Relive each delicious moment of A Discovery of Witches with our weekly recap. This week? A Discovery of Witches Season 2 Episode 2 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.
[0:00] My brain is still going 90 mph processing all that was thrown at us last week and how much ground we still have to cover from Shadow of Night. Let’s do this!
[1:00] But first coffee the aunts. Now this is what our lives have been missing for the last two years, and notably the past 10 months. The familiar banter and comforting presence of Aunt Emily and Aunt Sarah will soothe even the weariest of souls. And they haven’t missed a beat. Here they are in the middle of what they always presumed to be the enemy’s lair, with Sarah frantically doing her type A thing and Em acting ever the calm one.
[2:00] “I’m tolerating them under my roof and affording them my protection. We don’t need to play happy family.” – Insight pulled from latest COVID-19 survey of quarantined parents.
[3:00] Will we get one of these an episode? Asking so I can prepare my viewing snacks accordingly.
[4:00] Seeing the northern lights is high on my bucket list. I highly suspect, however, that this is an off-route tour not recommended by the Finnish resort concierge for enjoying Aurora Borealis hospitably.
[5:00] We’re supposed to despise Satu, this I know. But my heart grieves for anyone who finally realizes they have never known their true self and have been living a half life based on limited information given to them by those they trusted to give them the full truth. Geez it gets exhausting being an empath.
[6:00] Have patience is a tough message to hear and absorb for an out-of-place, out-of-time planner with little in her control.
[7:00] “Meeting my heroes hasn’t been a wild success so far.” This reminds me of that standard ice breaker where you’re asked what three people, alive or dead, you’d invite to dinner. People always gravitate toward deceased family members and historical icons of the past. Here Diana is, living that game out… and likely revising her guest list.
[8:00] Thus far, Diana’s time in 1590s London has been abysmally dark. Mary Sidney’s bay window of sunshine, color and life is a breath of fresh air. I’d be making daily reservations here. Welcome, Amanda Hale!
[9:00] Ummm, no. Just NO. Girl grabbed at that like I do the basket of unlimited breadsticks at the Olive Garden. Diana and I clearly do not share the same feelings about snakes.
[10:00] Kit about Matthew, “One cannot forget your disdain for witches.” Also, Matthew.
[11:00] “Extract a confession by any means necessary…” That reminds me, I’m long overdue for a routine dental check-up.
[12:00] The hat, the turn, the glare. Imma need a minute, folks. Talk amongst yourselves.
[13:00] I think we’ve got ourselves a new drinking game! Lift that glass every time you hear “Matthew, why didn’t you tell me this.” Ergo – you, by season’s end.
[14:00] Kit, I implore you to dig deep and project from the belly. Your throat whispers are doing nothing to engender our trust or endearment. They are, however, making you oddly hot. I blame it on the lack of Gallowglass thus far.
[15:00] Is this a new Catholic sacrament I’m not familiar with? I mean, it’s been a minute since I had my own confirmation (and years since I attended a Catholic church, for that matter) but I don’t recall this one.
[16:00] The other parishioners be like, “umm, cool cool… coffee and donuts in the atrium then?”
[17:00] Father Hubbard looks like a man screaming for the Fab 5 of Queer Eye. Or more realistically, like someone who has spent nearly two winters sheltered in place during a global pandemic with hair salons out of service. We feel ya, bud.
[18:00] “God is watching you both.” For the record… Real-time footage of God watching this whole little meet-up.
[19:00] That was reckless but also brilliant sums up Diana’s behavior thus far in this entire saga, no?
Also, Kit didn’t technically invite me to join in the fun but I’m in… and also now singing this on repeat in my head. You’re welcome.
[20:00] Mistress Norman, every time she stumbles upon Diana.
[21:00] I’m glad to know this is for magic. Otherwise, that was the stingiest breakfast special I’ve ever seen. Get the girl some hash browns and some crispy bacon and then we’ll talk magic. Diana doesn’t do low blood sugar, let alone perform under such conditions.
[22:00] Last week we got little Jack, this week we get a little chick. Diana’s adorable dependent count should help offset her tax returns next year.
[23:00] Do you all watch TV with the same mid-pandemic tainted view I do? Because I’m taking this in and it looks like damn good fun and all my angsty self can think is, they’re all going to get COVID.
[24:00] Ahh how sweet — Matthew got his ear pierced! But it feels like Kit cheated him out of a trip to the mall and celebratory Cinnabon. Also, I love how in 1590s England, we go to mass in the dead of night and gamble and drink when the sun is at its brightest in the day.
