Well, hello everyone. It’s Lizzie, subbing in for Lyra here with this A Discovery of Witches episode 4 review, and I just want to start by saying: the things I had to do to keep her streak with the titles going. Because yes, Matthew and Diana aren’t really in this episode, which is a bummer, because …we really do watch this show for Matthew and Diana. That being said, I probably have a lot more favorable things to say about it than Lyra would have, as our preview video might have clued you in.
So hey, if you love Marcus (as I do), you might be happy it’s me this week!
The truth is, I enjoyed this episode. I think it was necessary hour, and I had fun watching it. I, of course, would have rather the show had managed some sort of balance, with at least some scenes from the past, but I understand that as we’re literally at the brink of Matthew and Diana’s story getting more and more intense, they don’t really want to start that until they can focus all their attention on it.
And, of course, there are the revelations in this episode, about the de Clermont family, and the illness that affects them: blood rage. Now we finally understand a little more about Matthew, now the little hints they placed from episode one finally make sense. And now we can see the story behind the story taking shape.
We also now understand that this ‘secret’ is kinda one of those Hollywood secrets everyone knows and whispers about but no one tells the newcomers (us, the viewers), because of course they don’t.
But we don’t get to see how this affects Matthew, not yet, at least. No, this is just about Marcus figuring out the family secrets, figuring out where he stands, and what kind of man he wants to be as he tries to fill Matthew’s shoes and oh, yes, falling in love.
I know, I know. It happened in 0.2 seconds. One minute he was staring at her behind her desk, the next they were at dinner, and bam, all the sudden he was all like “I’m a vampire, please believe me,” a bad idea if we’ve ever heard one, because what person would just believe that isn’t the brush-off but the truth? And a part of me wants to be like Marcus, son, slow down. Breathe. Use your upside brain for a little bit. And yet …did we ask this of Matthew?
Like father, like son, right?
Matthew and Diana’s love story moved quickly – way too quickly, at times. For both of them, if we’re being honest. They had feelings, real feelings, in what… a few days? And yet we accepted it, because the show was set up for us to. I feel like the least I could do, at this point, is accept Marcus’ the same way. Love isn’t the strangest thing on this show, after all.
Phoebe I will need a little more time to warm up to – even though a part of me is like, she didn’t believe this first hand, that speaks well of her, but I’m willing to try. My issue with her, if anything, is that she wanted to know all his secrets after like, one day. I’ve got stuff on my fridge that’s been there longer than their relationship and she was already like why don’t I know everything about you?.
But, he was moving just as fast as her, so who am I to judge?
Especially because, and this is a topic Lyra has discussed before, I want to like Phoebe. This show hasn’t really given us many WOC, and despite how much I enjoy other aspects of it, I’ve always found the representation more than a bit lacking. So, I’m game for Phoebe actually sticking around and taking on a more prominent role. I want Matthew and Diana to come back, and get to meet her. I want Marcus to have to be all like, yeah, remember giving you grief about Diana, I was worse.
Nay, I deserve that.
The other interesting aspect of this episode is, of course, seeing Sarah and Em around Ysabeau. Surprisingly, it works. No one’s killed each other yet, though Em is dabbling in stuff she shouldn’t, because without Diana around to make questionable magical choices, someone else has to! Might as well be Em, right?
Anyway, I missed Matthew and Diana but I can survive or one week. One, okay? One. Don’t do this again, A Discovery of Witches. You get one.
Agree? Disagree? What did you think of A Discovery of Witches season 2 episode 4? Share with us in the comments below!
A new episode A Discovery of Witches is available to stream on Sundance Now, Shudder and AMC+.
