Episode Recap: The Wrath of the Time Bees

Alice is doing magic. She’s burning candles and a photo of Quentin while chanting over a living clay figure in the shape of a human body. She has Quentin’s book from the library and looks to be doing a dark spell. All the candles blow out, and the clay has turned into a person. It’s Quentin — as a child. Alice hands Baby Q a piece of paper and asks him to tell her what it says. He can’t read it — he’s never seen it before. And Quentin asks if he’s dreaming.

Eliot is wandering around Fillory and experiencing horrible visions. He sees ghost Fen hanging from a gallows. He apologizes for not saving her in time, before she was killed 300 years earlier. She tells him it’s OK, and then chats for a while, then screams at him, begging him to turn back time if he can. Eliot runs off.

Margo is in a magician-proof dungeon trying to break out. She finds an old note from Josh when he was a captive in the cell hundreds of years earlier. He explains what it was like when he and Fen were the acting Kings. They knew “The Takers” were on the loose but they did not know what to do and were overthrown due to their inaction. 

Julia is with Dean Fogg on the Brakebills campus. She is looking for a pattern behind the magical surges. He says an ex-girlfriend of his, who he calls Professor X, may be able to help. And then there is an explosion, in Professor X’s classroom.

Kady and Pete are in a bar discussing the hidden book depository and how to find it. He leaves and she stays, drinking club soda. A stranger starts a conversation with her. Next thing she knows, she wakes up with him – Yu-Jin – in her bed. What’s happened? Kady’s not sure. He leaves his number and she heads to the kitchen in the Penthouse. Penny is there, and he explains his problem about being travelled against his will. And then he shares a hangover remedy — while Kady tells him that she’s been sober for a year. Did she break her sobriety? He mentions the book depository and she has no idea what he’s talking about. This is odd….

Eliot is roaming Fillory, flask in hand. He stumbles upon Jane Chatwin in a quaint cottage and asks her about time magic. He asks her to go back in time and try to fix everything. She says she can’t — she’s learned through a lifetime of using time travel to try and change things that it almost always makes things worse. She asks about Quentin, and Eliot tells her that he died. She mentions the 39 timelines and times Quentin has died before, and Eliot asks her to save him again. She says she can’t — because “he won.” Jane says that if you took away his sacrifice then you would lose everything that it gained, meaning Eliot’s life and everyone else that he saved. She tells him he has to let go of the past and the dead must stay dead. She turns around to bring out the tea, and Eliot has dashed off with a crate full of her time travel gizmos.

Baby Quentin is eating tacos in Chicago while Alice and Julia – who stopped by for an unexpected visit – gawk at him. Then Julia pulls Alice aside and talks to her about what she’s done. She animated a golem with Quentin’s memories. Alice had found a page in Quentin’s stuff at Brakebills — a mysterious one-page document with writing on both sides. She’s looking to Q for answers about the paper, and the spell keeps him there until he can answer her question. Julia is furious.

Kady is back at the bar with Yu-Jin. She doesn’t remember what happened and wants him to fill in the gaps. Did he drug her? He says he didn’t. And she truthied him, so it’s true. Also, it turns out that Yu-Jin couldn’t remember which apartment was his. So, something happened to him, too.

Eliot sneaks over to Margo’s cell. He is cloaked and has smuggled in all of the timey wimey thingies from Jane’s cottage. Margo and Eliot decide to use them and see what they might be able to do to influence time. They go with time bees as a first effort. Eliot returns to Margo in her cell and finds — instead of the letter from Josh — a phone of Fen’s with a video update from Josh and Fen. Where they see Josh being attacked and killed by the time bees. Oops.

Julia talks with young Quentin about the Fillory books and friendships. Then she talks to Alice. Julia thinks that Alice brought Q back to ask him a different question — maybe that will complete the spell.

Eliot shows up at Margo’s cell, again, but this time, with a book on the history of Fillory. They changed things, but not for the better. Josh was, in fact, killed by the bees and then Fen was overthrown again and killed. The Dark King still rose. Margo then finds stamps that can be used to send a letter and find someone in any time. They have three of them. She sends one to Josh, before he was killed by bees. Josh and Fen, back in time, then read Margo’s advice and send an army to take care of the Takers. The history book changes — and in this case the creatures kill them and everyone else in the castle.

Penny helps Kady and Yu-Jin work to combine their memories and figure out what happened during their lost time together. In a flashback spell, Kady and Yu-Jin see themselves talking at the bar and heading home together. Then they see Yu-Jin — eyes flashing — try to attack her when they are asleep. Flashback Kady wakes up and fights back. Then they remember more. Turns out, Yu-Jin met a friend at the bar and was seemingly activated by looking at a card that Kady still has. She shows it to Yu-Jin and he attacks her again. They fight and Kady gets the upper hand. Turns out this guy is an assassin who attacks people and then forgets on purpose. Since he is caught, he commits suicide in the memory with Kady and also dies in the Penthouse. Kady doesn’t know who sent him.

Margo is still in the dungeon and Eliot is talking to her about what to do next. Eliot used one of the magical stamps for something that didn’t work out, so they only have one left. Margo writes one last letter to Josh, saying goodbye, and Eliot takes it away to mail it off.

Baby Q talks to Alice. He realizes that he’s not dreaming. She tells him that she has a friend who died, and she never got a chance to say goodbye. That he died saving her. She tells him that she brought him there to try and fix or finish something for him. They talk, he encourages her to move forward, and he tells her that he is feeling tired. He shows her a magic trick, then closes his eyes for a final sleep. Before Alice could tell him “one more thing…”, he’s gone. Later, Alice gives Julia a book about predicting circumstances. It might help Julia with her investigation of the magical surges.

Back at the Penthouse, Kady learns that Pete’s memory was also wiped. Also, Kady confides in Penny about how hard it is to stay sober. When Penny tries to comfort her, she turns away.

Margo looks into the cubby of her cell for a possible letter from Josh. Then real Josh is there, outside of the bars. He got the latest letter. He went to the clock dwarf, took him a ham sandwich and asked to be sent forward 300 years. And good news: He brought Fen, Tick and Rafe with him, along with some others from Margo’s reign. Now, hidden behind the stone, is a key to get Margo out.

Later, we see that Eliot has a letter with one of the magical stamps on it. It’s addressed to “Quentin Coldwater, Before He Went to the Seam.” He stands next to a mailbox, opens it and drops the letter inside. OMG!