The magical world of spells and potions isn’t always what the children’s books boast. That is the stance that SyFy’s highly underrated dark fantasy series takes during its five seasons of heartwrenching storylines. The Magicians debuted in 2015, adapted from Lev Grossman’s book of the same name. A marriage between Harry Potter and the dark academia genre, the series follows a group of graduate students invited to the magical university of Brakebills.
Viewers came for the magic but stayed for the enduring and sometimes horrifying storylines about adulthood that put a spin on the whimsy of places like Narnia. Quentin Coldwater (Jason Ralph) functions as a proxy for the audience, who is elated to be a magician. He is doused with cold reality, however, when he learns that magic comes with a price, and all the tales he read as a child are more real than they should be.
Who hasn’t wished that they would be spirited away to a magical school to learn spellcasting and witchcraft? The Magicians posits that even in students’ twenties, they could still have such a gift – only this one some may want to return. Quentin and his group of cohorts learn how to bend the laws of reality, but that is only so they can defend the school against an entity known as the Beast.
The first season chronicles the Brakebills’ students' attempt to power up and fight a creature that no one in the history of magic has been able to defeat. The Beast is the gut-wrenching antithesis to Voldemort, whose origins are not easy viewing. The villains of The Magicians cause real-world consequences as the series depicts harrowing issues such as mental health issues and sexual assault.
This series is truly for the older set, as these adult magicians have adult problems. This dark material is perfect for viewers ready for the next level, but it also contains much-needed levity. In addition to trickster gods and infinite time loops, The Magicians also shows what Narnia would be like if it existed.
The fantasy show’s version of Narnia is Fillory, a place Quentin first perceived as fictional. This turns out to be false when the students learn they can visit the inspiration for the in-show books. However, it isn’t the world full of wonder that Quentin grew up with. This Fillory is full of monsters, torture dungeons, and a declining aristocratic state. The Magicians is perfect from start to finish and pokes fun at the C.S. Lewis series while also exploring mature themes that set the story apart from every other magical school narrative.
SyFy’s five-part series was perhaps too brilliant because it missed the attention of many. Similar to AMC’s The Vampire Lestat, which has a niche audience, The Magicians also uses dark humor and in-depth lore to tell incredible human stories. The show may have premiered over a decade ago, but these intense themes hit harder than ever before. A series truly about reaching adulthood, The Magicians is a must-watch no matter what the era.
