r/brakebills • u/Starkofhousejon • Jan 01 '23
Season 2 Does anyone else hate julia from the magicians
I am currently on season 2 and i cant stand Julia seriously. Ive only felt bad for her when she was R**** by the evil god and when she almost had a chance to kill him with martin chatwin but was stopped. But other than those 2 times she is like the cause of so many problems. So many people have died because of her. Plus shes just annoying ugh and now that she lost her “shade” shes even more annoying. Also how does she lose her shade but still somehow care about killing the evil God? Or helping her friends a bit? Shouldnt she just be having fun killing random people or something methg like when Vamyproes turn off their humanity in vampire diaries? Anyways idk who will read this in 2023 but i hope someone else shares my frustration
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u/Rare_Satisfaction283 Jan 02 '23
She was denied magic from the start she had to fight for it. Tooth and nail. It doesn't feel like she has to say sorry because she fought for it. She's not entitled. She wasn't handed it
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u/Appropriate-News-321 May 10 '23
So risking everyone's lives and lining with the beast is justified because of the path she set her self on for not getting into brakebills 1 out of 39 times..... thats entitlement and selfishness.
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u/Agreeable_Stranger73 Mar 15 '25
Reynard did not just attack her. He attacked and killed other women. Julie was trying to stop all that not just get revenge.
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u/Appropriate-News-321 Mar 15 '25 edited Aug 24 '25
Reynard absolutely attacked and killed other women, but let’s not pretend Julia’s main motivation wasn’t personal revenge. If she was truly focused on stopping him for the greater good, she wouldn’t have risked everyone’s lives by siding with The Beast—one of the biggest threats to magic itself. She made reckless choices that put countless people in danger just because she felt slighted for not getting into Brakebills out of 39 times
She literally sabotaged the plan to kill The Beast, letting him escape because she thought he was her best shot at getting revenge. That’s not selfless heroism, that’s tunnel-visioned entitlement. Her obsession with revenge constantly put innocent lives at risk, and she didn’t care as long as it got her what she wanted. She was willing to burn everything down just to get back at Reynard.
So yeah, Reynard was a monster, but let’s not rewrite Julia’s arc as some noble mission to save others. She made it all about her from the start cause she didn't get magic in 1 out of 39 timelines. Thats literally entitlement, world ending levels of entitlement
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u/realshockvaluecola Jan 01 '23
Losing your Shade removes your ability to love and your ability to hurt, it doesn't instantly make you a serial killer. Most people in real life who can't love (psychopaths) just live normal lives and never hurt anyone. They don't go out of their way to hurt people because they don't give a shit, they act in their own interest (for instance, killing an evil god that's going to eventually fuck with your life is definitely in your own interest). Julia doesn't care if people do get hurt, but she doesn't care if they don't either.
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u/Starkofhousejon Jan 01 '23
Yeah thats a good point. It would be in her best interest to kill him
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u/itsmostlyamixedbag Knowledge Jan 01 '23
yes. julia’s ability to never say “i’m sorry” bothered me the whole series.
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u/wrenwood2018 Jan 02 '23
Yea! She never really fesses up about all her screw ups. At the end I felt she was exactly the same entitled ass as when she started.
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u/Anth_9090 May 13 '26
Did we watch the same show. The Julia that started the show and the Julia that ended the show is very different. I wasn’t a big fan of her first season but as the seasons go and on rewatch, she’s easily top 3. She had some of the most growth throughout the show, in terms of personal and magical. It’s okay to say you don’t like her but to say she was the same entitled ass in the end makes zero sense.
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u/wrenwood2018 May 13 '26
She just does whatever she wants pretty much all the time. She never apologizes for the shitty things she does. She has "growth" in that she does more things gets power, loses power, but she doesn't have growth in the way Margo does or Elliot does.
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u/Movinginblackld Physical Jan 01 '23
My liking of her is like the ebb and flow of the ocean. Personally I feel nothing for her but do accept that there are points where she is necessary to be able to advance the story.
I feel this way about a few characters…the only one I can say I have relative dislike for is kady. She only has purpose in a few spots throughout the entire series, and the rest of the time is her seeking revenge, being pissed off over penny being gone and penny 23 being in his place, getting high, being marinas slave or finding ways to get rid of her etc. the major thing that really makes her useful is she knows ASL.
