force multiplier for bad life outcomes- and this is hammered home as early as episode one, when the protagonist’s first magical mysterious adventure soiree leads to him and his friends inadvertently summoning a humanoid abomination who butchers a professor in front of them and then pulls out the not!Dumbledore’s eyes. 

#the magicians #thoughts #meta #media analysis

[waraxarcana]

Everyone shits on Law’s Wano disguise, but I never see people giving Hawkins crap for the fact that he actually didn’t recognize Law long enough for him to launch an attack.

Seriously. Yes, Law’s bad disguises are funny (even though he wasn’t putting in much effort on Dressrosa because he wanted Doffy to recognize him and on Wano he was legit dressed as a type of monk from the Edo period know as a komuso), but Hawkins deserves to be made fun of for not noticing the tattoos and Heart Pirate insignia and connecting the dots. Especially considering how he had to be expecting Law since he’d fucking captured three members of his crew.

#Magician (Basil Hawkins) #Death (Trafalgar Law) #Spirit Board (Meta/Analysis) #(this will never not annoy me) #(I get the fandom's first instinct is always to make fun of Law and I'll join in occasionally but Hawkins keeps getting let off easy) #(who's the more foolish? the guy in the half-assed disguise or the guy who actually fell for it?) #(like that's Luffy levels of not seeing through an obvious disguise)

[sarenth]

Meditation on Meta-Worlds

Once, worlds like Second Life and the more recent Decentraland and the Metaverse held a good deal of interest for modern magical folks regardless of what your worldview happened to be. Suppositions on the kinds of effects we could get through the use of digital sigils and bindrunes, casting ‘there’ to affecting ‘here’, were among a variety of spellcasting and ritual ideas. Folks were…

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#animism #animist #avatar #Decentraland #digital #doing #exploration #exploring #heathen #Heathenry #ideas #life #magic #magical #magician #making #Meta #Paganism #polytheism #polytheist #religion #Second #Second Life #shrine #sigil #sigils #simulacrum #simulation #vaettir #VR

[asofterhibou]

s4 of the magicians feels like such a departure from the earlier seasons. I keep thinking of the word 'liminal' but that's not it exactly; I think it's the introduction of the penthouse and its weird lighting as the main setting, along with the disruption caused by breaking up two of the main character pairings, Eliot and Margo and Penny and Kady, and also Quentin's emotional closed-offness shutting the audience out partially from the story as well, maybe. Hard to pin down. I had a story idea that I don't think I'll ever flesh out into a whole fic that's just entirely the weird vibes of this season, where they're in the penthouse kitchen still early in the season and the monster has left after doing something typically creepy, and they're talking about what to do, and Julia says something like, "Same shit, different day," and Kady accidentally catches Quentin's eye as Julia says it, Kady and Quentin who aren't friends and who haven't had (and who never do have) any conversation in the penthouse longer than "There's takeout on the counter," but for a second they're looking at each other across the stupid fancy kitchen island and thinking that there's a thing walking around in Eliot's body, and a stranger who is Penny who looks at Kady with indifference in his eyes, and Julia is eerily perfect-looking and only ever seems to sleep and eat out of habit these days, or maybe only to make the rest of them feel better, as they hide out from the rest of the magical world like fugitives in Marina Andrieski's stolen apartment -

"Yeah," Quentin says, and looks away. "Same shit."

#the magicians #the magicians season four #the magicians meta

[sovonight]

u have no idea what i’ve accomplished in the last 72 hours (finished 5 full-color pics that i’m queuing for 4 days from now)

#i've been combing through xan's dialog file again #you insult him once and he's like uh excuse you but of my 6 siblings my father chose me to wield this moonblade so you don't know shit #then if you're romancing him & you insult him he's like 'ah. i guess i was under a complex set of delusions. set 'xanbg1romance' to false' #im also not over how many options there are to insult him during the romance like if he asks why you chose him-- #--you can say 'i didnt have much choice :/ so i took what was available' and he's like 'available???? 😢' and i'm like noooo #but also the way he confesses is to go 'are you stupid?? im utterly in love with you. and that's why i have to leave 😟 for both our sakes' #obsessed w how he operates at peak romance but also peak '🙄' at once #he'll murmur poetry to himself and sing aubades and sketch your portrait in his journal-- #--but then dismiss those things as frivolous in his next breath #his toxic trait is that before you get together xan’s like you just see me as your pet magician 😒 just a toy for you to play around with #and like. on a meta level yeah. but in the game nooo #so of course you say 'no xan i value and cherish you' and of course he goes 'whatever just leave me to suffer' #he's a sensitive artsy noble hopeless pathetic prideful & deeply emotional heap of grey cloth #sovo art #baldur's gate

