Synopsis of 3×01: With the absence of magic, Quentin and Julia tag-team the search for a way to return it. In Fillory, Eliot stumbles onto a true path towards magic’s revival.
So here’s the skinny:
- Josh brings Julia and Quentin along to a party hosted by Bacchus, the god of revelry. They spend the whole time there getting saucy enough to hold Bacchus’ attention. While it looks like the best party I’ve never been to (guess I’m not partying with the right lower level gods), they walk away emptyhanded.
- Penny is working at the library while slowly succumbing to his “super cancer” he picked up from the poison room during last season. He’s looking rough and definitely doesn’t have much longer.
- At the end of the last season, the fairies basically moved into Castle Whitespire. We now see that they’re here to stay since the Fairy Queen has been bending Margo and Eliot to her every whim unbeknownst to the rest of the kingdom.
- Eliot takes a solo trip through Fillory’s forest in pursuit of “The White Lady,” the questing creature who granted Quentin’s wish of returning him home last season after he caught her. Instead of finding this creature, Eliot finds one of the other six of Fillory, “The Great Cock.” The Great Cock gives him a quest to find seven keys scattered throughout the multiverse, after which magic will be restored. This also leads Quentin and Julia to the “Tale of the Seven Keys,” a blank storybook that seems connected to the quest. If anything, it’s more of a guidebook of sorts.
So much trouble for an overdue book.
Our first reunion with Penny is him chained to a chair in a man’s basement. He performs some cool looking traveler disappearing tricks and leaves with the book he came for.
He pops up at Kady’s place of work for a little face time. Even with him dying, they’ve gotta get their makeout session of the day. You know what they say, a makeout a day keeps the doctor away. That is the saying, right?
The inevitable humor of invisible fairies.
Back in Fillory, Eliot and Margo convene with their royal court but fail to look anything other than insane. They unintentionally ignore the others, distracted by the Fairy Queen’s odd behavior and interruptive comments. Of course, no one else can see her. If they could, what fun would that be? Instead, she occupies their time with whimsical tasks like collecting “rare” earthworms around Fillory during a period of severe starvation.
This scene has a purpose, I promise you.
Dean Fogg meets with Irene McAllister, one of Brakebills’ board members. The board doubts the value of Brakebill continuing to act as a school of magic and wants to shut it down. Irene insists Fogg give them something to reconsider.
Do we not amuse?
Since the old gods cut magic off, it makes sense to just beg them to turn it back on right? Well, that’s a lot easier said than done, but Quentin has a knack for tasting the fruits of futility. Josh brings Julia and Quentin to a party hosted by Bacchus, the god of revelry and one of the “new” gods. After proving themselves with a silly dance they “perfected” in tenth grade, Bacchus lets them in.
Someone is “xoxo gossip girling” our s**t.
Margo and Eliot can’t figure out how the Fairy Queen knows any given plan of theirs the moment they plan it. At least, not until they realize that the Fairy Queen is somehow using Margo’s eye as a mode of surveillance. As shocking as this revelation is, the moment was justly overshadowed by the absurdity of Eliot and Margo’s pop culture spy code.
Historically, I do smite vibe-killers.
At the party, Quentin tries again and again to question Bacchus about contacting the old gods. He’ll only listen to drunk, fun people. So, Julia and Quentin partake in the party’s offerings, including alcohol and so forth.
They’re rewarded by fever dreams of some of their lives’ worst hits.
It’s a trippy experience, that really bears no fruit in the end because Bacchus is too frivolous to be of any help.
Not the White Lady, but the Great Cock.
Eliot searches for the White Lady, one of the seven questing creatures of Fillory. Catching such a creature allows you to make a wish, but Eliot meets the Great Cock instead. The Great Cock bestows Eliot with a quest, the quest for the seven keys, which will become the adventure of this season. Finding all seven keys will somehow restore magic. The quest will also unite all of our protagonists and call for all of their help to complete it.
By way of teleporting bunny, Eliot sends a message to Quentin of the quest. This leads him and Julia to find The Tale of the Seven Keys at a library of all places. Other than the first page, the rest of the pages are mysteriously blank.
By the way, Fen has been tripping every time we see her, coddling random objects like the baby she lost to the fairies.
Lastly, Eliot learns that the first key is on “After Island,” an obscure island outside of Fillory’s borders.
Poked the wrong Lamprey.
The Lamprey is still coming after Alice. She seeks advice from a vampire (yep, those exist here) and he gives her information about an early warning system. We don’t get to see yet, but I’m sure we’ll see soon and I suspect it’ll have its own Magicians flair.
A great start to the season. We followed up with each of our characters and learned what they’ve been up to since we last saw them. We’ve got our quest of the season too. This season is sure to be more adventurous than any we’ve had thus far. What did you think? Let us know in the comments, we’d love to hear and respond.
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