Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		0.0
Overall		3.0

The Magicians: Season Five Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Martin Liebman July 30, 2020

The Magicians enters its fifth and final season radically transformed from the events that finished off season four. The show maintains that same essential cadence and narrative drive, but season four, itself something of a soft reboot that maintained characters and core elements but took the show in a fresh direction, certainly changed the landscape from start to finish. As such it's vital that the audience start back at the beginning with season one and, of course, follow on through to seasons two, three, and four before delving into season five. For newcomers just wanting to jump in and big time binge, Universal has also released a fifteen disc complete series boxed set that offers all five seasons in one place and at a discounted price.

Note that spoilers for season four appear below; it's impossible to explore season five without discussing season four's biggest plot twist.

Official synopsis: Season Five finds Julia (Stella Maeve), Alice (Olivia Taylor Dudley), Eliot (Hale Appleman), Margo (Summer Bishil), Penny (Arjun Gupta), and the rest of the gang coping with the tragic loss of Quentin as they navigate the return of magic. However, not only is magic back, but now there is way too much of it. The magicians must deal with the repercussions of this new magical surplus as they fight to prevent the literal end of the world.

Quentin's death broke hearts and shattered the world of The Magicians. But it was also a story turn that plays absolutely true to the show's integrity, reinforcing it's ever-constant themes of reflecting reality, even in the fantastical. The Magicians has never shied away from the hard questions and the difficult choices and painful realities inherent to adulthood and the real world but it juxtaposes them against, and builds them up through, the mysterious and magnificent, the malleable and oftentimes malicious, realm of magic. Quentin's departure hurts. But it's also the ultimate compliment to the show's purpose and soul.

Season five does not wallow in pity. It's a season of purpose thats sees the characters pick themselves up and move on with new adventures, new storylines, and new characters. That's not to say that Quentin's death doesn't linger or define some of the arcs. As the season begins, the characters remain in a state of shock. And even as the audience has had more real time to digest it, that sadness remains a pervasive, unrelenting damper on things. But the characters move on as best they can, and so does the show and the audience. Season five delivers a spirited fitting conclusion to one of the better series on TV from the last few years.

The following episodes comprise season five. The rather terse summaries are of little value but the humor quotient is high enough to warrant a listing. They come courtesy of the Blu-ray packaging.

Disc One:

• Do Something Crazy: Penny and Julia go stargazing. Eliot and Margo forget a sandwich.
• The Wrath of the Time Bees: Alice didn't buy enough tacos. Fen's got 3 bars.
• The Mountain of Ghosts: Eliot and Alice go for a hike. Fen gets a haircut.
• Magicians Anonymous: Julia lends a book to some lady. Fogg finds a sock.
• Apocalypse? Now?: Kady punches a dude. Margo misses cocaine. Yawn.

Disc Two:

• Oops!...I Did It Again: Margo and Eliot have a bad day. Eliot has a bad day.
• Acting Dean: Todd sings a song. Margo gives a foot bath.
• Garden Variety Homicide: Josh returns from his nephew's bar mitzvah. Margo and Eliot share a mojito.
• Cello Squirrel Daffodil: Penny only wears vintage. Alice rejects a sandwich. Julia does a thing.

Disc Three:

• Purgatory: Margo learns to project. Josh goes to the spa.
• Be the Hyman: Slap fight! Josh eats a pickle. Dreams are weird.
• The Balls: Margo sees a purse she hates. Alice writes a letter. We couldn't get Prince.
• Fillory and Further: Christmas comes early.

The Magicians: Season Five Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

The digitally photographed The Magicians: Season Five delivers a perfectly good 1080p, 1.78:1-framed presentation that is essentially in-line with previous season outings on Blu-ray. The picture is sharp and clear, refined up-close and more than capable at medium and long distance. Facial features are robust, showing hair, pores, and makeup with format impressive depth and density. Environments are also crisp and well defined, and with a myriad of locations under numerous lighting parameters, the image holds firm even in the most challenging low light scenes but shines brightest when the light allows the camera to reveal the most information. Colors and contrast are all over the map depending on shot, scene, and sequence demands but the palette is quite capable of capturing tones as the lighting allows and the content provides with stalwart depth and reliability. Black levels are of a deep quality and flesh tones are necessarily reflective of character complexion and influencing light. Noise is modest in darker shots but rarely problematic. There are precious other source or encode flaws of note.

The Magicians: Season Five Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The Magicians: Season Five's DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 lossless soundtrack delivers a capable and balanced listen. Music engages with superior fidelity and excellent spacial immersion across the five main channels. Subwoofer support comes regularly. The low end belts out plenty of well regulated power as any sonic event demands, and the more powerful and potent moments are also of aggressive surround implementation, too. Action scenes are impressively robust, but the track is just as much at home in delivering precise atmospheric elements, too. Essentially, the track is well capable of meeting any and every audio demand, from light ambience to heavy chaos. Dialogue is clear and center focused. It is well prioritized for the duration.

The Magicians: Season Five Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

No supplements are included on any of the three discs. No DVD or digital copies are included, either. This release does ship with a non-embossed slipcover.

The Magicians: Season Five Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

For its final season, The Magicians reflects the true-life spirit it so frequently strives to recreate. It's one of loss and emotional hardship: the grieving process. But it's also about moving forward, returning to life, and beginning anew. It's a curious juxtaposition in some ways, a story of recovery even as the season begins with loss and finishes with the end. But isn't that just about the way life really works, anyway? For a great show it's a fitting final tribute. Universal's three-disc set is disappointingly featureless, but the video and audio qualities are just fine. Season five, and the entirety of the series run, comes highly recommended.