A Discovery of Witches Recap: Episode 1.06

Who knew going to a library would result in so much drama? Well, for poor Diana Bishop she’s having things thrown at her from all directions and now she’s being tortured by those of her own kind. This turned into a pretty intense episode with it full of pain and suffering for Diana, so we’ve included a GIF from the episode at the top which may help to soothe your woes.

During last week’s episode, Matthew attacked Gillian after she broke into his lab, while Ysabeau took Diana hunting. Hamish pops up briefly to tell Matthew to essentially follow his heart, despite there going to be consequences, while Ysabeau uses Matthew’s past loves as a way to deter Diana. However, this doesn’t stop them and Matthew races back to Sept-Tours with Diana’s DNA results and his confession: he loves her. This results in some ‘bundling’ and Matthew saying Diana somehow shows way more markers than a modern-day witch should.

---

Ruins and Tears

Diana (Teresa Palmer) is flown through the air by Satu (Malin Buska) to an old castle, where Gerbert (Trevor Eve) awaits with his box containing the witch’s head. Gerbert inspects Diana and can detect that Diana’s scent has intermingled with Matthew’s, but Satu warns him to stick to what they agreed. Satu doesn’t understand why Diana’s family didn’t teach her magic, especially since she’s so strong, and so she would like to help Diana. She says Diana should cooperate as Gerbert will soon have his turn with her, and that Matthew is only there for the book and tells her that Gillian is dead by Matthew’s hand, but Diana can’t accept that. Satu uses her powers on Diana, and hers instinctively flare up to defend her. She continues to taunt Diana about her parents, resulting in her witchwind starting except it does not affect Satu and if Diana’s parents were supposedly killed by witches, then it must be that they were keeping secrets.

Satu casts a spell calling upon the elements to try to show Diana’s power and flings Diana threw the air and on the ground multiple times. Diana hangs upside down in the air with a ring of fire beneath her when Satu begin burning a sigil into her back to see what Diana is hiding. After much screaming, Diana collapses along with Satu.

A Man On A Mission

Matthew (gorgeous Matthew Goode) slowly awakes to an empty bed (despite vampires not really needing to sleep) and realises Diana is gone. As he races down, he hears something which must be the sound of Baldwin’s helicopter landing. Matthew attacks Baldwin (Trystan Gravelle) and bites into his neck demanding to know where Diana is when Marthe (Sorcha Cusack) comes in to tell them she caught Diana’s scent with another. Matthew, Ysabeau (Lindsay Duncan), and Baldwin realise they must have flown, but it wouldn’t have been Knox as he isn’t strong enough. Baldwin calls Knox to ask him what he’s done and where the other Congregation witches are, and he lies that Satu is there too. Matthew and his family begin to think about where to search, and Marthe tells him they would be nearby as witches are only capable of flying short distances. They realise that they may be in Gerbert’s territory and Matthew is worried as he knows what he is capable of.

Em (Valarie Pettiford) tries water scrying again and sees two plumes of smoke, one light and one dark. She knows Diana is in pain, and yells out to Sarah (Alex Kingston). Matthew then receives a call from a distressed Sarah and he informs them she has been taken by a witch. He asks Em what she saw and she mentions an old castle, and Ysabeau remembers La Pierre, a ruined castle where Gerbert kept a witch enthralled there.

Time For A Story

Satu wakes and drags Diana deeper into the castle and drops her into a deep hole when Gerbert comes running to find out what she’s done. He wants Diana out, but Satu says she can’t as her powers are gone and so Gerbert shows Satu the witch’s head as a warning when he spies the helicopter and races outside. Satu approaches the witch and takes some of her power to free herself from the room, and also takes the witch’s head with her.

Diana passes out and dreams of her mother and father, who tell her a story they used to tell her when she was younger. The story is about Diana being in the dark, trapped by a witch, until she heard the Prince who tried to help her get out. However, Diana needed to find a way to help herself, and with that she wakes and begins to panic.

Meanwhile, Matthew and Baldwin jump into the helicopter, and arrive at La Pierre where they must jump due to being nowhere to land. Matthew detects Diana and they find her in the hole, but Baldwin stops him from going in as he won’t be able to get out. Then, Diana hears her mother’s voice again and Diana realises she needs to fly, but she can’t will herself to. She then hears her father’s voice saying “magic is in the heart” and she thinks of Matthew and she begins to fly, much to amazement of Baldwin and Matthew.

A Brief Check In

Satu speaks to the witch who says she is the Meridiana, and Satu is shocked Gerbert has kept her for so long. Satu removes the mask and hears the prophecy about the lion and the wolf. Satu then burns the witch’s head and calls Satu a weaver, which Satu repeats as a question.

Meanwhile, Sophie (Aisling Loftus) and Nathaniel (Daniel Ezra) meet with Agatha (Tanya Moodie), and they ask her who the witch is so she can pass the statue on. Sophie then explains the strong connection as Sophie is actually born of witches, which shocks Agatha. However, Sophie says she is a daemon, but Agatha says it’s impossible, except it also means the baby could be a witch, and Sophie believes the baby is. Nathaniel is worried that a witch born to daemons will be destroyed by the Congregation and didn’t want to tell Agatha as it would put her in a difficult position. Agatha then decides to tell them of Diana Bishop.

Safe & Sound

The trio arrive back at Sept-Tours where Matthew says he’ll never let her go again and inspects Diana’s injuries when Marthe and Ysabeau join them. In significant pain, they decide to move Diana to the bed when he realises her back is injured, which they look at and discover Matthew’s insignia branded into her.

Later on, Matthew sits with Diana when she asks if he killed Gillian, but he says he didn’t although he wanted to. He makes the promise of killing anyone who harms her, and Diana asks he doesn’t go after Satu as she wants to deal with Satu herself. Matthew thanks Baldwin for his help, but it seems Baldwin still wants to take Diana to the Congregation. As head of the family, Baldwin won’t have Matthew protecting her and he is willing to disown Matthew. However, Matthew says the Knights of Lazarus will see to Diana’s protection and Baldwin is outraged Matthew would call upon the Knights to protect her. Matthew and Baldwin are both Knights, they fought at the battle of Acre, helped the Albigensian heretics resist the Northerners, but they don’t come to the aid of a forbidden love affair. Philippe passed the order on to Matthew and so Matthew issues Baldwin with a letter and will try to make Satu’s punishment the Congregation’s priority. Baldwin then warns Diana and Matthew to make their next move before the Congregation makes theirs.

Diana says she feels lighter, and Ysabeau says she is now unbound as they believe Diana was spellbound and now Diana’s magic is free. She’s now worried as either mad witches or those who hurt people would be spellbound…

Overall Thoughts?

What. An. Episode. A huge round of applause is in order for both Teresa Palmer and Matthew Goode who portrayed their characters emotions incredibly well with Diana being tortured, confused, and in pain, and Matthew also in pain, but very, very angry. It’s quite enjoyable that while the season is short, we’re getting the book almost scene for scene, which is truly remarkable. Although the torture scene felt short in comparison to the book, it carried such emotion for the pair of them and will really propel the story with Matthew and Diana heading to New York. That being said, my only issue this episode was the visual effects, which really could have been better. While there aren’t many scenes that call for it, this episode had quite a few with Diana flying and being hung upside down, and Matthew and Baldwin jumping out the helicopter and running. Unfortunately, it just caused a grimace, but thankfully, the series is so wonderful that it can be overlooked. Hopefully though, if the series is successful with its continual release throughout the world, we can have some more dollars put towards the graphics next season.

What did you think of the episode? Tell us in the comments below!