Weekly coverage of A Discovery of Witches continues as the show temporarily relocates to New Orleans.
Let’s bitch it out…
Missed a Review?
- Season 1 (Links to Hazel & Katniss & Harry & Starr podcast)
- Season 2: 2.01 / 2.02 / 2.03 / 2.04 / 2.05 / 2.06 / 2.07 / 2.08 / 2.09 / 2.10
- Season 3: 3.01 / 3.02
Plot:
In a desperate bid to provide more subjects for Miriam (Aiysha Hart) and Dr Christopher Roberts (Ivanno Jeremiah)’s cure for Blood Rage, Matthew (Matthew Goode), Jack (Toby Regbo) and Marcus (Edward Bluemel) travel to New Orleans to recruit Marcus’ children. But Matthew’s dark (read: murderous) history presents a major obstacle in winning over the ringleader, Ransome (Parker Sawyers) – without whom there can be no scion.
Meanwhile, back in London, Diana (Teresa Palmer), Sarah (Alex Kington) and Phoebe (Adelle Leonce) focus on the second missing Ashmole page, eventually recovering it from Andrew Hubbard (Paul Rhys), who opts to give it to them instead of Peter Knox (Owen Teale).
Characters:
The majority of the A-plot is dedicated to Matthew and Marcus making in-roads with the latter’s progeny. In this capacity, one wishes that Ransome wasn’t kept hidden until so late in the episode because it doesn’t provide Sawyers with a ton of screen time. Still, the anticipation of his tete-a-tete with Matthew is properly built up so that by the time they square off and Matthew spends an entire night making amends for all of the vampires he murdered, the proceedings carry a proper amount of gravitas.
Stray Observations:
- It’s a change to see the UK vampires in an American context and while the show doesn’t do too much with its New Orleans setting, there are still some very obvious references to jazz and the infamous above ground cemeteries the city is famous for.
- One wishes the series had focused exclusively on the trip out of town and kept all of the other storylines on the sideline for a week (kind of like the Marcus-specific episode last season). By cutting back and forth between London and New Orleans, the episode resorts to mostly short, abbreviated scenes and it’s not satisfying to jump back and forth so frequently.
- In the space of only a single episode, my mood has already soured on Jack and his struggle to contain his Blood Rage. Philippe’s faith in that Matthew can teach Jack is encouraging, but other than that this storyline already feels stale.
- While Matthew is away, Benjamin (Jacob Ifan) is busy ingratiating himself to the Vampire side of the Covenant. He meets with Gerbert d’Aurillac (Trevor Eve), who encourages him to let Matthew destroy himself rather than risk making an impetuous move, which…is totally fair considering how prone Matthew is to flying off the handle.
- Seeing Knox try to intimidate Hubbard and get his ass handed to him is immensely satisfying. But also: we’re just doing witchy/vampire stuff in the middle of Hubbard’s office? Even if everyone knows that Hubbard is a vampire, the brazen display of powers is very silly.
- Diana and Sarah having a late snack bonding session over Aunt Em’s grilled cheese sandwiches is great. This is a scene that could have been cut, but it says so much about their relationship and how much they need each other. It’s so evident why it’s important for Sarah to stay in London; how could she have even considered leaving?
- Watching Diana handle that 100s year old priceless text in the British Library without gloves drove me BANANAS.
- Finally, Satu (Malin Bushka)’s storyline is frustrating. Last week she seemed to be stepping out of Knox’s shadow, as though her time away had helped her to gain perspective. This week she similarly rejects Benjamin’s offer to team up against Diana, but it’s only because she wants to orchestrate her own revenge against her blonde nemesis. Which begs the question: why is Satu’s role so ill-defined in this series? Is she really just jealous and petty? Because, if so, that’s incredibly disappointing.
A Discovery of Witches airs weekly on Fridays on Sky Max (UK) and Saturdays on AMC and Shudder (in North America)