A Discovery of Witches Review: Episode #2.9 (Season 2 Episode 9)

It took until the penultimate episode, A Discovery of Witches Season 2 Episode 9, “Episode #2.9,” for the show to find its narrative flow, but it was worth the wait!

As has been the case for the entire season, the special effects and visual craftsmanship on the episode outshine everything else, even the excellent acting. Diana’s patronus, Cora, is exquisitely rendered as a contradicting creature who is at once terrifying, majestic, and sensitive. That is just one example of how the visual storytelling on A Discovery of Witches is the foundation upon which the other types of character development rests. 

This show looks good!

What sets this episode apart is that the visuals are well integrated into the story. The story moves gracefully and naturally from Diana’s efforts to finish her training to Matthew’s efforts to get forgiveness from the Queen. The visuals accompany these beats, not dominate. 

For example, when the Queen accepts Matthews blood as healing for her toothache it is a gesture of vulnerability and connection. The story is about the Queen knowing she is remembered, that her efforts have, in fact, made her eternal. 

The visuals support the narrative here. The Queen’s raw, super-white makeup against the messy red lipstick emphasizes the stark reality she is confronting. Matthew is shown in warm colors even though he is the undead.

The costuming and lighting help to illustrate that though Matthew is technically more dead, because he has opened himself up to the love of another species his life is more colorful and vivacious than the Queen’s. 

There is, of course, the huge reveal on the episode that Diana is pregnant!

The entirety of Season 2 has been setting us up for this reveal, with the birth of the child Margaret and also with Diana’s power to animate things. 

Still, we feel the tension and emotion from Matthew and Diana when they learn about the pregnancy. We as viewers kind of knew it was coming, but they certainly didn’t. 

Kit’s heartache is a really nice juxtaposition to the elation that exists for Diana and Matthew as a couple. Kit has lost. He doesn’t get the man he loves. He is left in the dirt, chained and punished for trying to get Matthew’s attentions back. It is awfully sad. 

But, Kit’s story fits well into the greater narrative of the season. 

Diana and Matthew are set apart by fate. They have these greater forces bringing them together. But what about the rest of us? 

Kit and Marcus show us that sometimes you forge your own future using the force of love, not fate, as the glue. Kit’s tale is tragic. It is also beautiful. 

Diana quotes Kit’s poetry to him, the words that are only in his heart at the time she says them. And he will write them, that is his destiny. The fact is, some people are not meant for the happy ending. And as a result, we have art, we have discovery, we have spells. 

The episode doesn’t explicitly message what Kit’s life means, but the whisper it leaves is that heartache and loss have a place in the happenings of history too. 

The finale will bring us some closure but it will certainly not tie up all the loose philosophical threads that have been thrown out over the season. 

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

Critic Rating:

User Rating:

 

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

 Follow us on Twitter and on Instagram!

Want more from Tell-Tale TV? Subscribe to our newsletter here!