A Discovery of Witches: Episode #3.6 (2022)
Season 3, Episode 6
10/10
#MeToo Primer with Piercing Intelligence and Outstanding Artistic Craftsmanship
19 February 2022
Warning: Spoilers
Putting together the comments from the Creator series, in which author Harkness shares her creative inspiration (Thank you! So fascinating!), and the litany of recent reveals about the trials of disempowered women, this series becomes elevated to much needed social commentary.

From Britney Spears and Paris Hilton to the victims of Weinstein, Bill Cosby, and Playboy (to name a few), we have been bombarded by stories of women's abuse, disempowerment, self-doubt, and in general exposed to the private hells of what we understood to be the women who had it all - beauty, fame, and wealth. Those who reflect can start to see that these are a high level blueprint of a saga that touches every woman, no matter what her sphere in life - mysogyny leveraged by power grabbers or for their own sick pleasure - unfortunately both male and female abusers. These pray on young female victims just trying to find their way, self-isolated by their emotional trauma and unaware and unable to reach out for help. If there was a better blueprint for Ghislane Maxwell than Satu (or vice versa), I can't think of one.

There is little left to chance here in this fabulous rendering of that sadly ancient story being so freshly played out by recent events. The delicate beauty of Teresa Palmer belies her soft and balanced portrayal of sheer power, so satisfying as a witch, when historically that label caused so many thousands of women to die horrible deaths in the ultimate medieval power grab. We need to have a separate byline just for her beautiful, flowing hair, which seems

to have a life of its own, as luminous and transcendent as Teresa herself.

The sets are so detailed, the charaters so full realized by the incredible acting, and the music so self-affirming.

It takes a village, apparently, to undo years of predjudice and isolation, which inevitably go hand-in-hand. And a loving, supportive, emotionally secure and unthreatened male partner with the utmost strength and loyalty.

There are environmental messages here too about the destructiveness of our species. And one suspects that after all of these ignorant wars based on human racial differences and misguided religious judgementalism we too here in the real world will discover that we all come from the same root race after all, and that we too need all of us - each other - to survive.

I suspect after watching over time, many other layered messages will be revealed by this author of gobsmacking intelligence, supported by the incredibly talented and dedicated team of artists that brought her vision to life.
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