Season 2, Episode 13
We Have Brought You Little Cakes
While Quentin struggles to help Alice cope with her returned humanity and Julia copes with her returned shade, Eliot works on a plan to save Fillory from Ember's boredom. Meanwhile, Penny is still dying from the effects of the Poison Room.
Tropes That Appear In This Episode:
- Batman Gambit: Julia brings Umber to Fillory, which makes Ember realize he got played. When Ember kills Umber in anger, Julia uses her spell from the previous episode to put his god-power into a sword, which she threatens Ember with. While Ember is distracted choking her to death, Quentin teleports the sword to his hand and kills Ember.
- Brought Down to Normal: Everyone who had magic. Fogg has to remind people that he truly is blind now, unable to see any show of hands in class.
- Chekhov's Skill: Two; Julia's spell to put a dying god's power into a piece of metal is used to put Umber's power into a random sword. Quentin's ability to teleport things to his hand (last seen in the very first episode) is used to get the god-killing sword at a critical moment.
- The Chessmaster: Ember, as it turns out. He repeatedly sabotaged the Wellspring's filtration systems so that it wouldn't be easily fixed, he made sure Fen was ovulating so that she would get pregnant, and he stole from the Watcher so that he'd be mad and inflict Disproportionate Retribution on Penny.
- Eldritch Abomination: The gods view mortals as playthings, but their parents view mortals as cells. They're ignored most of the time, but if they start causing problems, they are cut out like a cancer. A celestial "plumber" casually walks into the most powerful magic locations across the universe, ignores anything anyone can throw at him, and turns off the magic without a word.
- Kill the God: Julia and Quentin team up to kill Ember, with Julia providing the weapon and a distraction, while Quentin deals the killing blow. It turns out that the "consequences" Persephone mentioned in the previous episode are worse than anyone expected; killing a god attracts the attention of the Old Gods, who decide to just turn off the magic in retaliation.
- Leonine Contract: Margo tries to get out of the contract with the fairies by pointing out that the whole thing was under duress. The queen doesn't care, and goes on to demand Margo's eye as payment for leaving the fairy realm.Fairy Queen: I don't make the rules. Oh wait... yes I do.
- The Magic Goes Away: The Old Gods turn off the Wellspring after Umber and Ember die. Anything that relies on it to work (Earth, Fillory, Loria, the Library) goes completely dark. Even the niffins are dying, though most magical creatures exist independent of it. According to Quentin, magicians are able to make a few tiny nothing spells, but even that is unreliable and rarely works. Julia is able to consistently produce small sparks, which is far more than anyone else can do.
- Oh, Crap!: Alice breaking it to Quentin that killing Ember and Umber means the Old Gods are going to switch off all magic.
- "Ray of Hope" Ending: Magic is gone, Penny is dying, Fillory is a land of uneducated peasants and the fairies have just invaded, even the niffins are dying and an enemy Alice made as a niffin is coming after her. The best anyone can do is continue studying the theory of magic in the hopes of being ready whenever magic comes back, but there is no proof that is even possible. And then Julia shows Quentin that she can still do a minor spell.
- Self-Harm: Alice has taken to burning her hand on a candle. Quentin gets her to drink a potion that renders her unable to harm herself.Alice: I just missed the fire.
- Troll: The niffin Johnathen warns Alice that the Lamphrey is after her for something she did to its family while she was a niffin. Apparently it was "funny at the time."
- What Happened to the Mouse?: Lampshaded. In his recap at the beginning of this episode, Ember says that he arranged for Quentin to meet the Candy Witch in the season premiere and claims that it will pay off. She never actually does reappear or become relevant again, presumably because Quentin kills Ember in this episode, which Ember didn't plan for.
