A DISCOVERY OF WITCHES: Thoughts on Season 2, Episode 4

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

This week on A Discovery of Witches:

Marcus tracks down evidence of Matthew and Diana’s journey to 1590 and is charmed in the process; Gerbert and Knox scheme together; Sophie goes into labor; Em secretly continues higher magic in spite of Sarah’s worries.

So lets talk about Episode 4! 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.

Edward Bluemel as Marcus and Adelle Leonce as Phoebe. (Sundance Now)

THE GOOD

Roz: This all worked for me. I needed more of the present to make sense of what Diana and Matthew are doing in the 1590s but this put it all into place. We see the larger issues of the show turning into something with consequences we see.

Christie: Yay Miriam, Sophie, Sarah, Em, Ysabeau, and welcome Phoebe! And Christ, Marcus! He’s so awkward in trying to be hot, but it’s sweet. “Oh come on! I don’t bite.” *headdesk*

And Ysabeau is such a badass. God I want to be her when I grow up. Or Sarah. Ysabeau or Sarah. Could go either way.  And the way Lindsay Duncan delivers that line to Marcus “well now you’ll have to kill her.” Was she being serious or sarcastic? Can you tell?

Another nice touch I love is the old photos that Phoebe finds of Marcus and Ysabeau. Nice little details.

Trevor Eve as Gerbert. (AMC+)

THE BAD

Roz: The plot against Matthew pisses me off, though we need big bads to make this matter.

Christie: Gerbert and Domenico and Knox. Grrrrr. Oh, and Marcus keeping blood in his fridge and letting someone stay over? Again, Christ Marcus! But also I can’t tell if I believe he would do something that reckless or not.

Alex Kingston as Sarah Bishop. (AMC+)

HISTORY & BOOK COMPARISONS

Christie: 

History: Not a lot of history in this episode, since it largely takes place in the present day.

Book vs. TV: Almost all of this is new. We do see Marcus and Phoebe courting in the book, but the portraits are never stolen in the book. Also, at the end of the book we learn that Em engaged in dark magics to try and contact Rebecca. It was something she and Rebecca practiced together years ago, even before Diana was born. So seeing some of that process is a nice treat.

Also… I seem to remember that Marcus learns about Matthew’s blood rage in the third book, not from Ysabeau now.

Lindsay Duncan as Ysabeau de Clermont and Edward Bluemel as Marcus. (AMC+)

FINAL THOUGHTS

Roz: This has hallmarks of being the calm before the storm, and I’m here for that.

Christie: All the blood rage background we got this episode plays right into episode 5, with some big scenes to come. This episode was a great way to get into all of this, different from the books but it gets to the heart of the problem so we can move on. And what does Marcus do next? He’s well and truly mad.

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+. For those waiting to see the show on TV, these new episodes come to AMC in June.