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.

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

...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.

What a pity that we are unable to leave separate review scores for each season. My score for season 2 would have been a 7, with the first three episodes only scoring a 5/6 each, as they were slow, boring and generally incomprehensible. Thankfully the pace and storytelling picked up from episode 4 onwards, however this second season is sadly lacking when compared to season one. I was initially pleased to see Tom Hughes appearing, but alas his character is woefully underwritten and ultimately quite silly and implausible. Loved him in Victoria and here he plays in identical character with an identical voice and even haircut. Am hoping he's better than than this, so will put this down to script issues. James Purefoy's performance is impressive and lifts the whole thing out of the doldrums at mid-point so let's give a cheer for him. I would love to know what went so wrong with this production, particularly in the early episodes, as it was hugely promising at the end of the first season. Suddenly we got cartoon caricatures of villains, implausible and ridiculous storylines and poor quality CGI of Elizabethan England. The pacing went totally to pot as well - new writers? Script editors? Anyway, by the end of series two it had picked up and is more or less back on course albeit with far less credibility than before. The whole s2 is available to download on Sky in the Uk. Interesting that it seemed to attract only review scores of 9/10 before it became available to view. Cast and crew perhaps?

At first you will think you are watching a fantasy drama for adults, but not far into season one you will realize this was written for 12 to 13 year old girls. Sexual attraction is handled very chastely, no one drinks in excess if at all, and our main character is struggling with issues usually experienced by teens, not twenty-somethings. She is the best, the brightest, most courageous person anyone has ever seen, plus very innocent, but that whole package is overdone so much so, it becomes obvious this is a tween girl's fantasy. She is going to be given a full professorship in the history dept at Oxford University at 23 or so years old because she's so brilliant. Really? She simply doesn't have enough life experience, and proves it each episode. That said, this is not a lighthearted silly show like many written for younger viewers.

I understand from other reviews here that it follows closely to the books, so I can only assume they are probably written for the tween fan group. As an experienced adult, it becomes hard to watch adults a thousand years or more old struggle to handle life, and it necomes harder and harder to sispend reality for the sake of enjoying the show.

All that said, the sets, most of the actors and production quality are good. I will continue to watch unless it jumps the shark even further.