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The Magicians recap: Season 3, episode 12, The Fillorian Candidate

By Drew Koenig

THE MAGICIANS -- "The Fillorian Candidate" Episode 312 -- Pictured: (l-r) Brittany Curran as Fen, Hale Appleman as Eliot Waugh, Summer Bishil as Margo Hanson -- (Photo by: Eike Schroter/Syfy)
THE MAGICIANS -- "The Fillorian Candidate" Episode 312 -- Pictured: (l-r) Brittany Curran as Fen, Hale Appleman as Eliot Waugh, Summer Bishil as Margo Hanson -- (Photo by: Eike Schroter/Syfy) /
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The Magicians ponders the potential fallout of their quest in its penultimate episode of the season. 

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How far would you be willing to go for the things you want? That’s the ultimate question The Magicians focus on this week in their latest episode, “The Fillorian Candidate.”

Between Quentin and Alice wrestling with what might happen if magic comes back; Julia, Timeline-23 Penny, and Kadi seeking out Renard; and Eliot and Margo strong-arming an election in Fillory, they’re all setting themselves up to make sacrifices of some kind. For Quentin, that means his dad’s cancer will go out of remission when he brings magic back and possibly unleash a horrific monster. For Alice, on the other hand, she’s worried about something a bit more abstract. What happens if magic comes back and she misuses it again? That’s not a chance she’s willing to take and is now working with The Library to give them control of magic.

THE MAGICIANS (Photo by: Eike Schroter/Syfy) Acquired from NBC Media Village
THE MAGICIANS (Photo by: Eike Schroter/Syfy) Acquired from NBC Media Village /

Julia, Kadi, and Alt-Penny ultimately have to allow Renard to live after they find him, partly out of a need to let him suffer a bit, but also because the only way to kill Renard is with a God-killing bullet, which they need to kill the fabled monster.

Eliot and Margo have to introduce the notion of an election to Fillory, a notion that their opponent Pick is all too adept at as he quickly figures out how to run a campaign against someone. In the end, Margo is the one that becomes King of Fillory, because of nothing less than the fact that she’s kind to the talking animals of Fillory and supports bestiality.

In truth, Margo is the only one in this episode that truly gets what she wants. Eliot, meanwhile, has to be content with being a shadow ruler behind Margo, but swiftly supports his best friend’s rise to power.

This is still a good move for Margo, because, as Jane Chatwin told her during “A Life in the Day”: “You feel like you’re a supporting player in someone else’s story.” Now Margo is the main player, not a middle manager, as she stated in that episode.

THE MAGICIANS (Photo by: Eike Schroter/Syfy) Acquired from NBC Media Village
THE MAGICIANS (Photo by: Eike Schroter/Syfy) Acquired from NBC Media Village /

There is one burning question after this episode: Where is Penny prime?

The decision to bring in another Penny is a good one since the show doesn’t want to show us what’s going on with him in the Library, but also doesn’t want us to forget about him. This makes us wonder what he’s actually doing, though.

Is he okay? Did something happen to him after he ate the cupcake at the book club meeting? Has the show simply replaced Penny with Alt-Penny? It’s unclear right now, but hopefully we get an answer next episode before the season closes out.

Also, what happened to Poppy? She’s a deeply untrustworthy individual, but where exactly has she run off to? We haven’t seen her since the heist at the Library and, assuming she made it out okay, where did she go? Again, hopefully another question that’ll be answered next week.

Check back next week as the season finale brings this quest to a close. Will magic be restored or will things get even worse? Or both? Probably both.

The Magicians airs Wednesdays on Syfy.

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