A DISCOVERY OF WITCHES: Thoughts on Episode Seven

All right, creatures, who is ready to kick it up a notch?

This week on A Discovery of Witches:

Diana learns why she was spellbound as a child. Diana’s devastation at having lived her life as only half herself is interrupted by the Madison house releasing one of the missing pages from Ashmole 782.

So lets talk about Episode 7! Please join us as we share our thoughts on the episode. And while we are at it – there are spoilers below. Lots of them. Read at your own risk.

THE GOOD

Roz: The house is Madison is great! I also love that so much of what has happened so far is because of one very awful but meaningful moment for Diana’s parents when she was small. It speaks to a deep love of her by her parents that they would sacrifice her as they did, but in the end, I know it’s for a good reason that will help take down Knox.

Christie: Give me all of Sarah and Em! Alex Kingston and Valarie Pettiford are fantastic together, plus every time Sarah gets salty it makes me smile. There’s a line where she tells off Matthew and it’s one of my favorites in the whole show, “I’ve had about enough of you saying ‘with respect’ and then doing or saying whatever you damn please.”

Oh, and also — “The House is haunted?” “We’re witches, of course it’s haunted!” 😂

Leah: I love when everything that has been going on starts to come together. All of these characters converging at Sarah and Em’s house is delightful. Also, how great is the house? The idea that it made the second floor disappear cracked me up. And finally, Diana starting to get to really use her powers, on purpose, is great!

THE BAD

Roz: Juliette is the worst when it comes to how she responds to Diana and I don’t look forward to what she wants to do to her. But we need more stakes for what is going to be in the finale, I suppose.

Christie: Why is Satu walking around when she doesn’t have her powers and would probably be wanted by the vampires? That made no sense to me.

Leah: Domenico and his meddling. What is his deal? At some point you have to pick a side and stay there. He really annoys me and I don’t have enough background on him either. I need to know more.

HISTORY & BOOK COMPARISONS

Christie:

History: Marcus tells Sarah that he knew her ancestor Sarah Bishop, who taught him how to set a broken leg at the Battle of Bunker Hill.

It’s the first instance in the series where we learn something of Marcus’ past. Marcus was born and raised in Massachusetts and, according to Time’s Convert, was part of revolutionary forces at Bunker Hill in 1775, one of the earliest battles in the American Revolutionary War, which the colonists won.

As we learn in the first episode, the Bishops are related to Bridget Bishop, the first woman executed in the Salem Witch Trials. Bishop isn’t the only name in the show tied to the trials. I believe this episode is the first time we get the last name of Diana’s father (which is not Bishop, obviously). It’s Proctor. John Proctor is one of the people executed in the Salem Witch Trials. His wife Elizabeth, also accused, gave birth to his child in jail. The pregnancy kept her from the gallows, and she was released in 1693.

Also, Emily Mather is a descendant of Cotton Mather, which is magical irony. He was an influential reverend in Massachusetts whose views on witchcraft played a part in the trials.

Book vs. TV:

The magic house manifests itself differently in the book. For one thing, we don’t get the flashback scenes with Rebecca and Stephen. But the house does make all sorts of furniture, housewares and whole rooms appear. It also respects the fact that Diana and Matthew are entitled to some privacy.

Also, the house is full of actual ghosts — all mostly Bishop ancestors. Diana can see them.

It also feels to me that assimilating the vampires into the Bishop house runs smoother in the books than the show, where there seems to be more hostility. For instance, Marcus brings Sarah whisky, because he knew her namesake liked it. And Matthew, Miriam and Sarah also bond over Scrabble and noir films.

And with the missing Ashmole page we also got a long letter from Rebecca in the book that goes into details about why they spellbound Diana.

FINAL THOUGHTS

Roz: Next week is going to be BANANAS!

Christie: Next week: witchy time travel for beginners! Plus, Congregation politics make for some very strange bedfellows!

Leah: The only thing better than the characters all starting to merge storylines is Juliette’s clothing. Honestly that vampire can dress!

You can follow along with our coverage of the show here and be sure to join us as we live tweet the new episode here.

Discovery of Witches airs Sunday 9/8c on BBC America and AMC