As this episode begins, Benjamin Fuchs (Jacob Ifan) meets with Father Hubbard (Paul Rhys) in London. Hubbard promises he hasn’t seen him for months. Ben is confident he will return and Hubbard will let him know when he does. As Benjamin leaves, Father Hubbard wonders why he just can’t leave him alone. In South Kensington, Miriam Shepherd (Aiysha Hart) explains to Matthew that it is more complex than they initially imagined. They’ve identified hundreds of vampire genes with more than 400 to go. Christopher (Ivanno Jeremiah) and Miriam are worried it is a massive task that will take an incredibly long time. He calls Miriam as clever as she is annoying so she thanks him. Matthew (Matthew Goode) says they’ll have to work faster to find a cure because Diana (Teresa Palmer) is pregnant with babies that might be infected.
They demand more time and researchers. As Matthew and Diana leave, they agree that Miriam and Christopher can find the cure although Matthew says they only have weeks instead of years. They try to drive away, but a car pulls up and stops them. Father Hubbard joins them outside the vehicle to say he came looking for them because they left something in his keeping. Diana nearly cries when Jack steps out of the car. Hubbard explains he brought him back where he belongs. At a house in Mayfair, Jack reveals he started shivering one morning and thought he was dying so Hubbard made him a vampire. Hubbard believes he had to save the boy’s life, but Matthew says Jack didn’t know what he was getting. Father Hubbard goes on to say they couldn’t heal the boy’s broken heart when he was left behind.
Diana apologizes to Jack who knew they had time warped back to this century. She tells Matthew she gave Hubbard a drop of her blood to protect Jack and he did. Hubbard says Jack was Matthew’s responsibility until Matthew made him his responsibility. Matthew doesn’t like that so he tells Hubbard to leave. Then, he scolds Diana because her blood would reveal all of her secrets and his too. Diana suggests otherwise because she used her magic to try to protect Matthew’s secrets. She believes Hubbard did the right thing because he couldn’t have allowed Jack to die. When she asks what Matthew would’ve done, he says he chose to die as a human instead of living without his wife and son. He is glad regardless because he wouldn’t have met Diana otherwise. Plus, he will have the opportunity to be a father again.
Diana says Jack has a chance to have a family again with them. In Venice, Italy, Peter Knox (Owen Teale) tells Satu about finding the book in Bohemia and all the spells working once when witches had real power. He throws it to the side before telling Satu Jarvinen (Malin Buska) about finding a letter from Edward Kelley about the missing pages from the Book of Life. He explains there were three pages torn out and Edward sent them to three different recipients. Knox believes they should find those pages and reunite them with the book, but Satu isn’t sure she wants to help. She says he can’t control her anymore and she owes him nothing. Knox says be aware of the witch with the blood of the lion and wolf because she will destroy the children of the night. She knows he thought that witch was Diana. When Peter says she has to help him, Satu tells him he is finished.
He warns her that Gerbert (Trevor Eve) has no loyalty and will betray her when she is no longer of use to him. Satu says Peter and Gerbert are the same because they’re men who are obsessed with power. She knocks him back before leaving. Marcus Whitmore (Edward Bluemel) walks in as Phoebe Taylor (Adelle Leonce) works on the research she has been doing with Diana regarding the missing pages from the Book of Life. She believes the best place to hide a missing page would be inside another book. She has been writing down all the magical and alchemical books so Diana can look through them. Phoebe also wonders if Matthew is feeling guilty about Jack. Since Matthew is 6th century patriarch and Diana is a 21st century witch, they agree something will have to change.
Matthew enters the room to tell Jack he is going to the university with Diana. Gallowglass (Steven Cree) and Fernando Goncalves (Olivier Huband) will stay with him. Jack (Toby Regbo) reveals drawing helps him think or stop thinking. He wonders why Matthew didn’t want him to be a vampire. Jack says his life felt unfinished when he was dying and he knew he had a chance to find them again. Matthew admits he is glad he is there since they have a lot to catch up on. Jack suggests they start again with a clean slate. When Matthew leaves the room, we see that Jack has the miniature portraits of Matthew and Diana. Miriam and Christopher tell Diana and Matthew they’re going to need more DNA and researchers to discover the origin of blood rage. Miriam suggests sending Marcus to New Orleans since his children are there. Chris believes that will give him time to share the findings with his team, but Matthew doesn’t want the warmbloods looking at it.