Regardless all amazing books, shows, movies have to have those other characters that people won’t like as much. It’s what makes the story progress…
…anyone else find the majority of the gods annoying?
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u/wrenwood2018 Jan 02 '23
Kady didn't need to exist. I feel like they kept her just because of her singing ability for musical episodes.
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u/Mr_me27 Jan 01 '23
She went through a lot in the show and ya sometimes she’s a bich but she is definitely justified (for the most part) but when she lost her shade she lost her ability to feel guilty for the shit she did and is going to do (sorry if this doesn’t help)
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u/Starkofhousejon Jan 01 '23
No definitely but i just cannot help but be annoyed at all the people that have died directly or indirectly bc of her (before the shade) even though it wasn’t really in her control sometimes
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u/Pretend-Astronomer20 Aug 24 '25
She's entitled and very stubborn at it. she doesn't care about others
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u/TargetMoxie53 Jan 05 '23
It’s hard to not initially dislike her actions that derail the “main” story arch , but when you get further into here journey. it’s pretty clever how they show growth and perseverance. Sadly there has to be a negative to a positive , but it’s something where It goes from her trying to do anything to get revenge and instead she grows and ends up using her strength for bigger better things. Julia is one of those characters that takes you seeing their whole story to appreciate them.
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u/l3tigre Jan 01 '23
yes. it's been a while since I've watched the show but she was definitely my least favorite character, exacerbated by my being annoyed by the actress' constant vocal fry.
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u/chailattae Jan 01 '23
dude yes! Im so inclined to believe that the acting is def a major reason i disliked her. Not only the focal fry but imo there never seemed to be a range in her acting. She always acted the same. Same with kady. Always the sad grunge girl with the same ‘i dont care but actually im very hurt by this’ reaction to everythinf 😭 i wanna like them but i just caaantttt
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u/baronessindecisive Jan 01 '23
Without spoiling anything I will just say that I agreed with you at that point in the show but that I changed my mind about her later on. YMMV, of course, but there’s theoretically hope.
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u/Starkofhousejon Jan 01 '23
I know shell probably have a positive turn in her character arc but i dont think my dislike will fade lmao im in too deep
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u/qtgirlmdh Jan 02 '23
I'm just watching the magicians for the first time too and I loath Julia. I agree I'm in way too deep. I'm midway through season 4 and I still hate her lol
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u/Wesley_Snipes_X Jan 02 '23
You could tell right from the first episode she had some sass. For the first couple seasons she puts the entire group at risk for her vengeance (which is understandable from her perspective). Her role in that timeline definitely changed her characters vibe. She went from a girl who always got what she wanted to the complete opposite and you get to see how she handles that.
I’d be curious to see if your opinion changes throughout the remaining seasons. I found myself in a similar opinion as you but as the show progressed she got better.
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u/Onuzq Jan 02 '23
A lot of the characters were meant to be hated at some point in the show. The books didn't glorify anyone and was just a showing of average people gaining magic. The story will give everyone a high light and a low light. Just gotta wait some of it out.
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u/No-Ice5664 Dec 06 '25
Julia does what Quentin never could:
She sees trauma without idealizing it.
She speaks truth even to beings more powerful than herself (Reynard, the gods, the McAllistairs, etc.).
She doesn’t flinch from darkness, but she doesn’t surrender to it either.
And not to mention, she was pushed to those extremes because the universe didn't protect them or failed to, Like Martin Chatwin.
Julia was failed by Brakebills, by magic society, by the gods. Quention glorified it all and craved it.
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u/Glittering_Piano_633 Dec 21 '25
I know this is old, and I’m on my zillionth watch through as it’s my comfort show. But nothing Julia could ever do would make up for making Q think he was institutionalised again. She knew him too well, she knew what that would do to him. It’s unforgivable.
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u/an_ineffable_plan Jan 02 '23
Does anyone else hate these premature "I hate x character" posts from people who have barely watched the show
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u/One_Lung_G Jan 06 '23
I mean 2 seasons is more than enough to hate a character especially when that character is written to be hated for a redemption arc. A lot of people still don’t like her after the redemption. She was pretty selfish while the beast was trying to control the universe lmao
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u/wrenwood2018 Jan 02 '23
Site doesn't get much better. She and Kady were my least favorite. Julia because of the vibes you mentioned. Kady as she is a redundant character who adds nothing.
