No, that was purely a second-quest thing. To their credit, they establish the principle early (because you can't get the raft in L4 without doing it), but not so much to their credit, they put that initial walk-through in a place you'd never think to look, and give you no reason to even consider trying.

That one was poisoned for me at first because I took for-fucking-ever to figure out the first step (giving the spinner that boost to attack its spine). I tried just bumping into it with the spinner, hacking with the sword, damaging it with bombs shooting bomb arrows, you name it. I still have no idea what took so…

It was a bold choice to take things in a very different direction after the first game, and it's interesting to note how it was pretty much entirely an evolutionary dead-end.

Absolutely. Not to mention the one-way walk-throughs, which were usually placed so that once I found my way back to the room again, I couldn't even remember which wall was the wrong one.

Me too re: Quentin. I didn't warm to everyone to the same degree, but at least you generally get to see everyone's POV and somewhat understand why they are the way they are.

This being TV, I wouldn't be surprised if the showrunners (or more likely) network reps were afraid of having two female leads as harsh/abrasive as Janet and Julia. They'd probably want to have a nicer, more likable presence in the main cast after Alice is out of the picture.

That's a pretty good one too.

well, the Beast is a bit worse than any bunch of zombies. I also don't get the Margo thing. It's not as if a TV audience has big trouble telling characters apart just because of the same initial.

Very true. It's not because the scene has that terrifying gnawing dread on its own (although it certainly does), but it's also the fact that a perfectly ordinary day could turn into horror in a minute.

Interesting. I read it as, he was disillusioned and felt like nothing mattered because he had to give it all up. He'd gone to all that effort and been rewarded with one big kick in the nuts.

The seemingly smart thing for the show to do would be acknowledging its awareness of HP minimally, without getting too meta (as the books did). Maybe it's the kind of thing that makes more sense to do as the season goes along without necessarily having to squeeze it in straight out of the gate. We'll have to see.

Alice is described as cute and blond right at the beginning, and I remember a reference to "uncharacteristically hip glasses" at some point later. Haven't seen anything except that pic above, but it's not too far off how I always pictured her (the TV Alice may be a little less… petite).

No. No. No, sir, we absolutely cannot.

I don't know how I would have felt about Denny if it happened, but the Dave-Alex arc was just perfect. It genuinely and believably felt like they were at the right point to finally be good friends without any more tension. It's a rare emotional tone for any show to get right, let alone one with such a crazy-tricky…

I actually started out with S2 and then went back to the beginning. It was a little awkward knowing what was missing, but I think I appreciated S1 more because I knew what greatness it was leading up to.

On one hand, it was a weird thing to lack for possibly the smokin'-est hottie on TV. On the other, the dating life is such a played-out vein in the sitcom world, so I can see how it might not be the best setting to get laughs out of Alex's particular brand of crazy.

That makes no sense whatsoever once you think about it, but what a laugh to end on in the moment.

Fair enough. I was thinking of the surface impression someone might get from hearing about the story's general premise, not specifically the show's press (which I haven't actually seen).

I thought that ending was perfect. It's the harshest kind of responsibility: doing the right thing because it has to be done, even if it means giving up something important to you. The fact that Quentin understands all that, and does it, is the perfect illustration of how much he's matured by then.

Informed, sure, but I say it doesn't get anywhere near being a ripoff (any more than Fillory actually rips off Narnia). It's a fresh treatment of an old idea.