Season 1 – The Magicians

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Faiz D @RT95588871 05/14/2025 This has the potential to be a great show. See more Leodon S @RT94144845 04/03/2025 The interesting ideas on display here are not quite enough to overcome the severe dislikeability of most of the characters. I've had more than enough of casual cruelty and lazy cynicism masquerading as "complex characters" (there's a strong case to be made that decades of dystopias populated by disinterested protagonists are precisely how we all found ourselves living in one), and the last straw perhaps was when the best character's redemption arc was cut short in a scene of pointless brutality. I'm over it. This kind of thing is not interesting. I don't think I can bring myself to care about what happens next to the ugly characters or the even uglier world they inhabit. The worst part is that the show is still better than the book. See more Stephan H @RT39390551 06/13/2023 I love fantasy series. But this show is teeming with alcohol, drugs and smoking. There is constant drinking and everyone takes some type of drug. It almost seems as if the authors of this series want to process a drug problem themselves or have a completely consumed image of today's youth. Although I love fantasy films very much, I had to stop watching this series for good in the first third of the second season because alcohol, drugs, etc. constantly came into play, as if it was the most normal thing in the world. Even every magical ritual involves either taking a drug or getting drunk. if you cut out all the alcohol, drugs, over-the-top sex scenes to finally make a story that makes sense, then all the episodes would fit into one. The writers of this series should solve their own drug problem and leave us alone. I prefer to watch other fantasy series See more Toms c @tomscove 06/10/2023 I was not expecting to enjoy this as much as I did but I love it. See more Jeff B @RT55266517 12/07/2022 I read all of the books and loved the show! See more Alexandra T @RT80840286 06/25/2022 Watched 1st season while at home with Covid as there was literally no other fantasy TV series left. I thought it would be good enough to keep me distracted in my current state of brain fog. I was wrong. First, there is no world building. Even though these people live in a world with magic and are at a magic SCHOOL, we learn very little about how magic actually works. Basic questions like: What kind of classes are they taking? What do those hand gestures mean? Do you always need spells? Is there a central authority that regulates magic? None of those are answered. The principles and rules of this magical world are never covered beyond haphazard, surface-level information that you have to pick up on the fly This starts to seem justifiable, if not sensible, once you realise that the focus of the show is NOT the world in which the school and its annoying students (more on that later) exist, but another world beyond / within it, that's kinda like if "Chronicles of Narnia" was crossed with a B-grade slasher movie. Can't focus on the magical school if you need to hurry your characters towards getting into R-rated fairyland Despite this intention, there is no actual deliberate plot to get the protagonists into said fairyland. Even though there are "adults" at the school who know about this secret land and its villain, no effort is ever really made to give the students a basic "intro to the world that wants to kill you" course. Even as professors tell each other the kids are not ready, they make minimal efforts to help the kids get ready. Aside from Eliza popping in and out with cryptic clues for Quentin that often outright confuse him, there is no other guidance or plan from the faculty on how to fight this threat. Everyone largely reacts to what the villain does 90% of the time For the most part, though, the main characters seem too embroiled in their own overblown dramas to notice or care. I get that this is Young Adult and that characters can be complex and flawed, but there is a fine line between "ambivalent" and "consistently downright annoying". Most characters are exaggerated versions of their tropes (e.g. uptight ice queen nerd, misunderstood emo with inferiority complex etc.). They rarely display any kind of sign of personal growth and are often incredibly selfish, immoral, passive aggressive and entitled. One can only assume the writer's traumatic high school and college experiences spilled over on the screen with a vengeance - still, even the most "Mean Girls" script has someone pleasant. One has to try hard to find pleasantness in this show Overall, an inadequately paced, illogical piece of writing with confused mythology, lazy borrowing from other shows and utterly unlikeable heroes. The most magical thing about it is the fact that it convinced people it was good See more Read all reviews

The Magicians — Season 1

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