[25:00] Early Starbucks drive-through right there, folks.
[26:00] I can’t blame Kit for trying to cajole nuggets about his future life out of Matthew. I’d likely do the same. But good on Matthew for having the wisdom and willpower of a man who has lived long enough to understand the harm his mouth could cause.
[27:00] We are less than 60 minutes into Matthew Roydon and I want punch him in his handsome face. Matthew Clairmont can’t return soon enough.
[28:00] “Now please please please for the love of God, let me finish…” is how I’ve started every sentence in the past 10 months working at home with an 8-year-old in tow.
[29:00] Goody Alsop!!! She’s finally here! And I want to hug her and praise her even more than I anticipated I would.
[30:00] “You are a weaver, a maker of spells.” The moment when someone finally makes it clear to you that the reason you don’t blend in is because you were born to stand out.
[31:00] We all carry bits and pieces of our parents with us through life – their physical traits, their mannerisms, their temper and so on. But how lovely that she is very literally carrying the last pieces of her father’s legacy within her, the remnants of how he sacrificed his life to save hers.
[32:00] “My neck no longer bends that way… please sit down.” Well if that isn’t just about the best bless your heart and sit your ass down I’ve heard in quite some time. Borrowing.
[33:00] For what it’s worth, this cottage looks like it could double as a fabulous oasis for a yoga retreat. A couple of essential oil diffusers, some cucumber water, cozy mats, a smoothie or two – boom. Heaven. These women should let down their guard, loosen their bum rolls and spa day it up.
[34:00] “Dark times are coming.” – Goody Alsop, March 2020.
[35:00] Dianna basically said “accept me — all of me — or don’t” and Goody replied with smiling, open arms. As if I couldn’t love this woman more. Diana’s spent her time in the 1590s under a constant blanket of darkness and skepticism. Of course she’d find light and love among her own people – an accepting bunch of women, no less.
]36:00] Can someone please get Father Hubbard a fresh pint of blood, STAT? And some beard trimmers while you’re at it.
[37:00] Matthew, I know you’re feeling vulnerably enraged and this is likely important storyline dialogue, but I can’t hear you over the beautiful music those leather pants and jacket are playing.
[38:00] I haven’t had enough alcohol — and neither has Matthew — for a “take my counsel” plea from Kit to feel like a sound idea.
[39:00] Be right back, off to cancel my next chiropractic appointment… and every one thereafter.
[40:00] I suspect someone *cough Matthew cough * will be sleeping on the couch tonight.
[41:00] Ooooooo Matthew’s getting a bad behavior note sent home from school to his daddy. How does one ground a vampire?
[42:00] We’re just starting to scratch the festering, old wound to truly understand why the 16th century might not be the best year to hide in time.
But sweet CGI magic, the threads are coming!
Final Thoughts:
I’ve started maintaining a one-sentence journal under the premise that all it takes to remember what made you happy about a single day is a single sentence of gratitude. And while there was a lot to love about this episode, when applying this one thought practice here — Goody Alsop. Full stop.
I’ve been waiting for this pivotal character to make her on-screen debut since reading Shadow of Night years ago and then learning Bad Wolf TV had blessed us with a television adaptation of Deborah Harkness’ captivating book. And — sigh — here she is.
Sheila Hancock, you are a vision and a delight. Beyond wishing I might age as stunningly and gracefully as you have, even in only the first glimpses, you embody the support, hope and wisdom during trying times we know Goody will bring Diana. Hell, bring all of us.
Beyond the addition of Goody, our Season 2 table setting expanded this week to make room for a few more guests to join us, including Mary Sidney and her snake shoes. We also started the episode thinking we might be treated to a Sept-Tours quarantined dinner party with Ysabeau, Marthe, Emily and Sarah (Oh, yes please. SUBSCRIBE.), but they weren’t quite ready to pull up a chair and stay. For the record, what a tease! Not sure what value it served in doling out all-too-brief moments with these women and Satu (though I get it, Diana’s working on figuring out herself while Satu does the same) but I go back to what my pal Nikki said last week. This is a beast of a book to break into episodes for television and I’ll trust the process of how they’ve chosen to lay the foundation for the full story and just enjoy it as it unfolds. Until next week…
If you’ve missed any of our A Discovery of Witches recaps, do not fret! You can find them all here.