Witches of East End - The Brothers Grimoire - Review

It was another crazy-eventful episode of Witches of East End this week, as a pair of Frederick's old troublemaking, Asgardian "friends" showed up in town causing total havoc.  And Dash and Killian found some trouble of their own after gaining access to their inheritance from Penelope.  As for Ingrid, she's all over the map what with helping Dash and realizing the scary implications of her memory gaps.  Joanna, Freya and definitely Victor had it worst of all while fighting against "Freddie's" former associates Ivar and Isis.  Wendy had the funnier, lighter segment of the episode this week, but that's not to say things are easy for her either!

One aspect of this episode that I found quite intriguing was how we saw some further evidence of Frederick's devotion to his parents and sisters...but even as he took down one of the naughty "Twincest" duo by icing Ivar, the even nuttier Isis was putting the smack down on most of the other Beauchamps.  So just as Frederick was ready to stand irrefutably by his family, his independence and silence on the problem of Ivar and Isis let them get the upper hand, leading to Victor's death.   This left Joanna understandably heartbroken, angry, and disappointed in her son.  What a sad turn of events - I hope that isn't really the end of Victor and that somehow he (and his abs) might come back.  However, I did enjoy seeing Continuum's Rachel Nichols having fun with the super-hammy turn she gave as the wild, perverted, evil Isis.

Wendy's dates with Tommy were hilarious and cute as the two battled through mishap after mishap, from a rat crashing their picnic to Wendy stabbing Tommy in the back with a dart...not to mention the near-brushes with death Tommy faced as Wendy averted his being hit by a car and prevented him from dropping cold after she set off his peanut allergy.  Still, having decided to live life to the fullest, Tommy remains admirably determined to date the incredibly unlucky-in-love Wendy despite these hurdles.  The chemistry between these two and the way Tommy's sweet attitude is breaking through Wendy's romantic pessimism makes their scenes a welcome taste of comedy and heartwarming relief compared to the darker aspects of the current storylines.

Speaking of, Dash and Killian got in some much-needed, actually rather poignant and pleasant to behold brotherly bonding, but not without also enduring some major trauma.  After discovering that Penelope had left them the family grimoire, which has spells the brothers can team up to cast, Dash's impetuous, ambitious enthusiasm to try one out left poor Killian on death's door.  Good thing Dash has Ingrid on speed dial, because even after making a pit stop for a creepy, apparently sort of hypnotized tryst with Mr. Tentacles, she was still able to efficiently help the brothers Gardiner to avert Killian's demise.  

Dash's better intentions and instincts (his eager new bonding with Killian, his admiration and gratitude to Ingrid) are always at war with his baser ones (let's not forget that his magical lash-out almost ended Killian last year, and his greed for power is often destructive).  Maybe Ingrid can help him figure it all out and stay grounded, but she's going to need an assist from Dash, too.  He used his doctorly knowledge and his eyeballs to realize that Ingrid had a terrible gash on her back, which led her to confess to her memory loss and increasing worries on that count.  The mysterious monster who has been drawing Ingrid into a trance so that she can "feed" him is getting to be more and more terrifying, and he obviously has a bigger agenda than just whatever he's using Ingrid for.  Shudder.

Once Isis had Freya trapped by a deadly spell, she debated with her parents on a solution.  Victor insisted on switching places with Freya even though she begged him not to, leaving mother and daughter to tearfully flee.  Although we have seen relatively little of Victor overall, we've seen enough to know how noble and loving he is to his family, and this sacrifice confirmed it.  Watching Joanna forced to say goodbye to her husband after they finally reunited and rediscovered their happiness together was heartbreaking.

Killian, apparently miffed that Freya knew all about his being a warlock, and was a witch herself and never told him about either secret, later showed up to express this irritation to her at The Bent Elbow.  However, Freya was completely grief-stricken, and helped herself to a hug, delaying any such argument.  Since Killian has decided he wants to stay in East End and that ever-irresistible draw keeps pulling him back into Freya's orbit, I'm not sure there's much Eva's going to be able to do to prevent Frillian: the sequel...though she's certainly going to try.  This season is getting more and more suspenseful and high-stakes - is it August 10th yet?

What did you think of this episode?  Share your thoughts in the comments!

About the Author - Virginia Mae Fontana

Virginia is happy to be reviewing The Vampire Diaries, Nashville, Beauty and the Beast, Witches of East End, Covert Affairs, and Continuum for Spoiler TV. She enjoys obsessing over films and pop music - in addition to tv shows, of course! You can find her blog, SugarRushed, at http://virginiamaeblog.blogspot.com/ and her Twitter handle is @SugarRushedBlog

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