Blood Rage
Episode 4 of A Discovery of Witches Season 2 begins in Oxford, England as another brutal murder rocks the streets. There’s another vampire killing and Domenico receives a call, letting him know that “it’s happened again.” And just like that, he rings Gerbert and tells him he believes Blood-rage is back. News of this spreads across London as we’re introduced to Pheobe Taylor, a lady who catalogues art on her weekends. She meets vampire Marcus Whitmore, who’s interested in buying Lot 42. He flaunts his money around, telling her he’ll buy it for £200,000. First though, he sees the contents of it which happens to be mini Elizabethan paintings from the past of both Matthew and Diana. Meanwhile, Peter Knox visits Gerbert and informs him that all three species are working together at the Bishop House. They both realize they need to pool their resources and set out to work together to get their hands on the Book of Life. Well, things hit a snag for everyone when the Lot is broken into during the night. With the security guard missing, the witches suspect it’s Peter Knox and the others who are responsible. However, Ysabeau receives a message from Gerbert asking to meet. Marcus heads out for dinner with Pheobe that night where they discuss each others’ lives. Marcus exhibits interest in her… until Domenico show up, prompting him to head up to the roof. Domenico feeds back what he knows about the blood-rage and the murders currently rocking London. He tells Marcus to feed back anything he learns. Back downstairs, Marcus returns to Phoebe and brushes aside her questions about the break-in, especially after what he’s just learned. Anyway, the pair continue to get along and end their date with a tender kiss. Well, it doesn’t fully end given Phoebe tries looking Marcus up online. Given he’s invisible on social media, Phoebe is intrigued by his story and meets him again. This meeting eventually turns into so much more, as they wind up sleeping together. That evening, Phoebe sneaks downstairs and finds a blood bag in the fridge. She also finds a whole stack of old photos too… until Marcus shows up. Frustrated, Phoebe tries to understand what’s going on. Marcus takes her out for a walk and admits that he’s a vampire. While she’s incredulous to begin with, he continues on and reveals everything about the three clans. Predictably, Phoebe doesn’t believe him and decides to leave. Gerbert and Ysabeau meet outside and discuss the current situation befalling both their houses. Gerbert wants to know exactly what Matthew and Diana are planning. He’s growing impatient and frustrated, something that’s made worse by the fact there’s a vampire on the loose. He propositions Ysabeau, asking to strike an allegiance, but she instead walks away and rejects his offer. Baldwin arrives before Marcus and tells him Ysabeau wants to meet. Before that though, he propositions a change in leadership. Given Baldwin is a direct blood descendant to Philippe, he asks Marcus to turn the Knights over to him. However, he refuses to do so for now. Ysabeau berates Marcus for revealing the truth about what he is to Phoebe. She tells him he needs to understand his responsibilities and takes Marcus into an ancient room in the house. There, they have documents and artifacts dating back 900 years to the formation of the Knights. Marcus decides not to look back though and wants to try and change things from the inside out. It turns out blood-rage is in Ysabeau’s blood-line, meaning Matthew is fully afflicted with it. In turn, this also means Marcus is diseased too. Unfortunately if the truth of this comes out, it could be the end of their blood line.
The Episode Review
Episode 4 can be summed up with 3 big words – nothing much happens. I appreciate the irony of that statement while writing a long recap but aside from some character movements and a final revelation at the end about blood-rage, there really isn’t a whole lot going on here. It takes a solid 25 minutes before anything of note takes place and most of this simply works to build up the stakes (no pun intended!) for the conflict ahead. Aside from the revelation at the end that the Clermont family are affected with Blood-rage, there really isn’t a whole lot else going on here. Still, as we approach the halfway point, the series feels like it’s gearing up for a big set piece so let’s hope we see that sooner rather than later.
