A Discovery of Witches - The Romance Heats Up While the Creatures Plot

The expected full embrace, romantic and eventually sexual, was obvious, and in the fifth episode of A Discovery of Witches Matthew and Diana finally set aside the preventions of The Covenant in favor of love. Diana aunts warn her against it as does Matthew’s mother, Yasbeau, to both of them. Yasbeau goes even further by showing Diana the vampire hunting methods. Matthew arrives at his lab, realizing that Gillian, Diana’s friend (and witch), through her left-behind scent, has taken blood samples and pictures on her phone. Matthew finds her and uses the bite to the throat in order to see what she did when intruding into his lab. Near-dead, Gillian does make it to Peter Knox. The Congregation is in turmoil, Matthew’s own kin representing the De Clermonts, pledging to secure the person of Diana in order to restore hospitalities within the species. But the series clearly advises that the three species “hiding in plain sight” are at odds even as they emerge with representatives at The Congregation trying to keep peace with each other (more or less window-dressing). Matthew and Diana defiantly accepting the consequences, they sleep together, both fully committed to each other. Yasbeau realizes what that means, telling both of them that she will support them, not abandon them, but her concern over their decision isn’t held back. Nonetheless, at the end of the episode, Diana is whisked away without us getting to truly see who was responsible.

Knox forewarns his “personal witch” not to get too close to Gerbert, revealing that it was rumored he kept a witch imprisoned in his home (confirmed by the head in a box, feeding her his blood (she has vampire fangs, so he has turned her, too!), receiving key details to assist him in his desire to retrieve Diana). Gerbert has Juliette loose, while Domenico confronts her about going after her rival: Diana.

So you have Knox, Gerbert, Juliette, and Matthew’s own relative out to get Diana. Much like The Vampire Diaries with Elena, Diana is always on the precipice of danger. Matthew and Yasbeau encourage Diana to fully embrace her power, with her blood results revealing that she’s got a lot of abilities still quite untapped. She’ll need them considering the forces at work targeting her.

Knox’s witch arrives at Gerbert’s estate, against his warnings, and could spell her doom. Juliette insists that Matthew is hers, only hers. Demons are starting to congregate together despite Agatha telling her son not to use the internet to do so, with signs pointing to her daughter-in-law being a witch.

Matthew dancing with his "momon", Ysabeau

Key to the episode is Matthew’s history. He had a wife and kids before a fever took them. He leaped from the window of a church he created himself out of anguish, with Yasbeau turning him into vampire to spare him anymore pain since the leap didn’t kill him immediately. Matthew had periods unaccounted for, Yasbeau telling Diana he had quite the bloodlust after being turned. So there is a lot of darkness there that Diana must be willing (and does) to accept. Matthew shows a bit of that darkside when he bites into Gillian. He nearly kills her—could have—but releases her once he gets the information he is pursuing. The control, Diana impressed by it, Yasbeau argues hadn’t always been.

So you see the vampire gothic soap opera elements in the series echoing a lot of past works. The material can feel quite familiar. I think that might be a knock against it, for sure. Unless you are a sucker for that type of subgenre. I do hope we get some horror eventually, though. A lot of budding romance and attractive settings—the aesthetic of the locations of the production are often quite breathtaking—I won’t outright reject, but I want some more spellcasting, blood-letting, and witchcraft. Still feel like the demons are getting the shaft in the writer’s room. I admit that I am not an avid reader of Gothic soap opera, except for Dark Shadows. I can only expect that the demons of the story eventually factor more into the overall arc besides being background players.
[3/5]