In last week’s episode of A Discovery of Witches, we spent some time catching back up with our characters in the present day. Marcus and Phoebe reconciled, and Sophie and Nate gave birth to a baby girl. Unfortunately for them, Baldwin immediately shared the news about the half witch/half daemon child with Gerbert, who in turn informed Peter Knox. Keep reading to find out what happened in the ninth episode of season 2.
We open in London in the year 1591, and Diana is yet again attempting to read the elusive words on the pages of the Book of Life. She gives up and hides the book under a floorboard. Things between Diana and Matthew are tense, as Matthew is preparing to visit the Queen. He urges her to finish her training with Goody Alsop so that they may finally return to the present time.
In Diana and Matthew’s time away, Goody’s age has truly begun to get the best of her, and the witch hunts are running rampant. Goody tells Diana that they are the last of the weavers now. Before the vampire leaves the witches to their own magical devices, Goody notes that the dark clouds she felt around Matthew previously have since begun to lift. And she senses something else as well … Diana is pregnant. Matthew is positively stumped, because vampires cannot reproduce. As they sit in front of a fire, the couple discusses one looming issue that remains in regards to their imminent departure from the past: Jack. Matthew assures Diana that he will make arrangements for him to ensure he is looked after.
Matthew heads off to visit the Queen, and he runs into Kit. It’s a biting exchange, as his friend questions whether or not he’s finally free of the witch. Matthew angrily pins him against a wall and tells him that he and Diana will never be parted for as long as they both are alive.
Diana continues to learn the knots with the other witches. Thus far, she’s gotten up to the third knot, but she has 10 in total to master. As Diana observes the shining threads of magic floating around her, Goody states that the younger witch is now humming with new and powerful energy. Diana goes through the motions, and after reaching the seventh knot, a firedrake appears. Her familiar has now manifested.
Matthew arrives to see the Queen, who is currently suffering from a terrible toothache. She’s furious that he didn’t return with Edward Kelley and focused his efforts on liberating a book instead. The Queen demands that Matthew hand over the book to her so that she may return it to the Ambassador. Matthew tells her that it was stolen on their way back from Bohemia, but the Queen is hesitant to believe him. She commands Lord Burghley to oversee an immediate search of Matthew’s home.
Kit finds Diana and hurriedly tells her that Matthew is in grave danger. He urges her to follow him and takes her to a boat as he explains that apparently the Queen has cast the vampire into a dungeon. Meanwhile, Pierre, Francoise, and Jack watch on as Lord Burghley and his men tear through Matthew’s house in search of the book. Lord Burghley eventually comes across the loose floorboard that Diana hid the Book of Life under. Gallowglass runs into the men as they’re leaving with their chest full of pilfered books and Jack, unbeknownst to any of them, steals the Book of Life back while they’re distracted.
Matthew decides to come clean to the Queen; he believes it’s his only option now. He offers her a drop of his blood to help soothe her toothache, and she laments over the fact that he cannot turn her into a vampire. A creature on the throne would lead to chaos, but what will happen when the Queen is gone? Matthew assures her of her future, which confuses her until he explains that Diana is a timewalker. Her implicit trust in Matthew allows her to believe him with minimal effort, despite how insane it would sound coming from anyone else.
QUEEN ELIZABETH: And my realm?
MATTHEW: It is secure. And 500 years hence, every man, woman, and child knows your name. Queen Elizabeth I, Gloriana, the greatest monarch in English history.
Matthew arrives at home, and Jack proudly shows him that he saved the book from Lord Burghley. Gallowglass and Pierre return from their trip to fetch Diana from Goody’s and worriedly inform Matthew that she wasn’t there … the witches claim she left hours ago. Elsewhere, Diana and Kit arrive at the so-called dungeon that Matthew is being held prisoner inside of. Louisa suddenly arrives and begins to choke Diana; this was her plan. Kit is upset when he learns that Louisa fooled him – she told him they were simply going to exile Diana, but Matthew’s sister plans to kill her.
They tie her up in chains, and Louisa is disturbed to learn that Diana is now Philippe’s blood-sworn daughter. However, instead of utilizing this information to deduce that Diana is indeed not a threat, Louisa is further riled up as she jumps to the conclusion that Diana has enough power to bewitch Philippe as well as Matthew. She whips out a gun and points it at Diana, but then turns and hands it to Kit instead. Louisa continues to manipulate Kit as she alludes to the daemon’s feelings for Matthew, for Diana’s presence has now robbed him of all that he holds dear. She tells him, “Matthew is a fool to favor her. But when she is dead, you will be there to comfort him. We do this for Matthew. For love.”
Kit aims the gun and Diana begins to recite what is still an unpublished work of his at that point in time – Hero and Leander. Kit is visibly shaken and takes the bait as she offers to tell him his future, but Louisa knocks him to the ground. She fires the gun herself, and her first shot misses. Then, Diana’s familiar Corra returns in a brilliant blaze of smoke and fire. Having gained the upper hand, Diana surrounds both Louisa and Matthew in a ring of flames. They’re then joined by Matthew, Gallowglass, and Father Hubbard, and Diana extinguishes the flames and recalls her familiar.
Later, Gallowglass takes Diana to Bedlam, which is where Matthew is currently punishing Kit and Louisa. His sister continues to attempt to sway him as she tells him that Diana is the witch of the prophecy, and she will destroy Matthew and all of their kind. Matthew’s blood rage bubbles over as he chokes her, but Diana urges him to stop before he kills her. She tells Matthew to let both Louisa and Kit live, and to think of their future instead … their baby. Kit, who has been huddled on the floor the entire time, brokenly calls out to Matthew as the pair goes to leave.
The next morning, Matthew opens up to Diana about his blood rage and the feelings that consume him. She urges him to feed from her, and he remarks, “To drink from one’s mate is to know that nothing is hidden. And all that is left is complete belonging and honesty.” In turn, Diana bestows a witch’s kiss upon him, something that allows her to see inside of his soul. The moment is deeply intimate, and when Matthew asks Diana what she found (as he warned her that she might not like what she sees), she smiles in wonder and responds, “You. Only you.”
The end is nigh. The season finale of A Discovery of Witches will be available on Sundance Now, AMC Plus, and Shudder on Saturday, March 13. Check out the rest of our season 2 recaps here.
