Mo' Magicians Sketches
Matt and I finished the final season of The Magicians and I am... dissatisfied.
Don't get me wrong, I enjoy the occasional Gotta-Defeat-The-Big-Bad-Guy/Save-The-World storyline, but it's gotta be that: occasional. Season One is propelled by the terror of The Beast and the crew's attempt to bring him down so he stops slaughtering everyone at Magic School. Good stuff! As a direct consequence of this, Season Two must contend with the end of magic the world over. Intriguing! Continuing this thread, Season Three sees the crew questing to fix magic. Ok, cool, still got me hooked. In the process of restoring magic, the team unleashes a brand new psychotic, murderous villain (The Beast 2.0) in Season Four. Ok, hm, kinda feels like we already did that in Season One... With Season Five being the final chapter, they've gotta do something even bigger than all the previous seasons before, right? Well, what's bigger than thwarting TOTAL APOCALYPSE?
The Magicians excels in the ordinary.
Students bored and flirting with each other in the back of a college-level magic class. A best friend is jealous that her BFF is obsessed with his new boyfriend, so she unintentionally removes her competition with a genie wish. An utterly unqualified king is more invested in planning his perfect wedding than running his country. A self-involved group of horny 20-somethings have to learn the basics of urban planning and politics.
I mean, yes, the examples about running a country aren't going to be especially relatable to most of us, but they are fundamentally ordinary situations: It's working within bureaucracy to keep basic society functioning. Our local newspapers are full of reporting on how our elected officials are running (or not) our public infrastructures and their internal skirmishes over inane bureaucratic systems and rules. Those are ordinary problems! Sorry, I'm getting off track here.
What I'm saying is: Ordinary problems being treated with magic is plenty interesting on its own. I don't need a Big Big Bad who has to be defeated or the world to be saved, because real life dumb shit is high enough stakes! And you know what's really fascinating to me? Seeing what unexpected effect magic can have on familiar situations- stuff like being bored in class and flirting with a cute fellow student, or getting jealous that your best friend is freshly in love and ignoring you, or being totally stressed out while trying to plan the most epic wedding.
Overall, I'm still a fan of the show and I found things to enjoy or appreciate in each of the seasons, but if I were the High King of Fillory and could dictate how show storylines go, I woulda kept the first three seasons as-is, and then the final two would be just... exploring the world that they've created. Focus on the local politics and infrastructure of running a medieval country. Focus on the friction within interpersonal relationships. Or if you really need something (Ember's) balls-to-the-walls fantastical: Focus on giving us the history of Fillory! Christ, there's plenty of material to explore there!
Even with the show finished, my interest is still thoroughly piqued. The visual language (not sure if that's the right word) of this show have me captured. I want to recreate so many of the different props and draw the costumes and just... soak in the world ephemera that lines the walls of every scene.
The Magicians is fun.
I like it.
Comments (12)
I loved this series, both the books and on tv. The second to last season wrecked me honestly. The last season was drifting on fumes honestly, but it was fun nonetheless. Highly recommend regardless. Love your sketches. ❤️
Thank you! ❤️
That 2nd sketch with the lineup would be such a cool illustration idea for a D&D character through the levels to see how they've changed from lv 1 newb to lv 20 hero.
This is another idea that would never have occurred to me and I am intrigued!
Now you have to read the books (if you haven’t already). Different, but still good. I view the show as the best kind of fan fiction- one that expands and improvises with the universe and characters while still being true to the original characters.
THERE ARE BOOKS??!??
To borrow the language of comic books, not every scene has to be a two page splash panel. Not every plot line has to be an annual spanning across all of the continuity maxi series event. A lot of the real story happens in the panels in between, the stuff that makes the characters who they are. That way when something big does happen it does seem like an event. I'm with you. I like all of the day-to-day little bits.
Perfectly put 👌
Constantly ratcheting up the stakes ruins so many shows.
Aw, wet fart endings are such butts! But yay for good art and ideas!
Totally get what you mean, power creep in storytelling is SOOOOOO boring. What I'm interested in are complex challenges that highlight the inherent strengths and weaknesses of characters, not how big their fireball is compared to the Big Bad Evil Guy's fireball. I don't care about the balls!!! (lmao) Friends (1994) but low-fantasy would be such an instant hit.
OMG YES, low-fantasy Friends is exactly what I want!!!