A Discovery of Witches

`A Discovery of Witches' is a fantasy series based on the similarly named novel of the `All Souls' trilogy, written by Deborah Harkness. Teresa Palmer portrays Diana Bishop, a historian who discovers a bewitched manuscript in the Bodleian library. As she attempts to unravel the secrets this book holds about magical creatures, she is forced back into the world of magic, full of vampires, daemons, witches and forbidden love. Forming an unlikely alliance, geneticist and vampire Matthew Clairmont, portrayed by Matthew Goode, helps Diana to attempt to protect the book and solve the riddles within, while at the same time dodging threats from the magical creature world. 

After seeing the trailer multiple times on various devices, I decided to watch the series. Series one's episodes were nebulous enough to continue watching it. Although it plays in the fantasy realm (as far as we know), the actions of various characters do not deviate from the plots of other "power hungry" movies too much. 

The interesting part starts with the time walker discovery. As many theories suggest the paradox of time travel, it does not seem have an effect in this series or does not play a role. I'm curious to see the possible change after the characters return to the presence. As suggested in the movie "The Butterfly Effect" the slightest change will have great consequences. I'll see what happens here in the mind of the authors soon.

Two days later

So I watched it to the end. No butterfly effect here, in the greater scheme of things it is not important to the story line. Although one fact lingers in my mind: Diana is pregnant in 1590, returns to 2022 - pregnant - this must be the longest pregnancy in the history of mankind, also, the twins are 432 years old when they were born ... 

It was an interesting plot line with enough intrigue to keep watching. The cinematography was outstanding, so were the costumes. The scenes in Venice with the boat steering towards the hidden island got somewhat old after frequent switches between countries. The slow gathering of species over several episodes was well done. Some of the travel between the countries did not make too much sense, especially in the last series where the imprisoned witch is in Poland and drives to France, Matthew drives from France to Poland. This takes a long time by car, however, the actions in either location have not progressed too much in the meantime. Little parts which jump out and make the episode look chopped up in the last series.

The discovery of the dependency of chromosomes between the species was a logical explanation for the ending of the series, which also led to the dismantling of the old hierarchy. 

"If there is something wrong with the hive, you have to replace the queen" (from the Beekeeper) would be very relevant in this scenario.