The Magicians

Plot synopsis:
Harry Kane and Karl Allen are best friends who work together in a successful and popular magic double act, with Harry's wife Carol working as their assistant. After one show, however, Harry discovers Karl and Carol backstage in a magic box having sex (during an agreement between Harry and the theatre owner about letting the act go on for 4 more weeks and letting them do an act on a cruise ship). During the next show, Carol is locked into a guillotine as part of a climatic trick, only for the blade to decapitate her; it is not immediately clear whether Harry, despite his protestations of innocence, has murdered her or whether she was the victim of a freak accident. Four years later, the act has broken up and the two friends – now bitter rivals – have gone their separate ways; Harry, having given up professional magic, is working in a Wilkinson hardware store, only to be fired after a customer complains when he creates an illusion of him cutting his arm severely with a knife blade during a sales pitch, whilst Karl is attempting to reinvent himself as a Derren Brown-esque magician called the Mindmonger, with limited success. During an unsuccessful impromptu-pitch at a television corporation, the only person he manages to impress is Dani, the tea girl, who Karl immediately gets a crush on much to the jealousy of his incompetent agent Otto, who nurses an unsubtle homosexual crush on him.
After numerous failed attempts at raising money, Harry sees a poster for the "Magic shield" competition held in Jersey, with a prize of £20,000, and decides to enter. Trying to find a new assistant, Harry is forced to recruit the only applicant, Linda, an old work friend whose only entertainment skill is a poor dancing routine. Harry swallows his pride and contacts Karl, who agrees to enter the competition with him; although their reputation in the magic community is still strong enough to get them into the tournament without an audition, the tensions between them ultimately prove too strong and they decide to go solo from that point on. As Harry and Linda rehearse their magic act, they begin to grow closer, but whilst Linda is open about her interest in Harry, he is too uptight and insecure to fully express his reciprocation. Much to his discomfort, Linda discovers the guillotine amongst his magic props and convinces him to use it as the centrepiece of the finale. Karl, meanwhile, is delighted to learn that Dani has come down from London to see him perform, but is slightly alarmed to discover that she believes him to be a genuine psychic. He nevertheless goes along with her belief, particularly as the interest in the competition has seen him approached by a television producer who wants to make him the centrepiece of a psychic show. Karl agrees to make his act for the finale a medium display, but begins to suffer a crisis of conscience. Karl tries a trick where he is buried in sand for a day.
Upon learning that Harry has not told Linda of what happened to his wife, Karl informs her. Harry panics when he discovers that her hotel room is vacant, believing she has returned to London. He conquers his fear of flying to immediately fly back to London, only to discover as soon as he gets there that she has merely switched rooms and forgotten to inform him. Managing to return to Jersey in time to compete by telling Linda to make one of the judges delay the act, both Harry and Karl make it through to the final; Linda claims that she is okay with hearing about what happened to Carol, but tensions between both begin to grow as she struggles to trust him. The night of the finale, Harry is heartbroken to learn that Linda has apparently slept with another magician, the sleazy and unethical Tony White; although Linda confirms it, she is lying in an attempt to force Harry to open up about his feelings, which he is still unable to do. Karl, meanwhile, finally prepares to consummate his relationship with Dani, but admits that he is not a true psychic after she thinks he is contacting her dead father, and betrayed, she shuns him.
That night, Karl and Harry have a confrontation backstage, in which Karl accuses Harry of murdering Carol; Harry angrily rejects the accusation and challenges that Karl merely finds it easier to believe that rather than accept the guilt of betraying his best friend. On stage, Karl begins to pioneer his psychic act, but the stooge he has hired in the crowd which he had chosen with a fake random ball toss, accidentally trips and concusses himself on the stage. Upon hearing the sad story of another selected audience member, he decides that he cannot perpetuate the fraud, admitting to the audience that he is not able to contact the dead. As a result, Dani forgives him. Harry, as 'The Black Widower', starts his guillotine act, but at the moment of truth Linda's nerve fails her and she flees the stage. Although Harry’s act would appear to be ruined when he asks if anybody else wants to try, Karl steps forward and announces that he will face the guillotine instead. Karl allows himself to be locked in the guillotine, explaining that Carol was frequently unfaithful and forced Karl to have sex with her. Harry appears to decapitate Karl – although it is merely an illusion, and Karl appears unharmed, the trick having worked perfectly. Harry wins the competition, and in his acceptance speech both forgives Karl and admits that he loves Linda, who joins him on stage and the two kiss. Their friendship mended, Karl and Harry embark on a reunion tour, incorporating Dani and Linda into the act as their assistants.

