Compartmentalization: Syfy's "The Magicians"

[Jason Ralph as Quentin Coldwater in The Magicians. Photo property of Syfy.]

I'm proud of my ability to compartmentalize. To prove my credentials in that regard, let's just say that 10-year-old me did not think there could ever be anything as good as Battlestar Galactica. I had a crush on Starbuck, I hero-worshipped Athena, and I hoped someday to have a robotic pet daggit of my own. But these nostalgic warm fuzzies didn't mean I couldn't enjoy, and in fact come to love, the new Battlestar Galactica mini-series television show. If I'd insisted on trying to make it into what I remembered from the original material, I would have missed one of the best science fiction television shows ever produced.

And now I find myself in a similar situation with the television show based on Lev Grossman's fantasy trilogy, which includes The Magicians, The Magician King, and The Magician's Land. I've read the first book four times, the second book three times, and the third book twice, which is quite a lot considering that the first book was published only seven years ago. So I may be a little ... over-invested in the source material.

In a way, these books could be described as "Harry Potter goes to college, finds sex and booze, discovers that Narnia is real, and learns that magic kind of sucks." But that's a little too facetious, because it doesn't represent how devastating it is for Quentin to have longed for something like this his entire life, only to discover that magic doesn't magically make him happy. It's also dangerous and ugly at times. Another reason this story resonates for me is that I feel that Quentin's discontent parallels that of many writers: they think they're going to be happy if only they can get this one story, this one book, this one trilogy published, but it often isn't quite the magic they were hoping for. It may be wonderful, but it doesn't fix their lives.

And along comes the Syfy Channel television show The Magicians. I was initially disappointed to find that Brakebills had been turned from a college into a graduate school, presumably so the show could sex it up a bit more. I was also worried about the fact that the cast looked much too pretty, and would seemingly be dressed like the characters in that 1996 teen witch movie The Craft much of the time. But I was determined to give it a try, so I watched the pilot. Hmmm. Lots of stuff to like. Lots of stuff raced through too quickly. And holy cow, they were already introducing elements from the second book!

But I decided to keep watching, and boy, am I glad I did. As of last night, we're eight episodes in, and I'm finally viewing this show as this show, instead of over-analyzing every deviation from the books. To be fair, I do still harp a little on a few of the differences, but I don't think I'm obsessed with them. And that's compartmentalization: remembering that reading the books and watching the show are two different experiences. Which is perfectly okay.

First off, the casting. For me, the biggest standout among these actors is Hale Appleman as Eliot. Appleman has truly captured Eliot's effete cynicism, but in the latest episode we got to see his vulnerability as well. This character has some of the best lines, many of which are rather R-rated, and his delivery of said lines is priceless.

And lest it seem that I'm not satisfied with Jason Ralph as Quentin, let me say that it's quite the opposite, in fact. Actually, I've liked him more and more each episode. He's doing a great job showing how terrified Quentin is that the magic he's waited for his whole life could just as easily be taken away from him. He's also incredibly appealing. Something about him -- maybe the body language -- just makes you want to protect him. It's strange to see photos of him not in character, because then he looks happy and confident, which would be a completely unnatural state for Quentin.

Last but definitely not least among the male students: Arjun Gupta as Penny. Physically, Gupta doesn't quite match the character the way I'd envisioned him from the books, but let's just say I'm okay with that. In fact, I will happily volunteer to keep looking at him, you know, pretty much all day ... for the sake of scholarly comparison and literary analysis, of course! Seriously, though, after Eliot, Penny gets the best lines, except his are delivered with a hostility that almost covers up his real feelings. Penny's magic is among the strongest in both the books and the show, but here, Gupta gives us the sense of danger I didn't see in the text.

That covers the male students, but while I'm talking about the men: I also love Rick Worthy (that voice!) as Dean Fogg. I remembered him from the above mentioned new Battlestar Galactica (which I call nuBSG, by the way), but hadn't realized his sci-fi credits are far more extensive than that: Heroes, Vampire Diaries, Supernatural, The Man in the High Castle, Star Trek: Enterprise, and even the upcoming new Star Trek: Progeny! We sci-fi fans are nothing if not loyal to our favorites.

As for the female students at Brakebills, my biggest problem -- and I stress this is not a problem with the actor (Olivia Taylor Dudley), but rather with the direction -- is Alice. The first few episodes, I was really annoyed that the powers-that-be seemed to think putting glasses on a young woman and having her walk quickly, head down and arms full of books, is enough to make her seem shy and bookish, when you've also dressed her in tight sweater on top of micro-minis and heels designed specifically to show off her legs. While a quite shy girl can certainly be hot, I wouldn't think she would deliberately dress to call attention to herself, as opposed to choosing clothes that will help her fade into the woodwork. Fortunately, as the show has continued, this has become a little less jarring, I think because Alice's personality has expanded a bit beyond the initial stay-away-from-me vibe she kept up early on. I find her more believable and more likable now.

