Pilot – Unauthorized Magic: 52 minutes
Creators: Sera Gamble and John McNamara
Based on The Magicians by Lev Grossman
*Warning Spoilers*
Broadcast on Amazon and SyFy channel. IMDB describes it as Drama Fantasy Mystery Pg-14 with some episodes having an uncensored release TV-MA. Common Sense media forum relates that parents say 17+ and kids say 15+. In the UK episodes are either 15 or 18. Harry Potter (Rowling 1997-2007) goes to college in America.
The first protagonist, Quentin, is introduced as special by two other characters and is then seen in a psychiatric hospital. He feels he doesn’t belong anywhere and is obsessed with a fantasy book. He’s a creative storyteller promising to stop being naive and immature.
As the other characters are introduced, they all appear to be dramatic. You’d be forgiven for thinking that with a large group of diverse young people at a magic school, the genre is Fantasy Drama. However, upon studying genre types, The Magicians actually fits into the Horror genre.
Elements of the Horror genre are first explored at the end of the first act, as Quentin realises he has magic. The existence of an expert could be the school teachers, but more helpful in giving answers is the young Jane Chapman, who comes to Quentin in his subconscious with information that his ‘ordinary world is no more’ and he is warned of The Beast which will destroy the world.
The omnipresent POV switches between characters, pointing to an ensemble protagonist series. All of the protagonists, although magical, have believable reactions and credibly realistic actions. The antagonists are all obviously supernatural. They use audience awareness a lot in this series to set it apart from previous Fantasy/Horror series, e.g. Quentin says he doesn’t want to be the guy that gets killed off at the very start.
Julia has an emotional disposition and seems unsettled by missing out on the school and Alice is quite a tragic character, so very smart and yet doomed to be screwed by magic again and again. The metaphors for living with mental health issues, trauma and relationships to others and society can be explored in the genre of horror.
It’s easy to forget that shows like Buffy (Wheadon 1997-2003), and Being Human (Whithouse 2008-2013) actually fit into the horror genre. Although technically these would fit into the ‘monster horror’ sub-genre, the theme of fear of the unknown can often be expanded to fear of growing up, or fear of one’s own thoughts and possible behaviours. Desire for validation enters into most of the fantasy versions of this sub-genre. The metaphors for living with mental health issues, trauma and relationships to others and society can be explored in the genre of horror.
The pilot ends on a huge cliffhanger so it doesn’t use the regular three-act structure.The protagonists fail to successfully confront the antagonist/s until the climax of the season. Because the plot hinges on who will survive, and to some extent why, it makes sense to save this part for the finale of a TV series.
