In the bar, Freya fills Ingrid in on her ominous card
reading and, unsurprisingly, Freya has decided that Killian is her destroyer.
Dash is not returning any of her calls and she’s all kind of mopey and making
up for it by using love potions on the arguing bar patrons.
Meanwhile Penelope/Athena/The Shapeshifter/The Bad guy is preparing some nasty hexed flowers for Freya.
Ingrid at the library, finds Barbara (minority friend#1)
waiting to direct her towards Mike, her
new minted love interest. He claims he’s writing a historical novel set in
the area and wants to mine Ingrid for information. While Mike talks about the
towns long and storied occult history, Barbara throws in that Ingrid knows all
about magic, her dissertation on the occult and how she
cast a spell that made Barbara pregnant.
To the other sister – at the bar Killian arrives and she
blames everything on him and leaves in a huff – overheard by Amy (Dash’s
co-worker who is beginning her own relationship with Killian). She’s nice about
it, but she’s not about to get in a relationship when he has clear feelings for
Freya.
Freya receives the cursed roses and naturally assumes
they’re from Dash – and promptly pricks her finger (well, spinning wheels and
apples are so cliché). Penelope just happens to drop in to check on Killian and
finds Freya ill and swaying and insists on taking her home.
At the Beauchamp house. Joanna shows Wendy the golden
snakey key thing she assured her had been destroyed. Wendy is unsurprisingly
unhappy since she was just tortured and killed over that key. We get some nice
exposition – including that they sealed the portal – and that the snake is
corrupting. While Wendy can’t imagine them ever wanting to go back, Joanna
refuses to destroy the only connection to their home. Wendy wants it gone
because it “destroyed everything good” inside their father and she thinks
Joanna kept it so she can see Frederick again (lots of exposition hints in this
conversation).
As Wendy walks past the case is whispered ominously and she opens it. The red eye of the snake seems to bewitch her and she reaches out for it –the snake comes alive and bites her wrist, sinking in its fangs and coiling its body around her arm.
Joanna comes to her scream and lectures her for looking
in its eyes – do not look in the snake’s eyes! Yeah, I’m with Wendy here,
bewitching animate snakes need to be destroyed. Wendy calls it a powerful
vessel of pure evil – and black lines extend from the bite wound up and down
Wendy’s hand and arm and her eyes turn black. When Joanna returns with a
solution to remove it, Wendy has left.
She finds Wendy in the next room and we get the
exposition bomb! It was their father who came to power and banished them,
threatening them if they ever returned… to Asgard (suddenly “Freya” makes a lot
more sense). Affected by the venom, Wendy insists she wants to spend the one
life she has left at home in Asgard, though Joanna is worried about what she
may release. When Wendy won’t stop Joanna casts a spell – she disappears but
the whole house is sealed.
Joanna manages to bind Wendy in coats while Wendy says
nasty things about her – including that she abandoned Frederick – her only son,
who refused to come with them; Joanna says he was turned against her. It
distracts Joanna enough that Wendy manages to escape the coats.
Back to the library and Ingrid – it’s late but Mike is
still hanging around researching and Ingrid discovers that he’s a published
author of “The Aesir of Midgard”. Looks like he’s a Norse mythology buff.
Ingrid talks about her dissertation and how she is a complete sceptic and
doesn’t believe in the supernatural one iota – but he believes witches are real
and they’ve all come here from Asgard which is connected to this realm. And his
dad drove himself to his death to try and prove it – and Mike is convinced. He
also has a map his father found – complete with witchy symbols. When his back
is turned she uses her magic to make it clearer - it’s a vivid map to Asgard
when you reverse how it has faded due to age.
When they finally leave Mike thinks she’s mad with him
because she starts to put some big distance between them
And back at the Beauchamp house the sisters are outright fighting with the snake taking Wendy over the edge to the point of being willing to kill Joanna. Wendy keeps lashing out verbally as well – revealing Joanna’s husband (and Freya and Ingrid’s father) is also around and close by – but there’s a rift between them. The battle continues to escalate until Wendy pins Joanna. Joanna opens the door – and when she’s distracted stabs Wendy’s hand and uses some enchanted shears to cut the key. The key disappears, presumably destroyed, and Joanna treats Wendy’s wound. She says she’ll heal her later but she needs a minute.
Wendy finds her staring into the fire and apologises for
all the terrible things she said, though Joanna is clear it was the snake,
Wendy adds the next apology for her having to destroy the key and never see her
son again. They both discuss missing Frederick and how it was a false hope to
think they could ever see him again – and Ingrid comes home and asks if Asgard
is real. Ingrid tells them about Mike and Wendy’s clear the door is locked
while Joanna dismisses him as one in a long line of mortals looking for the
truth
At Penelope’s mansion Freya falls unconscious and
Penelope has a wicked ritual for her. It’s all going wonderfully to plan, her
eyes glow red – and Dash comes home early from London. Damn it, never any
quality time for evil machinations! She quickly calls for him to do doctor
things to help Freya. He rushes into action and saves her life from bad medical
badness (the extent of my medical knowledge). Dash happened to be on hand
because he couldn’t go to the conference knowing he and Freya were all drama so
he came back to tell her it was over – then saw her near death and decided he
couldn’t live without her. Wedding back on folks! Evil mother-in-law will get
another crack!
With everything all happy again, Freya tries to light a
fire with her magic – but it doesn’t work. He magic is gone.
She returns home to tell her family and gets identical
stunned expressions and we close with Athena/Penelope/evil one at home
practicing her evil laugh and glowing red eyes
EXPOSITION! OH LOOK AT THE EXPOSITION! Oh I love it love
it love it. Asgard? Norse? Are they Norse gods? If so which ones? And who is
their father? Are all the immortals gods? And it was all delivered so well!
Info without dumping!