Tags: fantasy

Review:
A very good entertaining watch for anyone who enjoys adventure themed shows/movies or magic..
I feel like the writers are very much aware of how annoying the characters are (haven't read the books btw) and portrays them this way in order to create this very fast, quirky and weird plot.
There's simply not enough time to dwell on the characters while at the same time having this crazy and quite complicated plot unfolding.The characters in a way becomes secondary to the topics being discussed, the underlying topic being the role, function and meaningfulness/or not of magic.(Edit: having re-watched the entire show and going on season 4 I have come to actually like the characters.
For me partly because I didn't care too much about the characters, but I did care a lot about the plot so I kept watching, and kept being amazed at the inventiveness and strangely light and playful way it is written and delivered.Just watched the latest episode of season 3 and Im still loving it!.
If you've read Lev Grossman's wonderful Magicians trilogy you may find watching this series rather disorienting.
The characters are all there and quite recognizable, and it's still about magic students and mysterious otherworlds, but it often feels like the series' writers cut the books into pieces, stirred those pieces in a bowl, then pulled them out and stitched the pieces together in random order, making up new stuff to fill in gaps.That's not bad, and the world they have created works quite well, but it increasingly diverges from the books' mythology.
This approach means I often find the show full of weird left turns where it shows me something familiar and then wanders off somewhere else with it, but the show is very entertaining, and it's prickly characters (awkward guy geek, ridiculously hot, short-skirted girl geek, snarky macho guy, snarky gay guy, angsty magic reject) are, if not quite likable, still fairly relatable.The first changes from the book were relatively small.
And while the books' Quentin did not have a Harry Potter-ish Destiny - he was just a smart guy so desperate for grand adventure that he would pursue all sorts of crazy things - comments made by supporting characters suggest that in the series, Quentin is in some way inherently Important.
I feel that's a bit too obvious - the lack of destiny was one of those nice contrasts with Harry Potter - but it's fine.Some story elements in the series are from the books, but they can come from any book in any order and are often mixed with things that aren't from the books at all.
It was also a nice idea on Syfy's part to make the first episode available on Youtube before the actual series premiere, as it was what got me to take an interest in it in the first place.It's certainly refreshing to see a show that is not a procedural drama.
I couldn't help myself and started reading the book series, unable to wait for the next episode.People may compare aspects of it to Harry Potter, I'd like to argue that it is very different, because it has the potential to explore mature themes in a way Harry Potter never did.
And the idea it proposes - that the cause behind being an awkward teenager with identity crisis is actually sensitivity to magic - is a brilliant touch, with timeless quality and something that should resonate well with the audience.It's based on a book I haven't read - so I can't really tell you how much it's faithful to the original or not.
However, the storytelling in this TV adaptation so far has no flaws, it's just perfect.It's contemporary, it's realistic, it creates credible logic in its own universe, it's presented by quality actors and it builds gradually into what I would expect to become a much more interesting and powerful version of HP-fantasy.
For me, Harry Potter was always just a cute story of an slightly-upgraded-but-still-out-of-date world of magic for children aged 4- 14.
I felt a similar pull while watching the pilot of this show, and since I wasn't totally happy with the only review at the time and also believed it deserves better rating, I wanted to contribute a bit if I can.
What's more important, you can't really expect such ingenious character development when issues and inner conflicts of the main character are nowhere near as deep and socially and existentially relevant to be able to engage you on such a fundamentally deep level.However, we are all nowadays more and more inclined to explore the true potential of life, so the topic of magic is indeed asking for far more (quality) exploration of it in the modern TV and film medium, then it's being done at the moment.
There are sudden twists in the plot that make it quite unpredictable, there's been already a powerful appearance of a villain who promises to be an imminent and overpowering threat to our unlikely hero; while interesting inversions of the common motives and good-vs-bad principles of fantasy worlds (such as walking/not walking the 'garden path') and introduction of spiritual 'cross-over' ideas (as 'not having any molecule of control over what happens') make it cast undoubtedly a new, fresh and exciting light to the genre...
He is a very self absorbed introvert, who in the book just walks away from his friends and leaves everything behind for his pursuit of magic.To me he is the awful modern version of Holden Caulfield.So this is NO Harry Potter - do not even compare.
I am a huge Harry Potter fan, or a fantasy fan in general, and so I was really excited to hear of a series in which adolescents discover having magical powers.
