#didn't we already do this shit with queliot

[coal15]

Wild Speculation Time! Weeeeee!

Okay, so I don’t literally think this will happen or that this is what’s going on, it’s more of an: it would make a lot of the recent strange writing choices make more sense.

Ahem. Let the wild rumpus begin:

I’ve noticed there are persistent off-and-on rumors that Ryan and Oliver don’t get along like they used to. Whether “not getting along” means “not besties” or “I loathe the very sight of you,” who knows. 

If it is true that they don’t get along while at the same time more and more people are not only shipping Buddie, but anti-shipping other options all well? Wow, that is a tricky spot to be in for a showrunner. 

Forcing actors who can barely stand eachother to play love interests is . . . well, it’s been done before in plenty of shows, but it’s certainly not a working environment I’d wanna be a part of. It’s a great way to make everyone on set super uncomfortable, and I don’t want that experience for any of our lovely 911 cast or crew. Bleh. 

So let’s look at other options:

Write both men off the series (which would, by default, get rid of Christopher too). Or  write only one of them off the show. 

Okay. I’m running the show. Who do I write off? The audience does love seeing Eddie in Awesome Protective Dad Mode. But overall it seems like Buck is the more popular character in general, and the audience also loves his bond with Christopher. 

But if you get rid of Eddie, Chris goes with him, right?

And now for the absolutely terrible idea that I could totally see them doing just for the sake of resolving fan displeasure and/or on-set issues:

We all noticed that Eddie and Ana are not only an unpopular pairing, but it almost seems like they’re intentionally boring and w/out chemistry, right? It seems to me like most viewers have noticed that. And they wrote Eddie being a bad parent to Christopher the second he had a chance to get New Pussy in the near future. Unconcerned about bringing Ana into their home without a mask or any distancing, seeming not to care that his son has CP (which is often associated with a weakened immune system). And then not even noticing his kid leaving the house and getting in a car that then drives away. Yeah, he went from sweet concerned father to shitty oblivious father in the space of a single episode. 

Like I said, it’s a terrible idea, I’m not a fan of this idea but what if . . .

They BIG TIME played up the bond between Buck and Christopher while highlighting Eddie’s inexplicable attraction to Ana and how it instantly makes him a worse father on purpose. What if it’s being done to make general viewers less sympathetic toward Eddie. Thus less attached to the character. And by contrast more aware of what a great father Buck is to Christopher? 

I mean, one way of making a ship less popular is to turn half of said ship into an asshat. Hell, they could even spend the back half of S4 and some of S5 slowly morphing Eddie into an outright total douche if they wanted to. Then give his character some kind of “semi-redemption-then-he-dies-at-the-end-of-the-episode” send-off to close out his arc.

“BUT WOULDN’T THAT DESTROY CHRIS?!?” You bellow at your phone after reading those words. “PERISH THE THOUGHT YOU HORRIBLE HORRIBLE MONSTER PERSON!!!”

And yeah. With the way their relationship has been written up to this point it would be basically awful. But many a show has been willing to retcon an entire character and/or relationship history if it suits a narrative they wanna push. Not saying it’s a good thing to do, it’s usually not. Just saying it’s not unprecedented in TV Land. (and sometimes the only workable option if a drastic change simply has to be made for whatever reason) 

Anyhow, my point being : if the showrunners wanted to get rid of Eddie but keep Christopher and his adorable relationship with Buck, they might think that their best option is to gradually (or not so gradually) morph Eddie into an uninvolved and/or shitty parent, while at the same time highlighting Buck’s evolution into a full-on paternal presence in Chris’s life. Aaaaaaaannnnnnd then write Ryan off the show via whatever means while making it clear that he wants Buck to take custody of Chris in the event of his absence or death. 

Can’t say enough: I DON’T LIKE THE IDEA, but it would make several recent and super bizarre writing and casting choices make more sense. This is a show that usually does a great job with matching for chemistry. Athena and Bobby, Maddie and Chim, etc. Even Buck and Ali had . . . well, not terrible chemistry. Same goes for Taylor. Which makes it so strange that Eddie and Ana are such a huge dud. Even outside of “interfering” with Buddie, the actors simply have no chemistry at all. Which wouldn’t be weird if we didn’t have so many examples of the same damn show getting it spot-on right. Part of me believes it has got to be intentional. 