[archetypesanalysis]

The Mandalorian Season 4 Theory: The King

Season 3 finale seems to set Din Djarin up for his final trial – to become a King. Throughout 3 seasons, Din has become a good Warrior, a great Lover and a positive Magician. These 3 archetypes are necessary for Din to become a good and generative King. His journey to become King begins when he formally adopts Grogu as his son as the King archetype is also known as the Father archetype.

The King has two functions: ordering, and providing fertility and blessing. The Armorer sends Din Djarin off of Mandalore and take Grogu on a journey, just like his teacher has done for him. This journey requires Din to pass down everything he has learned to Grogu, just like a father passing down his wisdom to his children. This journey can only be taken if Din lives according to “the Way of the Mandalorian”. Since Din has bathed in the Living Waters beneath the Mines of Mandalore and has not taken off his helmet after the ritual, he has embodied the Way in his own person and is worthy to pass down the Way to Grogu (though, Din can take off his helmet now as the Armorer has become lenient with the helmet rule – maybe season 4?).

After leaving Mandalore, Din offers to work for the New Republic as an independent contractor to hunt down Imperial remnants in the Outer Rim. He also receives a deed to a new cabin by Greef Karga so he can use the cabin between adventures. The King owns his land and people, and it is his responsibility to bring peace, order and fertility to his land and people. Anything or anyone outside the realm of the king is full of chaos. In this context, the New Republic and any planets allied with Din Djarin and the Mandalorians are in the realm of the King, where there is peace and order. Meanwhile, the Imperial remnants are outside the realm of the King, where there is chaos and strife. Moreover, Din has provided a blessing to Grogu – a family and a home.

In many stories, a good King starts off as a humble servant. This is because the King, who is at the Centre, serves as a mediator between the mortal and the divine, the seen and the unseen, the physical world and the spiritual world. This is how the King, through a higher power, gives orders and blessings to others. Din Djarin has been a humble servant to Boba Fett, Bo-Katan and now the New Republic. One day, he might rise to become a King.

The King starts off as the Divine Child. The Divine Child is all powerful but vulnerable and helpless. His presence symbolizes something new and creative – he produces new enthusiasm for life, and brings great peace and joy. He often brings opposing sides and people together for a brighter, kinder future in a way that no one else can, creating a world-transcending order, which is a characteristic function of the King. These empowering qualities cause people to believe in them and in their vision for a better world. The Divine Child becomes the hope for the next generation, hence, people have expectations on him.

We have seen Din Djarin having the ability to unite opposing forces and grant blessings to others. Kuiil thanks him for restoring peace to his valley. He blesses Grogu with the love and care of a parent. He restores peace to the village on Sorgan. He unites Cara Dune, Kuiil, IG-11 and Greef Karga to liberate Nevarro from Imperial control, which turns the planet into a respectable trading place for various citizens. He helps Cobb Vanth to unite the people of Mos Pelgo and the Tusken Raiders to kill the krayt dragon, effectively ending the feud between both groups. He helps the Frog Lady to reunite with her husband, which blesses her to have children. He teams up with Ahsoka to liberate the city of Calodan from the control of Morgan Elsbeth. He recruits Cara Dune, Boba Fett, Fennec, Mayfeld, Bo-Katan and Koska to help him rescue Grogu from Moff Gideon. He helps Boba Fett to take down the Pykes in Mos Espa and he gathers the people of Freetown to fight. He indirectly unites the Tribe and Bo-Katan’s Nite Owls to retake Mandalore.

However, evil forces will try to destroy the Divine Child when its presence is known. Fortunately, the Divine Child can attract external forces to protect them, so they will be protected and spirited away until they are strong enough to begin their life’s work and until the forces that would destroy them have spent their energy. Throughout the series, Din Djarin has been rescued by external forces multiple times – Death Watch Mandalorian warriors, Kuiil, IG-11, Grogu, Bo-Katan and her Nite Owls, Boba Fett and Fennec Shand, Luke Skywalker, New Republic Pilots, etc. It is as if the Force is constantly protecting him, pulling him out of situations where he would have died.

