Season 4, Episode 9
The Serpent
A group of magicians calling themselves the Serpent begins infecting hedge witches with a worm that kills them if they use magic, the Monster searches for a way to pin down Enyalius, and Zelda cuts a deal with Alice and Kady to get what she needs to save Harriet.Tropes That Appear In This Episode:
- Affectionate Gesture to the Head: The Monster gives Quentin a pat on the head in passing.
- Almost Kiss: Julia, worried about Penny 23's insistence on helping the Monster with its memories, tells him that if he survives he can take her to dinner. Their eyes lock, they step closer together...and the Monster teleports back in with Quentin just at the wrong moment.
- Apologetic Attacker: Fen is visibly torn up about plotting against Margo, and actually tells her and stops, until Margo tells her to go through with it. On the other side, on her way out, Margo curses Fen and her descendants...but because she actually wants to be exiled, and isn't angry at Fen for real, she also keeps telling the Fillorians to be nice to Fen and obey her.Margo: I curse Fen's name, but if I were you, I'd listen to her! And wait, be nice to her! Your grandkids' grandkids will fear me!
- Change the Uncomfortable Subject: Since the Napster wants her to take down Margo, Fen's apparently been doing this every time the topic of last episode's dream comes up.
- The Exile: Margo is dethroned and exiled by Fen, though Margo allows it to happen (and in fact practically orders Fen to go through with it) because she couldn't meet with the group that has a means of freeing Eliot otherwise.
- Explosive Leash: The blood worm burns the victim alive if they attempt to do magic or attempt to remove it.
- False Flag Operation: Everett is the one behind the Serpent, faking hedge witch tattoos to make the other hedges think they are under attack by their own.
- Glad-to-Be-Alive Sex: Josh brings Margo the news that Eliot is alive, and that it's possible to free him. She jumps his bones right there on the spot in the throne room.
- Human Sacrifice: By delving into his memories, the Monster realizes Enyalius can be summoned by sacrificing a woman.
- Infinite Supplies: Last time Zelda tried to get into the mirror world, she had to beg a Traveler—a fellow Librarian—to donate his blood to participate. Now she happens to have some on hand.
- Internal Reveal: Quentin sends messenger bunnies to "exposit" to Margo and Josh that Eliot is still alive.
- Language Barrier: Alice doesn't know ASL, so Harriet has trouble communicating with her.
- Literal Metaphor: Alice asks Harriet "Are you ready to pull yourself together?" immediately before performing the ritual that will reunite her pieces.
- Literal Split Personality:
- Harriet's extended stay in the mirror world has split her into three parts. Alice has to perform a complicated ritual to reunite them.
- Alice is separated into her fearful and confident halves when the prism she's using to reunite Harriet cracks. Alice tries to seal her confident half in the mirror world, but she's forced to retrieve her in order to repair the prism and save Harriet. The two of them working together to repair the prism reunites them.
- Mark of Shame: Part of Margo's banishment involves brands on her forearms.
- My Fist Forgives You: Kady lets Alice help her, but punches her in the face first as payback.
- The Needs of the Many: Penny-23 advocates trying to kill The Monster regardless of what happens to Eliot, citing what happened in his timeline as an argument.
- No Sense of Personal Space: The Monster's getting very touchy-feely with Quentin, who doesn't enjoy it much.
- "Not So Different" Remark: Zelda compares herself to Kady, having been a former hedge witch herself. She identifies with Kady as a person who wants what's best for everyone, and tries to take the least bad choice if she has to.
- Not-So-Well-Intentioned Extremist: Harriet reveals to Zelda that the Library is not as benevolent as she thought. Everett is trying to make it so all magicians are dependent on the Library, and will go so far as to kill anyone who doesn't fall in line.
- Phony Psychic: The Monster sees an ad for a psychic on TV and gets the idea to find one that can look into his memories. He's annoyed that he had to go through 19 people to find one who wasn't a fraud.
- Power Nullifier: As a temporary measure to combat the use of the blood worm, Everett offers to give hedge witches a tattoo which will seal their magic so the worm can't hurt them even if they are infected. He says they'll remove it once the crisis has passed, but this seems doubtful since he's the one behind it.
- Prophecy Twist: Fen was told that she would need to overthrow Margo. When Margo learns of a way to save Eliot that she can't get to as long as she's queen, she makes Fen overthrow her.
- Psychic Nosebleed: Penny suffers this as he's helping the Monster remember his past.
- "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Alice tries to blame her confident half for all the trouble they've caused their friends, but her confident half shoots that down. Alice didn't join the Library and try to destroy magic because she felt she knew better, she did it because she was afraid of herself.
- The Reveal:
- Iris, Bacchus, Heka and Enyalius were all part of the ritual that stripped the Monster of his power. They had to sacrifice a woman to do it, which may be why Bacchus found the affair distasteful and wouldn't speak of it.
- The Binder is revealed to be a book with "Binder" written on the spine. Alice picks it up while she's in the mirror world, having overhead Julia talking about the Binder in the Brakebills library.
- The stones the Monster is looking for are not its body as the group had assumed. Though we don't hear exactly what they're for, it would be infinitely worse than the Monster simply regaining physical form.
- Self-Immolation: Cast with the bloodworm in you and you fry.
- Shown Their Work: Modesto really does have among the worst drinking water in the States.
- Stop, or I Shoot Myself!: The Monster threatens to go ice climbing in the buff, letting Eliot's body freeze to death, as a way of motivating Quentin to track down Enyalius.
- Too Much for Man to Handle: The Monster's power is such that psychics lethally burn out if they try to read him. Penny's experience with the Beast lets him handle it better, but he still goes into a seizure when the Monster gets mad at him.
- The Unreveal:
- Eliot reveals a secret about the Monster to Penny, but we don't hear it because the perspective switches to the Monster during their conversation, only switching back when the Monster starts looking for Penny.
- We're not shown exactly what happened to make the Monster what he is. The Monster gets as far Enyalius being summoned by offering him a dying woman before he's distracted by Penny. He doesn't bother probing any further because what he does learn is enough to attract Enyalius.
- You Are Better Than You Think You Are: Zelda tells Kady the fact that she's willing to sit with the person who killed the man she loves and try to learn more about her indicates that she'll make fair choices, even when they hurt.
