One of the best supernatural fantasy series full of witches, vampires, magic and a hot romance has come to Netflix right now. I’m of course talking about A Discovery of Witches, starring Teresa Palmer as the witch Diana Bishop and Matthew Goode as the vampire Matthew Clairmont.
I’ve been a fan of Matthew Goode since Chasing Liberty, but I soon realized that he’s exceptionally good in period dramas! You’ve watched him as Princess Margaret’s husband in The Crown and Henry Talbot in Downtown Abbey, but that’s just the tip of the iceberg. In A Discovery of Witches, he gets an extra edge—he’s a vampire, menacing, often dangerous, vampire with his own castle and sire line. What’s more, he has been alive for a long time, and in the story, associated with many important figures in Tudor England, as we find out when he and Diana time travel into the past!
What is A Discovery of Witches about?
Based on the popular All Souls book trilogy by Deborah Harkness, A Discovery of Witches is a three-season series following the story of Diana Bishop, a professor of history of science who is secretly a witch but hides her magical abilities. But one day, when she is at the Bodleian Library in Oxford University, researching a rare alchemy manuscript called Ashmole 782, touching its pages unlocks her latent magical powers. At the same time, it attracts all sorts of supernatural beings—witches, vampires, daemons—to her.
One of them is a centuries old vampire and biochemist Matthew Clairmont who is conducting research on the declining supernatural species rates. Drawn to Diana at first due to the manuscript, Matthew falls in love with her, and the two begin a romance that is dangerous—interspecies mingling is forbidden by law of the Congregation, a diplomatic council that has been keeping the peace amidst all the supernatural species for ages. But what Diana sets in motion threatens to unravel it all. As she slowly masters her powers, she and Matthew will travel through time and back, make new allies and cross paths with old enemies, trying to make unravel the secrets of the Book of Life.
The series, which began in 2018 ended after three seasons in 2022, also stars My Lady Jane star Edward Bluemel as a vampire, along with Aiysha Hart, Owen Teale, Malin Buska, Louis Brealey, Alex Kingston, Valarie, Pettiford, Lindsey Duncan, Steven Cree, and more.
Spoilers ahead!
Both Diana and Matthew find their lives under threat on several occasions, especially during season 2 when they time walk into the past to Elizabethan England, where they encounter several enemies. However, it isn’t until season 3 that Matthew comes almost close to dying from injuries during his face-off with the vampire Benjamin Fuchs, whom he had sired, and whom we are introduced to in season 2. Benjamin, like Matthew, has blood rage.
At the end of season 3, a pregnant Diana delivers twins. Matthew’s sired son Benjamin has been collaborating for years with the vampire Gerbert to destroy the Clairmonts. In an attempt to sire his own line, Benjamin has been abducting and witches and trying to impregnate them. He lets one of the witches escape from his clutches, in order to lure Matthew to him. At Sept-Tours, the witch finds Matthew, and amidst her belongings, he finds his father Philippe’s watch, which leads him to Poland where Benjamin is.
After learning from Benjamin that he was directly involved in the torture and death of Philippe, Matthew and Benjamin fight, with Matthew almost winning until the witch Satu appears and knocks him unconscious. Benjamin sends a video of Matthew close to death to Marcus, and Baldwin immediately recognizes Philippe’s watch on Matthew’s hand, realizing that they are in the same place where Philippe was killed. Diana, along with Baldwin, Marcus, Miriam, and a returned Gallowglass fly to Poland.
First, Diana defeats Satu, and then by tying the tenth and final knot, kills Benjamin. However, Matthew is too close to death and cannot be saved by anyone except this mother Ysabeau. They transport him back to Sept-Tours, where he gradually heals and recovers.
The knowledge that Diana gained from the Book of Life confirms that the species are on a decline because species intermingling has been prohibited. She takes the place of the de Clairmont representative on the Congregation and presents to them her findings. The Congregation votes against Gerbert and elects Agatha as the new leader, and repeals the Covenant to allow interbreeding. And all’s well that ends well for Diana, Matthew, and their family!
All three seasons of A Discovery of Witches are currently streaming on Netflix.
Published: Aug 26, 2024 12:23 pm