A DISCOVERY OF WITCHES IS BACK! Thoughts on Season 2, Episode 2

It’s time to conjure up a new season of A Discovery of Witches!

Season 2 of the popular UK drama about conflict between witches, vampires and daemons starts in the UK and across Europe on January 8, and starts streaming in the U.S. and Canada on Sundance Now, Shudder and AMC+ on January 9. We also know the show will return to AMC and BBC America sometime later this year.

In the season one finale, Matthew Clairmont and Diana Bishop timewalked into the past to hide from the Congregation, find the Book of Life, and someone to help Diana harness her unusual magical abilities as a witch. Season two picks up right where we left off, brings in new characters and amps up the danger.

Lets get to it.

This week on A Discovery of Witches:

As Diana continues her search for a mentor she meets a wealthy alchemist Mary Sidney. London’s vampire ruler demands fealty from Matthew.

So lets talk about Episode 2! 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.

Sheila Hancock as Goody Alsop, Diana’s teacher. (Sky TV)

THE GOOD

Roz: I oddly love the dynamic of all these witches trying to figure out what to do with Diana in 1590. She is such an odd thing to them, and to see how Goody Alsop takes it as a sign of prophecy to be her teacher makes me smile.

Also watching Matthew as Roydon do the horrible things he needs to do to protect Diana seems to be setting up some battles I’m excited to watch.

Christie: I am so glad that in the show at least, Diana finds a teacher much sooner. I know it might seem too soon, and too easy, but it works for me at least. Part of the reason it also works for me has to do with something that annoyed me in the books — how Matthew seems to try and dominate Diana in 1590. Part of the reason it takes Diana so long to find a teacher is Matthew’s pig-headedness about doing it himself because Diana doesn’t know the times like she thinks she does.

Also — yay for Mary Sidney! She is such a great character in the book and everyone was worried we wouldn’t get her in the show. Getting that scene with the snake and the shoe was a treat!

Plus the actresses who play Goody Alsop and Mary Sidney, Sheila Hancock and Amanda Hale, are great dynamic actresses, so yay for strong women all around!

Leah: I really appreciate how the writers of the show condensed the book without me feeling like I have missed out on something. We get right to it. I want to see all of the magic.

Amanda Hale as Mary Sidney. (Bad Wolf Productions)

THE BAD

Roz: Somehow the scene of Matthew looking to cause a little mayhem was out of place, but I suppose it was more a place for Kit to show off his considerable card skills.

Christie: Having said how glad I am that Diana found a teacher early in the season, I am not happy that she went to the whole Rede and told them she is a timewalker and they all were like “oh my Goddess, the weaver is here!” Her confidence and their immediate trust, even if Goody Alsop does have that much sway over this group, is a little too easy for me. Or maybe I’m just an old cynic. I feel like the writers could have avoided the Rede meeting to make more sense.

Another thing that is bugging me, even though it really shouldn’t, is that bar seen with Kit and Pole. Matthew smiling and wisecracking… even in the book I never really got the sense that he was like that, but then he could be different with Kit. Still, it almost felt like Matthew Goode was breaking character a bit and being more like himself. It shouldn’t bug me, but it did feel weird.

Leah: Thank you Christie! Matthew being jovial was so out of character. Especially in 1590….I know it’s the present Matthew, but even in 20whatever he isn’t that “happy”.

Paul Rhys as Father Andrew Hubbard.

HISTORY & BOOK COMPARISONS

Christie: 

History:  Mary Sidney, the countess of Pembroke, was a real lady of Queen Elizabeth’s court and a student of alchemy in the 1590s. She was also an author and a literary patron, and existed in the same circles as the real Matthew Roydon. Roydon’s poem Elegie  honored her brother, Sir Philip Sidney, after Sir Philip’s death.

There is talk in this episode of the witch trials in Scotland. These are the North Berwick Witch Trials. The witches were blamed for helping to raise a storm that affected King James VI’s (the future James I of England) return to Scotland from Denmark. Among the witches was one mentioned in this episode, Agnes Sampson. She was a healer who was tortured and executed for witchcraft after confessing to it. Her ghost is said to haunt Holyrood Palace in Edinburgh.

Book vs. TV: Matthew mentions that he missed All Souls Day because of the arrival. In the book, Matthew and Diana arrived on arrived in time for Matthew to lose the important chess piece to Kit on All Souls Day. It’s an important moment because the chess piece of the goddess Diana is one of the objects Diana uses to initiate the timewalk in the first place. Incidentally, Matthew’s human birth was on All Souls Day in the year 500.

Teresa Palmer as Diana and Matthew Goode as Matthew.

FINAL THOUGHTS

Roz: I just wanted to keep watching the next episode to see how more of this plays out, but I’m resisting that urge. This season is off to a strong start.

Christie: There are so many little things in this episode that make me smile to outweigh any concerns I have with the way things are working out so easily for Matthew and Diana so far. Mary Sidney and Goody Alsop alone were worth the episode.

Leah: Im just excited to see how everything plays out over the season.

You can follow along with our coverage of the show here.

New episodes of A Discovery of Witches will be released each week on Sundance Now, Shudder and AMC+.