A Discovery of Witches review: An excellent start to a beautiful adaptation

The bad: Not enough time to connect to the love story

While I adore the love story between Diana and Matthew, I think one of the downfalls is the lack of time. There was a bigger build up in the novel, but A Discovery of Witches had to force this to fit in the first hour and develop quickly in the first three episodes or so.

I would have loved to see 10-13 episodes for this storyline to develop better. There wasn’t the instant chemistry between Palmer and Goode, but that did grow with time. By the end of the season, I was convinced that these two are meant for each other, but at first, not so much. It felt more like blood lust for Matthew than the start of mating, while Diana just felt like an inquisitive historian.

Yet when we did get the chemistry, it was amazing. Seeing Matthew as this supportive but passionate source of information was excellent. Matthew didn’t feel threatened by having a woman who was more powerful than him around him. In fact, he encouraged Diana to control her powers.

Meanwhile, Diana stood up to Matthew, even when she didn’t know her own power or that she was spellbound. She didn’t take no for an answer, and stood her ground when necessary.

Another place I would have liked more time would have been on when demons, vampires, and witches came together. Some of the most hilarious moments were the interactions of the different special, as we learned more about the demon born to witches, Sara’s insistence that vampires and demons are evil, and the vampires being the ones who just wanted to get to the bottom of things.

I’d hope for more of these interactions during A Discovery of Witches Season 2. And that moves me onto the downright awesome.