Season 3, Episode 11
Twenty-Three
Julia and Josh travel to Timeline 23 to help defeat the Beast of that timeline.
Tropes That Appear In This Episode:
- The Alcoholic: Timeline 23 Eliot had a serious problem before he died.
- Alternate Self: Timeline 23 naturally has versions of most of the characters, but especially notable is the presence of Marina and Penny, the former dead and the latter trapped in the Underworld. Both decide to follow Julia and Josh back to Timeline 40, since theirs sucks.
- Artificial Limbs: Alice-23 has wooden replacements for the missing fingers on her right hand.
- Blood-Spattered Innocents: Eliot-23 after the failed empowerment ritual. He's also ear-spattered.
- Brick Joke: Past-Margo-23 tells Eliot-23 not to "cock out" on her, saying that pussies are stronger than cocks. Later, when Marina-23 and Julia-40 run away from the ghost duo Mar-Ghost rolls her eyes and calls them both cocks.
- The Call Knows Where You Live: Julia is initially reluctant to aid Timeline 23 because it doesn't fit the progression of the quest, but when she tries to travel to Fillory, the time key instead takes her and Josh to Timeline 23.
- Came Back Wrong: Timeline 23 Alice found a way to bring back Quentin, but she couldn't restore his shade. Devoid of conscience, he killed the Beast, killed Ember and stole his power, then set about killing anyone that might pose a threat to him.
- Crapsack World: Timeline 23 is much worse off than Timeline 40. Alice brought Quentin back to life, but without his shade he lost all morality and usurped the Beast. Then he killed Ember and stole his power, making him the only magic user alive when the gods shut off magic. To make sure he could never be challenged, he started killing every magician he could find. Even after he's dead, the timeline is so terrible that Marina and Penny ditch it for Timeline 40 as soon as Josh manages to open a doorway.
- Cruel Mercy: Timeline 23 Quentin spared Alice from his rampage because she was making her own life miserable enough without his help.
- Cynicism Catalyst: The Physical Kids never came to rescue Timeline 23 Josh like they did for Timeline 40 Josh, which is why he's not as nice (and also why he got Lasik).
- Dead Alternate Counterpart: Timeline 23 Julia, Eliot, and Margo are dead. Inverted with Timeline 23 Marina, who is still alive.
- Dead Person Impersonation: Timeline 23 Quentin assumed the role of the Beast after killing him, since the Beast's reputation as an unstoppable monster was a useful way to scare off potential challengers.
- Deal with the Devil: Alice made a deal with a magical creature in exchange for the power to bring Quentin back from the dead. When she dies her shade will not go to the Underworld but will be instead owned by the creature.
- Didn't Think This Through: Alice-23 was aware that Quentin-23 would come back without his Shade, but she figured that they could work on fixing that together. Turns out without his Shade, he wasn't interested.
- Doppelgänger Gets Same Sentiment:
- Julia's wracked with guilt regarding Marina's death, so she reacts oddly to Timeline 23 Marina.
- Timeline 23 Penny and Julia were in a relationship, so Penny's first reaction when he sees Timeline 40 Julia is to kiss her.
- Driven to Suicide: Julia gives Timeline 23 Quentin her shade so he can see the horror of what he's done. After revealing a potential future to her, he kills himself out of regret for killing his Alice.
- Evil Counterpart: The Beast in Timeline 23 is Quentin, having killed the original and assumed his identity.
- Facial Composite Failure: Eliot and Margo complain about their caricatures on the wanted posters.
- Foreshadowing: Alice-23 has three wooden fingers. Later, in season 5, Alice-40 loses a few fingers while being tortured.
- Forceful Kiss: Penny-23 accidentally gives Julia one when he thinks she's her (deceased) Timeline-23 self.
- Foreshadowing: Josh-23 tells Josh-40 that something terrible called Quickening that happens to lycanthropes, though he's killed before Josh-40 can get more details.
- For the Evulz: Timeline 23 Quentin admits he didn't really need to kill all the magicians, he just decided he didn't like them.
- From Bad to Worse: Fogg thought Timeline 22 was rough...
- Get A Hold Of Yourself Man: Margo slaps Eliot when he fears he's not up to casting the spell which will grant them more power, telling him not to "cock out on [her]."
- Godzilla Threshold: Timeline 23 Josh and Marina trick Julia into coming to their timeline as a desperate attempt to placate the Beast, who was asking about Julia even though she was already dead. Julia convinces them that her godly power gives them another option.
