Episode Recap: The 4-1-1

Margo arrives in the Best Apartment Ever and fills the gang in on what went down in the desert. She’s got the Ice Axes that just might work to expel the demons from Evil Eliot. Except for the fact that he’s possessed by a creature with god-like powers. Alice
suggests an incorporate bond to hold the demon in place. Mayakovsky knows how to
cast one, so Alice asks Dean Fogg for insights. Turns out Mayakovsky is back at
Brakebills South and may be able to shed some light on the spellcasting.

Alice and Quentin are forced by circumstance to head to Brakebills South and search for Mayakovsky and the info they need. It’s awkward – Quentin is still angry at Alice who is trying to redeem herself by helping the group. Penny transports them there and then leaves. They quickly find Mayakovsky bleeding on the floor and suffering from
dementia. In a spell gone wrong, he messed up his mind. They decide to use a time
travel spell to talk to a younger version of Mayakovsky in order to find out how to cast
an incorporate bond.

Zelda meets with Kady and Dean Fogg. She wants to break into the Poison Room at
The Library to read Everett’s book, and she wants Kady’s help. After some coaxing,
Kady agrees to help.

Julia, Penny and Margo study the book The Binder. A few blood dabs and some
magical phrasings later, and The Binder emerges from The Binder. Turns out he’s
someone who speaks about himself in the third person and has some strange stories to tell and info to impart to Julia and the crew. The Binder starts telling his story, and then collapses due to missing pages. What now? Margo goes to investigate and is knocked out by a floating bottle.

In Fillory, Josh has a vision. In this daydream he’s the star of a reality show about food.
After Josh tells Fen and Tick Pickwick about his dream, they realize that early winds of
fate showed up. They theorize that the entire Fillory ecosystem is off, and go to ask an
imprisoned Nyad about it. She’s pretty terrifying. She’s kind of an evil mermaid and
attacked farmers because she knew the ecosystem was going awry. The waters are
moving.

In Brakebills a cranky Quentin does a time spell to go back to Brakebills. He swaps with his former self. Back in the past a younger Alice kisses him and he makes excuses to leave. It’s heartbreaking to see the young-love-Alice interact with everything-that-has-happened-Quentin. He dashes away and she knows something is wrong. And in the present, young-love-Quentin is interacting with sad-jaded-Alice. He kisses her sweetly after she makes up a task to help them pass the time: tying knots.

Kady calls Fogg from the library. She needs a distraction so she and Zelda can get into the Poison Room. He drunkenly steamrolls around a classroom so as to attract The
Library’s attention, and it works. Everett came out of a meeting early and surprised
Zelda, so they need a disruption. It works, and Zelda snags a key and heads off.

In the apartment, Margo was stuck in a closet by an old “friend” of Penny’s: The former
Brakebills student named Hyman who snoops around spying on people on the astral
plane. He wants to interact with people and was trying to force a love connection
between Penny and Julia. So he stole pages from The Binder.

Quentin works on coaxing Mayakovsky into telling him what he knows. He studies him
to learn what his discipline is and keeps railing on him as a B- student. Then he
correctly guesses that Quentin is from the future and he finally gives him the spell for
the incorporate bond. Oh, and that his discipline is “Repair of Small Objects.” When
Quentin walks out, he sees Young Alice. She’s really distressed by the fact that
something has clearly happened between them. He agrees to let her do a memory
charm so they can talk about it. She says that he’s the best thing that ever happened to her and asks him to remember that when he goes back to the future.

In the present, Young Quentin is tying knots with Alice. He’s sparkling with youthful new love for her. After Quentin tries to romance her she hesitates, and then Alice kisses him. Then current Quentin appears. He’s back – they’re back – to how things are. Separate and strained.

In the Best Apartment, Julia returns the pages to The Binder. He reemerges and tells his tale. He was a librarian studying the limits of power and he specialized in the magic
inherent in gods. He believes that it might be possible for a magician to find a way to kill gods and steal their magic, and thereby become a god themself. Turns out Bacchus, Heca, Iris and Angus were former Librarians who wanted god powers and they killed Evil Eliot’s older sister in order to get it. The Binder knew what they had done and they feared him, so they turned him into a book and tossed him into The Library. In the Mirror Realm he learned about Julia and realized that he could help her. She can either be a full goddess again, or a mortal. It’s her choice and he can help her on either path – both of which will be painful. And whatever she decides, when he is done she needs to burn his book.

Kady and Zelda swallow a potion made of insects so that they can survive the Poison
Room. They swallow insects that will last an hour and absorb the poison. They head in
and start searching. After finding Everett’s book Zelda reads about his plan to steal
magic and become a god. And as they go to leave the Poison Room, Kady and Zelda
find out that they are trapped.

In Fillory, Fen and Tick understand the Nyad’s hints on what’s happening. Some
nursery rhymes just might be the key to uncoding what’s going on. Playing the
Fillory/hopscotch/rhyme craziness they open a magical door. As Julia and Penny talk and kiss, Evil Eliot appears out of nowhere. He needs a body to help build his sister, and he wants a strong one. He grabs Julia and vanishes.

In Brakebills South, Quentin tells Alice what his discipline is. She notes that he was
always good at Minor Mendings. He fixes a cup and she smiles.