Christopher says they’re students and they need to know because they need their assistance. Matthew is worried their genetic information will land in the wrong hands and they’ll be killed. When Chris says he understands, Matthew says he doesn’t and begins telling him about his father being captured by the Germans. His father was tortured and experimented on in the name of medical science so Matthew doesn’t think Chris understands. Matthew says he has no idea what his kind is capable of, but Chris says otherwise since he is a black man from Alabama. He believes they’re closer than ever to people discovering them and suggests it is best for them to know. Miriam and Diana agree that they should trust Chris. Meanwhile, Jack tells Gallowglass he was worried they wouldn’t recognize him although Diana did right away. Baldwin Montclair (Peter McDonald) interrupts their chat because he needs to speak to Matthew and Diana.
He asks Jack to get out so he can talk to Gallowglass in private. As Jack walks away, Baldwin ridicules him and says it is family online in this house. Jack gets upset and bites Baldwin from behind before he is tossed to the ground. Gallowglass tells Baldwin no as he feels the bite mark on the back of his neck. Diana and Matthew chat about getting the students involved in the research. Matthew hears the scuffle and walks toward it. They walk down the stairs and find Jack on the ground next to Baldwin. He says he controls this family and he’ll control this vampire if they can’t. Once he bites Jack’s neck, he sees his memories. Diana uses her magic to wrap a chain around Baldwin’s throat as she demands he remove his hands from her son. He lets Jack go. Matthew says Jack belongs to them and he will deal with it. At Matthew’s request, Diana lets Baldwin go. Then, Baldwin says he drank his blood, saw his memories, and it confirmed Jack is the blood-raged killer.
He throws the crime scene photos to the ground as Diana begins questioning Jack. Baldwin accuses Matthew of protecting him, but he denies having any knowledge of Jack’s blood rage. He tells Matthew he knows what he has to do. Matthew is told to kill him because this could ruin their family. He says God help me. Baldwin tells him to do it again. When Matthew approaches Jack, Diana pleads with Matthew and Jack dashes out of the room. Diana wants to know that Matthew wasn’t going to kill him. After that, they visit Father Hubbard who admits Jack asked him not to tell them about it. He had hoped they wouldn’t need to know since the condition will fade if Jack is kept safe and happy. Once Matthew asks how he got it, Hubbard reveals Benjamin Fuchs is his sire. In 1349, he lost his whole parish to a plague. After burying them all, he dug his own grave. Benjamin resurrected him and brought him back to life.
Ben hoped he’d have blood rage and stand with him against the Clairmonts and their allies. Then, Benjamin came after Jack who could become what Hubbard wouldn’t. He intended to use his blood rage as a weapon against the Clairmonts and made him kill to prove himself. Although Jack promised he wouldn’t kill many times, it became like an addiction for him. Hubbard admits Matthew is his last hope for Jack. In private, Diana tries to convince Matthew not to kill Jack because he is their son, but Matthew believes it would end his suffering. He has already put them at risk too. Sarah butts into the conversation to ask about the lab finding a cure for blood rage although Matthew worries there won’t be a cure. Diana says they’ll bring him home and keep him safe until they find one. Matthew says Jack will be killed by the Congregation once it finds out he is the blood-raged killer. Otherwise, Baldwin or Benjamin will do it.
If Matthew wants to save Jack, he will have to disobey the head of his family, Baldwin. When he calls it insanity and a war they cannot win, Diana reminds him a father would protect his children. Once he leaves to find Jack, Phoebe walks in on Marcus to say everyone else is in the library. Marcus tells her that Matthew is out hunting Jack because a vampire with signs of blood rage will have to be killed by order of the Congregation. Since Marcus is a carrier, Matthew was tasked with killing every vampire he sired in New Orleans and every vampire they sired. Few of his family survived although Matthew spared the carriers. Matthew tracks Jack under a bridge and tries to confront him. When Matthew approaches him, Jack appears and confesses he knows he is there to kill him. He shows Matthew the miniature portraits of himself and Diana. He explains he had to kill a man to get them, but it was the only thing he could find of them. Jack didn’t know becoming a vampire would make him sick although he was dying and it didn’t seem like it would matter anyway.