Next up is Summer Bishil as Margo, who in the books was named Janet. (This was changed due to too many "J" names: Jane, Julia, Janet ... I can see their point.) The caustic-tongued other half of the Margo-and-Eliot duo, she so far hasn't been given a lot of in-depth character development, aside from her jealousy when Eliot finds a boyfriend. I think the show's writers will (in part due to storyline necessity) eventually mitigate some of her more over-the-top Mean Girls tendencies, and I look forward to that. (It occurs to me that I might have a double standard here, because Eliot has "mean girl" tendencies too. I wonder if it bothers me more with Margo simply because we haven't gotten to see the rest of her personality to the extent we have with Eliot.)

Julia, played by Stella Maeve, is really the second lead of the show, opposite Quentin. Although he had a long-standing crush on her pre-Brakebills, she's not his love interest, but a character with her own arc, much of which is not pretty -- which I mean as a compliment, not a complaint. In the books, we know only that Julia didn't get into Brakebills and that she remembered the entrance exam when it should have been erased from her memories. She and Quentin have a brief interaction when she begs him to intervene on her behalf, and that's about it.

What we've been seeing in the television show is mostly from the second book, and is a storyline I love so much that I've been known to re-read only the "Julia" chapters in that book from time to time. This is where it's hardest for me to separate the books from the show, because in the show, this has all happened way too fast for my taste. Unlike in the books, Julia doesn't have to gradually find her way into the world of hedge witch safe houses; instead, she's recruited by a guy in a bar. I liked it much better when she spiraled out of control because she wasn't finding any proof that she could pursue magic; she decided to give it up not because of a nasty rival but because she saw that her fruitless pursuit was ruining her life; and then she discovered an online chat room that after many months (and tests) led her to a group that could actually teach her a thing or two. That said, I'm guessing that's where we're headed with the new chaplain/hedge wizard we met in Episode 8 last night. I do recognize that with television pacing, they really couldn't have Julia tramping around for months solving esoteric puzzles. So while I understand these changes, they were the hardest for me to accept.

As for the actor, I think that other than her Craft wardrobe, which always looks stylish even when she's supposed to be hitting rock-bottom, Stella Maeve pretty much looks and acts exactly as I would envision Julia. I did think the trick that she and head hedge witch Marina played on Quentin was a little too cruel to be believable for her character, but again, that's the writing, not the acting, and it certainly advanced the story line.

Speaking of Marina.... I have to admit that I'm not crazy about the Marina - Kady - Hannah storyline. Unless I'm remembering incorrectly, none of these characters appear in the books, and if they do, I think only the character names have been used. Long story short, Marina (Kacey Rohl) is the top hedge witch in "the city" (presumably New York) who enjoys sadistically tormenting those under her. Kady (Jade Tailor) is a first year Brakebills student, and, incidentally, Penny's love interest. We learn that Kady is stealing things from Brakebills and delivering them to Marina. Then we learn that Kady is doing so as payment for mistakes her mother Hannah (Amy Pietz) made in the past that are somehow related to Marina. Julia meets Hannah after Marina kicks Julia out, due to her actions during their Quentin mind-rape and Brakebills heist. Hannah begs Julia for help getting some magic back, with disastrous consequences.

Yeah, it's a little convoluted. But maybe it was necessary to set up some traditional antagonists now, before jumping into Fillory, especially as The Magicians is intended to be a continuing series, and was just renewed for a second season. For that reason, it seems likely that the show will diverge more from the books as time goes on. I just found it a little over-the-top: Marina is a little too sadistic, Hannah is too much of a magic-junkie, and Kady is a little too angry-emo for my taste.

I also have a few nitpicks in the show's universe-building. For instance, the students seem permitted to just find and experiment with spells without supervision. Oops, we were trying to make magic gin, and got a djinn instead! Funny, but also difficult to swallow. Similarly, this magic seems more generic and all-powerful that it should be. I love the way they're doing the intricate hand motions, but Julia, for instance, turns her regular keychain into a Narcotics Anonymous one while pretending to her boyfriend that her behavior is due to prescription drug addiction. We've been led to believe that casting a spell depends on recognizing precise "circumstances" (phases of the moon, position of the stars, barometric pressure, whatever), using elaborate hand motions, and, usually, reciting an incantation, at least in the early stages of magic learning. But Julia essentially wills her keychain to change, or look like it's changed, just by thinking about it.