I expected to see a kind of rip-off from Harry Potter, but not that I really cared much about that, because I am a fan of the genre in general.But what the show actually was like, blew me away.
It is actually an adult show (would not advise watching it with younger children), trying to bring to you a story of a group of misfits that happen to all have magical powers.
Every time you think you know what will happen, they surprise you by adding a new element to the show.I know many people call it an adult, dark and gritty Harry Potter adaptation, and I cannot say that they are wrong.
To start up a show with a very small fan base, almost from scratch and ending up with a quality product like this, from episode 1 already, gives me the feeling that this show will bloom to get even more awesome than it is already.
I think season 2 is even better than season 1, so if you are having your doubts after season 1, I think it's worth a try to keep on watching and see how you feel about the second season.All I can say is that if you're a fan of the fantasy genre and you're not easily scared by the ugly side of the magic, this is has to be on your watch list.
The main character of "The Magicians" is Quentin Coldwater (Jason Ralph)--a college senior who suffers from a general malaise, as if he never feels comfortable in the world.His path is set--the obligatory applications for ivy league schools, probably followed by an unfulfilling career in something uninspiring.
It feels more like "His Dark Materials" than Harry Potter, and that is a good thing.The story moves quickly.
In Season 3 there is an episode that is so heartfelt that I weeped both times I watched it and just thinking about the story that was told in that episode (episode 5!) gives me chills.
They rightfully picked a cast of people who seem to know how to come off with just the right amount of nerd vs sex appeal to make the show a little of both but enough to where it enhances the story lines.Now for the actual story, so as you might have guessed from the title this show is about people who can do magic.
I mean, there are villans and heroes but even while they're doing good all the characters seem a bit bored, like they're doing it because they think it's proper, not because they feel it's right.
The plots are craaaaazy, Alice in Wonderland level crazy, and characters keep growing with the story and changing which is surprising because I never would have guessed it from season 1.
Highly recommend watching it if you like something different and out there I've seen reviews online that rate this show badly solely because it's not Harry Potter.
While it's has several twists and turns and you have to remember small characters because they come back to be important roles in their journeys- the show is constant and never feels like a wasted episode like the over-scripted/plotted TV shows now.
I imagine when someone in Hollywood got his 5 minutes to pitch the show, he must have said something along the lines of:"It's like Harry Potter, but more Emo instead of British, and they are old enough to drink alcohol and have sex!"The characters are vapid and capricious, puppets with arbitrary and disconnected behaviors that serve to drive cliché after cliché.They mention how much they like booze with an abnormally high frequency, just to make sure the viewer understands that this series is really for adults, not like Harry Potter which is for children.The good thing about fantasy is that if the characters are completely shallow and lack any real sense of purpose, you can always put some magical prop — a necklace, a portal to another world, whatever — to give the appearance of motivation.It *is* pleasingly anaesthesiac, if that's your cup of tea..
The universe in which it plays is vast and colorful and also the characters are quite interesting.Give it a try if you like fantasy series!.
3 Episodes in and I don't think that there's one character I like (definitely not the amazingly annoying anxious emo lead.
Think Woody Allen without any humour or charm), nor a character relationship I believe.There really is very little magic or spells in the show, so all you are left with are the neurotic, peppy, ridiculous, New-York-upper-class characters (who look more like parodies than actual characters), more befitting a particularly bad episode of Gossip Girl.What really amazes (and saddens) me is that they managed to create a "magical world" devoid of any charm.
I really wanted this series to be good, but the magic simply isn't happening, and this is not a world I want to step into, and not one I want to have in my life for 45 minutes a week.
A flat story, with stereotyped characterless(!) characters and plot holes everywhere.To begin with stupid behaviour: Hiding a school (like in Harry Potter) from the "normal" world and then being so negligent with letting people walk in and out does not work!
Actually i pretty much lost my train of thoughts over this review, because there are so many discrepancies within the first 3 episodes.It is watchable if you are really bored and don't care about stupid characters or a bad story.
But the second in the series was a quite a letdown.This first book had real potential, I think, as a TV series-- as a portrayal of a more adult contemporary and realistic version of what a "Hogwarts U."-a college of Magic, might look like.
Viewers who haven't read the books are likely utterly confused about 'Fillory' and its role in story (as well as any number of other things).
