WARNING: The following contains spoilers for the Season 2, Episode 3, of A Discovery of Witches, streaming now on Sundance Now, Shudder and AMC+.
Ever since Diana and Matthew arrived in London in 1590 in the second season of A Discovery of Witches, Matthew has once again assumed his identity as Matthew Royden while trying to protect Diana, which hasn’t been an easy task. Everyone who discovers Matthew is married to a witch is skeptical of their union because vampires and witches aren’t supposed to mix. Meanwhile, Matthew is trying to keep Diana off as many powerful people’s radars as possible, including his vampire father Philippe de Clermont. Unfortunately, in this week’s episode, the third of the season, Matthew finds the knowledge of his union with Diana has not only reached Philippe but has come to the attention of the most powerful woman in England: Queen Elizabeth I.
After getting caught between the interests of Father Hubbard, the vampire ruler of London, and the orders of the Queen’s advisor William Cecil in last week’s episode, Matthew snapped the neck of Thomas Caldwell, a witch who’d been imprisoned by Cecil. His bid to spare the man further torture while preventing either Hubbard or Cecil from getting what they wanted ultimately failed however as, unbeknowst to Matthew, Hubbard wrote to Philippe to inform him of Matthew’s activities. Still, Matthew attempts to keep up his ruse at the beginning of this week’s episode by going to Hubbard to beg for forgiveness.
Meanwhile, Cecil takes it upon himself to drop by Matthew and Diana’s home uninvited, where he claims that Matthew’s behavior toward Thomas Caldwell was the result of his marriage to Diana, a fellow witch. Diana attempts to appease Cecil by declaring the witches’ loyalty to crown and country, but this causes Cecil to wonder why Matthew hasn’t yet presented Diana to the queen. Matthew tries to explain the issue away but Cecil instructs them to meet the queen at court the next day. While this clearly alarms both Matthew and Diana, Matthew insists the queen trusts him implicitly regardless of what Cecil has told her.
The next day, the pair get dressed up and present themselves to Queen Elizabeth I, who’s first observation is how tired Matthew looks, something she takes to indicate marriage doesn’t suit him. Both Matthew and Diana do their best to flatter and reassure her, but the queen has become suspicious of witches and is unhappy that Matthew killed Thomas Caldwell without extracting a confession that would prove their disloyalty.
The queen is also suspicious because Diana and Matthew visited her astrologer, John Dee, whose former assistant, Edward Kelley, is now working for Emperor Rudolph of Bohemia. Elizabeth believes Kelley knows how to create the philosopher’s stone, which means the emperor has one over on her. Since Kelley apparently also has Ashmole 782, Matthew sees a way to appease the queen and further pursue his and Diana’s objectives, so he offers to bring Kelley back to England for the queen. Fortunately, the idea satisfies her for the time being and buys Matthew and Diana time.
Later, when Diana and Matthew are at home, Matthew realizes someone else is there. It’s his vampire nephew, Gallowglass, a fan-favorite character from the books, and he’s arrived to bring Matthew a note from Philippe. The note summons Matthew and Diana to Sept-Tours, the de Clarmont home in France -- just like the queen, Philippe wants an explanation for why Matthew has married a witch, and it seems Diana and Matthew have no choice but to go see him. Gallowglass, like everyone else, is suspicious of Diana, but before she and Matthew depart, he expresses his acceptance of her union with Matthew and warns her she will need to be Matthew’s anchor at Sept-Tours. Apparently, Gallowglass isn’t optimistic about Philippe’s reaction to Matthew’s choice to be with her.
Either way, it seems the more Matthew has tried to keep his presence in 16th century London quiet, the more trouble it’s gotten him in. Now he must appease both his father and the queen of England and hope no one else decides he must answer for his relationship with Diana.
A Discovery of Witches Season 2 stars Teresa Palmer, Matthew Goode, Alex Kingston, Valarie Pettiford, Lindsay Duncan, Edward Bluemel, Aiysha Hart, Daniel Ezra, Aisling Loftus, Trevor Eve, Owen Teale, Malin Buska, Gregg Chillin, Tom Hughes, James Purefoy, Steven Cree and Adelle Leonce. New episodes are available to stream every Saturday on Sundance Now, Shudder and AMC+.
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