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The Magicians 4×5 Review: “Escape From the Happy Place” allows us momentarily to come out of the dark
What matters now, however, is the idea of two lost souls barrelling at one another when all seems lost. Eliot was the first person Quentin met at Brakebills and it’s Quentin who jettisons Eliot into the brief moment of agency over his body to let his friends know that he’s alive. Maybe they aren’t the main couple of the series, if there’s even meant to be one, but their stories keep finding ways to weave themselves into a tangled knot that is getting tighter the longer the tales get, the to-be continued that keeps anchoring the strongest and most climatic moments of the show. There’s a draw to these two characters who battled with deep loneliness and senses of purpose, who have been written as being depressed and hopeless but have laid it all on the line in the past to protect their loved ones who have started to fill in their missing pieces.
If anything, “Escape From the Happy Place” celebrates these lost and buried traumas because they remind us of not just who we are, but what we can manage to overcome. There have been so many monsters on the show who turned down that path because of past horrors suffered through, further inflicting pain on others because it’s all they know and remember. What makes the characters of The Magicians so special and so deeply flawed is that they too have endured and suffered, but have managed to redefine their pain into a purpose greater than the sum of its parts. In Eliot’s case, after what he’s gone through and after seeing what there is to live for, it finally makes the fight against the monster trapping him in his own body no longer hopeless.
Read the full review at TheYoungFolks.com
‘Russian Doll’ Season One Review:
A genre bending tale of introspection and buried trauma
Trauma and depression aren’t things we simply get over. It doesn’t matter the distractions, the self-medication or self-acclamation we utilize to try and bury our own pain and insight, unless we face the demons head on and understand the place that they’ve been borne from – be it tangible or not – and learn how to try and live with them. On its surface, Russian Doll is an intimate and hilarious portrait of a sardonic woman living an independent life of her own making in New York City before wackiness interferes and she’s caught in a time loop of death where the riddle to life is found in the act of dying and accepting mortality. Dig a little deeper though and Nadia, then Alan’s, stories are about how so often appearances aren’t what they seem to be.
Read the full review here at TheYoungFolks.com.
Photo Courtesy of Netflix
‘The Good PlacE’ Season 3 Review:
An inconsistent season sticks the landing
with emotional payoff
It’s the point of the whole series: can humans change? Is it possible to be fully good when living in such a chaotic and undermining world where the trickle effect of one bad deed could have repercussions for decades to come? What are the root causes of evil and purity and, more intriguingly, what are the motives behind each? For a series that infuses itself with an innate silliness and actors such as Maya Rudolph and Manny Jacinto get to play larger than life joke machines (and please, more for Jason/Jacinto to do in season four because his comedic physicality is genius) it cuts to honesty and humanism more often than not. Perhaps it’s a mark of our time where we need to see people – even in death – strive for better understanding of one another, to fight the futility that is a broken world, and ensure the happiness of millions even if they’re doomed to an eternity in hell.
The Good Place, even in its lesser moments, is so uniformly optimistic that it always manages to soothe the spirit on a weekly basis. The actors across the board share tremendous chemistry with one another and it’s that along with the narrative playfulness, visual hijinks and deceptively complex notion that we can and should be better that allows it to remain one of comedies best fostered treasures. If Tahani can learn to be less narcissistic, if Jason can be sweet, Chidi courageous, Michael supportive, Janet empathetic and Eleanor self-reflective, then maybe there’s hope for us yet.
Read the full review at TheYoungFolks.com
The Women of ‘The Magicians’ Elevate the Show Above Typical Fantasy Fun
SyFy
Led by a male character, gawky and awkward and obsessed with all things fantastical (at the start, at least), The Magicians didn’t particularly present itself as being a rather ambitious series in terms of advocating female empowerment at the offset. As it progressed, and as women were allowed to learn from missteps and sorrow and apply that pain to become stronger, brighter, and more compassionate, it began to present itself as a series that knows its female characters are the ones who stun and perform demanding acts of strength that require every ounce of the human spirit.
They’re deeply flawed, but they are never written to be anything but, always striving to the best versions of themselves that they can be, even if it takes a messy and debris-ridden path to get there, in the end. They reach far beyond the archetypes laid out before them to embody and embolden women characters that we would be lucky to see more of in all areas of storytelling.
5 Moments That Show Why ‘The Magicians’ Is the Most Interesting Show on TV (TV)
Syfy’s The Magicians has always worn its intentions on its sleeve, requiring only a wobbly first season to grow confident in its stance. Season one, based on the popular series of books by author Lev Grossman, was well-received by fans of the fantasy novels, even when it took narrative detours, as it kept in line with the “edgy” Chronicles of Narnia and “sexy” Harry Potter atmosphere it was trying to promote.
By season two, it had shaken off of its too-familiar fantasy/science fiction settings to embrace something darker, stranger, and wholly its own, with a declarative voice that was unabashedly, singularly unlike anything else on television. While the sophomore season was decidedly stronger than its entertaining debut—especially as the show fixed the issue of Quentin, our status quo “hero” in season one who comes to realize he’s really more of a supporting player, and actor Jason Ralph grew increasingly assured and empathetic in that role—it was season three that fully defied expectations and became something magical.
‘The Magicians’ Season 4 Premiere Review: The SyFy series returns in top form (TV)
“The Magicians”, based on the novels by Lev Grossman which premiered it’s fourth season last night is still amounting that audience due to a loyal word of mouth but it’s managed to accrue that viewership because of its fantastical roots. It doesn’t shy away from the gutsier storytelling elements that defy logic, nor does it undersell the trauma and mental illnesses that trail many of these characters. It also has a character named “The Great Cock,” a jailed Santa Clause, rabbits that hop between worlds like embittered carrier pigeons and sing-a-longs to Les Miserables and David Bowie.
Their narrative steps are confidently boundless, shaking the status quo with every new season in a way that is fresh and focused on creating a engaging journey that allows us to both be swept away while simultaneously identifying aspects of their lives that reflect our own : Julia’s self-discovery, Margo’s reliant but reluctant step in taking on more responsibility and Quentin’s battle with self-worth all resonate because they’re issues most twenty somethings grapple with while still trying to make memories for a lifetime.
Read the full review at TheYoungFolks.com