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The Magicians (2016)

METASCORE

Generally favorable reviews based on 38 Critic Reviews

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65

USER SCORE

Generally favorable reviews based on 33 Ratings

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7.4

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7.4	Your Score
7.4	User Score Generally favorable reviews based on 33 Ratings

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The Magicians

Now Playing: The Magicians

The Magicians (2016)

Series Details & Credits

SyFy | Release Date: January 25, 2016

Summary: High school senior Quentin Coldwater (Jason Ralph) secretly loves the fantasy novels about the adventures of five children in a magical land called Fillory. He soon is accepted into an exclusive, secret magicians university called Brakebills in upstate New York and discovers Fillory is a real place in this adaptation of Lev Grossman'sHigh school senior Quentin Coldwater (Jason Ralph) secretly loves the fantasy novels about the adventures of five children in a magical land called Fillory. He soon is accepted into an exclusive, secret magicians university called Brakebills in upstate New York and discovers Fillory is a real place in this adaptation of Lev Grossman's trilogy of books.… Expand

Creator: John McNamara and Sera Gamble

Genre(s): Drama, Fantasy, Horror

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Recent Episodes

tbd
S5:E13. Fillory And Further
Air Date: April 1, 2020
tbd
S5:E12. The Balls
Air Date: March 25, 2020
tbd
S5:E11. Be The Hyman
Air Date: March 18, 2020

See all Seasons and Episodes

Metascore

65

Positive:

23

Mixed:

13

Negative:

2

Critic Reviews

90

Vox.com

Emily VanDerWerff

Jan 25, 2017

Season 2 Review: In season two, The Magicians is darker, deeper, and just plain better than it was in season one, and it makes a claim for being one of the most unexpectedly great shows on television. Read full review

80

UPROXX Alan Sepinwall

Jan 24, 2017

Season 2 Review: The Magicians overall has come into its own far faster than its young witches and wizards. There’s even more of a sense of playfulness to the material. Read full review

80

The Hollywood Reporter

Robyn Bahr

Jan 23, 2019

Season 4 Review: The writers blast all kinds of arcs in your face, and the fractals come at you with full force. But no matter how many layers of latex pile onto an actor's body so they can become an amphibious beast or a hircine god, the feelings are always real and the stakes are always high. The Magicians demands that its characters sacrifice love for magic, but I would never demand that The Magicians sacrifice energy for coherence. Read full review

70

Los Angeles Daily News

Rob Lowman

Jan 25, 2016

Season 1 Review: The students of Brakebills have never fit in and aren’t part of a hierarchy, and, like a lot of young people, can be their own worst enemy. So far The Magicians played off those reverse expectations fairly well, and has a more hip Gothic atmosphere to it. It will be interesting to see if it can keep all the balls flying in the air. Read full review

60

Collider Adam Chitwood

Jan 15, 2020

Season 5 Review: The road to recovery in The Magicians’ fifth season is initially a bit... rough. ... It feels at once like it’s moving on from the loss of its central character, but also still feels like the same show I came to love. Read full review

60

Hitfix

Alan Sepinwall

Jan 25, 2016

Season 1 Review: Just like a school like Brakebills wouldn't send its students to an advanced class before teaching them the basics, The Magicians loses something for not fully setting up foundational elements like how magic works in this world, what it's like to be a student (or teacher) at Brakebills, or the many ways it is very different from Hogwarts. Read full review

30

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Rob Owen

Dec 16, 2015

Season 1 Review: There's little that's magical about the cold, poorly paced Magicians pilot. It takes 16 minutes until Quentin arrives at Brakebills and feels longer. The pilot is rife with drab colors and while the story has potential, it made me want to go find the book rather than watch more of the TV series. Read full review

SEE ALL 38 REVIEWS

Write a Review

7.4

User Reviews

10

andreaaleman1

Jan 15, 2020

I love this show, it's so creative. Highly recommend is you love adventure fiction!

0 of 2 users found this helpful02

7

Letterhead

Jan 8, 2020

It's a series that I watch when I'm at school and want to pass the time but wouldn't really get invested into it too hard because it's not very exciting.

