Previously on "The Magicians"...
It is the beast, isn't it?
And he's from Fillory, which is real.
You want to know what the beast wants?
He wants control of Fillory and all the doors that lead there.
I gave you a book about it.
Stuff they're saying I did, I don't remember.
Were you blacked out when we met?
We need something or someone to lean on
that is bigger than ourselves.
- What was that? - Did it work?
It was more energy than I've ever felt.
Still the same, determined, little Jane Chatwin.
Eliza is dead.
She's the only one who could actually give me answers.
There are no answers,
because we have no idea what's going to happen next.
Dear Q.,
I don't need to tell you how pissed at you I am.
Probably got the message around the time
I incepted the shit out of you.
I don't understand why we fell apart
after being friends forever.
Anyway, I'm sorry for my part.
I never meant to really hurt you.
I put it down. I got help.
I know you're not supposed to say
the other person fucked up too,
but you fucked up too,
and it broke us, and I hate you for that,
because I really miss us, Q.
I'm working on forgiving you.
Jules.
J., got your letter.
I guess we're both still mad.
But I'm glad you're okay. I really am.
Take care of yourself.
It's not black and white, Julia.
It's all I thought about
all day when I was in there,
and it's all that I think about now that I'm out.
Well, there's this sometimes very handy thing called penance.
What, like 50 magic lashes?
That spell you used to get inside your friend's mind,
do you remember it?
That's a perfect example
of something that can be used to help instead of hurt.
If you're not afraid to do the work--
I'm not.
Okay.
Q.?
You can't sleep?
I just, uh...
Eliza gave me the answer,
apparently, and I lost it.
"Fillory and Further, Book Six."
And it was important, and it just vanished.
So did you look for it?
Yeah, of course. Everywhere. I...
Fillory is always deciding
when to let the Chatwins go
and deciding when to kick them out,
because Ember and Umber--
Right, the twin gods of Fillory.
They get mean and take everything away, I know.
Essentially, yeah.
They have their reasons.
But that's what happened to the manuscript.
For some reason, I didn't deserve it.
It's a manuscript, not a referendum on your character.
No. I--
- In the books-- - So you lost it.
What do you do when you lose something?
So you had it the whole time.
I don't know what you're yapping about, as usual.
"Book Six."
The day we met, you said you had nothing to do with it.
Like I said, it wasn't me.
Want to get that thing out of my face?
Ugh, fine. I took the stupid thing.
I was bored. It was there.
Now it's gone.
Gone? What do you mean, it's gone?
I mean I read it.
I spilled my beer on it.
I tossed it in the trash,
and then I went and got another beer.
Unbelievable. That's unbelievable.
Wait. You said you read it.
- Do you--do you remember it? - Ish.
This is important. Okay, I need you--
I need to punch you in the throat
if you tell me what I need to do.
The Beast is trying to pick us both off.
You've got the scars to prove it.
I don't understand why we can't just be basic allies.
You can't possibly want to be a dick
more than you want to live. I--
What did Plover say in the book? Come on.
First of all, what's-his-name didn't write it.
Plover. Christopher Plover.
The girl did.
Jane Chatwin.
Wrote "Book Six"? Holy shit.
Yeah, she started off by saying
that the other books are wrong
and she wanted to go back and clarify some shit.
Wrong in what way?
Um, this--this was the summer that the mom died,
and they were hanging out in Plover's mansion,
eating crumpets.
Right. Um...
Jane and Martin opened a closet,
and they went to Fillory.
No. Martin didn't go.
Fillory kept forgetting him.
- Forgetting him? - Yeah.
Martin was crying like a little bitch
about Fillory not wanting him anymore,
and Jane said hang tight and she'll find some way
that Martin can go back to Fillory anytime he wanted.
Yeah, and there were, like, creatures or something.
Questing Creature-- if you catch one,
they're forced to grant you a wish.
There's seven of them. There's a dog, a rabbit--
Stop!
I'm literally becoming less cool with every word you speak.
So I assume she had her enchanted bow
so that she could actually get one.
Uh...
Yes, right. Yes.
Stop, or I'll shoot.
Hello, human child.
It was a dog.
I need a key to unlock the door to Fillory.
- I caught you, dog. - No, wait.
Not a dog.
It was a pig.
By decree of Ember and Umber,
you must give me what I ask.
Wrong. No. What was it?
- Back up. - Ah, for fuck sake.
Hello, human child.
I caught you.
Give me what I ask.
Did it work?
As you wish, so shall it be.
Wait. So the button is the key?
