Season 2, Episode 9
Lesser Evils
Quentin has been trapped in a werewolf cage to contain Alice, while Eliot decides to duel the Lorian king in single combat to restore his reputation and make up for soldiers deserting the army. Kady and Penny find Reynard's son, and break Julia out of the dungeons so she can help.
Tropes That Appear In This Episode:
- Arranged Marriage: Variant. Eliot himself arranges one with the Lorian King.
- Be Careful What You Wish For: Josh is a bit disappointed that his mild case of lycanthropy means he didn't completely "wolf out" during the full moon. He doesn't know about the Quickening yet.
- Broken Bird: Quentin becomes this, especially when he finally releases Alice.
- Cool Sword: Fen gives Eliot one who help him fight King Idri. It works fine until a brownout hits.
- Crowd Song: Margo has a spell which ropes the entire staff of the castle into a rendition of "One Day More" from Les Misérables.
- Dark Secret: Margo has yet to tell Eliot about her deal with the fairies to give away his baby.
- Deal with the Devil: Margo is warned that the fairies are mercurial and complex. When the ambassador asks for Fen's child as part of the deal, Margo offends him by asking "Are you fucking kidding me?" He then refuses to negotiate on the deal any further, leaving it as her only option.
- Godzilla Threshold: Abigail and Rafe consider contracting with the fairies to fix the Wellspring to be so dangerous they declined to mention it to Margo until she asked.
- Hearing Voices: Reynard starts psychically contacting his son, since he can't get through the Brakebills wards.
- The Magic Comes Back: Margo finally fixes the Wellspring by making a deal with the fairies... promising them Fen's child, once she gives birth.
- Manipulative Bitch: Margo tells Fen she has a way to fix the Wellspring and save Eliot, but Fen will have to do what Margo says after everything is fixed — no matter what. Fen is clearly too excited about her husband not dying to consider the full implications, and happily agrees. Margo, in turn, was clearly banking on that eagerness so that she wouldn't have to tell Fen the whole deal.Ambassador: You're most skillful.
Margo: I'm a manipulative cunt. - Misery Builds Character: The Lorian king mentions that he thinks his people like having nothing, they're so used to it. He seems to find it a bit annoying, himself.
- My God, What Have I Done?: Margo secretly gives Eliot and Fen's baby to the the fairies so they'll fix the Wellspring and Eliot's Cool Sword will work during his duel with King Idri. She's rather unhappy when she finds out that Eliot resolved the war peacefully by choosing to marry Idri instead. It's not quite an All for Nothing, since the Wellspring had wider implications as well.
- Our Werewolves Are Different: Lycanthropy is an STD.
- Reality Warper: Senator Gaines is a low-level version due to being a demigod. Things just work out for him, and have for his entire life. He was adopted by rich parents, he got all their money when they died, he chose to go into politics and won every election in a landslide, and hasn't failed at anything that he can remember.Gaines: If that's the case, then why did it take me a year to pass the world's most boring farm bill?
Kady: But it passed, right? Has any bill you've sponsored ever failed?
Gaines: ... holy shit. - Polyamory: Fillorian monarchs are actually allowed two spouses each: one male, one female. Eliot seals an alliance between Fillory and Loria by agreeing to marry the Lorian king.
- Sacrificial Lamb: In-universe. Julia attempts to use Quentin to destroy Reynard. She fails, and is locked up for her efforts.
- Seen It All: The Dean treats the fact that his students have for some reason brought a sitting U.S. senator onto campus as just another item in a long line of weirdnesses that he is now quite numb to.
- Taking You with Me: At first, Quentin is too stubborn to release Alice and plans to die with her, not trusting her claims that she just wants to explore without hurting anyone. After Julia's attempt to use him as a weapon fails, he gets hammered and releases her, hoping that she'll honor her word after he destroys the niffin box he could have used to seal her.
- That Man Is Dead: Fogg tries to persuade Quentin to box Niffin!Alice by stating that the real Alice is already gone.
- The Reliable One: Margo calls on Lady Abigail's advice, since she knows the sloth is the most honest person on the council and not a Yes-Man.
- Wolf Man: Josh has become one during the full moon due to his mild case of sexually-transmitted lycanthropy.
- Your Approval Fills Me with Shame: After tricking Fen into giving her child away, Margo isn't happy to hear the Fairy Ambassador praising her skill at manipulation.
- Your Days Are Numbered: Lipson tells Quentin that keeping Niffin!Alice inside him is killing him very quickly.