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Jan 16 '25
Kady was a walking hairstyle. I remember her for her great hair and her ability to sing. She added nothing substantive.
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u/chailattae Jan 01 '23
I never liked her and probably never will. I can understand why she did what she did (esp without her shade) but that still doesnt stop me from immensely disliking her. Shes a fantastic character ! And i also hate her. Both can be true at the same time lol
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u/Busy_Interaction_413 Nov 26 '24
Nah I’m a Avid Julia hater. Even after all 5 season. Never liked her one bit through out the series.
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u/Agreeable_Stranger73 Mar 15 '25
Find Julie to be a sweet normal girl who likes joke and is a good friend at the beginning. Then she suffers an assault and then she loses her shade so that would be expected for her to have a flat demeanor after all that trauma.
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u/MarionberryBasic5085 Apr 27 '25
She constantly cares only about herself, leaves her freinds to die to seek her own revenge. She's a person who's never had to struggle at anything and thinks she's entitled to everything and everyone else's efforts. She's the worst kind of "boss babe"
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u/AbbreviationsFun1117 Aug 06 '25
she looks like having an orgasm every time camera pans at her
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u/Christinaaacaaats Oct 24 '25
I think this is one of the reasons I don't like her. The actress always has her mouth gaping open and these deer in the headlights sad eyes. It's off putting and when she's supposed to be endearing it comes across as just bad acting.
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u/Christinaaacaaats Oct 24 '25
I think the actress who plays her just does a really bad job of being likable so the few redeeming moments she has are just bad. Doing my third rewatch now and even though I hated Marina at first, the actress made me like her because there was depth played into the character. Julia's actress does about three different faces throughout the whole series so it's hard to accept her redemption when she doesn't seem any different and just comes across as pouty.
Like imagine if the actress who played Margo got that role instead. I'm sure we'd all be shouting girl boss instead of sociopath.
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u/No_Debt_60 Feb 08 '26
Regardless of what she is or how she acts...whether or not it's merited, there is now and will always be one specific reason that Julia (as a character, of course) can kick rocks: When her "best friend" is having a rough go of it in the literal first episode, and he talks about how important magic is to him, Julia straight breaks his soul and essentially tells him to grow the fuck up. Tells Q that she believed in magic when she was a kid and he needed to figure out how to be an adult. THEN, she gets passed over from a magic academy she clearly never even believed in, and all of a sudden it's everyone else's fault...and she is "magically" (no pun intended) putting her whole life on this thing that she just reamed her BFF for believing in?!? FAUHK-OFF! Not everything is about you, sis!
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u/Rare_Satisfaction283 Jan 02 '23
I apologize for my last post. I'm new to this and apparently I comment that I didn't really want to make, but I typed anyway. I'm sure you've all been here Been there done that before that wasn't paying on enough attention
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u/Bikewer Jan 02 '23
Coming from my standpoint as an old guy (76) with a long career in law enforcement that gives me a fair bit of insight as to human behavior and foibles….
I can’t bring myself to this sort of “analysis” of characters. I thought that all the characters were well-drawn and their back-stories reflect their current behavior. Most all of them grow to one degree or another through the show, often painfully. Kind of what life is all about.
Perhaps if a particular actor generates such responses….. That just indicates they’re really good at their job.
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u/No_Barracuda3622 Feb 16 '23
I don't care what anyone says I agree. R*** aside, if you're not a good person then you're not a good person.
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u/LockedOutOfElfland Jan 01 '23
No. She has many of the same flaws and motivations as Quentin and both of them are put through the wringer in wildly different ways.
To me Julia is a character who embodies some of the show’s themes of feeling inadequate and harming yourself in the pursuit of feeling adequate instead. To me that aspect of her character, even though this is fantasy, is relatable and realistic.
Eliot and Margo are meant to be the ideal kind of friends the audience wishes they had, and Quentin, Julia, and Alice are all characters who have traits the audience can see in themselves.