- Well, this all makes sense. - It does?
In the last book, Martin--
he's obsessed with finding the lost button.
He's tearing Plover's house apart.
The message boards are insane, um, with different theories,
because the books--they just say that the button's magic.
They don't--they don't-- nothing specific about it.
- Oh, this is huge. - Why is this huge?
Because it could still be there at Plover's house.
Martin never found it. We could--
Whoa, you are talking about a direct ticket
to The fucking Beast.
Better than him having one to us.
Look, this is in a manuscript that you're probably
the only person to have ever read.
There's a chance the button's still there.
I'm going,
and like it or not, Penny, you should come.
I'm coming too.
Okay.
So what's the quickest way to England?
Ooh, Penny, do you--
Dick.
Great. I'll--I'll pack.
I'm sure we can find a direct flight.
- To where? - Uh...
Scurry along, Ronald.
Raymond.
Have a great day.
Uh... So you seem good.
Could use a top-up.
So where are you flying off to, exactly?
Uh, England.
Oh, you don't need a plane.
Margo and I made a door directly to our favorite pub.
You can get to where you need to go from there.
I'll show you if you take me.
Margo's still in Ibiza.
Ronald gives terrible head.
It's not his fault. TMJ.
I'm bored.
- You don't even know what-- - I'll catch up.
How are you today, Keira? I brought a friend.
I've been working on that thing we talked about.
Julia's here to help. You want to lock the door?
Yeah.
Keira, I want you to think of somewhere that you love.
We're going to create that place together in your mind.
She can hear us, right?
Julia's gonna meet you there.
She's experienced in mental projection.
I wouldn't call it a specialty.
If anything goes pear-shaped, I'll pull you right back.
Richard?
Keira?
Hello?
Richard, I'm stuck! Someone get me out of here!
We screwed up.
Someone saw "Kill Bill."
Keira, Keira,
if you don't want me in here, then just let me go.
I know shit Uma didn't know...
Like how to become impervious to fire,
so I will walk right out of here.
Are you Richard's friend?
What the hell was that?
Needed to see if you were any good
before I let you near me.
What is it with Magicians and tests?
Here. You need a pen.
Did Richard tell you who I am?
Just that you're extremely smart.
I can barely comprehend this.
Can you tell it doesn't work?
There was an answer. I could feel it.
I couldn't get there. Then my body turned on me.
- How long have you-- - Year.
But I still have this.
So I sat and did the rest of it.
You finished this in your mind?
I talk. You write.
And when you go back out, remember what you wrote.
Yeah, yeah.
Um...
Fire at will.
Okay. So we start pretty simply.
The framework from Popper 45.
Okay.
This estate has been in the Plover family
for five generations.
Christopher Plover, already a prolific and respected author,
was looking for inspiration for his new book
when Jane Martin and Rupert Chatwin
moved in next door.
- Not exactly. - Excuse me?
Question from the back.
No, not a question, more of a correction.
The kids got there first, Jane and Martin,
and then Rupert got injured.
Ah, we have ourselves an expert.
- Now-- - And Plover's previous work,
uh, he--well, he only got rejections for it.
It just didn't really show the depth
of the "Fillory and Further" series.
Stay closer.
I'm not sure I can do this tour without you.
Now we have some pictures of the Plover family.
Plover's sister Prudence
cared for him until his untimely death in 1952.
Stay with the group, please.
Not all rooms are for public viewing.
Prudence said Christopher so understood children
because of his own tragic childhood.
He aided many families in the area
and paid for the education of his housekeeper's children,
George and Beatrix.
Not only did he write for the Chatwins,
but he took them in briefly when their mother died.
Legend has it Jane walked through a closet
in this very house to get to Fillory.
Follow me to the writing room.
This is where Fillory was born,
where Plover told tales to Jane and Martin.
As Plover wrote, "There is no substitute
for a childhood of adventure,
warmth, and love."
You will never be a man.
All right, let's find this button
and get out of here.
Shall we proceed, criminal element?
This is where he wrote it,
right here.
This desk saved my life.
So I liked the books when I was a kid,
and my friend Julia and I,
we'd pretend to be Jane and Martin and...
So I was 16 the first time I was hospitalized.
I just--I couldn't get out of bed, like, at all.
I didn't know that.
My brain breaks sometimes.
And my dad brought me the books, and I read them,
and I felt enough like me to at least
try to get back in the game, you know?
Do you still feel like that?
Broken brain?
I feel like...
I don't feel that it really fixes.
It just works better now
in its own screwed up way.