Which gives us 3 likely(ish) possibilities:

1) They planned to straight-wash both characters all along and the utter lack of chemistry between Eddieana and ooc Eddie were simply poor writing/casting choices. Or that we’ll soon be moving on to Eddie’s “the one” (also female, of course)

2) Every writing choice in the last ep was actually designed to showcase the stifling awkwardness of Eddie with a “girlfriend” while also showcasing how much Buck already fits into the Diaz family as a parental figure. Basically nudging the general audience toward the idea of an official Buckley-Diaz family. 

3) Eddie’s shitty parenting and tight Buck+Christopher bond will continue to escalate, highlighted more and more, until the audience dislikes Eddie and loves Christopher+Buck enough that writing Ryan off the show is a hell of a lot less risky. 

I know Christopher has already been through so much trauma-but the Eddie Diaz I saw in the last episode is probably the last person (besides Ana) I would want guiding him through yet more trauma. If we’re going by this last episode alone? Yeah, that should be Buck’s job.

OH! Nevermind, there is a 4th possibility:

4) They just straight up re-cast Eddie and have the other characters make a few offhand comments like “did you change your hair? You look different,” and the show goes on as if he’s always been played by Mr.NewActor. 

(Or I guess they could re-cast Buck instead, but I’m honestly less attached to Ryan as THE Eddie, so if I had to choose? Like, me personally? I’d pick Ryan for the ax. Sorry Ryan. Best of luck in the future, but I can’t imagine anyone besides Oliver playing Buck)

#buddie #Buck x Eddie #I continue to have more rambling thoughts #I really should be stopped #this shit is unhealthy #I promise I had actual hobbies before quarantine #I just want Buddie so much #and I need to think up reasons why it would make sense for them not to happen #shitty writing is shitty #didn't we already do this shit with queliot #memories of queliot #what a dumpster fire that was

[televisionforwhales]

EXTREMELY ready for the 41st timeline Magicians fic wherein they all remember but get to do it again with much less trauma:

-opens of course with Eliot lounging sluttily on the Brakebills sign and he shakily says his "Quentin Coldwater?" because they don't know if the time-travel perfume they spritzed on that bit of Q's soul preserved his memories but he's like "I....died? Um. Hello, hi. what?" Quentin gets reuinions with every one of them where they are properly upset about his death!

-Fogg doesn't have a goddamn clue how the timeline reset but they're handling the Beast way more efficiently this time and he didn't get his eyes yanked out, so, whatever. He'll toast to that. 

-Q feels a bit guilty about being in love with two people and asks for space, sure, but mostly he gets time to figure out how to be a person again and BREATHE

-when they get the god-killing knife they all push Margo to the front and hey, turns out she was qualified to be High King all along so she rules Fillory with her wife-and-eventual-girlfriend Fen. There is plenty of real Eliot&Margo (and marqueliot) bonding that we've been denied. She gets everything she wants.

-Julia and Kady jump right in to making those Hedgewitch connections and fixing the whole damn thing. Best Bitches Fall in Love along the way. They have a triad with Penny40. (Eventual demigoddess Julia??)

-Penny40 remembers the Underworld and there could be a The Good Place-esque afterlife overhaul, maybe. Mostly I care about Penny catching a fucking break!! And he has two girlfriends to dote on like the big softie he really is. 

-I honestly have trouble seeing qualice lasting in the long term, but I'm open to other interpretations (we know our boy is open to polyamory). More than anything I'm invested in them having a friendship. Like...being actual friends who enjoy each other's company without everything being so fraught constantly

-ALSO invested in the Librarian Alice content that was set up and got no follow thru. And since every Magicians woman is a WLW in my heart and she'd be building coalitions with the Hedgewitches AND Fillory... there's plenty of girlfriend material in addition to amazing plot material, just saying!!

-Eliot pointedly asks Kady to hangout on Tuesdays between 1:30-3 and she knows he knows that's when she has her Magicians Anonymous meetings so they make it a weekly thing and he always treats her to lunch and they never talk about recovery outside of that hour and a half meeting but they bond over being completely ride-or-die for their little super nerds

-I'm a simple creature, yes, Queliot will happen. I love the idea of a slow burn between two people who are already in love but have shit to work out first! And Q would be rightfully insecure over being rejected so Mr. Eliot "Acts of Service" Waugh gets to fucking full-out wine and dine him, just, like, woo the boy proper. It's ridiculous.

