Relive each delicious moment of A Discovery of Witches with our weekly recap. This week? A Discovery of Witches Season 2 Episode 4 recap.
Do you ever find yourself yelling at the screen in front of you or mumbling cheeky responses to the characters while watching a show? We do. Sometimes we keep those responses to ourselves and, sometimes, we text them to each other as we watch the same show at the same time 700 miles apart. We enjoy these conversations so much that we decided to share them with you. Each week, Ashley and Nikki will publish an episode recap for the long-awaited second season of A Discovery of Witches. You can read it while you re-watch the episode (because you know you’re going to re-watch it) or just read it. There’s no right or wrong way to do this, just do it. We hope that these recaps will be worth a few giggles for A Discovery of Witches fans and that they might even make you think twice about what you’ve just watched. Without further ado, here’s our A Discovery of Witches Season 2 Episode 4 recap….
[1:00] And, we’re back in Oxford! It just took everything inside me not to yell, “I’ve been there!”
[2:00] Nikki: He’s too innocent looking and this music is far too ominous for this to end well.
Ashley: Guessing that wasn’t undercover footage from The Tiger King zoo.
Nikki: OMG. Did Carole Baskin do this?
[3:00] “It’s happened again.” The words muttered by every person who has cleaned out the office fridge and found a container of liquefying cucumbers marked “Nikki.”
[4:00] Did they just sneak in a New Order music moment? This show is so beautifully British! Just when I thought I couldn’t love Marcus and his floppy hair more.
[5:00] He’s purchasing this as breezily and casually as my 8-year-old rounding the Monopoly game board with a sticky handful of fake money.
[6:00] Oh he wants to see it all right.
[7:00] Ashley: FINALLY PEOPLE ARE EATING. It’s taken us into the fourth hour of Season 2 story but we got there. Also, Sarah and Em are my kind of hostages. “YOU CAN’T KEEP ME PRISONER HERE… ohhh is that fresh bread and a board of soft cheeses?”
Nikki: And now that we are working our way up Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, perhaps Ysabeau can light fires in those massive fireplaces so that Sarah and Em can shed a few layers. I love the knitwear but brrr…!
[8:00] Ashley: “Whatever will I do with my free evening?” — Us, every night since March 2020. Get in line, Marcus.
Nikki: “Old man dance music” made me pee myself a little. Also, I resemble that remark.
[9:00] Whether in 1590 or current day, this show has some serious hat game.
[10:00] Nikki: Speaking of fashion, while the vampires look like they just bought new wardrobes in Milan, Peter Knox appears to only have one tweed jacket.
Ashley: And Gerbert maybe only one pair of red socks?
Nikki: Maybe they could work out a little wardrobe exchange?
[11:00] Ashley: Side note — I LOVE this room! The color, the textured walls, the leather. *Adds to Pinterest board*
Nikki: Side, side note — Glad to see that Miriam’s eyebrows are still fierce AF.
[12:00] This is NOT the version of “Operation” that I remember.
[13:00] I can’t tell if Domenico is hearing what’s going on inside the building or if this is the production team’s interpretation of what goes on inside the head of someone with anxiety. If it’s the latter, nailed it!
[14:00] “We are grown women, we can look after ourselves.” Damn straight. However, just make sure that statement comes with a clause that still affords you Marthe’s divine cooking and line-dried, fresh linens.
[15:00] Nikki: After having spent the last 10 months inside my house, I’m having a hard time feeling empathy for Sarah and Em being held “prisoner” at Sept Tours.
Ashley: Prisoner with a vineyard on property and an endless supply of fresh-baked breads.
Goddess, please let us finish the pandemic at Sept Tours!
[16:00] Sarah knows that wasn’t a real promise right? That was the promise that your partner makes to get you to stop going on about whatever it is you’re going on about and then two months later you find out that he took his mask off during his haircut, but back to the witches…
[17:00] Ashley: “C’mon, I don’t bite.” Clever Marcus. A pickup line that’s far more effective when delivered in person versus Tinder.
Nikki: Haha! He’s a “revolutionary.” Love this hint at Marcus’ early life. If you haven’t read Time’s Convert yet, what are you waiting for?!
[18:00] A girl is never alone as long as she has her gin to talk to. Side note: Is it possible that gin is the official drink of the ADOW fandom? Raise your hand if your go-to cocktail is a G&T!
[19:00] There are a lot of degrees of hotness in this scene and I feel very confused. Domenico is “bad” and possibly has halitosis but…mmm…that beard…
[20:00] AND…still confused…are they going to kiss? Why are they so close? Where’s my gin?!
[21:00] Is hot and cold your thing? Well, it’s mostly cold because I’m a vampire and all but…I’m sorry, what was the question again?
[22:00] Why do I feel that men don’t respond the same way when a woman vulnerably shares that her life is complicated?
[23:00] Nat has just voiced every concern of every parent ever. We feel ya, daddy daemon.
[24:00] I did not have a discussion of branding strategy on my Bingo card for this episode.
[25:00] Is his latex suit hanging in his closet or is it maybe in the nightstand drawer? I have questions.