1 of 1 users found this helpful10

6

UnfuqTheWorld

Feb 13, 2021

This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Season 1-2 were epic. It started to go downhill in 3-4. Season 5 should have never been made. The only show I can think of that survived killing off the protagonist was GoT. It seamlessly continued afterwards because there were so very many other engaging, spectacular characters, with equally fascinating plot lines to engage their viewers. Not so much with The Magicians. Not only was Quentin and Alice’s love story compelling, it was the very foundation of the entire show. And furthermore, Quentin’s death did not result in the “good guys finally winning the war”, due to Quentin’s heroic sacrifice, it turns out it was just one more skirmish in an endless series of minor battles. And I kept waiting for Quentin to return, but he never did. It took me about 5 or 6 episodes to finally realize that Jason Ralph had truly left the building!

I Googled to see why Quentin was killed off, and the writers said they couldn’t figure out where to take Quentin’s story next, so they opted to kill him off. Wait, what? Isn’t it the writers’ job to come up with new plot lines? Did their well run dry? Aren’t they paid to keep that well flowing?

The writers said they met with Jason Ralph, and “he agreed” that there was no logical place to take his story line, which to me seemed unlikely that Ralph was in favor of losing his job, unless, of course, he WANTED out, for any number of possible reasons. Also, IMO, killing off your most interesting and attractive “eye candy” (for the type of women who voraciously watch this show), is never a good idea. Perhaps they didn’t realize how essential Quentin was for their fan base. Truth is, if Ralph wanted out, they should have created a viable ending for the entire series at the conclusion of Season 4, not just carried on, in spite of the gut-wrenching loss, like a three-legged dog, limping to the Finish Line.

I also found fault with Margo falling for unattractive, bumbling Josh. A “10” woman taking up with a namby-pamby “5” or “6” male is just not realistic. More than the physical mismatch, is the idea that such a strong woman would be satisfied to have a relationship with such a clumsy, milquetoast. I couldn’t quite wrap my head around it. The entire 5th season was a disappointment to me. Julia and Penny 2.0 didn’t do it for me. The death of so many characters at the end, the group being split up in the finale, none of these plot lines felt “right” to me. I was especially disturbed by Zelda’s death. And what was with the constant breaking out into song? Bizarre! By the end, the entire experience was a bit painful. There was no cohesiveness to the story. It felt more like the writers were struggling just to tie up all the loose ends SOMEHOW, in the designated amount of episodes. I would give Seasons 1-2 a rating of 9, Seasons 3-4 a rating of 6 or 7, and Season 5 a rating of 3-4. I wish I knew why Jason Ralph REALLY left...… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

6

TheFrog

Jan 28, 2020

TL;DR: feminazi vision of magic stuff.

This series is nice enough to watch while exercising. There's a magic academy, there's a not-so-imaginary magical country and even an almost godlike evil magician that acts as the villain, still it's not a Harry Potter ripoff. We follow a group ofTL;DR: feminazi vision of magic stuff.

This series is nice enough to watch while exercising. There's a magic academy, there's a not-so-imaginary magical country and even an almost godlike evil magician that acts as the villain, still it's not a Harry Potter ripoff. We follow a group of students who train at the school, while trying to find a way to thwart the Beast (who is the aforementioned evil magician and not the 666 guy from the Apocalypse). There are enough twists and turns to keep things interesting, but there is one major fault with the show. It's a female supremacist's dream, it's a tale where super ultra incredibly intelligent, capable and driven women have to save the day constantly, while mediocre men only serve to mess things up.
The male protagonist is a stupid nerd who does nothing right. He's repeatedly humiliated on several levels the moment he enters school. He repeats constantly: "I'm nothing special with magic" - and he's a sad failure at anything that's NOT magic, so go figure. His lifelong friend is a super brilliant girl who excels at everything she does and immediately commands everyone's respect. There's also a genius-level girl who excels at everything and at some point even reveals that she is much more powerful than she lets on, it's just that people hate her enough as it is, so she stifles herself. In one episode, we meet a disabled black lesbian (so many boxes ticked with this one!) who essentially creates the magic equivalent of Einstein's Relativity Theory, but without any magic education and working completely in her mind, without taking notes, being a prisoner in a catatonic body. She tells another girl: "To hell with the school, they won't help a smart girl. Why would they? They are afraid of us". Then there's a missing teleporting girl who is described as an exceptionally gifted, spirited woman, blah blah blah. Even a semi-evil witch is actually competent enough to beat the gasbags in the school and is feared by everyone, because of her power and skill.
Men, on the other hand, are never more than mediocre. Good only at drinking and partying, they are clueless in school and need to cheat at exams. They are mostly socially inept and regularly fail at everything they attempt. Ethnic and sexual minorities get a somewhat kinder treatment, but not by much. There is absolutely no brilliant male. Possibly the villain, but he's another loser and derives his power from treachery, not from talent.
Minor spoiler: the growth of the main character consists in learning he's inferior to women, in learning to grovel more and more and, finally, in submitting to the genius girl ("You are a better magician... and a better person") and giving up his involuntary hero role, admitting she is a much better candidate.
Is the world really like this? IMO no, it isn't, and this show is a disgrace.… Expand

