However, it’s more of the fact that Diana keeps in the company of other creatures, vampires and daemons, among the queen’s noblemen and courtiers, that drives Norman’s fear. Norman is reluctant to help Diana because she doesn’t understand Diana’s magic and is fearful of it, especially during a demonstration, when Diana causes a bowl of fruit to decompose. She is unintentionally lured outside by Susana Norman (Aisling Loftus), the identical ancestor of the daemon Sophie that provided Diana with the chess piece that helped her time-walk to this period. In this first episode, one of the many things established is the pathway to Diana’s understanding her magic. Now, starting with Matthew and Diana in London thrusts them into the action much sooner, with Diana having access to the witches that will teach her magic.
One of the things I liked about the previous season was how economical it was with its adaptation of the first book. The show reorders some of the narrative’s timeline, and it proves useful to let go of what you know of the book to better enjoy how the show will layout this season’s plot. Based on Shadow of Night, fans of Deborah Harkness’ All Souls trilogy may find this first episode disorienting-at least I did as a fan of the novel. Once Matthew and Diana land in the middle of London street in 1590, we are pulled into this new world with a cast of new characters. The season also hits the ground running, so to speak. The new season exchanges that for unnarrated cold opens and new, improved opening credits.
This is a much more effective opening for the series, as the first season’s title cards and Matthew’s opening voiceover (“Once the world was full of wonders…”) grew tiresome and frankly verged on the edge of camp. The next scene takes the viewer to the 1590s as Goody Alsop (Sheila Hancock), a new character who plays an integral role this season, announces the desired arrival of “our fearsome witch.” The villainous trio - the vampire Gerbert (Trevor Eve) and the witches Peter Knox (Owen Teale) and Satu (Malin Buska) - stand in the absence of Diana and Matthew who have just disappeared by time-walking out of the Bishop house. Instead of the dramatic title cards that began the first season’s episodes, the sentiment is newly rendered in the opening scenes. The long-awaited second season, which will release a new episode weekly on Sundance Now, begins with absence and desire. With this premiere episode alone, the stage is set for an exciting season that will expand the series’ world. The book and Diana and Matthew’s budding romance are the main focus of the first season, but in this next part of their journey, their relationship is tested in ways neither of them could have expected. An alchemical text that tells the secrets and origins of the world’s creatures, the Book of Life is a powerful, magical tool that is dangerous if it falls in the wrong hands. The first season of A Discovery of Witches introduces Diana and Matthew, a witch and vampire respectively, as they cross paths when Diana, who is also an Oxford scholar, unintentionally discovers the Book of Life.
A Discovery of Witches returns with a moody season 2 premiere as the star-crossed couple, Diana (Teresa Palmer) and Matthew (Matthew Goode), time-travel to 16 th century London in search of the Book of Life - all while seeking answers to Diana’s perplexing magical powers.