Signal Boost: The Magicians S4 Finale Aired Five Days Ago And I'm Still Mad As Hell

[seperis]

cleolinda posted: The Magicians S4 Finale Aired Five Days Ago And I'm Still Mad As Hell

There is still so much I want to say about all of it, but my thoughts won't organize themselves sufficiently. Read cleolinda; lots of commentary and links.

I do, however, want to comment eventually on the less-loaded topic of bad storytelling, which was also a factor here.

But there's also this: any hack on earth can write tragedy. Devastating your audience is the easiest thing in the world.

You know what's hard? Blowing their minds with sheer joy. Shock them by giving them what they didn't even know they could want. I think I can count the times on one hand where a show managed that. To get it, you have to work for it.

I don't get--I'll never get--why anyone on earth would do the second--would manage the fucking impossible--but in the end, only care about, only take pride in, only value doing the first.

Comments

[stultiloquentia]

You know what's hard? Blowing their minds with sheer joy. Shock them by giving them what they didn't even know they could want. I think I can count the times on one hand where a show managed that. To get it, you have to work for it.

I love the way you phrased this. It's so fucking true, and it's always been my own goal as a writer. I would love to read that shortlist of show moments that achieved joy, if you care to type it up. Or book or fic moments, too.

[kore]

I can personally think of a few, but alas a lot are spoilery!

I think "Everybody lives, just this once!" on Dr Who is a big modern example.

[stultiloquentia]

Eep, good point! Dr Who is a good example, though.

[kore]

The Magicians actuallly managed some great moments, like the Under Pressure musical number and THE PEACHES AND PLUMS RECOLLECTION. Argh, show.

-- I swear, the fucken bad writing seperis mentions is so horrible too. Fandom: "These two characters just fell in love and lived an actual lifetime together in a pocket dimension, and now they both remember it! And now one of the characters reveals one of the most important moments in his life is about that! And there's the setup for a big reunion when they both finally are able to deal with it together -- " Showrunner: "Nah that's artificial and we can't think of anything else to do." Like, DAMN, BRO, YOUR SHOW HAS TALKING BEARS AND THE ENTIRE CAST GOT TURNED INTO GEESE, and now, NOW, you have a COMPLETE failure of imagination?!"

But of course....Wow how coincidental. Funny how that failure JUST HAPPENED to coincide with the queer love story.

[stultiloquentia]

...I never got into the show, but I think I might need a Magicians fic rec list.

[kore]

ME TOO, man (I actually haven't been reading much fic while watching the show!).

[seperis]

I'm going through my mental list and most are 'fuck yeah!' but this might illustrate my point.

Buffy, last ep of season seven, when all the girls around the world became slayers. Perfectly framed, perfectly shot, blew my fucking mind, and its still the standard. There were so many missteps in season seven, but the writers did the impossible of both completely shocking the audience and and building toward it for a full season.

Not surprisingly, season five's "The Gift" is still my favorite death ever. I cried myself sick online with friends watching it, and I still watch it every so often because it hurts exactly how its supposed to. It broke my heart, yeah, but again, the groundwork over an entire season showed; that is how you kill a character, shock an audience, break their heart, and make them love it.

I've been thinking about this, because 4.13 had many if not most of the same elements as "The Gift" and yet failed spectacularly. And I think the essential problem began in the writer's room.

I doubt it happened like this, but here's a thought exercise: the writers of Buffy planning season five said "We are going to plan a storyline that culminates Buffy Summers having to sacrifice herself to save her sister and the world. Therefore, the plot--all of it--must set up how Buffy got on that crane at that moment to do that thing both in terms of action and in terms of emotion so the audience understands how and why it happened. We have twenty-five episodes to do it, so what happens?"

The writers of the Magicians planning season four said: "we are going to do something shocking and kill a character! The main white male protagonist. It's gonna be shocking!!!!!!!!!!! And subversive! AND SHOCKING! Okay, now what do we do with the first twelve episodes? Any ideas?"

The writers's goal wasn't subverting a goddamn trope; they were playing into the oldest and most tired fictional trope 'unexpectedly kill a character and shock the audience'. The only reason they went for 'white male protagonist' was that one would have the biggest shock.

[stultiloquentia]

The comparison to The Gift is so interesting. So many similarities! Buffy even gets that scene earlier in the season with Spike where he tells her (arguably projecting like hell), "Part of you wants it."

But where Q seemed to conclude, "My life was worthwhile because of my death," Buffy's fierce belief, right from episode one, was, "My life is worthwhile because of my life." She's the girl who was supposed to be the self-sacrificing lone wolf who "has no life," who instead insisted on having friends and lovers and normal girl problems, and those loving bonds saved her over and over.

Slings and Arrows worked hard and gave me a big moment of joy.

Miyazaki movies.

Check Please! is currently labouring under a couple rookie author problems and a draggy winter hiatus, but I first fell for it when it delivered a huge moment of joy exactly where I'd been conditioned to expect a big fat serving of clichéd gay angst. Knocked my socks off, like, "You can do that? I get to have that??" "Bitty wins" has been an explicit promise from the beginning.

Thank you for talking about The Gift

[jesse_the_k]

...because I experienced Buffy on my own, and have been trying to scry out the similarities and differences.

I think Call of the Wild on due South brought joy.

Re: Thank you for talking about The Gift

[stultiloquentia]

Aw yeah, that's a good one. :)