- Gone Horribly Wrong: Timeline 23 Eliot and Margo attempted to perform a spell to gain enough power to kill the Beast, but Eliot, drunk at the time, botched it and blew off half of Margo's face.
- Heroic BSoD: Eliot-23 has one after he accidentally kills Margo.
- Heroic Sacrifice:
- Timeline 23 Josh gives his life for Timeline 40 Josh, allowing the Beast to kill him so his counterpart can escape.
- Timeline 23 Alice steps up to distract Quentin so Julia can get close enough to stop him. Quentin kills Alice before confronting Julia.
- If You Ever Do Anything to Hurt Her...: Penny-23 threatens Josh-40 in regards to Julia-40, after learning lycanthropy is "murder herpes" — in this case, he means physical harm.
- Imperfect Ritual: Eliot-23 screwed up the empowerment ritual he and Margo-23 were casting and blew half her head off.
- I Need a Freaking Drink: When Timeline 23 Dean learns he's got another 17 timelines to go before the Beast is stopped, he immediately grabs some pills.
- It's All My Fault: Julia blames the previous Teslaflexion she and Quentin-40 participated in for inspiring Alice-23 to raise Quentin-23. Marina-23 points out Alice decided to raise Quentin-23 on her own.
- Legacy Character: Timeline 23 Quentin assumed the identity of the Beast. He even compares himself to the Dread Pirate Roberts.
- Malaproper: Margo tells Eliot not to "cock out on [her]." When he points out the word switch, she counters that "pussy" is obviously the stronger genitalia in this instance since she's the one leading the show.
- My God, What Have I Done?: The impact of killing Alice-23 (and, well, everything else) hits Quentin-23 when Julia gives him her Shade.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Quentin-40's previous Teslaflexion visit inspired Alice-23 to try and bring her version of Quentin Back from the Dead. He Came Back Wrong, real wrong.
- No-Sell: The spell which killed the Beast in the present timeline succeeds in doing nothing more than vaporizing Timeline 23 Quentin's moth cloak, since he has absorbed Ember's power and is far stronger than the Beast ever was.
- Only the Chosen May Wield: Just like in Timeline-40, the Leo Knife can only be held by those of sufficient magical power. Julia, being God-touched, fits the bill.
- Portmanteau Couple Name: In-universe, Josh makes up a couple for himself and Julia. Since they both have short names starting with 'J', it's rather self-defeating.
- Powered by a Forsaken Child: Since magical creatures maintain their magical abilities, unscrupulous Magicians in Timeline 23 have taken to killing them and using their bodies to fuel spells. Even the sapient ones. Bigby was implicitly killed for this purpose, and Fogg himself murdered a leprechaun at one point.
- Power Parasite: Timeline 23 Quentin killed Ember and stole his power, allowing him to retain magic even after the gods shut it off.
- Properly Paranoid: Julia stops Josh from telling Timeline 23 Marina and Josh that she can do magic because she does not really trust them. Sure enough they drug her and plan on giving her to the Beast.
- Seers: The seventh key grants visions of the future.
- Shattered World: Earth-23 has had a good third of itself blasted into pieces.
- Sheathe Your Sword: Julia, with the Leo Knife ready, tells the now-Shaded Quentin that she's not going to kill him and sets it down. This gives him time to foreshadow the existence of The Monster before he does himself in.
- Shout-Out:
- Timeline 23 Josh compares the Beast to Mothra, then begs Josh and Julia to help them by ending with "You're our only hope." Lampshaded by Josh, who says a Star Wars reference is the best way to get to him.
- Timeline 23 Josh compares Julia not getting into Brakebills as Hermione not getting into Hogwarts. Later, he compares his alternate self to Cedric Diggory.
- Unwitting Instigator of Doom: Because Quentin contacted Alice 23 and reminded her that he loved her, she brought Quentin 23 back, without his shade, leading to the mess that Timeline 23 is currently in. Julia even straight up admits that she and Quentin are partially at fault for it.
- Vagueness Is Coming: Quentin-23 tells Julia he saw her releasing something worse than him before stabbing himself.
- Wham Line: Julia thinks Timeline 23 Quentin killed her counterpart because he foresaw her killing him. Quentin tells her it's worse than that. He foresaw her releasing a great evil using the keys.
