The Magicians, a SyFy original series in which a group of young people are recruited into a mysterious magical academy, is currently wrapping up its final season. The penultimate episode, “All that Josh,” they have created a huge, showstopping musical episode to send off the series. In the episode, written by John McNamara, Elle Lipson, and Joseph Mireles, the main crew have to sneak through a hotel, remaining quiet despite the urge to sing. You can probably imagine how successful they are.
This episode, a bank-heist thriller, was not the usual for The Magicians. On the decision to make a heist episode, McNamara told Variety: “I just started with the idea of, what genre or sub-genre can we do where the musical is part of a very intricate plot, as opposed to just being an emotional experience.” Fellow Executive Producer Sera Gamble, despite some misgivings, came around to the idea eventually, supplying that “This episode really represents me talking him back just a step or two back from that ledge.”
McNamara, also an Executive Producer, is a huge fan of musicals and has been slipping musical numbers into the show since the beginning, though never one with this production value and glamour. Both of the preceding seasons had small musical numbers, with cast performing Taylor Swift’s “Shake it off” in season one and a rendition of “Les Miserables” in season two.
Despite Gamble’s caution, McNamara spoke highly of the impact his new musical episode had on the show: “It’s probably got some of the most character rich moments, but it’s also, I think probably of all the musical episodes we’ve done, the most intricately plotted.”
The Magicians airs Wednesdays at 10 p.m. on Syfy.