Ok first THIS ISNT FOR KIDS UNDER 15 now this is a show I stumbled upon on Netflix and I have almost finished the entire first season in just a week its a very good show there is plenty of action and even some humor its one of those shows you need to clear your schedule to watch cause you will be spellbound for quite awhile I cant quit watching but fair warning this show has some of the most graphic sex I have seen on a tv show but its a very magical show I totally recommend it.
When I started watching Magicians, its easy to see the influence of Harry Potter on the original plot line.
Things like The Vampire Diaries could have been this good if you didn't already know every single line the characters were about to say because you've heard it all before - this one totally gives you stuff you don't expect!
So far it's a bit like if 'Harry Potter' and 'Buffy the Vampire Slayer' got married and had a baby (but very much with a 2000s vibe rather than a 90s one...) Cheers to this show, to both the writing and the casting, and really looking forward to future episodes!
yes no doubt it somewhat matches to (U S) fantasy movie series Harry Potter(HP) but it mostly differ from that .After so many crime solving (investigation) t v seriesviewers will have something different to watch .Huge number of HP fan who wanted to go Hogwarts will get to see something more of it ...no doubt show will draw huge attention as similar work has outstanding box office recordwhich is clearly is a evidence of people's interest ..
How many more 'promising' series do we need to be fed that turn in to an emotional overloaded love-story twilight like crap thing before we get really crazy.
Not much book studyingI really wanted to be able to enjoy this, but I guess I just want too much, I need to want the four staples in my magic movies and TV shows, then I would love thisI really liked the Dresden files, so of course it got cancelled after one seasonI really liked Haven for the first three seasonsThis TV series also has violence and dramaThe one thing it really does not have is how one goes about learning magic, that just comes w/ the staples.
This was unwatchable, I got through about 5 episodes of seasons one and two, after that I started skipping ahead on the BluRay, cutting out the scenes with either Quentin or Alice, then I couldn't stand watching Eliot and Margot.
I'm beyond happy to considering I cant think of one film or series they've released that warrants a review.You wont find any tv series quite like the magicians, no its not the next harry potter, not even close.
The overall story is actually somewhat fragmented in the first season; however, the fragments eventually come together to weave a decent tale somewhat along the lines of a Twilight theme with a Hogwarts or Harry Potter type of setting.
The season moves through the 2 main characters as they both immerse themselves into the magical world and learn to harness their powers.
"Hey let's make a Harry Potter but with sex, drugs, mediocre acting, bad VFX, predictable writing and unrelatable characters who you don't care about"I'm kidding the depressed main character is relatable since you will end up with depression yourself after watching this..
I stopped watching the channel a long time ago.Then along comes The Magicians which is actually surprisingly good.
I think the TV show is more accessible, the books were actually a bit hard to read.What I like most about it has to be, it is written more for adults, Sex, drugs and violence abound.
I haven't read Lev Grossman's books, so I can't tell you if The Magicians is faithful to his work or how it deviates from it.Quentin Coldwater a student from Brooklyn joins Brakebills College for ...Magical Pedagogy.
The ending of the episode(s) though which includes a cliffhanger of some sort may give some hope but I doubt this series will pick up later on.Overall: As I said I haven't read the books but I'm pretty sure the fans will be disappointed.
The books are good mainly because of the characters, with the plot being a spin off of the Chronicles of Narnia mixed with Harry Potter and laced with hipster stereotypes.
The actors are far too good-looking to be the characters that they portray, and the CGI for the magic is truly terrible.
Magic and fantasy are the grounds for great characters, flawed and skilled, with great evolution and you actually get to like them.
Game of Thrones especially bothers me, as it continues to feel like a watered down version of the books, where the characters and events are less substantial versions of what Martin wrote of.It's that the creators of The Magicians were brave enough to tell their own story that makes it worth watching.
The Magicians is not like Harry Potter!!!
And you will end up liking it if you just dont make any connection to Harry Potter series..
To sum up, The Magicians is a very great series which needs to go a little deeper in the characters history and maybe use the teachers a little more since it is a school of magic..
A lot of the time the characters just mimic movements and they are able to do complicated spells.The show seems to borrow a lot of idea's from other known stories like Harry Potter and Narnia.
Because it makes you feel like what happen next if this character do that or that do this what will be the end result the bottom line is you should watch it.
But, the pilot is very fast paced, it never bothers to develop the characters and is a bit rushed to reach all the .Nevertheless, while reading those books a few years back I used to think, that this should be adapted into a TV series, and well, Here it is.You will either love it or hate it.So, sit back and enjoy (or not).
I liked Harry Potter but I absolutely love The Magicians.