I also dislike the way the Brakebills students are constantly being told they're likely to flunk out and have their minds wiped, and I really disliked that Eliot and Margo were allowed to torment the first-year students with a high-stakes exam, as though they run the school themselves. I also think Brakebills math is a little fuzzy, because the number of students at the school, and indeed, just in the Physical Kids' house, seems a little high, after taking into account how many times we've been told that so many students have flunked out, and most of an entire class disappeared not that long ago.

However, there are lots of things that I've loved. See above re: much of the casting. The effects are gorgeous. The Beast was oddly terrifying, just like in the books. And they gave us Brakebills South! It's like they knew the books' readers couldn't live without that.

It's been a while since I've enjoyed a show quite this much. I also loved the recently finished second season of Marvel's Agent Carter, but The Magicians appeals to a different part of the brain. I can't wait to see where it goes.

[From left to right: Stella Maeve (Julia), Summer Bishil (Margo), Hale Appleman (Eliot), Jason Ralph (Quentin), Olivia Taylor Dudley (Alice), and Arjun Gupta as Penny. All photos property of Syfy.]

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The Last Ship (television pilot)

We're a few weeks late, but we finally watched the pilot of The Last Ship last night (some spoilers for the pilot ahead). The premise is that a naval warship has been sent on a long-duration, radio-silent training mission to the far north, and is also carrying two research scientists who are ostensibly studying arctic birds. When the "training" is extended, coincidentally right after the lead scientist demands more time for her research and they're attacked by Russian helicopters, the captain in turn demands an explanation.
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Why BSG's Finale (Mostly) Worked for Me

[Please be aware that there are massive spoilers behind the cut!]

In an effort to avoid posting spoilers, I didn't even title this post as I wanted to, which was:

"Why This Atheist is OK with Battlestar Galactica's Divine Explanation".

First, I have two caveats. The first is that I have a personal connection to this show, so I know I'm not completely objective. However, it had already been my favorite show before that connection was made, so I don't think this is just my bias talking. Secondly, all of this is just my opinion, and therefore doesn't mean squat. And I actually do agree with a lot of the criticism of the finale I've seen floating around.

Before I went to Clarion West in 2000, I read only science fiction. Hard or soft, technical or social, but it had to be science fiction. I had no patience at all for fantasy, because I had no interest in magic or supernatural explanations. I craved something that just maybe could really happen someday.

Thankfully, and largely because of Clarion West in 2000, I've since broadened my reading horizons, and have particularly enjoyed Glenda Larke's Isles of Glory trilogy, The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss, the Harry Potter books, several Patricia McKillip titles, and so on. Trust me, I still prefer science fiction, and I still get annoyed when a tale I'm enjoying as science fiction goes all religion on me in the end, which I experienced a bit with David Brin’s Kiln People, for instance.

So now that I do like fantasy, I can enjoy different kinds of fantasy –- and to me, that's just what religion is. Divine intervention is no different than magic in my mind, and I just don't believe it does or can happen. (I mean no offense to anyone who does have religious faith.) To me, then, the entire new Battlestar Galactica series (nuBSG) is fantasy. Science fantasy, to be sure, but fantasy. I don’t believe that the events in nuBSG could happen, just as I don't believe that the events in Lord of the Rings could happen, just as I . . . you get the drift.

I have to admit that I would have preferred some things to be a little different in nuBSG's season 4.5 and the finale:

• I expected, and wanted, Starbuck to be Daniel’s daughter, so that her head music could be explained as a bit of programming that came down on her Cylon DNA side, and so that the Cylons had a bit better reason for being so personally interested in her.
  
  
• I wanted Baltar to willingly die to save Hera, to atone for his huge role in causing the holocaust in the first place.
  
  
• I didn’t think everyone should have or would have given up technology and gone traipsing off on an unknown planet by themselves or in groups of two or three. I also think it unlikely that Bill would have left Lee, especially because they've just lost women they loved. If family isn't important then, when the heck is it important?
  
  
• I thought the Tigh and Six relationship was ridiculous in the extreme.
  
  
• I didn’t think Chief was so in love with Cally that he would murder Tory. I’m not overly sorry Tory died, but perhaps someone might have understood a little bit that she was afraid of being discovered as a Cylon at that time. Oh, and I don't think Chief would have ever voted to leave the fleet. He seemed to love the Galactica as much as the old man did.
  
