A Discovery of Witches Review: Episode #2.5 (Season 2 Episode 5)

A Discovery of Witches Season 2 Episode 5, “Episode #2.5,” is back in the past and back to poor pacing and too much exposition. 

The first twenty-five minutes of the episode is the journey to Philippe’s house. Literally nothing happens on the journey except for Diana getting tired and Matthew refusing to have sex with his wife. 

Let’s take on that problematic plot line straight away. 

Matthew and Diana have still not had sex. Honestly, I did not realize this until Philippe says it. 

Matthew rejects Diana in the tent, but this could easily be that he doesn’t want to have sex in this time period just in case they get pregnant or something. 

It is very blurry what the significance of them having sex it. We know that Matthew has a blood rage problem and that he hasn’t been able to have self-control with lovers in the past. 

The problem is that this is a deception and he is controlling Diana, once again, by not having open communication with her and then making choices on her behalf that directly impact her. 

It is gross. 

Yet, the show romanticizes Matthew’s behavior.

Look, there is nothing sexy about miscommunication and deception in the bedroom.

Consent is not just saying yes in the moment. It is also about having enough knowledge and understanding about what is happening to give informed consent. 

Matthew repeats over and over and over how completely devoted he is to Diana. We get hit over the head with this idea.

That is in direction opposition to Matthew’s choice to keep Diana in the dark about why he doesn’t want to have sex. 

He lies to her telling her it is “not the right time.” 

This lies leaves her alone in this foreign time and place. His intention is to be protective but the result is the exact opposite. Her forced ignorance exposes Diana to risk. She can’t trust Matthew, even though she so desperately wants to. 

I could just scream. 

What is the point of putting this much emphasis on them having intercourse? It wreaks of Twilight tropes. 

Not only that, it takes up nearly all of the narrative space on the episode. The characters get in a huge fight about whether Diana and Matthew are truly mated because of not having had sex. 

They don’t get into a huge fight about killing witches, Diana’s powers, finding the Book of Life, or, you know, changing the very fabric of time!

Each of those things is much more important than if Diana and Matthew have a penetrative bang or stick with oral intercourse. 

The very last moments on the episode get interesting when Diana is attacked by a creepy witch.

He tries to steal her memories. She knifes him in the gut and the visual payoff is huge. 

The blood dripping from the blade is wonderfully grotesque. 

Still, it is not actually consistent with what we have seen built up about Diana and her powers. As a weaver, she could do so much more. 

We saw her rot fruit and hatch a chick. It would make more sense for Diana to have killed the creep witch by basically draining the life from him with her magic, Indiana Jones and The Last Crusade style. 

Diana is no longer spellbound and she is in great danger, but the only magic she can muster is grabbing a weapon from Matthew. It does not add up. 

Kit is the best thing on the episode (other than the costumes and the cinematography, which are as stunning as ever).

This man smolders. 

The series would be smart to shift away from the overly expository and repetitive Diana and Matthew romance and to turn at least 70% of that screen time to Kit. He is infinitely more entertaining. 

Stray Spells

• This may be a show that should be binged. It is possible that weekly viewings is tarnishing the flow and impact. 
• Louisa does not play around while she plays around! She is far more frightening than Philippe. 
• It is really neat to see the castle before and after. 
• Let Diana sleep, sheesh!
• Philippe is far less violent and far more insightful than expected. 
• Are we going to get to see Diana hide something in the before castle for the after castle people to find!?
• Gallowglass is a charming ruffian we need to see more of.

What did you think of this episode of A Discovery of Witches ? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

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A Discovery of Witches airs Saturdays on Sundance NOW, AMC+ and Shudder.

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