‘A Discovery of Witches’ Recap: ‘Episode 5’

Written by John Edward Betancourt 

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You know that a television series has done something worthwhile, when you simply cannot wait to tune in. Because it means that the story is flowing, incredible things are happening within the plot, and you’re simply dying to know where the story is going to go next and that’s precisely where I am at when it comes to A Discovery of Witches. Because last week’s episode moved the plot forward in magnificent and thrilling fashion, meaning that I could not wait to settle in to watch ‘Episode 5’, because I knew that this magnificent story was only going to continue to gather steam and wow us with more twists and turns, and this episode did not disappoint in the slightest.   
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Because this one started out in chaotic fashion, with the Congregation scrambling to figure out how to resolve the matters now before them and while they endlessly debated as to how to draw Diana away from Sept-Tours, Matthew arrived back in London to check on the health of his lab, only to discover that someone had stood within its walls after all. And with the help of his powerful senses, he came to the conclusion that Gillian was the one who snuck into the place to steal samples and that led to quite the stunning showdown between vampire and witch, wherein the latter won when Matthew sunk his teeth into Gillian. But this act was not done out of revenge, instead, he did it to gather evidence since he was able to use her blood to outright see that she broke into the lab and it was quite incredible to see this kind of power on display because I am hard pressed to think of another vampire story that’s shown the children of the night to have the ability to live vicariously through their victim’s blood.

But while Matthew dealt with that mess, and his research, Diana was dealing with her own hardships in France. For Ysabeau was determined to keep her and Matthew apart, which prompted her to show Diana what their species is all about, and that included taking her along on a hunt so that she could see the savagery of the vampire and understand what they become when it is time to feed. Yet, while this was an impressive effort on dear old mother’s part, it didn’t deter Diana in the slightest. If anything it made her all the more curious and once Ysabeau came to realize she was fighting a losing battle, she opened up to Diana, and taught her plenty about Matthew before and after he was sired, and well, this entire segment was a welcome respite from the intensity that the story opened up with, but it simply didn’t last, even though the episode tried to keep the calm going.

For eventually, Matthew returned to Sept-Tours after completing the tests on Diana’s DNA. But before he was ready to reveal the results of what he discovered in her genetic code, he finally acquiesced to his feelings toward Diana, and declared his love for her, allowing for these two to be together at last, regardless of the covenant and that’s…when the wild stuff came back our way. Because we came to learn that Diana’s core genetic code has every single marker imaginable within it, meaning she can achieve all kinds of wonders, the kind that clearly have everyone afraid. For backdoor deals and discussions were happening all throughout this tale while these star crossed lovers dealt with their respective journeys, and the culmination of every double cross and dastardly deal came to fruition in the final moments of this episode, when someone flew into Sept-Tours and pulled Diana out of there by force and no good can come from this.

If anything, I have a sneaking suspicion the Superman-like kidnapper was Satu, who despite being aware of the danger that Knox poses is still happy to serve his madness and with Diana now in her possession, she will likely harm her and to make matters worse, Matthew will likely be furious at this act, and that will spell trouble for Satu and whomever gave her the order to kidnap his love, meaning things are about to get extremely ugly in the weeks to come. Either way, this was quite the fun episode, one that definitely kept my attention since it was packed to the brim with big time moments and curiosities abound and once more, my excitement for this series is only growing, simply because I have to know what comes next, and I’m quite curious to see if next week’s tale is going to feature the moment we’ve all been waiting for, wherein Diana finally harnesses her power in order to get herself out of quite the jam. Until next time.   

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