In “Chapter 14: The Tragedy”, Din tells Grogu that he is a special kid, and his ability to appreciate the specialness of a child can be reflected on himself – Din is as special as Grogu. Besides, Grogu is also a Divine Child as he is powerful yet vulnerable, and requires others to protect him until he can master his Force abilities. He is seen as someone who can unite opposing groups as it is possible Grogu would grow up to become a Mandalorian-Jedi like Tarre Vizsla.

This video by Generational Tech theorizes that Din Djarin was once part of the Disciples of the Whills, who are a group of Force worshippers. The Disciples of the Whills wear red robes, and they are seen on Jedha in “Rogue One”. If this is true, Din may be special and his meeting with Grogu can be seen as destined by the Force. I hope season 4 would show flashbacks of Din’s life before he was rescued by the Mandalorians, and his time with his teacher.

Aq Vetina, the homeworld of Din Djarin does have architecture (the domed buildings) that are similar to those in Istanbul and Jerusalem. In addition, “Din” means “religion, way of life” in Arabic, while “Jarin” (the 'd' is silent) means “cry of rejoicing, to sing, to shout, is full of joy” in Hebrew. Moreover, the artists depict the Death Watch warriors in Din’s flashback in a biblical and dreamy manner in some of the concept arts. One of the concept arts depict the Mandalorian warrior that rescue Din to be wearing white armour, as if he is an angel. I feel that the motifs and imagery are intentional to depict Din as the Divine Child.

Furthermore, it is strange that Din does not know about the significance of the Darksaber until he wins it from Moff Gideon. The Armorer and Paz Vizsla know about the Darksaber. This makes me wonder if foundlings are not told of the Darksaber, or that the information is kept away from Din. If it is the latter, it raises questions whether the Armorer knows something special about Din and that she is testing him by sending him on multiple quests, leading him to fulfil his destiny.

It is worth noting that the King has a bipolar Shadow: The Tyrant and the Weakling. The Tyrant is destructive as he hates and envies new life and creativity. He is threatened by new life so he exploits and abuses others to maintain his fragile position. The Tyrant also can become the Weakling as the Weakling is paranoid of someone would expose and overthrow him, hence, he has no inner peace. Who would take on the roles of the bipolar Shadow King is yet to be seen in season 4 (though I suspect it’s Grand Admiral Thrawn or anyone in the Imperial remnants since Moff Gideon is consumed by flames).

#the mandalorian #star wars #din djarin #grogu #the mandalorian analysis #the mandalorian theory #the mandalorian season 4 #the mandalorian season four #star wars the mandalorian #sw the mandalorian #king warrior magician lover #archetypal psychology #archetypes #the mandalorian meta

[ikkaku-of-heart]

@waxgentleman asked: Hawkins x Killer HAWWKINS X IKKKAKUUUUU Send me a ship and I'll fill out this bingo card (Still Accepting!)

Hawkins x Killer

Answered here

HAWWKINS X IKKKAKUUUUU

Hoooooooo boy this one is my beautiful, toxic, self-indulgent for the sake of drama and angst ship that came out of nowhere. What started as me wanting Ikkaku to have a personal nemesis turned into something so fucking toxic and deliciously complex that it's become a borderline obsession (to the point where I have a Hawkins sideblog of all things). It's just so interesting because if it weren't for all of the bad intentions and subterfuge on both sides this would be one of the better relationships for Ikkaku because it's a man who, while powerful, is interested in her and not just seeing her as a way to get to her captain. But because Hawkins is an unhinged madman who sees Ikkaku as his way to escape his fate of being killed and fail in his dream to become Pirate King, it's never meant to be and things become so very, very bad for Ikkaku when he gets his hands on her on Wano. This shit definitely earned the "only I understand how it works" square on the bingo card because it's so full of bad times I feel awful inflicting my thoughts on anyone else lol.

#waxgentleman #How Stuff Works (Meta/Analysis) #Wear My Heart on My Sleeve (Shipping) #High Priestess and Magician - Hawkins x Ikkaku #Major Arcana (Hawkins) #Engine’s Pulse (Ikkaku) #(this ship. this fucking ship man) #(I want to talk about just how bad this ship gets but I don't want to go too dark on people) #(but it becomes kind of tragic because Hawkins does care in a messed up way but he cares about himself more) #(she's his goddess that he aims to steal divinity from and he's the man who actually saw Ikkaku as more than Law's subordinate)

[life-love-geekculture]

You know, the one thing I really appreciate about the shade-less Julia storyline in The Magicians is that they didn’t keep her “evil” very long.

