Perhaps it could be argued that Plum’s story along with the appearance of Christopher Plover and the reveal of the Dark King’s true identity as Rupert Chatwin acts as the common thread that ties the episode together. However, Seb’s story is more wrapped up in the dark side of mourning a lost love, making us feel like Eliot or Alice could have easily gone down this road with the loss of Quentin. The Dark King’s willingness to use Eliot to reassure Lance that he hadn’t forgotten him shows his disregard for others, but it doesn’t fully explain why the Takers and an eternal reign are necessary… or what “Wait by the door!” means.
We know that the surges from when magic came back are what awoke him, and Plover’s knowledge of his true identity led to the tongue twister curse that gives this episode of The Magicians its name. We won’t question the coincidence of Plover coming through the clock at the exact moment the secret needed to come out, but his appearance provided for some great comedy with Gordo the vet and Fen’s fascination with the Fillory and Further author’s storytelling. And as mentioned, ridding Plover of his infestation via Margo’s axes was a nice touch as was replacing the bugs as punishment.
The story that really felt out of place but still action-packed was that of Alice attempting to find out more about the Couple and why they want Quentin’s page. It was nice to get an update on Kady, the hedges, and the Library being rebuilt, but because the whole story was a Matrix-like simulation being run by “George” (who actually IS the Couple?) it’s hard to know if any of that cooperative spirit is actually happening in real life. But in the end, we have to admire the excruciatingly convincing manner in which Olivia Taylor Dudley portrayed Alice’s reaction to her fingers being cut off with pruning shears. Yikes!
But does she actually want to replace the moon with a more amenable satellite using the world seed spell? Is that now the plan, or was that supposed glance into a Poison Room spellbook just part of the deception that can’t be actualized? Alice’s story unfortunately created some confusion, and Earth’s issue with Circumstances definitely feels disconnected from Fillory’s Taker problem at this point. Add to that the seemingly unrelated mystery of Penny and Plum’s signal, and this episode of The Magicians ends up a bit of a mish-mash.
A fun mish-mash, to be sure, but a mish-mash nonetheless. And that’s not even taking into account other pending details, from things as minor as Margo “keeping an eye” on Josh to things as major as Julia’s accelerating pregnancy. We have no doubt that these peripheral elements will pay off, and the seemingly divided storylines will probably merge at some point — they always do in The Magicians. But that doesn’t change the feeling of discombobulation that leaves a sense of dissatisfaction.
Or maybe that’s just the cancelation…