WARNING: If you don't want to know what happened in this episode, don't read this photo recap!
Readjusting to being a human again after having crazy niffin magic is ROUGH y’all. After Quentin catches Alice trying to burn herself (“I miss the fire, ok?!”), he makes her take a potion that will stop her from hurting herself.
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Over at Brakebills, Penny finds out that his little trip to the Poison Room has given him crazy magical cancer. If Professor Lipson and Dean Fogg can’t find a cure for him, he could be dead in a matter of weeks. Kady doesn’t take the news very well.
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Speaking of not doing very well… Julia’s body is readjusting to being whole since getting her shade back and it is NOT fun. Crying, panic attacks, every single feeling. In order to help her out, Eliot suggests she come along on his quest to save all magic.
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Since he’s dying, Penny decides to run off with Kady and enjoy what time he has left. This plan is interrupted by the Head Librarian of The Neitherlands, who magics in and informs Penny he is needed at work posthaste. So much posthaste that Penny and Kady don’t even get to say goodbye.
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Back in Fillory, Margo and Josh have transported themselves to the Fairy realm (which is actually just another dimension on top of theirs) to rescue Fen, which they almost do before they are caught and brought to…
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The Fairy Queen! This HBIC does not agree to give Fen and her baby back, but does give Margo a kind of a catnip for gods, that will attract Ember so they can try to convince him to not destroy Fillory and thereby all magic.
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Eliot needs to come up with a plan to stop Ember from destroying magic and for that he needs Quentin. But Quentin is feeling pretty down (because duh, Quentin). A good, old-fashioned pep talk reminds Quentin that he CHOSE to be a king of Fillory and right now, Fillory needs him.
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Before our heroes can save magic, Eliot must get Castle Whitespire back from Prince Ess. Which he does after rescuing King Idri and changing him back into a human; Prince Ess is forced to leave. And Eliot and King Idri get to have smoochy time.
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Eliot and Quentin decide that their best bet is to get Umber back to Fillory to confront his brother Ember, but Umber is having none of it. Instead he whisks Quentin into a new world he is creating inside a snow globe.
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Margo made it back from the Fairy realm with the god catnip! Minus an eye (payment for the travel, but on the bright side, check out the eyepatch!) Devising a plan to throw a big raucous party, they lure Ember with little cakes (his fav) made of that godnip, and convince him not to kill them all! Wait, that’s it?!
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While Margo and Eliot are throwing their bacchanal, Quentin is stuck beta-testing Umber’s new world. Which is all very regimented, organized, and bland. It seems that in order to create something that works, they need Umber’s order AND Ember’s chaos. A fact that neither god likes to hear.
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Turns out, Quentin being inside the new world was a part of the plan. After he and Umber went inside the world in the snow globe, Julia snatched the globe and brought it to Fillory, where she was able to release Quentin and Umber, bringing him face-to-face with his brother Ember, who long thought he was dead. Oof. The dramz.
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So… the reunion didn’t go too well for the brothers. Long story short, Ember goes nuts, kills Umber, and turns on the magicians. Luckily, Julia had that spell that turns any metal object into a god-killing weapon. So now, the gods are dead and magic is saved.
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Now that magic has been saved, Quentin can get back to helping Alice acclimate to being human again. He makes some pretty decent strides with the help of bacon and sex (because, duh, Quentin) but the good times are put on hold when Quentin let’s slip that Ember and Umber are dead.
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Ok, so why was Alice so freaked about Ember/Umber? Because even gods have parents and Ember and Umbers parents are sure to seek revenge. And they do so by sending this guy! A magical plumber of sorts who turns off ALL THE MAGIC!
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In order to save Penny, Kady makes a deal with that hedge witch (Marlee Matlin) who has it out for the Library of the Neitherlands. If she saves Penny’s life, Kady will spy on Penny/The Librarians in order to bring the Library DOWN. Marlee Matlin (okay, the hedge witch she plays) agrees.
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Cut to two months later. A world without magic. With no magic, there are no wards to protect Brakebills. No practicing magic in class, it’s all theory.
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But not ALL magic is gone. That spooky niffin priest shows up using his niffin power to warn Alice that an ancient magical beast called The Lamprey is coming for her for wrongs she did him during her Niffin days.
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The High King and Queen don’t have any power, but these guys sure do! A whole Fairy army, seemingly bent on taking over Whitespire! Of course it’s all the magic that wants our heroes dead that survives.
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All hope is not lost though. Julia makes a late night visit to Brakebills to show Quentin something incredible. Though the power is nothing compared to what she once had, there’s still a little magic left in her! Sparks!
