A Discovery of Witches

The premise was interesting. The story showed potential. The actors are mostly competent and fitting to their roles.

After all that potential and a decent first couple of episodes, it slowed down to a crawl, became a second-rate romantic soap with no thrills or entertainment value whatsoever. I enjoy a character drama as much as the next viewer but I found myself ceasing to care about any protagonist.

In short, unless written by Quentin Tarantino or some other legend, two people chatting in a room will not give me sufficient motive to wait for the outcome of the dialog. Even if the interlocutors are supernatural creatures.

A long time since I've been this excited waiting for the next episode. This show is great. It has great production, good actors, believable fantasy society, the characters are adults (finally) and it grabs attention and holds it. I love it.

...but I think the lead actress was terribly miscast. Teresa Palmer is lovely to look at and seems sweet and earnest in the role, but she doesn't have the gravitas to pull off a PhD-educated woman, let alone convey the complexity of a supernatural being who has been denying her powers. It is particularly evident in her scenes with Matthew Goode, who is excellent and seems puzzled as to how he got paired with such a youthful lightweight. The other actors are of varying capabilities, with the adults being clearly stronger.

The writing is bland, with little sparkle. I struggled to pay attention. I haven't read the books but got the impression that Diana and Matthew fall in love slowly; in the series it happens immediately with no lead time - it doesn't feel earned.

The good in the series? It is visually breathtaking, with pretty people and rich, elegant sets, and it takes advantage of the lovely European architecture of the various countries it visits. The music was beautiful, and matched both the storyline and the look and feel of the setting.

I wanted to like it - in the hands of the right writers and casting director, it could have been a powerful series. As it is, it seemed like a fantastic dessert that I couldn't wait to bite into, but turned out to be tasteless and dry.

I just read the books so they are so fresh in my mind and the series is different; examples characters are very different Ysabeau in the book although Matthew's mother was made a vampire when she was younger not an elderly woman like in the tv series. The story line is loosely based on the books but is also very different. I like the books better but the series on its own is enjoyable if I keep reminding myself it's just based on the book series it's not the same. Worth a watch

Beautiful scenery, amazing shots, interesting characters and story. Can't wait to find out more.