Like, yes, admittedly, she did almost get Quentin & Alice (not to mention most of Brakebills) killed by Reynard. She also burned down a sentient forest. However, where a lot of fantasy shows would keep the character on the road to becoming a monster until their soul is restored by their friends, The Magicians doesn’t. Shadeless Julia is no less of a psychopath than Martin or Quentin-23 were, but she actively forces herself to make choices not in her best interest or that would inhibit her goals because she knows intellectually, at least, they’re the right thing to do. It’s a really fascinating and unique spin on a fairly common genre trope and it makes me a little sad no one highlights it more.

#the magicians #julia wicker #fantasy tropes #meta

[artbyblastweave]

Just finished off The Magicians (the syfy adaptation, in case there was any confusion). Was told to expect something godawful; was actually pleasantly surprised, in the sense that this is the only time I’ve seen a show like this semi-competently wrap everything up in a normal-length season finale that comes on the tail of one of their basically-could-have-been-in-the-middle-of-an-earlier-season Wacky Heist Plots. It was a shitshow but not Rise-of-Skywalker levels. It should have been much more viscerally unpleasant than it was.

Structurally I feel like one of the show’s biggest problems was that they never really worked out what to do with Quentin, their erstwhile protagonist; Conceptually, he’s interesting because he’s meh. He’s Harry Potter if Harry Potter’s childhood was conventionally shitty, middle-of-the-road suburbia shitty, and there’s an interesting statement wrapped up in how his unwavering love of the fantasy series of his childhood is validated (it was all very literally real!) but he himself isn’t necessarily exceptional, he’s the “chosen one” not by birthright but by virtue of groundhog day shenanigans where the people who instigated the loop keep trying to steer him into not getting everyone killed, he’s kind of a fuckup and a burnout who keeps learning that escape isn’t and can’t be what he needs it to be. All of which worked really well for me in the first season. 

But to synthesize a lot of meandering misgivings I have with his character arc.... you can only push the disillusionment line so far before he basically gets that being the chosen one is a bogus concept and that fantasy novels aren’t a life roadmap... and from there he’s basically just constantly putting out emergent fires, and I never felt like there was necessarily a thesis with his character- the bones of one, rattling around, the obvious parallels he has with the first-season Big Bad as an obsessive looking for an escape, but never quite realized. And without looking it up, his death feels like the kind of thing where the actor wanted to leave the show and the writers had to grit their teeth and make do. 

All of this leading to a situation where, in the final Quentinless season, it’s very strange because the cast is objectively now composed entirely of cast members I found more interesting and charming and funnier on their face than Quentin, and they’re throwing in a lot of meta-level elbows to the rib about how it was never really Quentin’s story exclusively, right, these characters are strong enough to carry it themselves, but there’s undeniably something missing, for all his deliberate mediocrity. Well, that’s kind of it, isn’t it? Deliberately trying to cultivate mediocrity in a character in order to make a point, but then not springboarding to something more complicated than that, at least not in a way I found satisfying. I mean if you start cracking jokes about how you don’t really need your mediocre white male protagonist that badly, and then you demonstrate that you’re basically right.... that’s kind of an implicit condemnation of the four seasons you spent with this guy as the lead, isn’t it? The bottom should fall out of your show, actually, if you remove the protagonist. Pick a guy who is the center of the story, with a good reason for that. Or keep the haves-and-have-nots dual-life-path-with-the-childhood-friend thing going further. I dunno. I respect their attempted pivot into an ensemble thing but it didn’t quite land.

(Also I didn’t like the Penny-23/Penny-40 situation. It was like they couldn’t figure out a satisfying direction for Penny 40 so they pseudo-kill him and replace him with a version whose character development occurred in a doomed timeline. Other things could have happened there!)

But, broadly speaking, I did like it moment to moment. There was never a single moment that I was watching the show and wanted to not be, never a single moment where I was not entertained, very few jokes that I didn’t find entertaining. I think this might be what it’s like to watch an okay television program. Striking that balance where nothing you’re watching is too grotesquely uninteresting that you get up and walk away, even if the zoomed-out overarching narrative skeleton is one of those bizarre badly reconstructed fossil amalgamations borne out of the 1800s paleontological arms races. Interesting experience all around.

#thoughts #meta #the magicians #media analysis