Lover’s Tiff
After last episode’s brief detour to the present, episode 5 of A Discovery of Witches Season 2 shifts locations to Mont Saint-Michel, France in 1590. Matthew and Diana make it there in their rowboat and immediately find themselves greeted by the ominous presence of Philippe’s men. Together, they ride in their company to the Province of Anjou, an area that refuses to acknowledge the King’s protestant claims. After resting for the night, the guard continue on across the beautiful French countryside. A single burning farmhouse stands as an ominous warning to all who show, as blistering lashes of rain cause Diana to eventually fall off her horse. She’s comforted by Matthew though, who holds her in his arms before they eventually make camp and rest for the night. Meanwhile in London, Kit notices Louisa feeding on an innocent and brings her inside to talk. Together and alone, Kit tells her that Matthew is out of town with a witch. With the pair gone for now, Louisa decides to save Kit from his own melancholy and heads out shooting and killing with him. Back in France, Matthew warns Diana not to try and read his Father, as they eventually make it to Philippe’s house and prepare for what’s to come next. Philippe is not happy about the witch next to his son but she corrects him and calls herself a Weaver. Philippe is not impressed, reminding Diana he’s lived a long life. She coolly matches him blow for blow, before he strikes a nerve and mentions consummation and getting married – two things to signify love which Matthew hasn’t done. His words hit Diana hard and she takes out her frustrations on Matthew, using her wind magic to knock him out the door. Matthew confronts Philippe about his meddling, but he changes the subject and tells Matthew to head out in the morning to feed. He does just that, as Diana gets dressed and speaks to Philippe in his study. He hands over the keys to different rooms in the house, given she’s the highest ranking female in the Sept-Tours now. Diana is more interested in the books within the study though, which Philippe gladly shows her. Another witch shows up later that day, a man by the name of Monsier Andre Champier. He senses great power in her and claims to be there to help. However, it very quickly becomes obvious that he’s not. He grabs Diana’s head with both hands and begins extracting various memories from her, specifically involving Matthew feeding on Diana’s blood. Using her abilities, Diana fights back and eventually plunges a sword in the man’s stomach, killing him while Matthew shows up at the door.
The Episode Review
Episode 5 finally sees us in France and while understandably we don’t see much in the way of 1600’s French architecture, there’s still something distinctly satisfying about seeing so much of the countryside as the duo make their way to Philippe’s court. The episode actually does a pretty good job depicting the hard struggle across this sort of terrain, especially back in those days. There’s a bit of superficial drama between Matthew and Diana again though, this time with Philippe meddling. However, it does work quite well to build up both characters as we see the bonds of their love runs deep. It’s clear that both of them respect each other and would happily die for the other. The ending involving the dead witch will almost certainly spell trouble going forward and the show hasn’t been initially clear what happens when the past is changed. What happens if a prominent figure dies before their time? Will the present timeline be rewritten? It seems unlikely of course but that’s always the danger with shows introducing time travel. For the most part though, A Discovery Of Witches continues to deliver decent drama, even if that has slowed down somewhat compared to the brisk pace adopted at the start of the season.