Hey, would you break up with me if I told you
that I've never been happier in my entire life?
Guys, stop lovebirding and look.
Boring, boring...
- Completely boring. - Hey, this could be something.
It's a letter from Prudence, his sister,
to their lawyer.
Plover died of a heart attack in 1952,
but this is all about how he's missing, not dead.
She wants a death certificate issued.
Whoa.
Holy shit. They lied.
Why would she lie if the--
Rumors about Plover.
He--there are these kids that were missing--
kids that knew Plover,
and in his absence, people were talking,
and the longer that they stayed vanished,
the more people started connecting them in a bad way.
No, I bet it's more complicated than that, right?
Well, because--because Fillory is actually real.
Exactly, and Plover was crushed
that the Chatwins were missing,
because he knew exactly where they went.
I love a good cover-up.
And the books were already getting famous,
so maybe it was easier just to say he died, I guess.
So what happened to him?
I got a theory.
McCabe, Livingston, Ali, Popper.
Oh, my God.
- He was studying magic. - Yeah.
I guess that never made it to the message boards.
But check this out.
Kaminsky, Umar,
Aurora.
I've never even heard of those.
Of course, you haven't. You're not a traveler.
It's the entire 101.
- Plover was a traveler? - Or he wanted to be.
I mean, you go one inch wrong,
you're torn to shreds.
This is amazing.
- What if-- - Try this.
Plover's an idiot, like you,
who wanted to go to Fillory, like you,
so he tries a spell and gets blown up.
Or it worked.
Fantastic to idiots.
You want some? It never empties.
Trapped here. Help us.
- Alice-- - Shh.
Don't you hear that?
What in God's name are you doing?
You set off the alarms. You have to get out of here this instant.
Okay. Look.
Is this something that can be fixed with money?
But you're not listening.
Are you mad, or are you scared?
You shouldn't be here at night, so please--
What really happened to Plover?
I don't know what you're talking about.
Yes, you do.
Ugh, he's so panicked,
I can't make sense of anything he's thinking.
Okay. Enough of this.
I'm a super villain.
- Now talk. - Okay.
But then we need to go.
Plover--what was the real deal?
He was involved in some dark things.
There's a book. It's hidden in the writing room.
Yeah. I think we found it.
Prudence--she didn't want anyone to know
the unnatural things that her brother--
Oh, no!
- Oh, my God. - Where did they go?
Whoa.
Okay, then.
Let's get the fuck out of here.
All in favor?
Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit.
Penny.
Alice and Eliot.
Fuck me.
So where did Richard find you?
Brakebills?
Rehab.
- Really? - Yeah.
I, uh...didn't go to school for this.
You sound bitter.
You caught that.
You know, I didn't go to school either.
Come on.
Well, I went to MIT,
but I didn't study a lick of magic in school.
- This is brilliant. - Magic is science.
Hard to crack on your own,
but far from impossible, if you have the natural bent.
Yeah.
You know, sometimes, I wonder if I do...
have it naturally.
What if it's all just one big party trick
that never adds up to anything?
So? What if it doesn't?
You know what I think about when I'm in here?
This one day in this park with my girlfriend.
We sat here in the rain
doing this dumb little spell over and over,
making a rainbow that lasted ten seconds.
Sounds lovely.
It was.
Best day of my life.
What's yours?
Here.
While you and Richard are juicing me up, show me.
I was ten with my friend Quentin.
No one bothered us under here. It was like we were invisible.
We'd read "Fillory" books for hours.
I loved those.
One day, we made this
like we were gonna go visit.
We were playing, but it felt real.
See this.
Chase this.
It's the secret to how to be you.
Okay. Back to the park.
Let's finish this puppy.
Alice?
Eliot?
- Alice! - Chill, man.
They can handle themselves.
Shh, shh!
What the hell was that?
This house is haunted as balls, is what that is.
Come in here, please.
Okay...
Hello?
Anyone or anything?
Okay, Jesus, we get it.
There are ghosts in here.
I tag you.
You're it.
What just happened?
I tag you. You're it.
Do we go with this?
What other option do we have?
Okay, this is a little kinky, even for me.
Would you care for refreshment?
Oh, um, okay, sure. Sounds divine.
Mmm. Okay.
Thank you.
We must get these things off our hands.
Do you know Popper 29 yet?
No magic in the house.
Be good, or she'll take you to the quiet place.
We'll be good. Right, Eliot?
Mm, yeah, you're the boss, kid.
She's coming.
Stop doing that.