  
• I think that Boomer’s character arc was one of the big missed opportunities of the show. By the end, while I liked Athena and rooted for her, she had it comparatively easy in that she always knew she was a Cylon, she seduced Helo, got pregnant (and knew it) within a few days, and was accepted fairly easily by Adama and the fleet, all things considered. After all, she was sipping tea in the Admiral's Quarters and became a Colonial officer sometime during the year of New Caprica. If Boomer, on the other hand, could have truly overcome the shock of discovering she was a Cylon, and the shame and horror of shooting Adama; if she could have earned the same kind of trust Athena had earned, even after all that had happened, well, that really would have been something. Also, as someone else pointed out, the “dressing-down” flashback was unnecessary, and I think it was stupid. I’ve seen Adama lead the fleet honorably for four seasons, and now I seem him acting like an ass dressing down a pilot while he himself is drunk? Boomer’s “Tell the old man I owed him one” already meant plenty in conjunction with her having shot him.
  
  
• There were tons of unresolved bits. Kara's ovaries. Daniel. Where the heck was D'Anna in the finale? Why was Kara the harbinger of death? If Hera was a true single Mitochondrial Eve, that implies that every other fleet survivor's lines died out -- isn't that a bit much? And I'm sure there are a thousand more things I'll think of as soon as I post this.

BUT here’s what I’ve loved about this season and finale:

• Gaeta’s tragic character arc, and Zarek’s arc as well. They had to be executed, yet seeing it was gut-wrenching. I loved that I was never sure of Zarek's character until the end, when he has the Quorum murdered. Remember on New Caprica when he and Roslin were slated to be executed, and the death squad of Centurions marches over the hill? Zarek instinctively stepped in front of Roslin to protect her.
  
  
• I loved the nods to the fans in the finale: old BSG music while the fleet sails into the sun, Ron Moore’s cameo, and fan-favorite Romo ending up as President.
  
  
• I thought Lee and Kara’s flashbacks were great. She clearly met the wrong brother first, and this was going to haunt everyone for a long, long time. Laura and Bill's flashbacks were not as successful, but I certainly didn't find them boring. It's my understanding we may get more flashbacks on the beginning of Chief and Boomer's relationships in the extended DVD, which would be nice because what we saw back in the first season didn't suggest to me they'd been planning their dream house.
  
  
• I thought most characters got the right –- for this story –- resolution. Other than the going off alone or in pairs, I was happy with how Bill said goodbye to Laura, how Lee had to let Kara go, how Helo and Athena could finally just raise their daughter, and how Baltar did perform a selfless act, even if it wasn’t as dramatic as I wanted.

OK. All that said, I can see why many science fiction fans are infuriated at the divine intervention explanation. A friend said, and I agree, that we don’t like it when SF writers use divine intervention to “explain their way out of something they couldn't find a resolution for.”

But that’s not what happened here, in my opinion. They didn’t start a story about genetic engineering and cyborgs, and then say three seasons later “Crap! What’ll we do? I know, we’ll make it that it was God’s plan!” Rather, they planned to tell a God/gods story all along. I’m not sure I could fault a show for being about God when they were pretty upfront all along, saying, “hey, we're going to tell this story about God, and God's plan, and God's children, and their children, both real and artificially created, and....” Do people think the show was not upfront about that? Or is it possible that science fiction viewers deliberately overlooked the fact that the show was screaming "religion!", and went ahead and imposed their science fiction expectations on the show because it had spaceships and robots?

Even the original BSG show was based on the Mormons' 13 tribes -- which I didn't know when I was ten years old, of course. I just figured they picked the astrological signs because it was neat! For me, this is a bit similar to Buffy -- in many ways I disliked the whole heaven/hell schtick. And the fact that the Christian symbol of the cross really did ward off vampires kind of "validated", in the context of the show, that Christianity in general and the Catholic Church in particular were "right", which I don't believe. But it fit within the context of the show, and I could either accept that or not watch.

In nuBSG, that ending –- including Kara being an angel – fit within the context of the story they had been telling for four years. They chose a direction from the beginning –- not the direction I would have chosen -- and once they chose it they stuck with it.

I also note that they also happened to choose one of the most clichéd plots in all of genre fiction -- I have criticized new aspiring writers for this very same, lame Adam and Eve plot. But that's why the execution is the thing. And the overall execution of the story that they wanted to tell was, for me, gorgeous. It wasn't perfect. But three of my other in-genre favorites -- Next Gen, DS9, and Babylon 5 -- have episodes that I'm not sure you could pay me to sit through again. Firefly and nuBSG are the only shows for which I can't think of a single episode I would refuse to watch. Pound for pound, the new Battlestar Galactica is the best television show of any genre that I've ever seen.


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