#see. my problem is i need to subtly imply the crux of the issue in their relationship

[sunflowercider]

If you see me active on tumblr today, tell me to gtfo. I just keep opening the app bc im running away from writing a critically important scene i dont have enough notes fooooooor

[wanderingwomanwondering]

So I wrote a long ass letter to SYFY/NBC re The Magicians. Here it is...

Greetings!

I am writing to share my concerns in the wake of season four of The Magicians on SYFY. I watched seasons one and two on Netflix two years ago and became an avid fan at that time. Naturally, I dove into season three live when it aired and season four as well. From my perspective as a Black queer person living with mental illness, the show has had a host of common problems with its plotting and character development as it relates to marginalized and underrepresented identities from the very beginning. However, in my mind, those problems were mitigated by the humorous storytelling and the seemingly sincere attempt to represent real people who often do not see themselves reflected in popular TV characters.

Evidently, my trust in the The Magicians showrunners - Sera Gamble, John McNamara and Henry Alonso Myers - was misplaced. All of my hopes for a dynamic and honest portrayal of the lives and challenges faced by queer people and people living with mental illness were shattered on April 17, 2019 when the thirteenth episode of season four, entitled The Seam/No Better to Be Safe Than Sorry, aired on SYFY. In this letter, I hope to communicate a meaningful measure of my despair and explain exactly why I was so profoundly impacted but the heinous and imprudent end that Quentin Coldwater met in that controversial episode.

In this television adaptation of Lev Grossman’s The Magicians trilogy, viewers are introduced to Quentin Coldwater, an awkward, queer, anxious and “depressed super nerd” who is struggling to find happiness and meaning in his life. As a fan of the fictional Fillory and Further novels, Quentin finds wonder and escape as a child that carries into his adulthood. In addition, he finds the will to keep living through his connection to the fantastical land of Fillory, which helps him navigate his suicidal depression. These aspects of Quentin’s lived experience are canon, clearly stated and/or demonstrated by the on-screen narrative.

Quentin is immediately and deeply relatable to the very group of people that flock to The Magicians and television programs like it. We are Quentin Coldwater in real life! His story is our story. Honestly, it feels odd to say that as a queer person of color in America with a mental illness, but it is true. Even when I was at odds with aspects of Quentin’s behavior, thoughts, or feelings, there were others that I felt reflected important parts of who I am. Just as Quentin is not “just some White guy”, I am not “just some Black person”. Quentin and I are both queer and we are both mentally ill. Those shared identities mean just as much as the ones that we do not have in common.

This is the crux of intersectionality. What it means for Quentin to be White is influenced and shaped by his identity as a man, both being shaped and influenced by his identities as a queer person and as a person living with mental illness. Quentin must be constructed and understood as a complex and nuanced concert of identities shaping and informing one another. The privileges that he possesses as a White man are mitigated by the marginalization and oppression that he is subjected to as a queer person living with anxiety and suicidal depression. Gins (greywash) does a wonderful job of examining Quentin’s intersecting identities in her article on Medium which you may access here.

The marginalization and oppression of queer communities and people living with mental illness cannot be disrespected, minimized, or erased from the real life socio-cultural and political context in which the fictional world of The Magicians is situated, nor can that larger context be extricated from Quentin’s characterization and narrative without said vulnerable communities noticing and speaking out against it. Simply put, if SYFY channel and the showrunners of The Magicians wish to include marginalized and vulnerable communities in the stories that you tell, then you must be careful and conscientious in how you depict those characters and their associated real life communities, because, as the refrain of the decade goes: “Representation Matters”.

The plotting and character development in The Magicians has real consequences for how queer people and people living with mental illness feel about ourselves and whether or not we feel seen and heard by the larger society of which we are a part. When The Magicians identified Quentin on screen with real life queer people and with real life people living with suicidal depression, that creative choice came with ethical responsibilities that the showrunners violated rapidly and unapologetically. What happened throughout season 4 - culminating in episode 13 - endangered, invalidated, and not so subtly erased identities that Quentin possesses, identities that were incredibly salient to many real life people who relied on The Magicians through Quentin to portray their story respectfully and faithfully. The ethical considerations in this situation do not evaporate with flowery statements about creative vision, good intentions, and entertainment value.