[26:00] Wait, no bundling? What would daddy say?
[27:00] Ashley: Ysabeau obviously does not share our collective routine of retiring into soft pants before 6 p.m. Does this woman not own a Target loungewear set?
Nikki: Yet another meeting that could have been an email!
[28:00] Do you hear that? It’s the sound a promise makes right before it breaks.
[29:00] I’d trust Em with everything, my life included, but we must start fires in the wine cellar? For the love of god, not the wine. I’m not willing to accept that as collateral damage.
[30:00] Is she wearing Bernie’s mittens to bed?
[31:00] Ashley: “Maybe he’s just anemic” and other lies we tell ourselves, a dating memoir by Phoebe Taylor.
Nikki: So she found the blood but then she’s like I’m still going to have a look around. Hmm, okay.
[32:00] Ashley: “That’s not Marcus’s, right?” *points finger at pregnant belly* No need to dance around pleasantries and subtleties.
Nikki: But also, is the fact that Sophie might be carrying Marcus’ baby really the biggest concern that Phoebe has right now?
[33:00] “I really like you and I never like anyone.” Phoebe just spoke my soul.
[34:00] Can we take a walk is generally what comes after dinner and before sex, but you all do you.
[35:00] She found blood in his fridge, he’s just told her he’s a vampire, and yet, here she stands in the middle of a dark street. Phoebe has nerves of steel.
[36:00] Drac the Ripper — kudos to the British newsroom on that headline. I love a good pun.
[37:00] Nikki: Marcus asked Baldwin what he’s doing here. My question is what is Baldwin’s hair doing?
Ashley: It’s distracting and very 1940s Germany.
[38:00] Nikki: Do you remember what it was like to lounge lazily in a hotel lobby? I just went all Old Rose.
Ashley: If Greg Chillin doesn’t have an ad deal locked in with Kimpton by the end of this episode, he needs a new agent. This is perfection.
[39:00] Ashley: “It’s a fucking hashtag.” When a line makes all three blogging watchers snort, you go ahead and just put it here for safekeeping.
Nikki: “Saved by her lack of imagination,” words that will never under any circumstances be uttered about me and the lunacy that goes on in my head.
[40:00] If I’m in charge, I’m going to shake things up is what I tell myself every Monday morning. By Tuesday midday, it’s a lot less ambitious and a lot more “let’s circle back on that offline.”
[41:00] Sure, the family could be destroyed but can we focus for just a moment on the stunning dress that Ysabeau is wearing?
[42:00] This talk about asymptomatic carriers is too soon…just too soon.
Soooo, no pressure, Marcus.
[43:00] This Tears for Fears cover! Also, for the record if I were Diana, I’ll soon be having unnatural thoughts about my father-in-law. That is all.
Final Thoughts:
Nikki: Whew! I just realized that we spent an entire episode in modern times and I’m not even mad. This episode was bittersweet for me because it brought back so many wonderful memories. From the opening scene featuring the Radcliffe Camera and Oxford storefronts to all those great scenes with Marcus and Phoebe, I could not help but be transported back to the 2019 All Souls Convention. I wrote a blog post after the event and you can find that here. It was at the con that we first saw Edward Bluemel and Adelle Leonce together and it was clear that they were going to be sheer perfection on screen and to no one’s surprise they were.
That was the sweet. Here comes the bitter. That was the last vacation for my family and me. Three months later, Ashley and I joined Janet and our friend, Denise, for a long weekend and we haven’t see each other in person since. We couldn’t have known at that time how differently the world would look and feel when Season 2 aired. As much as I had hoped that we would get the show last fall, the timing is, actually, perfect. We are 12 months into a global pandemic and I feel like we are all a little frayed around the edges. What a joy, then, to have 43 minutes of magic and love and family and friendship to celebrate each week. And, what a perfect time to remind everyone that #WeAreAllSouls.
Ashley: Except for that little trip through the ’80s with Marcus’ playlist (*races to Spotify*), we indeed sat firmly in modern times this entire episode and I for one loved it. Sure I missed keeping up with the 16th century antics of Matthew the double agent, Diana the eager student (that tree… I’m still not over the gloriousness of that tree) and Kit’s oddly sexy low talking. But as we’re already four episodes into this Shadow of Night adaptation, it was time we gave some runway to the present-day storylines in dire need of a little jet power to take off. And we certainly got that.
I’ve been anxiously awaiting Adelle Leonce’s debut as Phoebe Taylor and what a delight! Edward Bluemel has always been an enjoyable and magnetic force on screen as Marcus, and Leonce complemented his charisma with her own special blend. Bundling? Pssh, who needs bundling.
Speaking of all-in, is it possible to get an entire spinoff series dedicated to watching the aunts “survive” Sept Tours and Ysabeau? Not entirely certain who would win the resting-bitch face competition, but my money’s on enjoying Marthe’s baked goods while we debate the style points and final score. So either way, it’s a win for all.
If you’ve missed any of our A Discovery of Witches recaps, do not fret! You can find them all here.