The Magicians Review: No Better to Be Safe Than Sorry (Season 4 Episode 13)
Julia’s fate is delivered via the Binder, Eliot’s body is finally free of The Monster, and hearts break everywhere as a loved one makes the ultimate sacrifice on The Magicians Season 4 Episode 13, “No Better to Be Safe Than Sorry.”
Words can’t describe the pain that all fans feel as the finale of The Magicians comes to an end, and Quentin makes the ultimate sacrifice in order to make sure that Everett doesn’t become a god.
It’s hard to comprehend that Quentin will no longer be able to help his friends or live his own life anymore, but he made the right decision and got to choose it on his own. Quentin’s grief after his death is something that strikes me to my core.
“Did I do something brave to save my friends, or did I finally find a way to kill myself?” is a quote from The Magicians that will stick with me forever.
It’s not a secret that even with magic Quentin still had demons that he battled daily, magic didn’t get rid of them it only subdued them enough to where he wasn’t actively thinking about it. I like that in the end his past troubles with suicidal thoughts are brought up because it’s incredibly important for his character to feel the validation for his actions and not to feel that he took a pity way out.
It’s refreshing to see Penny and Quentin having such a tender moment between one another because while Penny was alive, they weren’t super close, hence Penny mentioning Quentin laughing when he died. It’s memorable that Quentin gets to see his own funeral that his friends have for him.
However, it’s absolutely heartbreaking that Eliot will never get to see Quentin alive again, and Quentin never gets to see Eliot safe and sound from the monster. I won’t lie, I am upset that a potential Eliot/Quentin relationship could be on the horizon, only for it to be ripped away as Eliot returns.
I hate to say it, but it does feel partly like queer baiting when you know that these two characters aren’t going to get together, but make us feel like it’s going to happen. In that aspect, I feel a bit disrespected because the relationship between them is something that has had a spark to it for a while and we were teased with Eliot accepting the connection in his mind.
At least in Quentin’s death, he gets to see Eliot one last time, with a significant mark of their life together to prove that he’ll always think of Quentin.
Julia’s journey to a Goddess has not been comfortable, and she’s had to push herself to keep going multiple times, so I understand where she’s coming from when considering to be a human. But, Penny 23’s love for her doesn’t mean he gets to make that drastic decision for her. She has a valid reason to be upset when she’s been working so hard to get her powers back to have them gone only because she’s had an afterthought about becoming human.
Since The Binder made Julia completely normal and removed her way of becoming a goddess again, I am curious to see how it’s explained that she got her magic back. One things for sure, Julia will always be unique, and after everything that she’s done for magic, in general, I think that’ll she’ll always have a spot in the magic world.
It’s an exciting turn of events for Zelda to willingly turn away from running the new library, and instead insisting that Alice be the one brought in to run it. Zelda see’s Alice for who she truly is, what her moral values are, and how she feels about magic, which is why Alice is the perfect choice to be the next head librarian.
As for Margo, Eliot, Josh, and Fen, it’s going to be a fun trip figuring out why Eliot and Margo returned to Fillory three hundred years later, and what exactly happened to Fen and Josh.
This season was a trippy ride from beginning to end, but I loved it and can’t wait to do it all over again with Season 5 next year.
What did you think of this episode of The Magicians? Share your thoughts in the comments below!
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The Magicians will return next year for Season 5 on Syfy.
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Cade Taylor
Cade Taylor is a television and film critic living in St. Louis, Missouri. He is a Senior Writer for Tell-Tale TV. His love for television developed at a young age, with a concentration on queer stories, sitcoms, teen dramas, and science fiction thrillers. In addition, he works full-time as a news producer, telling the stories of Missourians and helming "Produced in the Bi-State," a segment spotlighting actors, musicians, and entertainers from the St. Louis area. He can be reached by email at cade@telltaletv.com.