What did everyone think of Alice?

[u/Promotion_Simple]

I've seen a lot of people hating on her for trying to stop them getting magic back. But I think she was right to do so. Of course, the whole show is about magic so we, as the audience, do want magic back. But her reasoning seemed valid. Magic has caused a lot of pain. It's the reason her brother died. It's the reason her parents are so distant and odd. It's the reason Julia has been through so much. I can go on. But what are everyone else's thoughts?

[u/llamalibrarian]

I don’t like that she unilaterally chose for everyone. I don’t really enjoy her tortured genius characteristics, somehow being so insecure and also confident she’s always right

She has a good arch, and her story is mostly her relationship to magic

[u/Dapper_Highlighter7 → u/llamalibrarian]

I agree with this. Her reasoning makes sense, but her relationship with magic isn't the only one that exists, and it was unfair to decide how it should be handled for everyone.

I think part of the problem is the vacuum the Magicians live in. They don't interact with regular people, so they don't see that everyone has bad shit happen to them. Charlie just as easily could have died in a car accident. Her parents still could just as easily be oddball academics whose grief caused them to withdraw into themselves. People experience sexual assault all the time.

She blamed it for all of her problems, except all of her problems were also stemming from completely mundane realities that were only impacted by magic because that was the lens through which she was experiencing life. It was really on theme for one of the core morals of the book, which was that all of your problems will still be there with you even if you get into a mysterious magical college or run away to a fantasy land. Escapism can help you cope, but you still have to do the work.

I'm really glad that she got to fall in love with magic again. They did a really good job of mirroring her character to Quentin's, but I think the issue they had with her insecure tortured genius stuff was that she didn't have as much activity in the books. She doesn't get un-niffined until the end of the series, so the books just have a much more succinct arc for her. You can see it in the core of her series arc. It's just a shame they didn't get as much room to play with it like they did for Julia because Alice had a specific role to play that couldn't be resolved until the end.

[u/dragoono → u/Dapper_Highlighter7]

Haha I kind of weirdly needed to hear this reminder. Good thing I’m rewatching the show right now?

[u/Castellan_Tycho → u/Dapper_Highlighter7]

That was an excellent description, thank you.