A Discovery of Witches
Powerful witches, libraries, ancient books, Matthew Goode, non sparkling vampires… some of my favorite things right there.
I read A Discovery of Witches ages ago and but enjoyed it enough to want to watch the show. The sequel as well though I don’t think I ever finished the series.
Luckily Sundance was offering a seven-day free trial and there’s only 8 episodes. It’s quick and addictive so I managed it. (Yeah, I know. Taking total advantage of the system there!)
Anyway Diana Bishop (Theresa Palmer) is a witch that doesn’t want to do witchcraft. She’s in Oxford researching when she inadvertently calls up a book that vampires, demons and other witches have been looking for. One that’s supposedly been lost for hundreds of years.
Diana doesn’t know how or why she was able to do it but she’s suddenly in a whole lot of trouble. Enter sexy vampire Matthew (Matthew Goode.)
The show is beautiful… it made me want to go to Oxford, Venice (where the covenant sits and judges) and little villages in France. I also really liked Theresa Palmer as Diana, Malin Buska as questionable and super powerful witch Satu, all the supporting vampires and Diana’s Aunts (Alex Kingston and Valarie Pettiford.)
But as much as I liked the series I never entirely bought the relationship at least from Matthew’s POV. It felt like Theresa Palmer was doing all the heavy lifting. It doesn’t help that she seems to do a 180 on him with a kiss to her palm. But for him it comes off even more like…
Diana: Matthew I love you! Let’s screw the world and be together for eternity despite the danger cause this is love!
Matthew: Got to go bye.
(Actually leaves her in another country.)
Miriam: Diana might be the most powerful witch we’ve seen since the 11th century.
(Speed Racer’s back to France.)
Matthew: Let us be one.
Plus there are a couple of scenes where he’s trying a little too hard to be intense and smoldering.
So while the show in the romance department wasn’t perfect (it was still less eye rolling than Outlanders romance for me) I enjoyed seeing Diana come to understand her powers. I liked the mythology, the mystery, the locations and the diverse supporting cast. The show will also be very different in the second season though that gets into spoilers. Suffice it to say A Discovery of Witches wasn’t perfect but it was a nice ride and I’ll be watching season two. Likely even without a free trial..
Grade: B
Recommend: Overall yes. Especially if you like witches, vampires or demons.