“Once the world was full of wonders, but it belongs to humans now. We creatures have all but disappeared. Demons, vampires, and witches, hiding in plain sight, fearful of discovery, ill at ease even with each other. But as my father use to say, ‘In every ending, there is a new beginning.”
This episode dragged a bit at some parts, though I understand that those parts were needed as part of the larger story. Still, it was not my favorite episode of the season.
We pick up right where episode five left off, with Diana being carried through the air. We now see Satu is the kidnapper. Matthew’s voiceover plays as they land in the ruins of a castle, the same castle in which Gerbert is wandering the hallways, carrying his container with the severed head. He “greets” Diana upon her arrival and is super creepy.
Then it gets a little bit interesting. Satu tells Gerbert to leave Diana alone and take his hands off of her. Now she is defending Diana? Satu tells Diana they are not enemies, and asks her to show her magic. In the conversation, it is clear that Satu knows substantially more about Diana’s magic, or potential magic, than Diana does.
Satu tells Diana she will help her and show her how to control her magic. Diana reacts badly, and it seems like Satu legitimately thinks that Matthew has done something to Diana to make her want to stay with him. Satu tells Diana that Gillian broke into Matthew’s lab and he killed her. Diana looks momentarily upset and horrified, but then decides it must not be true because Matthew wouldn’t do that.
But would he? We saw Gillian make it to Sylvia’s, but we don’t know if she survived. Even is she did, does that make it okay? Maybe what Satu is saying is true and Gillian is dead. Either way, is killing Gillian something that Matthew wouldn’t do? I think he would, whether he did or not. Even if he didn’t kill Gillian, it was more likely because he either didn’t care enough about her to finish it, or because he thought it would upset Diana because they had been friends.
Eight minutes into the show and we are finally leaving Diana and Satu in the castle ruins. To this point, nothing all that important has happened. We catch up with Matthew, who gets out of bed in a nice boxer briefs shot, or maybe just briefs? They look like what would be called boy shorts in women’s underwear. Since he’s a boy, are they just shorts? He calls for Diana since she is gone…
…And we’re back to the castle ruins, where Satu is throwing Diana around using magic. She must be doing something more than picking Diana up and dropping her, as Diana seems like she’s in agony and terrified from the pain, but nothing we actually see would result in that. Some scratches and bruises, sure, even deep ones, but abject terror, not so much.
In Madison, Emily is scrying and sees that Diana is in pain. She gasps in horror and calls for Sarah…
…And we’re back to the castle ruins. And Satu is still torturing Diana, though now it’s more visible, as Satu is holding her upside down and burning her. It’s unclear if she’s cutting her with the fire or just burning her. Then we cut back and forth between Matthew still looking for her, Diana being tortured, Baldwin arriving by helicopter, Diana being tortured, Matthew punching Baldwin, throwing him on a table and biting him. This time, we don’t see any images with the bite. I’m assuming the reason Matthew bit him was to see what he knew, and not because in the vampire world, biting is acceptable when arguing over the age of five. More likely, we don’t see images because Baldwin is there looking for Diana himself, so there would be nothing for Matthew to see. During this incident, Ysabeau is just standing there, probably wondering why her adult sons are wrestling on her dining room table.
Marthe comes into the room and says she found Diana’s scent in the garden mixed with someone else, but she’s gone. Matthew goes outside, but first…
…Diana is still being tortured, though this time Satu falls over, seemingly out of strength…
In the courtyard, they realize someone with the power to fly must have taken her. Baldwin states that this will start a war between species. Matthew regrets not killing Gillian, so unless she died afterwards and Matthew doesn’t know it, Satu either has wrong information, or is lying. Baldwin suggests Peter Knox could be behind it, but that he couldn’t have done it himself because he doesn’t have the ability to fly.
And we’re back to the courtyard again. It really feels like we’re never leaving. Satu drags Diana inside the ruins.
Baldwin calls Knox, who lies and says Satu is there. He hangs up and asks, “Where is Satu?”
Satu has now thrown Diana down what looks like a dry well. The severed head is still repeating the prophecy. Gerbert, perhaps unable to take it any more, leaves the room.
Matthew pulls out a map to try to figure out the best way to look for Diana. Marthe assures him that she’s nearby, telling him that even a thousand years ago, the most powerful witches were only capable of flying short distances.
