‘A Discovery of Witches’ Recap: ‘Season 2, Episode 8’

Written by John Edward Betancourt

Caution: This article contains spoilers for Episode 208 of ‘A Discovery of Witches’.
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It is always a wonderful thing, when a television series that you adore, finds new ways to surprise you. Simply because it means that the people behind the scenes, have worked hard to craft a compelling tale, one that knows exactly when to change things up to keep us on our toes and keep us engaged and this is a feat that A Discovery of Witches is accomplishing with minimal effort right now. After all, Diana and Matthew have The Book of Life, and they were able to get their hands on it with relative ease, and that’s something that we all expected to see happen in the season two finale, not in the middle of the actual year and well… their obtaining it so soon, also led to another storytelling surprise.

Because we were also expecting the next chapter in this tale to focus greatly on Diana unlocking the book’s secrets, so that she and Matthew could finally return home. But that is when the surprise in question, came into play. Because this week's tale didn’t focus on the secrets of the book in the slightest. Instead, it returned us back to present day, so that we could see how things were going for the people that Diana and Matthew left behind and well… that led to one fascinating episode. One that once again put Marcus Whitmore back into the spotlight in order to build further upon the growth he experienced a few weeks ago and well, he really is coming into his own right now.

For this particular tale saw him decide that just letting Phoebe walk away was a horrible idea. For he genuinely felt a close connection with her. One that haunted him on a daily basis and that motivated him to seek her out again and show her more evidence of his long life and that the creatures humans read about in books, were alive and real and roaming the Earth. And thanks to Marcus’ candor, and a surprise visit from Domenico, Phoebe came to realize that Marcus was telling her the truth and that allowed for this cute little couple to finally explore their feelings for one another and accomplishing that particular feat, only emboldened Marcus to grow further. Simply because there was trouble
building behind the scenes in this tale, and someone needed to do something about it.

Which is why Marcus opted to change up what the Knights of Lazarus are going to stand for, and make them champions for good, instead of mere protectors of antiquated notions. A concept that quickly made waves in the de Clairmont household, but it is the right decision for certain. For this particular tale saw the birth of the hybrid child and its arrival immediately caused quite the stir. Because Peter Knox was made aware of the baby’s presence and its witchy powers by way of Baldwin no less and that of course motivated him to interfere and demand that the child be remanded to his side and raised as nothing more than a witch. Setting the stage for a grand showdown that could plunge the creature world into chaos. 

If anything, all of these elements make this particular tale, a grand setup episode. One that did a phenomenal job of assembling elements that should lead to quite the epic finale. Because there is really is some serious tension building in present day, and clearly, the book presents a danger as well since it is seemingly poisoning Diana’s mind and soul and that makes this episode brilliant and engaging for certain. Simply because it absolutely makes us hungry for more since we are now eager to learn more about what the book is doing to Diana and how exactly Marcus is going to keep the peace and that really does speak to the fact that this series features downright incredible writing. Because it takes a skilled writers’ room to make a shift in tone and a setup episode as compelling as this one and well, all this episode does is leave us counting down the minutes until the next entry in this saga. So, we can once again be surprised by quality writing that will undoubtedly take us on quite the ride. Until next time.    

‘A Discovery of Witches’ is streaming now on Sundance Now and Shudder.

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