-Things aren't perfect but they're pretty great sometimes!

Bonus:

-I've already written about their lunches with Ted Coldwater. He isn't the Giles to their Scooby Gang so much as he listens in confusion and pats them all on the shoulder and calls them champ.

#the magicians #the magicians critical #(sorta. i mean. im pretty critical but i think it only slightly shows here lol) #queliot #Margo/fen #wickoff #kady/julia/penny #uhh.. theres other ships i can tag if people are squicked by any. just tell me! #and josh...is there too. i dont really understand his character but i guess he can be the high king's chef if he wants #tvtalks #op #long post #shit that did get long huh #im surviving on memes and long sappy headcanons

[james-stark-the-writer]

So I just saw The Magicians S04E13...

... Absolutely fuck every single one of you talented beautiful majestic people.

Fair warning, this review is really incoherent. I can't make sentences right now. Too much.

SPOILER WARNING.

Jesus fucking christ I think I just cried more than I have at any point in my life. I had to fucking wipe my tears from off my screen. JFC.

Fuck.

Absolutely fucking fuck.

What the fuck was this episode.

What even was this episode.

Honestly, what in the ever living fuck.

How could you do this to us

How

Sera and Henry I need a fucking answer goddamnit.

And I need season 5 more than I need AIR.

Fuck.

What the fuck was that episode.

And now I'll never be able to listen to Take on Me the same way without absolutely bursting into tears.

Actually what the fuck

Why would you do this to Q and Eliot

What

Q's face when Eliot showed up with a FUCKING PEACH.

Holy shit

I was just sobbing

This is the most emotion I've ever felt when someone has died

What in the fuck

JFC how fucking talented can two people be to make me a sobbing mess

Fucking Jason and Hale.

Goddamnit

What the fuck happened to Josh and Fen???? How in the fuck did Eliot and Margo time travel 300 years????

What happened to Quentin???? Where did he go?????? GODDAMMIT I NEED ANSWERS. I CANT WAIT A FUCKING YEAR FOR THIS.

Wait... DID Q GO TO THE FUCKING LIBRARY TO BE WITH ALICE???? WHERE THE FUCK DID Q GO??????????????????????? GODDAMMIT. I JUST FEEL EMPTY NOW. JUST ABSOLUTELY FUCKING EMPTY.

Goddamn

How

And 'MAGIC COMES FROM PAIN'

Holy fucking shit

I knew Julia wasn't done yet

I fucking knew it

Except she's grieved over everyone but Q.

Does this mean once she grieves her magic is gone since there's no more pain??????????

Fuck.

Goddamnit I need season five now.

9000000000000/10 best goddamn thing I've ever watched in my life. Just as good as 3x5 and 4x5.

Fuck

Give me season 5 already

Also where was my tissue warning

Fuck you

I needed a box of tissues

But you didn't warn me unlike with episode 11. What the fuck???

God, watching that montage of how much Q changed everyone was... I have no words. It was perfect. It was simply perfect.

I have absolutely zero critiques about this episode. We didn't get a Queliot but we didn't get a Qualice either.

And honestly,

I think they'll bring Q back in s05 but I kinda hope they don't.

It'll make 4x13 lose a little bit of it's impact.

But also I need my babies back already

And who the fuck is the dark lord

And how in the fuck did that fillory dude know who the fuck Josh and Fen were if they were overthrown 300 years ago???? And why does he hate them?????? I need answers goddamnit.

Whoever replies to this with 'Learn to love the mystery' actually fuck you.

P40 couldn't convince me, you sure as fuck can't.

And man, I missed P40 but he's still a fucking asshole.

Just tell Q everything

How is he supposed to stop anything anyway. He's fucking dead.

But maybe the fact he didn't tell Q stuff means Q is going to do stuff

And P40 knows it.

Answers, Sera and Henry. Now.

Edit: WHOA BITCH HOLD THE FUCKING PHONE. WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU MEAN JASON IS NO LONGER PART OF THE CAST. WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU MEAN JASON GAVE AN EXIT SPEECH. WHAT IN THE FUCK.

Well there goes all my hope of him coming back. BRB I'm going to cry my eyes out again.

#james reviews things #james reviews stuff #the magicians #queliot #qualice #s04e13 #fuck you #this was beautiful