Baldwin asks Matthew if Diana is really worth going to war against other vampires for. Matthew bangs his fist on the table in an outburst, yelling, “YES!” with crazy eyes. This show makes me wonder if Matthew Goode should play someone with major mood disorders, like a bipolar or schizophrenic character. I think he would be good at it.
Gerbert finds Satu leaning against a wall. She tells him that her powers have gone. I think by this she means that her powers are weakened and will return.
Baldwin is acting the general. Matthew says that they wouldn’t have taken her south because it’s too barren and difficult to get to. Baldwin thinks that’s exactly why they would have taken her there. South is Gerbert’s territory. Baldwin suggests that Gerbert may have aligned himself with whoever took Diana. As Matthew is getting tenser and crazier looking, the phone rings. It’s Sarah, frantic about Diana. Emily tells them that she saw a castle or something that used to be a castle, and two figures with her. Matthew can tell by Ysabeau’s expression that she knows something. She tells him that centuries ago, Gerbert had a castle hidden high in the mountains that is in ruin now. That was where he kept a witch in thrall (the severed head in the box). Matthew finds it on the map, La Pierre.
And we’re back with Diana. She’s dreaming about her parents. Her mother is telling her the story from her childhood, with the bad parts. The story matches Diana’s situation. Diana realizes the story is direction from her parents on how to escape.
“So Diana had to help herself.” Diana isn’t a damsel in distress and it is spelled out clearly in this line of dialogue, particularly when Diana is seemingly coming emotionally undone after her physical torment. Even with all of that, she is in charge of her own destiny. She’s not waiting for Matthew to save her.
Matthew and Baldwin are in a helicopter riding towards La Pierre.
Gerbert asks Satu what she found out about Diana’s powers and Satu tells him that she won’t share any information with him. Is Satu really a villain? Here she looks like she may not be. While she has obviously killed people and tortured Diana, her aims may be to benefit witches. She did offer to help Diana and began by asking her to show her powers before becoming physically forceful. This is not to say she isn’t a “bad guy” but very misguided if helping witches is her true aim. Previously it had seemed that she was out for herself, but maybe that’s not the case. I wish we knew some of her backstory. Her character is definitely more complicated than she first appeared, but I don’t think we’re getting any real understanding of her or where she’s coming from.
Gerbert is back to committing violence against women, and grabs Satu and drags her so she is face to face with the severed head. Gerbert is using the head as a threat to scare Satu into cooperating with him.
Matthew and Baldwin jump out of the helicopter. Gerbert is still wandering around the castle, and Satu has turned to the severed head witch to help them both. Satu closes up the box and takes the severed head with her.
Matthew and Baldwin find Diana in the hole, but Matthew can’t get to her. Rebecca is telling Diana that it’s time and to remember the story, and after a few creepy spider web visions, and Stephen reminding her that magic is in the heart, Diana is able to fly up to Matthew.
Landing back at Sept Tours, Ysabeau and Marthe are waiting for them. Ysabeau tells Diana that she’s glad she’s safe.
Matthew is examining Diana’s wounds when he tells he she showed so much strength and calls her “ma lionne.” Does that mean that Diana is the witch with the blood of the lion? As Diana is explaining what happened, we get a subversion of the usual scene where a woman is cleaning the wounds of the hero, as Matthew is cleaning Diana’s wounds.
Matthew cuts Diana’s top off to look at the wounds on her back. Marthe says something in French/Galician, which is presumably what Matthew says, that the wound Satu inflicted is Matthew’s insignia. Ysabeau tactfully words it that Satu has “branded her”.
