WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Season 2, Episode 9, of A Discovery of Witches, streaming now on Sundance Now, Shudder and AMC+
After their excursion to see Matthew's step-father Philippe in France and to retrieve the Book of Life in Bohemia, in the penultimate episode of Season 2 of A Discovery of Witches, Matthew and Diana are finally back in London. However, Matthew finds himself with a lot to answer for after failing to bring Edward Kelley home, as he'd promised Queen Elizabeth I he would. He goes to court to attempt to explain what happened, but the combination of the Queen's disappointment in Matthew and her severe toothache make it difficult for Matthew to appease her. So Matthew realizes he must use his own unique knowledge and abilities to set things right.
When Matthew appears at court he's greeted by William Cecil, aka Lord Burghley, who seems to be enjoying the peril Matthew is facing from the Queen. And whether because of the toothache or not, Queen Elizabeth is unwilling to entertain any of Matthew's excuses for not bringing Kelley back to England.
As a penalty, the Queen demands Matthew turn over the Book of Life since she has heard from the ambassador to Bohemia that retrieving this book was more important to Matthew than retrieving Kelley. Matthew lies and claims the book was stolen on the way back to England, but the Queen doesn't believe him. She orders Lord Burghley to search Matthew's home and bring the book to her. She also orders Matthew to stay at court until the search is concluded.
Burghley eagerly collects every book in Matthew's house. He even finds Diana's hiding place under a floorboard for the Book of Life and confiscates that too. This could be a disaster for several reasons, but everyone at the house knows better than to go up against the Queen. However, as Burghley leaves, he's confronted by Gallowglass, who only lets Burghley go after a terse exchange.
Meanwhile at court, Matthew realizes the best way to get back into the Queen's good graces is to tell her the truth. He returns to her and uses a drop of his blood to heal her toothache. Then he tells her that he is not the Matthew from her time. It is because he's from the future that he's disappointed her so. Queen Elizabeth admits she wouldn’t believe such a story if it came from anyone but Matthew. And Matthew has another card up his sleeve. The Queen is concerned about her legacy and so he tells her that in his time hundreds of years in the future, she is still known as the best monarch in English history. With her pain gone and her legacy assured, it's clear the Queen has had a change of heart. And now that she's forgiven Matthew for his transgressions, he is able to return home.
Of course, there's still the matter of the Book of Life. As soon as Matthew realizes it's no longer in its hiding place in his home, Jack, the boy he and Diana adopted, produces it from under a bed. When Burghley was distracted by Gallowglass, Jack retrieved it. And although Matthew is momentarily worried about the danger Jack put himself in, he's also relieved and impressed.
With the Queen appeased and the Book of Life in hand, Matthew is now prepared to return to the 21st century and finish his and Diana's quest to decipher the book there. And while Diana still has some magic to master before they can officially make their time walk back to the present, with only one episode left this season, their departure from 1591 is imminent.
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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