As it turns out, his old self also exists in 1590. The much-coveted tome is integral to not only unlocking Diana’s untapped powers, but Matthew has researched that the rumored codex is key to saving the dying supernatural species of the world.īringing to mind a whole set of potential paradox pitfalls familiar to anyone who’s seen Back to the Future, the series solves the “don’t mess with the past” problem by leaning on Matthew’s immortal vamp status. As a brief primer, the duo has gone back in time with a very specific mission to find the mythical Book of Life. All of that translates into authentic history being heavily woven into the season’s 10 episodes, including a plethora of historical and religious name-dropping, a revolving coterie of costumes to drool over, and enough true events of note to invoke midterm studying sweats-by-proxy.Ī nicely recreated Elizabethan London serves as the primary locale of the early episodes, as it’s where Oxford scholar and burgeoning witch, Diana Bishop (Teresa Palmer), casts herself and her vampire lover, Matthew Clairmont (Matthew Goode), at the end of Season 1. Whether you’ve read Harkness’ books or not, it’s important to bank that the novelist is a professor of Western European history at the University of Southern California, and an extremely involved executive producer on the series. Season 2 is based on the second book, Shadow of the Night in author Deborah Harkness’ All Souls trilogy, which shifts the action from contemporary times to 1590s London and France. And returning to the fray this month is one of the most beautiful of the genre, A Discovery of Witches. From The Crown to Bridgerton to Outlander, television has been giving us the goods of late, with an abundance of productions that have amply-funded costume and production design departments. This review originally published January 4, 2021įor those of us who love to indulge in richly-appointed period piece adaptations, we’re living in heady times.
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