‘A Discovery of Witches’ Recap: ‘Episode 4’

Written by John Edward Betancourt 

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Over the course of its first three episodes, A Discovery of Witches has done a phenomenal job of putting together a bold new world filled to the brim with magical wonders and creatures that go bump in the night. But while this is incredible in its own right because this show really has created quite the enriching and fascinating world, there is an inherent danger that lurks in the shadows when a series dedicates this much time to laying its foundation. Because if the show goes too far in such matters it means the audience will be stuck in an eternal quagmire where the series spends more time creating a world over moving a story along and I was curious to see if ‘Episode 4’ was going to fall into that trap, or start pushing the plot forward.
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Thankfully, it’s clear that the folks behind the scenes shared a similar concern since this particular tale did a fine job of moving the plot along and it accomplished such a feat by injecting panic and chaos into the overall story, with much of that coming from the Congregation. For they met in this tale at the request of Peter Knox, who made wild claims that Matthew had kidnapped Diana and taken her to France and that the Congregation needed to get involved immediately in order to keep the young witch safe and to keep the tenuous peace between the various factions that roam the world, and what made this little twist fascinating is the sheer fact that Matthew’s brother, Baldwin, serves on the Vampires’ delegation and he didn’t buy an ounce of what Peter was selling, and he took the time to gather up some facts, and his research led to quite the stunning moment.

Because Baldwin straight up called Peter to the carpet on his lies in front of the rest of the Congregation and this moment of bravery, not only exposed Knox as the weasel he is, it also put the truth about Ashmole 782’s existence and Diana’s ability to conjure it, out into the open, and that meant bad news for our heroine. For the Congregation decided it was time for her to answer before the Elders. Yet, while this group worked to figure out how to best inform her of their request, Diana was doing her to best to try and fit in with Matthew’s family at their posh castle in France, and while it seemed as though such a feat was impossible, she slowly warmed over Matthew’s mother and she finally came to realize that Matthew meant more to her than just a mere protector or curiosity, she was genuinely falling in love with him.

But the arrival of Dominico more or less ruined the fairy tale she was currently enjoying. Because it was he that delivered the message that Diana was to stand before the Congregation and he also made it clear to Matthew that their budding relationship would violate Covenant, a rule that forbid any inter-species relationship, and he would pay the ultimate price if he chose to do so and well, the fallout from this was ugly to say the least. Because Matthew immediately shut down any and all emotion he was exhibiting toward Diana out of fear, and he even cast aside the respect he often exhibited for her before heading back to London to deal with this mess and well, that’s where we leave Diana in this tale, abandoned, with her powers growing and an uncertain future ahead of her.

If anything, I have to admit that I didn’t expect this episode to pack in this much plot progression over the course of an hour, but here we are, with everything turned upside down. Because clearly every faction is now working toward getting their hands on the Book of Life, with only the demons seemingly handling this matter in the classiest of fashion. But otherwise, there was pure chaos in this tale since Gerbert saw a rattled Congregation as an opportunity for a power play against the Clairmont’s and of course, we’re watching Peter Knox slowly unravel which is terrifying in its own right and at this point, let’s be honest, it’s going to be up to Diana and her powers to save the day. But the clock is ticking, and she has to harness them quickly if there is to be any hope of peace amongst these ancient creatures. Until next time. 

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