That's The Most Beautiful About This Show. It Isn't About The Magic For Us, Well, Maybe A Little But

That's the most beautiful about this show. It isn't about the magic for us, well, maybe a little but mostly the fact that the writers are writing about real people, and that I think is more intoxicating in a good way because they screw up, they learn, get up and keep going. Although some of their stories carry heavy burdens, that doesn't deter them from trying to do good. One can relate with them. I love that about the show mostly.

So let’s talk about how The Magicians as a show about for with depression and/or trauma. Nearly everyone has a weight that’s constantly pushing them down, and they have to keep going and fighting anyway.

Quentin has literal, diagnosed depression, keeps losing people, is unable to fix things, and kind of had to pull the plug on his father in order to bring magic back - and it still didn’t fix things. Eliot is an abuse survivor who grew up in a toxic environment, doesn’t let himself be happy, is an addict and lives inside walls he’s built because of it. Alice’s family never allowed her power to grow, were selfish and sex-obsessed, and she’s so powerful it’s a burden, and was once pure magic, brought back, and now she has to remember, and now has to figure out to be a person. Penny’s abilities are a constant curse, both in never getting a silent day as long as there’s magic, and in either being in constant danger or tied down because of his travelling, and now he has to make sense out of a life after his life. Julia is a rape survivor who lost her soul for a while after her demon baby abortion and was tormented by her rapist nearly constantly, and then lost her god powers after working so hard to heal and find a way towards the light. Kady’s upringing was toxic, she didn’t let herself love anyone for the longest time - and once she did, he died and now she has to watch her love’s dopple ganger love someone else. Margo’s all armor, hard and glossy and so very angry because the world is undercutting her at every turn, trying to diminish her power, and even the one man she learned all that from, her dad, couldn’t handle it.

And then, there are the fights. They never cease, the bad guys are always upping their game, it’s from monsters to gods to uber-gods.

Which is not to say that there’s not joy. Or love. Or laughter. Or silliness. Or sex. Or bland old boredom. But there’s always something there with you in the room, or in your head, or in your arms, you don’t get to check out.

And magic comes from pain, right? And also, magic is a part of you. You don’t get to choose it. So maybe them being at the centre of all of these stories is really about them being cursed, cursed with power and rage and suffering. But they also need their respective curses to have a shot at fighting back. 

And I guess I’m writing this to remind myself how much everyone carries at all times in this show, and how that’s informing their actions. It’s not about doing the perfect, the perfectly right, or the perfectly moral thing. Usually, it’s about making it through, surviving to fight for another day. And I find that really complelling, true to reality and actually kind of beautiful.