From the second I saw the episode title “Time Warp” for Coven Academy season 1, I’ve been singing “Let’s do the time warp again” in my head. As a time travel fan, I loved that Teagan could bend time. But we didn’t know she could turn back time to reveal the past and the secrets it may hold. After the vague summoning of Mary Roberts, Briar will do anything to solve her mom's final moments. With the help of Tamora’s memory and a lot of magic, the girls are in for the biggest discovery yet.
But wait, I don’t think we know the entire truth by the end of episode 13. There are so many secrets running amok that the girls have a lot more to uncover. Although Briar’s number one mission is understanding her mom’s past and death, there’s more danger lurking in the shadows. Through these four episodes, Briar learns who she can and can’t trust.
Tamora’s final memory of Mary
Jake helps Briar reword her “show me who killed my mom” question to the mirror to “show me your last memory with Mary Roberts.” Unfortunately, Tamora wouldn't have seen who killed Mary, but her last memories of her could hold a clue, and Jake's right. Tamora saw Mary recently, when she met up with her coven at a local NOLA restaurant in the Art District to catch up.
The closer she looks at her mom, the more she notices the necklace she's wearing. It's the one Briar made her mom and gave her the night before she was murdered. So, why is her mom having a catch-up session in New Orleans with her coven an hour before her body is discovered on the subway platform in Brooklyn, New York?
Briar brings makeup beverages as Sasha ends her call with her mom. As Briar apologizes for her secrets, she tells Sasha she has something big to tell her and Teagan. Once they meet up, Teagan suggests rewinding time to the exact place of the memory to find out what happened that night. The girls join hands in front of Lisette’s and clear their minds as the clock turns backwards. As visitors from another time, no one can see or hear them as they observe Mary, Emma (Miss Graves), and Tamora's last conversation before Mary's murder.
As Briar listens to her mom and her coven catch up, she and her coven discover something huge about Tamora's final memory. After Mary looks at her phone one too many times worrying about Briar, Emma asks Tamora to tell them why she called the coven together. Tamora reveals that from time to time she consults the future to see updates in the housing market, but this time she noticed something troubling. She drops an ancient rune on the table that tells of chaos and death. There's something wicked coming to New Orleans but Tamora knows what can stop it.
Tamora believes the three of them can be a coven again and face the wickedness coming. Mary worries about abandoning her life in New York and what will happen to Briar. Emma tells her that Briar can enroll in Crescent Veil. It turns out, a month prior, Briar showed some early signs of her powers with broken windows and lightbulbs. Mary covered it up from Briar because she was unsure if she wanted to raise her in the world of Coven Academy despite hiding who they really are from her daughter. Secrets drove her away the first time, so Mary had one condition for her to return to the coven: they needed to come clean to the council about what happened that night in 1998, Winter Solstice (Winter Formal).
That secret puts Emma's Headmistress job on the line and her ability to protect her students. When Mary hopes she'll lead with honesty, Emma throws Mary's lies to Briar back in her face. That final blow cuts deep, sending Mary to leave and head back to New York.
As the girls follow Mary out of the restaurant, Teagan nearly falls from honing too much magic to stay in the past. She's determined to solve this mystery because it is so much deeper than Mary's murder. They follow Mary and uncover a hidden moment between Jake and Sasha from when they dated for a few months (a secret she hadn't revealed to Briar since it never came up). They put a pin in their conversation as they catch up to Mary.
They dead-end in a back alley as Mary records the last voicemail she ever sent to Briar. The voicemail reveals that Mary did want a face-to-face conversation with Briar about something urgent. As they comfort Briar, they hear someone coming, most likely her killer because they found Mary's body right after she left that voicemail. Before they can find out, time rewinds as Teagan's energy drains. But only Sasha and Briar arrive back in the present in the alley from the past.
Teagan’s energy fades
A few seconds pass; Teagan's energy fades in the past. Then she falls back into the present, with Sasha and Briar catching her. Jake, holding Teagan, teleports all three girls back to the academy. As Jake lays Teagan down, they shout for help from anyone who can hear them. Miss Graves questions what's going on until she sees Teagan bleeding and Jake carries her to the infirmary.
Miss Graves calls in Mr. Cole and Agnes. Teagan pushed her magic too far and too fast for her body to handle, so now her mind is lost deep within (a coma-like state). Miss Graves warns them that sadly there are some things you can't come back from, even with magic. The students are sent into the hall to wait for Miss Graves so they can recount what happened tonight to cause Teagan's condition. Mr. Cole assures them to ask questions if they have them before rejoining the teachers.
Sasha tells Miss Graves to brace herself before it's not good. Miss Graves sends Jake away so the witches can have a private conversation. Briar reveals that they went back a year to the night Briar's mom died, which is the furthest Teagan has ever jumped on top of the number of people she carried with her. They call out Miss Graves for withholding information that led them to turn back time and follow Mary. After coming clean, all they can do is wait for news as Miss Graves helps save Teagan.
You know things are bad when Sasha agrees with Briar that they can't just sit around and wait for news. Due to Teagan being lost deep within, as Agnes calls it, Sasha remembers how her mom used to go into her late brother Mason's mind, and pull him out of his night terrors. Walking in her mind is risky and requires three very powerful witches or warlocks. Apparently, Sasha thinks Jake can help them round out the trio. He agrees without hesitation.
