"With knot of one, the spell's begun. With knot of two, the spell is true. With knot of three, the spell is free."
There is a lot to unpack in the third episode of A Discovery of Witches season 2! We've got Elizabeth I, William Cecil, Diana's training beginning, vampiric murders in present-day Europe and so much more! This episode has done really well in bringing together core plot elements that are very important to Diana and Matthew's time in 1590 and the present-day events that will inevitably have an impact on them in the past and their future.
We meet Queen Elizabeth I and her Lord Treasurer William Cecil, who are revealed to be aware of the existence of witches and vampires, even employing their services such as the Spanish Armada. I think of all the portrayals of Elizabeth I, this is the most terrifying and fearsome I have ever seen. She's 57 at this point, looks to be on the verge of death (she's still got 13 years left here) but still commands so much power over the people in her presence.
We do momentarily return once again to Kit's disdain for Diana, however, this time from little Jack's handy skills with hearing things everywhere, Matthew finally realises what his close friend has been doing. Though now we find there are others behind the scenes turning Matthew against Kit - William Cecil. Cecil is portrayed as cunning and resourceful as he was in life, it's almost as if he is the human version of Andrew Hubbard in Britain, having his ears and eyes everywhere ready to manipulate people to his will as he sees fit. The Queen may have you quaking in your boots (or the very soft slippers you're wearing in lockdown) but Cecil makes you almost as uncomfortable as Hubbard does, feeling like he could make everything fall apart if he wanted to.
I'm glad to see the continued presence of Jack and Mary Sidney in Diana and Matthew's lives. Jack is having a positive effect on Diana and Matthew as was expected and hoped for, with him around it is keeping them grounded and thinking about how their actions may impact others. Mary Sidney's welcome of Diana in her alchemy lab gives the latter a chance to develop a relationship with someone who is aware of the creatures world but is not involved in it. It helps Diana keep some of herself as a scholar intact rather than entirely forget it because of the witch in her, which is quite an admirable point of consistency in character as she doesn't become someone completely different from who she always was. Mary is also a great help for Diana when it comes to looking the part of a 16th-century lady, especially when preparing the latter for her meeting with Elizabeth I. Jack and Mary are characters they could have easily cut down on the presence of in this season, even by the third episode, but they haven't and these two remind us of the human side of things.
There is admirable progress with Diana's training moving forward. The visual effects team have done an absolutely marvellous job on the witches' magic, it's so beautifully crafted and suits the magical aesthetic of the series perfectly. It's beautiful in a mystical and scholarly way as if it came off the pages of a real-life witch's grimoire. We have also been reminded of the search for the Ashmole 782 manuscript, an important character in itself that lingers in the background constantly reminding us of how dangerous it could be. The search moves forward splendidly but again is not too rushed as Phillipe's summons to Sept-Tours takes priority - the most loved character in the whole series who gets the least page time in the books. But with this summons comes a brief introduction to the jolliest (in my opinion) vampire of the de Clermont clan - Gallowglass! For me, his introduction like the School of Night was too brief and I hope to see more of the Scotsman soon.
The episode opens and ends with the regular advances in the present-day plot, still briefly seen but we still get more details out of it. A savage vampire has been killing all across Europe with hints towards the de Clermont blood rage being involved. It's good to see sneak peeks of this building case as it becomes a big part of book 3 and so will in season 3. I hope we do still get the brief glimpse of the character responsible towards the end of the season.
Reasons to Recommend:
- The plot is picking up momentum at a palatable place without speeding through
- Enchanting witch magic visuals
- Early development of a plot that will be very important in the next season
- One of the best portrayals of Elizabeth I
I would rate this episode a 9/10. Despite its merits, I find that either I'm not as absorbed as I thought I would be by this point or I'm just being very critical hoping and knowing it does eventually get better than this. I've often found that if the first three episodes don't pull you into a show, maybe it's just not the one for you. Though I always ignore that rule when it's based on a book I've read and enjoyed.
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