Matthew brings Diana a tray of food and as soon as he sits down, Diana bluntly asks him if he killed Gillian. Matthew pauses, maybe surprised by the question, but not ashamed about his actions, which is interesting. When he does answer, he tells her he didn’t kill her, but is bitter and says he should have killed her for betraying Diana. He also promises to kill her next time, and in an echo of Diana’s words to him the night before, he tells her he will hunt down anyone who wishes to harm her, and he will kill them. The last part is spoken with emphasis. Matthew is mad, and he’s not feeling guilty. If anything he seems to feel like he fell short by not killing Gillian when he had the chance to. Diana doesn’t seem shocked or upset by these words. Matthew reminds her that he told her. Diana replies, “I know you told me” but her expression doesn’t really change. Instead, she touches Matthew’s face, and in a tone like it’s something normal, she tells Matthew to promise her he won’t go after Satu. At first, you think she wants Matthew to promise that he won’t kill her, but then it takes a an interesting and welcome turn. “I want to deal with her myself.” Diana says this coldly and matter of factly. So many shows make the hero out to be some mythically good person that won’t respond in kind. If someone kidnapped and tortured you, it seems normal that you would be angry and want to hurt them. I love that Diana is angry and wants to get Satu herself. She has unfinished business. Satu started that business and Diana wants to finish it. This brings layers to her character. Matthew doesn’t say anything but looks back at Diana as if he’s proud of her. I’m not sure if this is really sick or romantic.
Baldwin is hanging out downstairs. He asks how Diana is, or, more specifically, how the witch is. “Her name is Diana,” Matthew replies, annoyed and maybe a little haughty. He then thanks Baldwin, but you can tell that doing it hurts. Baldwin brushes him off, as he’s planning to take her back to the Congregation. Matthew responds in a calm version of how anyone would respond, which is astonishment that Baldwin would make that decision knowing what the Congregation plans for Diana. Matthew answers calmly that Diana isn’t going anywhere and Baldwin rages out, screaming, “I’M THE HEAD OF THIS FAMILY!” We see where Matthew gets it. Apparently, tempers run in the du Clermont family, blood relations or not.
At this point, Baldwin tells Matthew that he will disown him to protect the du Clermont family. That’s when Matthew pulls out the big guns: “This is no longer a family matter.” Matthew is calling up the Knights of Lazarus. Wow, is Baldwin mad! Matthew Goode’s tense jaw is back for this scene with abandon. So while Baldwin is the head of the family, Matthew is the head of the Knights of Lazarus, which is a higher position. Baldwin is not happy about this at all.
On his way out, Baldwin tells them to make their next move before the Congregation makes theirs. Baldwin then acknowledges Diana by name before leaving. I think that’s the closest thing to acceptance that she can expect.
Satu is talking to the severed head, trying to find out who she is. Satu felt in her magic that she was old. The head tells her, “Meridiana.” There are tears running down Satu’s face, as she asks if she is the Meridiana. Clearly the name is significant. Satu starts trembling in anger. Malin Buska does an amazing job of showing Satu’s layers of emotion. Meridiana asks Satu to help her by releasing her. Satu removes the mask and Meridiana repeats the prophecy again to Satu. Satu listens seriously, and seems to understand something when she repeats, “the lion and the wolf” like it has a meaning to her. Since Meridiana is giving the prophecy to Satu, it seems like the blood of the lion and the wolf is probably from one witch, so is it Diana? I’m also not sure why Satu would care about the destruction of the children of the night unless it doesn’t actually refer to vampires.
Sophie tells Agatha that she thinks she feels such a connection to Diana because she was born to a family of witches. Agatha didn’t think this was possible, and it likely plays some importance in Matthew and Miriam’s genetic research, but Sophie thinks the baby is a witch. Sophie tells Agatha that the witch (Diana) is important for her and the baby, though she doesn’t know why. This convinces Agatha to give her Diana’s name.
Satu uses her powers to set Meridiana on fire. I don’t think it’s regular fire, as Meridiana sort of drifts away, rather than burn. As she’s going, she thanks Satu and calls her “Weaver”. The word strikes Satu, though because it’s unfamiliar or important is unclear.
Diana tells them that she feels different and Ysabeau says she’s unbound. This confuses Diana and Matthew explains that they believe Diana was spellbound. Diana is shaken by this, as she has only ever heard of mad witches being spellbound, witches who hurt people. She looks at her reflection and asks, “What am I?” She puts her hand on her stomach the way pregnant women often do, but Teresa Palmer talks about babies a lot, so I’m not sure if it’s supposed to imply pregnancy, or is just something Palmer chose to do in the scene.
And that is where we leave it until next week.
Best Lines:
“Satu said she was going to open me up. But she didn’t.” – Diana
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A Discovery of Witches Recap & Analysis – Episode 3 (liked by author Deborah Harkness)
A Discovery of Witches Recap & Analysis – Episode 2
A Discovery of Witches Recap & Analysis – Episode 1
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