{"id":397649,"date":"2026-04-17T21:40:08","date_gmt":"2026-04-17T21:40:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/397649\/"},"modified":"2026-04-17T21:40:08","modified_gmt":"2026-04-17T21:40:08","slug":"7-years-ago-today-one-of-the-saddest-episodes-of-fantasy-tv-aired-its-show-was-never-the-same","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/397649\/","title":{"rendered":"7 Years Ago Today, One of the Saddest Episodes of Fantasy TV Aired (& Its Show Was Never the Same)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Seven years ago today, one of the saddest episodes of fantasy<\/a> TV aired for the first time \u2014 and its show was never the same. When it comes to great fantasy series from the 21st century<\/a>, The Magicians simply doesn\u2019t get enough love. The Syfy show, which is based on Lev Grossman\u2019s books, puts a fresh and realistic spin on genre conventions. It also takes viewers on an emotional ride alongside its complicated cast of characters, and there\u2019s one installment that stands out as the most hard-hitting of the bunch.<\/p>\n

Given The Magicians\u2018 commitment to exploring serious subjects<\/a>, from mental health to sexual assault, the series has no shortage of episodes that will tug at viewers\u2019 heartstrings. A major throughline of the series is that magic can\u2019t solve all problems \u2014 and its biggest challenges and losses really drive that home. And one of The Magicians\u2018 largest and most controversial losses marks its saddest chapter overall. In fact, it\u2019s one of the most devastating episodes of fantasy TV, and the series never fully bounces back from it.<\/p>\n

7 Years Ago, The Magicians Season 4 Finale Cemented Itself as 1 of TV\u2019s Saddest Episodes<\/p>\n

\"Quentin<\/p>\n

The Magicians Season 4, Episode 13 sees Quentin Coldwater sacrificing himself to save his friends, a death that doesn\u2019t happen in the source material, and thus, managed to shock readers and newcomers alike. The show goes beyond Grossman\u2019s book trilogy, and it takes an entirely different path with Quentin. In some ways, it\u2019s nice to see him grow to a point that he\u2019s willing to bravely lay down his life for others. However, it\u2019s a gutting that\u2019s gotten a fair bit of backlash, with many feeling the character deserved better. And whether you appreciate how Quentin\u2019s death is handled or not, it\u2019s one of the most heartbreaking in fantasy, both for its unexpected nature and for the exploration of grief that follows. It\u2019s a tearjerker for sure, and The Magicians starts to feel like a different series following it.<\/p>\n

The Magicians Never Recovered From Losing Quentin in \u201cNo Better to Be Safe Than Sorry\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Quentin<\/p>\n

Due to the emotional impact of Quentin\u2019s death, The Magicians Season 4\u2019s finale is one of the most memorable chapters of the show \u2014 though whether that\u2019s a positive or negative thing remains up for debate. It says something about the series\u2019 character writing that the loss hits so hard, but Quentin\u2019s death continues to prove controversial. Many feel it\u2019s too devastating an end for a character who struggled with his mental health. And of course, there\u2019s the disappointment of having yet another LGBTQ+ character written off in a tragic way. Such criticisms made it hard for the fan base to forgive The Magicians. And the show didn\u2019t recover on-screen either, despite continuing for another season.<\/p>\n

Without Quentin, the show feels very different in its fifth and final outing. It still manages to give the rest of the characters a somewhat satisfying send-off, but it never fully returns to what it was. It just goes to show how much the dynamics of a story can change, even with just one prominent player missing. In a way, \u201cNo Better to Be Safe Than Sorry\u201d marked a turning point seven years ago (and perhaps the beginning of the end, as The Magicians was cancelled after Season 5<\/a>).<\/p>\n

What do you think? Leave a comment and join the conversation now in the\u00a0ComicBook Forum<\/a>!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Seven years ago today, one of the saddest episodes of fantasy TV aired for the first time \u2014…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":397650,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[57781,146,7167,85,46,188609,411],"class_list":{"0":"post-397649","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tv","8":"tag-answer-feature","9":"tag-entertainment","10":"tag-fantasy","11":"tag-il","12":"tag-israel","13":"tag-the-magicians","14":"tag-tv"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/397649","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=397649"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/397649\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/397650"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=397649"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=397649"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=397649"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}