Magicians Trash

This is just a bit of speculation on my part.  I really felt that the sub-theme of the lastest ‘The Magicians’ episode was the love triangle between Quentin, Alice and Eliot.  I’m talking about 2x7 ‘Plan B’

The show seemed to put any animosity over the three-way in season 1 to bed in the first episodes of season 2.  Everyone talked about it, and tried to make amends, and the four of them took the thrones and it seemed like it wouldn’t be brought up again.  Eliot’s bound by a fidelity clause, and it felt, though it would take time, that Quentin and Alice would eventually make up.

I know it’s likely just Niffen!Alice trying to make Quentin feel guilty,  but the episode goes into detail of what actually happened that night.  Why bring it up again when all four parties had decided to move past it?  Is Quentin still just that guilty over it?  Or has it stuck with him as some kind of revelatory moment?

Moreso, at the end of the episode Eliot sacrificing himself for Quentin mirrors Quentin’s sacrifice for Alice almost down to a frame for frame replay.  It’s been obvious that Eliot’s been in love with Quentin since the beginning of the show, so it makes sense that he would protect him.

I’m sure i’m reading subtext where I want to see it, and the creators are just trying to build angst for Quentin in the next episode when he can’t help either of them, but I’d really like that to not be the case.

Alice and Fen are great characters, and I don’t want people accusing me of downplaying them for the sake of a slash pairing.  I just don’t think either of them work.  Fen for obvious reasons of her relationship to Eliot being arranged and forced, not to mention the fact that he’s gay.  Alice and Quentin feel just as forced to me, I don’t know.   I guess I would love to see Eliot’s fidelity clause nullified somehow, and for Alice to be restored but still reluctant or refusing to get back together with Quentin. 

“A magician is strong because he feels pain. He feels the difference between what the world is and what he would make of it. Or what did you think that stuff in your chest was? A magician is strong because he hurts more than others. His wound is his strength. Most people carry that pain around inside them their whole lives, until they kill the pain by other means, or until it kills them. But you, my friends, you found another way: a way to use the pain. To burn it as fuel, for light and warmth. You have learned to break the world that has tried to break you.”

I cannot tell you how many times I’ve forced people to listen as I extol the way Eliot touches him during the threesome scene, so I am DELIGHTED you’ve given me an excuse to do it again.

And really, that’s what gets me is just the way he touches Q. Yes, it’s a sex scene, so clearly they’re touching, but that doesn’t mean you touch everyone the same way. I really wish we had a shot of them from further out because it really sort of looks (to me, anyway) like Quentin is in Eliot’s lap for their kiss, but since we can’t see if he is or not, I’ll leave that bit of positioning alone.

Regardless, they’re close and despite the fact that I really don’t think what we’re shown is their first kiss, there’s this moment where they hover and stare before kissing like they’re taking a breath before taking the plunge. If you want to know why I don’t think it’s their first kiss… You can see their hair is caught together and there has to be a severe lack of personal space for that to happen because yes, Q’s hair is long, but it’s not that long. A strand of Q’s hair is stuck almost on top of Eliot’s head, which just makes me think he crawled on top of Eliot and it fell around his face and tangled with Eliot’s before they lifted back up together.

I am assuming they kissed during whatever they did to get close enough for their hair to tangle up, but maybe they didn’t. But what does happen is they’re lingering that close and Quentin’s holding his hands up like he doesn’t know what to do with them, like he isn’t sure where he can touch, but it looks like he leans in first and Eliot meets him open-mouthed.

It almost looks like Eliot wants to devour him and almost as soon as they start to kiss, Eliot has a hand on the back of Quentin’s neck, holding him in place and then squeezing like he’s making sure Quentin doesn’t pull away. You can see Eliot’s hand slide up and tighten as he presses in closer, rising up and kissing Q harder while Q finally figures out what to do with his hands and moves to settle them on either side of Eliot’s neck so they’re both holding on to each other.

The neck squeeze is important to me. It’s possible that this is just an Eliot thing, but I prefer to think it’s an Eliot with Q thing, an ‘I finally have him and I’m not letting him go’ thing. I cannot swear that Eliot never kissed Mike like that, but in the scene with Javier/Fen, he’d place a guiding hand on the side of their neck or let his hand slide along their shoulder(s), but there wasn’t the same neck squeeze. We see other people give Eliot the neck squeeze (Margo and Fen both, I believe), but Eliot only does it to Quentin.

And then there’s the morning after scene. You wouldn’t think there’s much reason to squeal over this except omg, yay, they’re in bed together, BUT YOU WOULD BE WRONG.

Eliot is in the middle of them and I don’t really care as much about why he’s in the middle as much as I do about what he does while in the middle. He was drunk, he just had sex, he probably just fell down wherever, the fact he’s in the middle isn’t a big deal, but it does let us see something. Eliot Waugh, while unconscious and vulnerable and stuck between his best friend and a guy he only met earlier that year, will choose to turn to the guy first.

‘But he’s drunk,’ you say! Yeah… I have no idea how intoxicated he still is by the time they’re done, but once he’s asleep, even if he’s inebriated, it seems like he’d want to turn towards the greater source of comfort/security. Forget terms of attraction, we know Eliot is perfectly fine cozying up to Margo and this is sleep, this is not sex, so don’t tell me the guy in bed is the logical choice. This is about the emotional connection. 

 Eliot Waugh is in bed between his best friend and the boy she once said he was obsessed with and given the choice between them, his unconscious mind chose to be close to Quentin. He doesn’t just turn towards him in his sleep, it’s more than that, he drapes an arm across Quentin like he’s trying to keep him close even in sleep, absolutely prepare to hold on and squeeze to keep Q from escaping his hold. Just let him hold on a little more.

Yes, he was drinking the night before. Yes, you can call him an emotional mess because of the emotion bottle, because of Mike’s death, because of the drugs used to deal with Mike’s death. You can say those affected his behavior in bed just like you can say it was just chance Eliot flipped to cozy up to Q instead of Margo. He had to cozy up to somebody, didn’t he?

Actually, no. Both times we see Eliot in bed with Mike, Eliot’s asleep on his back. 

We see Eliot kiss Margo, Mike, Fen, and Javier in addition to Quentin, but Q’s the only one that I spotted the neck squeeze with.

We see Eliot in bed with Margo and Mike as well as Quentin, but Q is the only one he turns to.

friendly reminder that FTB has a podcast, Physical Kids Weekly, hosted by @fillory-clinton and @msjuliawicker [also available on soundcloud][follow on twitter]

the podcast has had surprise guests from the show, such as

Arjun Gupta

Olivia Taylor Dudley

and future guests include

Jade Tailor