My brother is too soft,
caring for you when he needs peace to work.
He has no idea how naughty you truly are.
Now drink your tea.
Drink it.
No. I'm over here.
Holy shit, that's Christopher Plover.
Is it just me, or does it feel like
we're being shown something, like how it was?
Yeah, the time slip.
You say that like, "Yeah, a sunrise."
Sunderland talks about it all the time.
She has a PhD in hauntings.
Her favorite thing about a haunted house is,
you get these ghost movies of the past running on a loop.
You see shit like it was.
I didn't know any of that.
Of course not. You're an idiot.
Oh, my God, it's her.
It's a tiny chick in a beret.
Slow down, Jane.
That's Jane and Martin from the books.
- Nerdgasm. - This makes sense.
Plover took them in, and they spent their days
playing with the housekeeper's kids.
Martin--he was, like, really sick that summer--
Martin, hurry!
Janey, wait for me.
Wait, no. I'm coming with you.
Why won't you take me?
Ember, Umber, why won't you let me in anymore?
I try to be good.
Martin, are you all right?
Where's Jane?
Fillory.
What's wrong with me?
Nothing.
Some things just aren't fair.
We can't make sense of them.
Let's have tea, hmm? Come on.
Us left-behinds ought to stick together.
She's coming. We need to hide.
Quentin?
Okay, I'm getting the fuck out of here.
What did I tell you children
about disturbing Mr. Plover?
Great.
No talking in the quiet place.
Lady, I don't know who you think I am, but--
Insolent is what you are.
I've told you I'll sew it shut.
Alice.
Hey, hey, we need to hustle.
Mrs. Danvers could come back.
Oh, my God.
Do you know what this is?
A vaguely whimsical horror show?
She did this.
She really did this to the children--Plover's sister.
She tied them up and drugged them
so that they wouldn't disturb his work.
Okay, well, maybe ghost girl can tell us where the button is.
Hey, Beatrix?
Beatrix, hey.
My tummy feels bad.
Beatrix, it's okay.
- How can we help her? - I don't think we can.
Well, I guess we know how she died.
Oh, my God. Oh, my God.
It's okay. It's over.
It's been over for a long time.
No, no, no, no. Not for her.
She just keeps reliving it over and over.
- We have to-- - We have to go.
We have to go.
It's not the same.
Yeah, I know. I'm sorry.
Here, have another.
Hmm.
Let's spoil our dinner, hmm?
Oh, shall we work a little?
I think that might be nice.
Do you think that might be nice?
Martin, Mr. Plover, I'm back.
I was in Fillory.
Martin, I brought you what you asked for.
- You must have a look. - We'll be right back, sir.
She's dragging mud all over the floor.
Stop that. You're pinching me.
- You've got it? - Yes.
Let's go show Mr. Plover.
No, please. Let's not.
For me.
The button's a key.
I know you're here.
I know you're spying on us.
George, come out.
Take this.
It's a game, George.
How well can you hide the button?
All right.
Well, I--I won't forget any of it, so...
I know you won't.
Can I give you a little advice in return?
- Yeah. - Forget that school.
The world never did help a smart girl.
Why would it?
We scare the shit out of the world.
If the world goes after you, take it as a compliment.
You know, I could come back. We could--we could do more.
- This was really the big one. - No, I know.
I just--I just--you know, I'm sure you have more things--
I do need one other thing.
Yeah, sure. Anything.
Kill me.
That's--that's crazy.
I'm allowed to be done.
- No. I can't. - Well, I need you to.
You knew.
You knew, and you did--
No, I did not sign up for this.
Then what? Pleasantries?
No, how about not killing anyone?
What do you think redemption looks like, Julia?
Being nice? Donating shoes to Africa?
You think that really burns the tumors off your soul?
What if she's wrong?
You know, what if a Magician finds a cure tomorrow?
What if there really is a hell and this takes me there?
You're already in hell. So is she.
What am I supposed to do?
Whichever's hardest.
Oh, thank you.
Drink up, Jane, and eat.
You must be famished.
Jane, don't you want to join us?
Oh, she's tired.
That's all right.
You go ahead, Martin, like last time.
I don't know if I want to.
Remember when I took you and your sister
to town for cinema?
Bought her that dress she wanted.
Yes. We're grateful.
When I was a boy,
I didn't have anyone who thought about me.
I saw it wouldn't happen to any child I cared about.
I care about you, Martin.
Come on, in front of the camera.
Give me a smile.
Mm.
Oh, I have the best news.
I am so close to figuring it all out.
