A Discovery of Witches episode 1 recap: It begins with blood and fear

Deborah Harkness’ tale of suspense, intrigue and romance begins. Here’s your complete recap of A Discovery of Witches episode 101.

“It begins with blood and fear. It begins with a discovery of witches.”

A Discovery of Witches begins in Oxford, England during the Autumn Equinox. Vampire Matthew Clairmont (Matthew Goode) is on a bridge talking about how the world was once full of creatures, but over the years the creatures have died off. Daemons, witches and vampires are now scarce. But there could be a change coming.

As Matthew talks, there’s a rower on the river below him. She’s in a single scull moving swiftly down the river.

Later, young witch Diana Bishop (Teresa Palmer) greets the porter on her way back to her room. She eats breakfast and gets ready to go to work. Readers of Deborah Harkness’ books will appreciate that her rooms are as cluttered as ever. Being cluttered is a classic witch trait.

Diana arrives at Oxford and locks her bike, but not before knocking all of her papers out of her basket. With a few whispered words, the papers go back into a neat pile. She looks around to make sure that no one saw her.

Diana delivers a lecture on alchemy in front of Oxford’s esteemed professors. (Harkness, author of A Discovery of Witches and the All Souls Trilogy, is seated in the front row for fans keeping an eye out for her.) As she talks, her passion for the subject is very clear. She states that she plans to continue her research on alchemy at the Bodleian Library on campus. She’s immediately offered a chance to apply for a job, but she will have to have her research done.

After the lecture, her friend Gillian (Louise Brealey) meets her and they go for tea. Gillian hasn’t been offered a teaching position yet. She tells Diana that she’s welcome to go to the coven meeting that night, but Diana says she’s not comfortable around magic after what happened to her parents. She’s not in control of her magic at all, which makes Gillian very uncomfortable.

Matthew Clairmont is in the church. He’s saying the Rosary. When he finishes, he looks up at the stained glass in contemplation.

Diana heads to the library and requests the books she needs, including Ashmole 782. The request is sent down to the acquisitions desk downstairs and the clerk goes to find them. 782 is missing when she first passes by, but upon her return it’s back again. Gillian finds Diana at the desk where she’s working when the books arrive. Gillian looks uncomfortable and she leaves.

When Diana opens Ashmole 782 it’s like the book sighs. Matthew feels it from the church. Diana seems to be the only one who notices. She starts making notes, including what pages seem to be missing. The lights go out suddenly. Matthew feels this as well. As she works, Diana discovers that the book has mysterious text below the paper.

Matthew gets a call from Miriam, his colleague and fellow vampire. She felt it too. It’s in their blood.

While Diana works she realizes that the words of the book are spilling out onto her hands. She moves to stop them by covering the illustration with her hands, and that’s when she sees that the image burns into her hand. She gets up to leave, sending Ashmole 782 back into the stacks.

Outside, Matthew is looking for the source of the disturbance. Diana bumps into a man, and she realizes that it was her dad, or someone who looks just like him. Gillian catches up to her, and Diana flees. Matthew watches as she passes by.

Marcus Whitmore (Edward Bluemel) tries to convince his buddy to go drinking with him after a long shift at the hospital. After saying goodbye, James is struck by a car. He’s dying, so Marcus decides to bite him and then feed him some blood. James comes back to life with an intense thirst, but his injuries are too severe and he dies anyway.

Back in Matthew’s lab, Miriam (Aiysha Hart) finds Matthew working away. He tells her that Diana Bishop, the woman who helped trigger the disturbance, is a descendant of Bridget Bishop, of Salem witch trials fame. She took out an Ashmole manuscript, and Miriam says it’s not possible that she was able to find 782, a book he has been looking for the past hundred years. He suspects the book might have been waiting for her.

Diana awakens from a nightmare the following morning. She checks her phone and calls her aunt Sarah (Alex Kingston) and her partner Emily (Valarie Pettiford) in Madison County, New York. She tells Sarah what happened with the bewitched manuscript. Sarah, despite the early hours, is instantly alert. She wants to know how Diana unlocked the spell even though she didn’t use magic. Sarah is furious that Diana sent the book back, but Diana is more upset that she saw her dad. Emily isn’t surprised, but Sarah is still upset about the bewitched book. She urges her to get the book back. Diana is upset that she’s getting a lecture instead of her aunt’s understanding, and she hangs up.

