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The Magicians is a five-full-season series that originated on SyFy and is now available on Netflix. Nominally it's based on Lev Grossman's books of the same name - novel-turned trilogy - and reportedly Grossman was involved with scriptwriting throughout. With an obvious nod to predecessor series such as Narnia and Harry Potter, The Magicians takes the idea "what if that magic and magical places you read about and loved as a kid was real" and twists it.
Please read the content note below before going into the spoilers section.
The Magicians asks: what if magic wasn't born out of fairies and rainbow-sprinkle unicorns, but rather it came from pain and suffering? What if fairies were vindictive homicidal creatures? What if you had a school for magic but it was run by a burnt-out drunkard and kept most of the people who could be magicians outside its gates? What if gods were real, but seriously messed up, and monsters were real and could kill you with a flick of their wrist, and thought it was funny to do so?
As imagined by this series, The Magicians is something of a soap opera - or more properly a telenovela. It has more twists and turns than you can imagine. So many that at several points its characters remark "could we just have one world-ending crisis at a time please?" and that's not breaking any fourth walls. First out of necessity, then out of desire, the main cast become world-saving... people. Not heroes - not even a little. Just people, with abilities and flaws and stories. Oh, so many stories. did I mention this was a soap opera?
Content notes for the rest of this review - discussion of abuse of children, rape, trauma, misogyny, and mutilation/self-harm.
( Spoilers through and through )
Bottom line - I think The Magicians is worth your time if you don't mind (or like) having conventional fantasy tropes subverted and contorted. And if you're OK with getting hit with the hard things and the emotional whiplash.
Please read the content note below before going into the spoilers section.
The Magicians asks: what if magic wasn't born out of fairies and rainbow-sprinkle unicorns, but rather it came from pain and suffering? What if fairies were vindictive homicidal creatures? What if you had a school for magic but it was run by a burnt-out drunkard and kept most of the people who could be magicians outside its gates? What if gods were real, but seriously messed up, and monsters were real and could kill you with a flick of their wrist, and thought it was funny to do so?
As imagined by this series, The Magicians is something of a soap opera - or more properly a telenovela. It has more twists and turns than you can imagine. So many that at several points its characters remark "could we just have one world-ending crisis at a time please?" and that's not breaking any fourth walls. First out of necessity, then out of desire, the main cast become world-saving... people. Not heroes - not even a little. Just people, with abilities and flaws and stories. Oh, so many stories. did I mention this was a soap opera?
Content notes for the rest of this review - discussion of abuse of children, rape, trauma, misogyny, and mutilation/self-harm.
( Spoilers through and through )
Bottom line - I think The Magicians is worth your time if you don't mind (or like) having conventional fantasy tropes subverted and contorted. And if you're OK with getting hit with the hard things and the emotional whiplash.
