I first heard about A Discovery of Witches, based on Deborah Harkness’ All Souls trilogy, back in 2018 just before it was about to come out. Unfortunately, it wasn’t going to be available on anything I was already paying for, so I vowed to watch it some day in the future. Well, enough of the future has passed that the second season has already came and went, so I decided it was time to make it happen! That, and a friend of mine declared how much she liked it.
Dr. Diana Bishop is a very intelligent historian, who we first meet as she is studying alchemy at the University of Oxford. One day in the library she requests a book that automatically seems magical in some sense, and it’s causes Diana a bit of distress before she returns it. Not long after that strange encounter, she has a new encounter with the svelte and extremely handsome vampire, Matthew Clairmont. He wants the book that Diana summoned, because it is essentially The Book of Life that could contain valuable information about how all creatures came to be. Of course, his ulterior motive of obtaining the book is not entirely selfish, as he, his son Marcus, and his friend have been doing extensive lab work showing that the DNA of creatures have grown considerably weaker as time wares on.
In his efforts to convince Diana to take out the book, Matthew begins craving her, although Diana seems to quickly be falling for him, too. She claims that she trusts him, but Matthew knows that his craving for Diana can be dangerous. Although, his growing affection for Diana is not as dangerous as the other creatures around her. They, too want her to retrieve the book, but not as much as Peter Knox, who wants to get the book in order to be able to destroy all of the vampires from existence. He brings on a powerful witch named Satu in order to help him with his quest.
Before things get too dangerous for Diana, Matthew takes them to his mother’s castle, where they try to figure out what to do next. At first, Matthew’s mother is reluctant to embrace Diana, but she eventually has a change of heart when she realizes that nothing will deter the love Diana has for Matthew. After a few days together, Matthew and Diana also declare their love for each other officially (I sort of think they got married in a way?), and know that this just complicates matters further, as interspecies relationships are forbidden. After Satu and bitter vampire, Gerbert, torture Diana and leave her for dead, she manages to use her powers to escape. Matthew reveals that Diana was most likely spellbound before the two take off to Diana’s aunts’ home where they try and teach her how to use her newfound magic.
While there, they also learn that Diana’s father was a timewalker, and it’s soon revealed that Diana also possesses that ability. Just as the vampires and witches congregate at the home to take Diana, she is getting her and Matthew ready to timewalk into the 1500s. She almost successfully does it before she hears the intruders enter the house.
What a freaking cliffhanger! Thank goodness I’ve got another season to watch immediately. I can’t imagine what the wait was like for the people who watched the first season when it initially aired. Although, armed with this information, I can almost certainly expect just as intense a cliffhanger for the second season. Especially since both seasons two and three were picked up at the same time. Hopefully, it won’t be almost another two years before we get some new material! Overall, though, I enjoyed this show! A lot of the characters we’re very likeable, and I personally, am a fan of the leads. From a very high level, if you like stuff about vampires and witches, then this could be right up your alley, but it’s definitely got a better quality to it then other efforts. That’s not to say that some moments weren’t cheesy, of course. I like it though! Stay tuned for a second season review probably sometime next week!