The Magicians showrunners plotted Quentin’s death by suicide under the guise of so-called heroism in the finale. In order to accomplish this, they spent the entirety of the season bludgeoning his mental health to create “ambiguity�� (Hollywood Reporter interview) around the suicidal aspect of Quentin’s death. In a nutshell, writers killed his father, isolated him from his friends, traumatized him through the Monster’s killing sprees and through Alice’s unwanted (until episode 12) romantic advances, and maniacally exploded the protected and protective fantasy of Fillory. On top of all of this, in the fifth episode of the season, the showrunners elevated from subtext and canonically confirmed Quentin’s queer identity and introduced a real chance for him and Eliot to explore their complex and nuanced relationship within a romantic context. The showrunners then immediately returned Quentin and Eliot’s relationship to the realm of subtext and denied Quentin permission to achieve catharsis around this plot point, instead disrespectfully and irresponsibly using it and the aforementioned problems as fodder for the canon suicide plot.

If you wish to understand a fuller measure of the devastating effect that this has had on real life people who identify with Quentin as a queer character fighting suicidal depression, spend a few hours searching #QuentinDeservedBetter #PeopleLikeMe and #Queliot on Tumblr and Twitter. The finale did shock queer fans and those living with mental illness, but it did not do so in a constructive way that affirmed our experiences or our right to exist beyond entertainment for people who see us as “other”.

Ironically, in their attempt to down cast Quentin’s privileged identities as a White man (Hollywood Reporter interview), the showrunners accomplished the exact opposite; they trampled over his marginalized identities, seeking “beautiful tragedy” in the finale. Many people have no problem extracting their Wednesday night entertainment from the blood and tears of marginalized and vulnerable queer and mentally ill “others”. This is evident in the social media posts hailing season 4 as a triumph. Privileged fans have this in common with the showrunners whose own privilege is embarrassingly obvious to marginalized people, but sadly flies below the radar of the showrunners’ own awareness.

It is 2019. Our culture and society can no longer afford to have television programming that is ignorant of the larger social and cultural context in which it exists. We cannot afford to have networks, showrunners, and writers who do not understand the complexity and nuance of intersectionality, power and privilege. We cannot abide television shows that naively miss or maliciously ignore their ethical responsibility when telling the stories of marginalized and vulnerable people; please do not attempt to tell our stories if you cannot or will not tell those stories ethically and responsibly. However, I really do believe that with professional consultation, fan focus groups, and thoughtful determination in plot and character development, SyFy channel and The Magicians can continue Quentin Coldwater’s story respectfully and ethically.

As network executives, showrunners, and writers, you are aware of the power of story. In many ways, television is the contemporary campfire around which humans huddle to transmit the stories that establish and reinforce collectively who we are and who we hope to become. The stories that we tell on television and in other media have had and always will have power for this reason. The beauty of the stories that emerge in the science fiction and fantasy genres in particular is that we not only endeavor to see ourselves as we truly are, but we then endeavor to “imagine greater” as the SYFY slogan aptly phrases it. The Magicians, in the beginning, implied that it was ready and willing to do this and to center at least two marginalized and vulnerable communities in the process: queer people and people living with mental illness. It is my sincere hope that The Magicians showrunners and others involved in the creative process will examine themselves honestly and critically using feedback from fans and others with a stake in the stories being told and imagine greater.

All of the above considered, the way forward from my perspective would include the following:

Please issue a thoughtful apology that considers those of us living on the margins of society.

Please continue Quentin Coldwater’s story, with or without Jason Ralph. If, in fact, Mr. Ralph does not wish to return to The Magicians, there are other talented actors capable of breathing life into Quentin Coldwater. The characters live in a magical world where literally any explanation could account for a new actor portraying this much beloved and sorely needed character.

Thank you for your time and consideration.

Sincerely,

Me

*i tried to fix the formatting issues here in Tumblr to no avail. The email was cleaner than this format-wise.