He couldn’t control himself and didn’t want to live anymore. However, Philippe told him to wait for Matthew because he would be the one to teach him to ignore what his blood was telling him to do. Jack doesn’t think Philippe knew how evil he would be. Matthew reminds him the little boy he knew didn’t have any evil in him. Jack says he isn’t the boy he knew. As Matthew walks toward him, Jack says he isn’t going to fight him. Matthew says he has done many things he has regretted and things that weren’t even considered wrong many years ago. He agrees his father was right about things changing. Diana is happy when she sees Jack walking back with Matthew. Once they go inside, Jack asks Fernando about him helping Matthew control his blood rage. He only taught him to pause and reflect because learning control isn’t easy or quick. Gallow reminds him he has Diana too since she’d do anything for him.
Fernando tells Gallowglass not to let Matthew know about his feelings for Diana. He says Philippe put him in charge of looking after her. Regardless, Fernando believes he will have to walk away from Diana since she is with Matthew now. He knows although it isn’t going to be today. Next, Domenico visits Gerbert who has the de Clairmont pedigree sitting on his desk. Gerbert says there is something missing because they’ve hidden what they don’t want them to know. When he asks if he can trust him, Domenico says he did what he asked by telling the Congregation about the blood-raged vampire before he is interrupted when Benjamin enters. Domenico admits he thought he was dead. Gerbert believes it is about time Matthew learned who he is dealing with. Diana sits down with Matthew and thanks him. He reveals he is going to New Orleans. She knows forming a scion will be hard, but it might be the only way to change things. Matthew explains he is going to take Marcus and Jack with him since he doesn’t want to leave a blood-raged vampire with his mate and babies.
Matthew says there is something he needs to do with her help before he leaves. They visit the lab where Christopher talks to his students about the project and reminds them they signed a nondisclosure agreement. Once he finishes that, Matthew says CC stands for creature chromosome. He goes on to say he is a vampire before admitting most of the myths about vampires are wrong. He hopes they can start accepting vampires. Before he finishes, he tells them about Miriam being a vampire and Diana being a witch which is a whole other story. Meanwhile, Phoebe learns that Marcus still has five children waiting in New Orleans. There are five of twenty and their grandchildren although they won’t be happy to see him with Matthew. Matthew leaves Sarah and Diana at home. At the airport, Matthew tells Marcus he needs his support, but he knows this won’t be easy for him. Marcus tells him everything he wants him to do before he will forgive him for the murders.
If he can do that, Marcus will be the first to offer his allegiance to Matthew. Once Marcus walks away, Matthew gets a call from Benjamin who asks him to get his email. Matthew does and finds a video of Jack in a vehicle with Benjamin. Two people are tied up in the back. Benjamin wants Jack to kill them to prove he is worthy of Matthew. Benjamin riles him up before getting out of the car. Within seconds, Jack begins attacking the other passengers. Benjamin tells him he truly is a child of his blood. When Matthew asks what he wants, Benjamin says he wants the whole family together including Matthew, Jack, and Diana.
A Discovery Of Witches Review
While this episode of A Discovery of Witches had a few annoying scenes, it wasn’t overloaded with too many issues. Toby Regbo was great in The Last Kingdom so I expect a lot from his character. Peter McDonald has been good so far too. It’ll be interesting to see what paths these characters take in future episodes since there are so many possibilities.
I enjoyed the episode especially the showdown between Baldwin, Jack, and Diana. However, I am concerned the show is trying to do too much, cover too many characters, and be more serious than it should. It is getting a bit cluttered with so many new characters and relationships. The constant jumping from city to city hasn’t been a problem yet, but I could see this becoming a nuisance very quickly.
I preferred the first season over the second, but I still hope the final season makes this a worthwhile journey. With plenty of episodes left, the third season of A Discovery of Witches still has time to develop into a meaningful, out-of-this-world journey. The episode scores a 7.5 out of 10. All recaps of A Discovery of Witches can be found here. If these recaps have been helpful, find out how to support us here.
Jay Skelton is a fan of all television shows and movies. He tries his best to keep up with the latest foreign television shows and movies. Jay loves skinny dipping in the dark too.