Wild magic,
too strong to do with human hands.
I'd have to grow another finger.
Can you imagine?
Of course, there's spellwork for that too,
if I can master it.
All right, you can go ahead and take that off now.
Trousers too, darling. All of it.
I think the solution to all our problems
lies in Fillory.
I need to go there with you.
- But-- - I know.
It's been for you kids.
But I think we could find a way to go.
We could be together.
You're a lovely boy, Martin.
Now turn around.
They play like that all the time.
A whole pile of naughty pictures
hidden in the dictionary.
Oh, no. The mean lady.
- Little spy! - I didn't see anything!
- I swear. - May God punish you.
- My brother is a good man. - No.
You all hound him. It's your fault.
Stop. Leave him alone.
Hmm.
To the quiet place,
for the best.
- We should go back in there. - Shh.
I'm trying to think, and I'm out of cigarettes.
This is dire.
Oh, my God. You're okay.
We're great. We're both great, actually.
Where's Penny?
Knowing him, Disneyland by now.
What if he got to Fillory?
What did he do to Martin?
What are you talking about?
I saw something in there--
who Plover really was,
what he was doing to Martin Chatwin.
What...was he doing?
Oh, God.
The poor kid, he was just trying
to get a button to Fillory,
you know, so he could escape this monster, who, by the way,
generations of idiots like me have been worshiping
like a literary god...
who was...learning magic
to get stronger, to travel,
who was wanting to grow extra fingers for spells.
Grow fingers? Like--
What if The Beast wasn't from Fillory?
What if he went there because he had access
via these kids who he liked to tell stories to
when he wasn't drugging and raping them?
Jesus.
Well, I still have the capacity to be surprised.
We thought you ditched us.
What happened to you?
Man, I traveled into a fuck tree about a mile off,
getting away from that crazy Prudence's dungeon.
Not so precise with the travel, huh?
Shut up.
Wait, what do you mean, dungeon?
I mean some dirt-floor basement
bitch calls the quiet place,
'cause that's not fuck psychotic.
There's a storm cellar around the back.
That's where she took the housekeeper's kid.
He's got the button in his pocket.
- Let's go. - Whoa.
That's a great idea if you want Prudence to grab us immediately.
- Dislike. - Okay.
I know what to do about her.
Give me a ten-minute head start, and then head to the cellar.
What are you doing out of the playroom?
This is going well.
- Where the hell's Quentin? - He's coming.
You're all going to the quiet place.
Hey, Prudence!
I heard the nastiest rumor
about your brother.
Okay, fine, but there are about 48 more of those
that I just hid all over the house.
I'm gonna make sure everyone knows exactly
what Christopher Plover did.
No.
Okay.
Well, that bought us about ten minutes.
Let's go dig up a dead body.
It's done.
Richard and I, we--
So this is what that's like.
Do you want me to stay?
So you're found meditating in my room
next to my overdosed corpse?
Yeah, well, when you put it like that...
Bye, Julia.
Have a good life.
We'd better go.
Quentin.
We have to go back.
- Come on. - We have to go back, Quentin.
And do what, exactly?
Help those children.
You can't seriously be thinking of leaving them there.
They were there before we were born.
Trapped.
This is exactly the kind of thing
that we should be able to fix.
There are ways to clear a haunted house.
The house, yes.
It doesn't help with the ghosts.
There are rituals in every civilization.
To prevent this, not reverse it.
We have to help them.
There has to be something.
Those kids-- they did nothing.
That is so unfair.
- You don't say. - You're not helping.
I'm the only one helping.
Life ain't fair.
Why in the high, holy fuck should death be any different?
Thinking that you can change anything--
it's such an act of monumental ego.
I mean, who the fuck do you think you really are?
I mean, you're just some arrogant, little twat.
- So suck it up. - Shut the fuck up.
Vix,
if we're gonna go, we got to go.
Okay.
Come on.
Thanks, but I'm okay.
No, you're not.
Okay, I'm not.
Are you okay?
No.
I've been freaked about The Beast since that day, you know?
I've been worried about myself,
and now that we know who he is, what he is,
what he did to those kids, Martin, I just...
I want to kill him, you know?
I want to--I want to step through the nearest clock,
and I want to wring his neck.
Okay.
Let's see this button.
It looks so ordinary.
No, I feel something coming off of it...
hard.
You guys really don't feel that?
Maybe you should put it away.
Hey, don't talk to me like I'm you.
Mayakovsky trained me himself.
I stay put until I want to go, period.
Told him not to do that.