The Magicians by Lev Grossman on Syfy

(X-posted from the AVC review. Forgive me!)

While I loved the 2nd and 3rd books, I thought the first was only okay. So it's odd that I feel so defensive about how it's adapted, and not yet really on board with the things they've changed.

- It's all very well-cast, except maybe for Penny, who is really just a different character. Also, I lol'ed at the way they tried to reverse-She's-All-That Alice, who's definitely too hot.

- I understand why they wanted to follow Julia, but I feel like it seriously undercuts Quentin's story and the sense of discovery we should get by following him. They should have saved the Julia stuff as a revelation for later in the season, with maybe a Julia-centric "what's she been up to?" episode.

- I'd like to just see more learning-at-Brakebills. Like the reviewer, I didn't really understand how Quentin's magic is developing, or really how much time had passed.

- I really liked the Dean, but I don't like how they're making it out like there's a big conspiracy the adults are in on which everything's building to.

- I'm not sure what to make of all the Chosen One hints. In the books, the whole point was that Quentin was no one special, just a guy who really loved Fillory. But here everyone seems to be keeping an eye on him, and The Beast goes right for him. Though it's lampshaded a bit by Ros-from-GoT telling him he's not special, and wondering about the Beast thing. So may it's building toward the resolution that "no, you weren't anyone special".

- The Beast looked pretty damn awesome.

The show is worse about this, because everything has to be abridged for TV. But yeah, even in the books I felt a little cheated: I wanted so much more Brakebills. Took me a while to get that the series wasn't about attending an insanely beautiful, exclusive, private college of magic.

Yeah, the common elevator pitch that The Magicians is "Harry Potter for adults" is so far off base. Fortunately, this fact is almost as common, so I haven't been surprised or anything. I didn't expect it to proceed so briskly - and that is disappointing - but I don't feel deceived by what it is (yet).

More of an adult Lewis than Rowling, that's for damn sure.

Kacey Rohl is ridiculously pretty, ain't she?

I am disappointed that not only did TOC not use this image for this week's episode, but that I actually had to make the screengrab myself...



Bechdel Test: PASSED

It's OK but oddly paced: like the finger-tutting for spellcasting gestures; cast are mostly good (though Penny is way off-book); not much resemblance to the actual story, but the liberties taken make a kind of internal sense so far; there's a scene involving Taylor Swift which isn't from the book but works like gangbusters; Julia's story specifically altered and expanded here.

I think that Alice dresses a little sexier than she is portrayed in the book, but I will not be mad at seeing Arjun Gupta on a weekly basis.

Noooooooope.

I'm watching this show on Netflix, uncensored. Is anyone watching this show on Syfy, and if so, what's with all the f-words? Not to sound like a little kid or anything, but are they bleeped out? Like, there are so many f-bombs that it really doesn't feel like a "syfy" show. What's up with that?

Actual thoughts about the show coming soon.

Seven episodes in I'm really enjoying it. I'm annoyed that Mrs. Snape refuses to watch it with me (she gave up on the first book, because she hated Quentin so much), because that means that in the evenings when we sit to watch something together, I have to pick something else when all I really want is to watch more Magicians. (Legion and Bake-Off are helping.)

I can't find a cohesive structure for my thoughts, so instead I'll just throw some out there:

- The way the show visualizes the books' magic is really perfect. The complicated hand gestures look just as they did in my mind. They managed to realize it without it looking lame in action. Though, the show is not doing a great job of explaining why magic works the way it does, they way it's affected by environmental and circumstantial factors ... but the first book didn't really do a great job of that either.

- The depictions of Brakebills South and Mayakovsky were fuckin' great! I pictured Mayakovsky as a woolier dude, but other than that it's perfect. It's my favorite episode so far. For non-readers, the fox thing must be so weird. I mean, it was already weird as hell in the book, and this had even less context.

- I'm using this word a lot, but Hale Appleman's Eliot is perfect. Him and Margo steal every scene they get. The trials, though they pissed me off for having nothing to do with the books, were worth it just for letting Eliot and Margo go full ham. 

- Good gracious, this is the most beautiful cast since Lost Girl! Alice, Margo, Julia, Kady, Eliza and Marina are all, like, distractingly good-looking. 

- Doubtless this is because I read the books first, but those elements that do stray from the books are the ones I like least. Up until the last 3rd, the first book's conflicts were largely internal or at most interpersonal, and here they've clearly done what they could to add more tactile threats and conflicts. Which I get. It needs to engage from episode to episode, but most of the new stuff, from the whole Marina subplot, to the dad/cancer thing, to the pretty dumb gin/djinn episode just get in my way. When it sticks closer to the core story - like the Brakebills South episode - it works for me better.

- Haven't made up my mind about Penny, yet. Arjun Gupta is great in this role (Quentin's dream episode, "You racist motherfucker!") but belligerent, stand-offish types always bother me. And the whole psychic/traveler dealy, again, is off book and just kind of irks me. But we'll see.