At the police station Marcus gives a report to the officers, who have questions about why timeline of the accident and Marcus’s call to 911 don’t match up. Marcus says he was doing CPR, but they’re not so sure. Matthew is in the hallway waiting for him, and thanks to his heightened sense of hearing he’s able to hear their conversations. Once Marcus is released, Matthew unleashes his fury that Marcus tried to make another vampire in broad daylight without the man’s consent. Marcus wants to understand why it didn’t work.

Back at the lab, Miriam is waiting for the two men. She wants to know what Marcus is doing there and Matthew announces that Marcus will be working with them. He wants her to take a blood sample so they can figure out what happened.

Later, in the bar, the three vampires look miserable over their glasses of wine. Marcus is upset that Matthew knew his attempts at making a vampire would fail. Matthew says they don’t know the cause of the problem, and that’s why they need Ashmole 782. It might be able to explain their origins. The witches, he says, can’t have this information because it could destroy them. He plans to talk to Diana and get the book.

At the library, Diana goes in search of a book on the shelves upstairs. She finds it up on a high shelf, and when she can’t reach it the book shoots out to the lower floor, where Matthew is waiting. “Yours, I believe,” he says drolly.

He notes that the burn on her hand is bad. He gives her his card after she notes that he’s a vampire. He knows all about her work and compliments her ability to evoke the past. He’s surprised witches can use their power in public and wonders if she can’t control herself, but she insists that she can. When she returns to her desk, he’s gone.

Gillian pours another glass of wine over her work. She goes to see Sylvia, the coven master. She had received Sylvia’s text asking if anyone knew anything about the feeling they had. Gillian thinks she does.

Matthew watches Diana leave her room. He finds her in a cafe doing research…on him. She thinks he’s following her, but he denies it. She wants to know what he wants. He sits down and asks her about the Ashmole manuscript. He wants to know if it was 782. He says it’s about more than alchemy and no one has seen the book in a very long time. He warns her that the other creatures will come for the book, and he tells her to be careful. She gets up to leave after perceiving that his words are a threat.

Later that evening Diana works in the library and the lights go out again. She picks up her computer and tells Sean (Tomiwa Edun) at the desk that she needs a drink. They go to the pub and she gets him a drink. She tells him she’s an only child, raised by her aunts after her parents died. They were murdered, she says, during a research trip in Ukraine near Russia. The villagers thought they were witches and killed them. He can’t believe what he’s hearing.

In Finland, Peter Knox (Owen Teale) arrives at a point in the woods with his guide. They come to a house in the woods and the guide loads his gun. Knox doesn’t seem to be concerned with how creepy it all is, but the guide isn’t taking chances. Satu, another witch, appears and quickly kills the guide, sending him into the ground in a circle of fire. Knox watches her and tells her that he found the guide in the pub. She says the equinox “gives [her] an edge.” He wants to swear her into the Covenant, but they have work to do.

When Diana arrives at the Bod the following day, Matthew is there at her desk doing his own research. She teases him about sitting in a spot with “southern exposure.” He tells her not to believe everything. He also points out that he thought she might want some company given how many creatures were in the library today. She gets up to leave and he watches her go.

Outside, Gillian chases her down and asks if that was a vampire. And why was he in the library. Gillian says vampires hate them as much as witches hate vampires, but Diana dismisses it.

Later, Matthew watches Diana from afar. She looks up and he disappears. When she goes jogging, he watches her. She grabs her scull to go rowing, and he takes the opportunity to go to her room. He searches for Ashmole 782 and stops when he finds the photo of her parents.

Knox and Satu (Malin Buska) meet with Sylvia and Gillian. He wants to know all about what Gillian saw. She talks about 782 and Knox has been looking for it. When he asks who took it out, his eyes widen when he hears Diana’s name.

That night, Diana carries her scull back to the boathouse. Matthew is there. He wonders if she really thinks it’s safe to be there at night. Rowing at night is a risk. He wants to know what she did with “The Book of Life.” She denies using magic, but he can feel her power. She’s not afraid of him, and he’s not backing down either. She says she doesn’t have the book. She walks away, and he asks why she isn’t curious as to why it appeared to her. It could be the key to species’ survival, and yet a witch who can’t control magic is the one who was able to call it.

Outside the boat house, Matthew finds her jacket on the ground. They stare at each other. When he smells it, his eyes become intense. She approaches him, then realizes he is barely in control. He tells her to walk past him slowly, but not to run. She does. Diana knows that the vampire will be gone when she turns around again. He is.

A Discovery of Witches season 1 is available to stream in full on Sundance NOW and Shudder.