The Magicians episode review — 4.5 — Escape from the Happy Place

Original air date: February 20, 2019
Director: Meera Menon
Writer: Mike Moore

Rating: 6/10

The title of this episode refers to Eliot, not being aware that he is possessed by the Monster. In order to regain control of his body, he has to find and revisit his life’s greatest regret, which leads to the most satisfying scene of the episode, where he, Margo, Quentin, and Fen go through some humorous events of his past and the past of the show.

Alice sends Christopher Plover to the Poison Room, effectively killing him, and she’s not sure how to feel about that, considering she’s responsible for his death, but he’s also sort of a monster. She visits Quentin to tell him about his death, but he doesn’t want to hear of it.

This is weird, because it’s almost like their relationship is reversed now. Alice doesn’t want him back, necessarily, but she still cares about him. And now he seems like he doesn’t care that much about her.

Lastly there’s some weird plan that I don’t fully understand to trap the Monster at some park, but Quentin screws up when he thinks that he’s speaking to Eliot and not the Monster. I think the Monster did actually lose control for a moment, but he definitely has control back now, and Quentin and Julia have to try and convince him they weren’t trying to trap and/or kill him.

Also, High King Margo is facing some new problems at Fillory, as apparently there are no more talking animals or something like that. I don’t know. I do really like Summer Bishil in this episode, though. Her sassy attitude is quite fun.

This episode is alright. The highlight is certainly all those flashbacks where Eliot explores his greatest regrets. It’s able to make things that weren’t humorous in the moment, quite funny now.