3 of 3 users found this helpful30

6

dc127

Sep 22, 2019

I loved the books. The first Season of The Magicians takes most of the plot from the first and second book of the series. I generally liked it except for the fact they treat Quentin terribly. In the book he is an awkward geek that learns to trust his friends and advances as a person. In theI loved the books. The first Season of The Magicians takes most of the plot from the first and second book of the series. I generally liked it except for the fact they treat Quentin terribly. In the book he is an awkward geek that learns to trust his friends and advances as a person. In the show he is a whiney pathetic sack. In the book he is clearly, clearly a very talented magician. In the show Alice and later Julie are both much better than him. I get it, writers today like to **** on straight white males. It was just jarring to see how all of the other characters had been elevated at the expense of Quentin as a character.… Expand

3 of 3 users found this helpful30

5

zerobane

Oct 25, 2021

10 out of 10 until season 3; at that point just stop watching.

All of sudden the "woke" crowd took over and ran the story and show into ground. They should be walked out for this tragedy. Male characters transformed into simps = check Kill or background any strong leads = check Cringe10 out of 10 until season 3; at that point just stop watching.

All of sudden the "woke" crowd took over and ran the story and show into ground. They should be walked out for this tragedy.

Male characters transformed into simps = check
Kill or background any strong leads = check
Cringe inducing scenes from the talentless = check
Broken story and pushing politics = check

None based on talent or merit; simply filling the equation. All at cost of show, audience and reviews... Just sad.… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

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Seasons & Episodes

65

Series Overview
Season 5

tbd
- Season 5 Overview
  Air Date: January 15, 2020
- tbd
  S5:E13. Fillory And Further
  Air Date: April 1, 2020
- tbd
  S5:E12. The Balls
  Air Date: March 25, 2020
- tbd
  S5:E11. Be The Hyman
  Air Date: March 18, 2020
- tbd
  S5:E10. Purgatory
  Air Date: March 11, 2020
- tbd
  S5:E10. Purgatory
  Air Date: March 11, 2020
- tbd
  S5:E9. Cello Squirrel Daffodil
  Air Date: March 4, 2020
- tbd
  S5:E8. Garden Variety Homicide
  Air Date: February 26, 2020
- tbd
  S5:E7. Acting Dean
  Air Date: February 19, 2020
- tbd
  S5:E6. Oops!...i Did It Again
  Air Date: February 12, 2020
- tbd
  S5:E6. Oops!...i Did It Again
  Air Date: February 12, 2020
- tbd
  S5:E5. Apocalypse? Now?!
  Air Date: February 12, 2020
- tbd
  S5:E5. Apocalypse? Now?!
  Air Date: February 12, 2020
- tbd
  S5:E4. Magicians Anonymous
  Air Date: February 5, 2020
- tbd
  S5:E3. The Mountain Of Ghosts
  Air Date: January 29, 2020
- tbd
  S5:E3. Magicians Anonymous
  Air Date: February 5, 2020
- tbd
  S5:E2. The Wrath Of The Time Bees
  Air Date: January 22, 2020
- tbd
  S5:E1. Do Something Crazy
  Air Date: January 15, 2020
Season 4

81
- Season 4 Overview
  Air Date: January 23, 2019
Season 3

tbd
- Season 3 Overview
  Air Date: January 10, 2018
Season 2

tbd
- Season 2 Overview
  Air Date: January 25, 2017
Season 2

74
- Season 2 Overview
  Air Date: January 25, 2017
Season 1

60
- Season 1 Overview
  Air Date: January 25, 2016