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The Magicians - SyFy [SHOW SPOILERS ONLY]


RedEyedGhost

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 While I don't blame Penny for losing patience with Quentin's twitching and Fillory obsession, and I don't really care about Penny's humiliation due to whatsername admitting she was just using him, I enjoyed the episode, what with Quentin and Penny cheating, the teaming up of Alice, Q, Penny, and Whatsername,the threat of having to blow a horse (I laughed along with Elliot and Whatsername 2), and Q and A's revelations.

Maybe I should be more interested but I was detached with what Julia is getting into.

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Julia continues to be the most interesting character and arc. I really enjoy her search for magic and struggle with Marina.

The Brakebills kids are less interesting. Their trials and tribulations seem more like surviving fraternity hazing than learning magic. I'm wondering why the upperclassmen have so much power over them. The professors must be research professors first and instructors last with the upperclassmen being TAs. Typical

I am waiting to get more of Fillory instead of teases each episode.

The Kobayashi Maru reference made me laugh.

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So...a little gratuitous nudity last week, and some graphic violence, now some blue language, more nudity, some gay and bi sex, and some animal sex.  What did I just say up thread?

I was somewhat uncomfortable with the gay sex, because it was played for cheap laughs.  Sucking knobs indeed.

I was over at my brother's house watching all the super Tuesday crap on CNN et al, and watched the show at his place.  He's not into fantasy (Star Trek is more his style), and he asked, 'what's the purpose of all this?', and I found that somewhat difficult to explain.

ETA:  and I guess next week we'll be seeing more dead bodies?

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Yeah, I'm also not really getting the purpose of this show.  It's seemed directionless since the pilot and I always get the sense the writers don't really know who or what the antagonist will be.  I know that's probably not true as there is source material they are drawing from, but it's like there's this moth man that they but forgot about until now, the hedge witches, brakebills itself but I get the sense I'm supposed to think at least one of these is good, one maybe gray, and the other definitely bad.  And the one I think I'm supposed to see as good, or better than the others is Brakebills but they are the absolute worst.  That place is ridiculed with non-consent issues, sexual manipulation, and mind control and I don't know if the writers realize these are bad things.

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It honestly feels too much like a soap opera at this point with pointless character arcs really going nowhere. I feel like I say this every week, but Julia has the only interesting story arc. I love some of the creativity with the magic, but I ignore any semblance of plot that may exist. This show is not persuading me to read the series at all, which is rare for me. Looks like next week there will be some plot progression, hopefully. I haven't given up on the show, but at this point it will be season one and done for me unless something really interesting happens. 

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I think the books and the show is about how Quentin learns that he's really not that special, magic isn't going to make his life better and he has to adjust to the pointlessness of existence.  You know, like "literary" novels.  That may sound like I'm slamming the books/show, I'm not really -- yet -- because I'm intrigued enough by the ambition of doing something like that (that I'm not even sure is a worthwhile ambition to have) to watch.  Haven't read the books yet.  Like Better Call Saul and Breaking Bad, it's a character study, it's not about the plot, or rather the plot is of lesser importance.  The plot seems to be about subverting the hero archetype.  It'll turn out that one of the other characters is the saviour or something, and Quentin will be okay with that or not, and presumably other existentialist philosophy lessons.

Anyway, I'm just saying if you're watching for the plot you're probably watching the show in the wrong way.

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From what I gather in this thread from those who have read the series, the show isn't following the novels too closely. It may be completely on the show's writers.

I'll watch the rest of the season since it's easy enough to dvr and watch when I have time, but if it doesn't improve, I won't continue with it next season.

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Well, personally I'm invested in the show. I really like it... not a masterpiece, for sure, but really catchy, touching on some interesting subjects, with not that bad written characters... really curious to follow that story ! 

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9 minutes ago, Martini Sigil said:

I'm just amazed at how far this show pushes the limits of basic cable censorship...

Another point in which I'm giving credit to the show ! The characters realistically smoke, take drugs, have sex, swear, curse... they're way more relatable (at least to me) that whatever "santized" or stupidly flawless protagonist another network could offer.

 

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1 minute ago, Arkash said:

Another point in which I'm giving credit to the show ! The characters realistically smoke, take drugs, have sex, swear, curse... they're way more relatable (at least to me) that whatever "santized" or stupidly flawless protagonist another network could offer.

 

Actually, since less than 10% of Californians smoke, and there is a strong anti-smoking movement in the US, I've actually been surprised by the amount of smoking.

Although like almost everything these days, it's shot in Vancouver, BC.  Though there was a shot of Penny at one point with what I'm sure was Toronto behind him.  I've assumed the writers are American.  Could be wrong...

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Yeah, if they wanted to make it 'realistic', they'd have everyone around the smokers coughing and waving their hands in front of their face and being very clear how disgusted and uncomfortable they are that they are being subjected to this.  But it's not about realism or flawed characters.  It's lazy writing, just props.  This isn't to say that characters smoking on tv is never relevant, just that here it's stupid and makes no sense.  It certainly does not make characters more complex.  Eliot is about as complex as that glass bottle he's always holding.  

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9 hours ago, Astromech said:

From what I gather in this thread from those who have read the series, the show isn't following the novels too closely. It may be completely on the show's writers.

Pretty much this.  They've cherry picked a few characters, locations, and scenes from the books, completely mixed them up, and then added a bunch of scenes, plot lines, and characters they've just made up for tv.  So different from the books.  And they've condensed multiple years of school into this first year - it's not until the 4th year that everyone goes to Antarctica - Quentin, Alice, Elliot, Janet, along with the entire 4th year class and half the 5th year class for the spring semester.

Also, the drugs, alcohol, smoking, etc. aren't as prevalent in the books when they are in school.  Elliot is really the only one who smokes that I remember.  And its not something mentioned except for an initial reference when we first see him.  Excessive drinking and drugs come several years later for a brief period.

Anyway, I've given up on watching it for now.  I just love the books too much to be able to watch all the changes (especially since they don't improve on the story).  It did inspire me to go back and reread the first book to cleanse the tv show from my mind, however.  It's too bad, I did enjoy the first episode but its been downhill from there for me.

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The books are really hard to translate into film. It's part of their entire concept that the plot is meandering and everything seems meaningless, but that works much better in book form because it's tied to Quentin's self-absorbed inner workings. It's really very nihilistic fantasy. The adaptation has kept just enough of this that it seems directionless for a TV series, but not enough that the original intention is clear.

I loved the first book. It's perfect for someone who has grown a bit jaded about fantasy after so many years. The sequels are kinda dull, but at least they're true to the premise. I have no idea who thought this would make for good TV. They could easily have made their own 'adult Harry Potter' in order to free themselves of the trappings of a book series that no one knows anyway.

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3 hours ago, denstorebog said:

The books are really hard to translate into film. It's part of their entire concept that the plot is meandering and everything seems meaningless, but that works much better in book form because it's tied to Quentin's self-absorbed inner workings. It's really very nihilistic fantasy. The adaptation has kept just enough of this that it seems directionless for a TV series, but not enough that the original intention is clear.

I loved the first book. It's perfect for someone who has grown a bit jaded about fantasy after so many years. The sequels are kinda dull, but at least they're true to the premise. I have no idea who thought this would make for good TV. They could easily have made their own 'adult Harry Potter' in order to free themselves of the trappings of a book series that no one knows anyway.

Yea, I'm finishing up the first book now and I have no idea how they'd be able to turn it into a compelling TV show based on the way it's written. Too much time passes from one chapter to the next, no real plot that drives the narrative and a single point of view from a horrible character.

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