The Magnus Protocol Reviews: “Circling Back”
Well, somehow I predicted right. “Circling Back” contains a standard horror story. The fact it also has a pretty strong push on almost all overarching plotlines was just a bonus.
By Brandon Scott on Apr 23rd, 2025
Well, somehow I predicted right. “Circling Back” contains a standard horror story. The fact it also has a pretty strong push on almost all overarching plotlines was just a bonus.
By Brandon Scott on Apr 21st, 2025
Alright, “Lux,” I’m onto that game. Having canonical critics in the episode point out its flaws to prevent people from considering them flaws is a fun trick. Hilariously, I hadn’t been bothered—or even noticed, honestly—that Lux changed his plan halfway through. I had long ago just accepted that this was going to be a surreal episode that wanted to really play with the fourth wall and that it wouldn’t have much of a true story.
By Brandon Scott on Apr 16th, 2025
“Scrutiny” is a lore dump episode for fans of The Magnus Archives, that also happens to contain one of the most emotionally brutal statements in the whole season. It’s barely even supernatural.
By Brandon Scott on Apr 14th, 2025
“The Robot Revolution” has given me a bit of a theory about Doctor Who as a series—at least lately. I don’t think its runtime allows it to satisfactorily run two simultaneous plotlines well. Something’s going to give.
By Brandon Scott on Apr 9th, 2025
“With Interest” finally gives us a superhero episode. I said last review that I wanted the pot to boil over, and it basically did. Daredevil locks in, even if the mask hasn’t come on. I hadn’t expected the episode to break the seal being a very trope-heavy, classic superhero scenario, but, hey, it was a ton of fun.
By Brandon Scott on Apr 7th, 2025
“Out of the Box” is perhaps the first comedy episode in this series and the second in Magnus as a whole. Maybe that’s just because of me being exposed to some much horror content, and not being bothered by the body horror, but I chuckled multiple times.
By Brandon Scott on Apr 2nd, 2025
“Sic Semper Systema” is a pure setup episode—and it’s the only reason it suffers. The last two episodes were a very clean arc, the White Tiger arc, and it ended brutally. But it also ended, and the fallout isn’t lingered on as much as I expected. It’s just bringing up the boil.
By Brandon Scott on Mar 31st, 2025
“Terms and Conditions” is an odd little episode. I’m unsure of the goal, to be frank. Besides the last two scenes, it’s just kind of mildly spooky stuff happening. Maybe that’s just a testament to how subtle the foreshadowing is, but I doubt there were that many big clues in the Bonzo section. It’s just Bonzo being Bonzo.
By Brandon Scott on Mar 26th, 2025
“Eliminations” is exactly what I wanted. In my article for “Peer Review,” I said I would like to please check in on Sam, and this over-delivered. We get a whole episode set over in The Magnus Archives world.
By Brandon Scott on Mar 24th, 2025
“Peer Review” Lacks One Important Horror Aspect “Peer Review” is evocative of a classic episode. I liked it quite a bit. The writing is strong and the voice acting stellar. But it did lack this one point of magic that The Magnus Archives has. It’s the implication of explanation within the horror. In other words,…
By Brandon Scott on Mar 19th, 2025
“The Hollow of His Hand” chronicles one of the most electric courtroom dramas I’ve seen in a long time. This may be because I only tend to watch certain genres and not typically legal thrillers, but the twists and turns, the emotional highs and lows, all contained within one episode, simply floored me.
By Brandon Scott on Mar 17th, 2025
The Electric State is terrible. A very generic plot with guessable moments at every stage only highlights how nonsensical the out-there worldbuilding becomes.