Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10
Cast: Teresa Palmer, Matthew Goode, Alex Kingston, Gregg Chilingirian, Trevor Eve, Owen Teale, Malin Buska, Edward Blumel, Aiysha Hart, Valarie Pettiford, Lindsay Duncan, Aisling Loftus, Tanya Moodie, Adelle Leonce, Sorcha Cusack, Steven Cree, Daniel Ezra, Jacob Ifan, Greg McHugh.
A trilogy is only as good as its final part. If you can stomach that declaration then understanding is part of your deal, for a trilogy means nothing if the ending is unbelievable, if it goes against everything that has been set up in good faith before, then the whole structure falls apart, it becomes worthless, the one willing to sit through an entire season, take pleasure in the excitement of the ending, might arguably feel cheated, will feel the waves of cynical impression forced upon their time.
A Discovery Of Witches suffers no such fate, and whilst its second series perhaps lost some influence on the characters and the fates surrounding them, its overall effect is one of compulsive viewing; not only because of the more sincere portrayal of vampires, demons, and especially that of the coven of the witch, but because its large ensemble cast have the gravitas and immense acting chops in which to carry of such a detailed and lengthy overture of storytelling.
In a most refreshing change to other serials and films that deal with the disfunction and war-like antagonism between those creatures that sit in the dark shadows of our imagination, the final reckoning is not one of overblown Armageddon, the clearing of dust and the hero like stance of the survivors wracked with guilt at how it all came down death’s throw of the dice. Instead, the sense of calm, with more than an undercurrent of danger, a woman’s silent fury, and a stoic erasing of an enemy, is to be found as the third and final series of A Discovery Of Witches plays out.
It is a positive inversion of the trope of conflict, that conflict of ideology can only be fought and won if an army feels the wrath of another’s complete destruction, that this final encounter was presented in such a way that Teresa Palmer’s Diana Bishop was the ultimate personification of reason, of acceptance.
With hugely impressive performances by the likes of Matthew Goode, Trevor Eve, Owen Teale, Alex Kingston, Lindsay Duncan, and the aforementioned Teresa Palmer, surely an actor who is destined to spoken of with adoration in the years to come, A Discovery Of Witches in its final series reaches a glorious and telling end. A trilogy in one complete tale, and one that reaches in and caresses the soul of empathy for another with absolute conviction.
A tale of vampires, demons, and witches, one of sincerity and belief that does not stray into a world of resentment of production, A Discovery Of Witches is gracious storytelling at its most intriguing.
Ian D. Hall