Episode Recap: The Fillorian Candidate

So, now that Penny 23 has come into this timeline, Josh catches him up on everything that’s gone down. What’s tricky is that in timeline 23, he was SUPER in love with Julia and in this timeline, he and Kady are in love. While Josh reminds him that everyone is always seemingly hooking up with everyone else (which, come on, magic…), the gang is on the Quest for the 7 Keys. And they've found Keys 1-5. And also Key 7. BUT, Key 6 is somewhere with the Fairies. And the Fairy Queen is NOT about to hand it over. And? Alice turns out to be working for the library but nobody knows why either thing is happening.

Now, when they were in that other timeline, Beast-Quentin told them that he saw a future-version of Julia trying to bring magic back into the world by unlocking a door in “the Castle at the End of the World” and unleashing a monster (instead of magic). Not knowing what to do next, they dispatch Alice to the library to figure out what's what. Penny 23 follows her and watches as the Head Librarian tells Alice that the door they want to open may indeed hold a terrifying monster, she doesn't really know. But also, she hands Alice a “syphon” and tells her to suck all of the magic out of Julia with it. What? Oh yeah, they're not playing around. Alice is torn. And Penny 23 overheard the WHOLE thing and immediately goes to tell the gang. 

Eliot, Fen, and Margo head out to talk to Fray who they used to think she was their daughter but she’s now working a bar in Fillory and doesn't know how to get in touch with the Fairy Queen. While there, Margo makes friends with Fray's boyfriend, though, who turns out to be a talking bear. Yep, that. Ultimately, Margo and Eliot find the Queen and offer her deal: Since Fairies can't reproduce in Fillory (that's why they planted their eggs in the Northern orchard), they’ll give her a plot of land where she CAN grow her people and she’ll hand them the key. Not so fast - she says she can't make a deal with them because they're no longer royalty. And that gives Eliot and Margo an idea. They're going to run the 2016 election, basically. They decide to run Eliot for King of Fillory, and, sadly, leave Margo's name off the ballot. Their plot works, Tick takes the bait and suddenly - there's an election going on. 

When Kady explains to Penny 23 how Reynard sexually assaulted Julia (and that's why she has magic), he realizes that Reynard is now a powerless god. And they need one of those to find out what's in the Castle at the End of the World. But Julia's god-like power is really taking off and she's started hearing the prayers of people around her. And she HEALS Dean Fogg of blindness. Julia's a big deal, gang. Back in Fillory, Julia uses her god-like powers for good and starts to heal Fillory. She grows an entire forest for the farmers, and that's when Josh hands out more posters for the “Children of Earth”. The election in Fillory goes really well until Tick releases the transcript where Eliot said he hated Fillory and called it a shithole during his trial. And then, it all falls to pieces and Eliot is WAY behind in the polls.

BUT it turns out, that Fillory has a LOT more talking animals than they do people. And those talking animals can vote. And so, because of her non-judgmental stance toward Fray and her bear-boyfriend, Margo has been elected King of Fillory. As she strikes the deal with the Fairy Queen, she's given a gift - a Fairy eye. She can see again, and also see BEYOND what she could before. Kady and Penny 23 take Julia to see Reynard and it turns out he's living among the humans but still has the bullet that Julia made to kill him. He was given it by Hades. Julia and Kady think that bullet just might stop whatever evil is lurking in the Castle at the End of the World. As Kady makes one last attempt at contacting the Penny from this timeline with the key, she finds the only Penny she can now contact is Penny 23. Resolved, Kady drops the key. It seems like she MAY be done looking for Penny for a while.

Quentin confronts Alice about the syphon and that device turns out to be a way for the library to control magic and decide how to use it. They fight about it, and finally Quentin convinces Alice to hand it over by threatening to cut her out of the Quest for the 7 Keys. She reminds Quentin that if magic is turned on, his father dies of cancer. So, Quentin pays a visit to his father, to warn him that once magic is turned back on, the cancer could return. His father is proud of him, but both men are pretty freaked out.