They go into the infirmary to find the nurse tending to Tegan. Before she can get them in trouble, Sasha uses her magic to convince her to take a long coffee break. After she leaves, they get to work, considering Teagan looks worse but is at least breathing. Joining hands, they repeat the spell after Sasha and enter Teagan's mind.
Jake pushes his dark magic abilities
After class, Jake stays behind to talk to Mr. Cole, who is happy to talk. Jake tells him about the shape-shifting spell and how amazing it went. But there's a catch, he had the same marking on his arm that Mr. Cole has on his back. He reminds Jake to keep them hidden because of the school's closed-mindedness about that type of magic.
Jake rushes back to his room after Mr. Cole warns him that Briar is in great danger from Ollie. Jake tries to tell him that he's warned Briar, but she hasn't listened. Then, he realized he needed to prove that Ollie had never drunk human blood before and would never try to hurt Briar. He shape-shifts into Tamora and calls upon her memories with Ollie. It's anything but good.
The memory reveals most likely the only time Ollie drank human blood when Tamora tied up a guy and had him feed. Despite Ollie only drinking animal blood when Jake confronts him, Jake knows it's not the whole truth. He reveals the mirror's memory, and Ollie crumbles.
Ollie explains that it was the night he turned into a fledgling, and he had to feed to survive. Jake isn't convinced it wasn't more than survival, considering Ollie killed someone. Ollie admits he was a monster, but after that night he vowed never to drink human blood again and he hasn't. Jake lays it on thick about what if Ollie slips and hurts Briar, but Ollie is consistent that he won't.
When Jake tries to leave, Alexander stops him. This isn't about the fake money (that Jake gave him) but respect and the broken terms of their agreement.
Jake doesn't back down; he pulls out a wooden stake, but Alexander is too fast for him. As if things couldn't get any more confusing, Mr. Cole comes out of nowhere and throws Alexander across the room with a simple chant.
He quickly teleports Jake to his classroom, and Jake is thrilled at the rush but confused why Mr. Cole showed up. He had a sneaky suspicion that Jake would do something crazy, and he did because he doesn't think, he does. He went into that Vampire Den without a plan and almost ended up not leaving.
He felt powerless against Alexander and his mission to protect Briar from Ollie. Mr. Cole agrees to assist him with learning more dark magic so he can handle himself by handing him a book of dark magic, promising he'll never feel weak again.
Saving Teagan reveals the danger
They fall into Teagan's childhood home because the soul returns to it before they die. But they aren't going to let it get that far, as they follow music to find Teagan lying in bed in the same condition as the real world.
They wake her up, but she doesn't want to come with them. Something tries to sweep her away as they pull her out of bed. They try to convince her she's worth fighting for as she begs them to let her go. Jake lets go and channels dark magic to save Teagan. It bounces them all back to the real world with Teagan alive and talking.
Sasha sees Jake's dark magic marks as he tries to cover them up. They leave to talk in the hall. She gets onto him for playing with fire by using dark magic that he said he would never do. He stops her from reading his mind when he keeps the truth from her. She's worried he could have hurt himself and Teagan, but he points out everyone is alive and well so it all worked out.
Briar’s in shock that Teagan saw the killer before she passed out. Teagan warns her that it may be difficult to hear, but she wants to know everything. She recounts the final thing she saw: Mary was walking down the alley all alone when Miss Graves approached her. When Mary says she's ready to reunite the coven, Miss Graves chokes her with her magic. In an instant, she drains the life out of Mary.
Miss Graves being the killer doesn't make sense to Sasha but it does to Briar. Little things keep adding up: how she keeps secrets, her vagueness, and withholding answers from Briar. Jake vows not to let Miss Graves anywhere near them know that they think she knows they know what she did. When Jake is a little too intense, Sasha calls him out for his heightened aggression being a side effect of using dark magic, and Briar discovers the markings on Jake's arms. After their fight, he storms away and receives a threatening text from Alexander so the girls judging him is the least of his problems.
Briar locks her door and turns around to find Miss Graves in her room. She's trying to tell her she knows what she saw but Briar doesn't want to hear it. It's obvious Miss Graves is confused as to why Mr. Cole would be investigating her as Briar runs out the door with Miss Graves calling out for her. She grabs her but Briar uses her magic to shatter the glass around Miss Graves and escapes.
After escaping Miss Graves, Briar shows up at Ollie's with Teagan and Sasha in tow. She thanks him for letting them stay with him because it is the one place she feels safe. Teagan makes a joke about “a vampire inviting witches in” as they enter the house and Ollie reminds Sasha he won't bite. Ollie and Sasha get a moment to hash out their differences and how they've come together to look out for Briar. He vows to keep her safe but she's still worried about all that she doesn't know. Ollie lies about knowing about the scrying mirror and Briar accepts it as fact instead of believing what Jake said.
Mr. Cole's dark side revealed
Mr. Cole chants an incantation of sorts as he places his hand on the grass somewhere on campus. Mr. Kittridge (head/elder warlock) catches Mr. Cole in a restricted area where only him and Miss Graves have authorization to be there. Mr. Cole plays it off that he was taking a morning stroll and walked too far around campus.
Mr. Kittridge isn't buying it for a second as he calls out Mr. Cole for finding himself at the Leyland access point instead of far away from it. When Mr. Kittridge applies pressure, Mr. Cole chants and turns Mr. Kittridge to ash.
Later, Miss Graves reveals Mr. Kittridge sent in a resignation letter without so much as a goodbye. And when she's pressed about a new head warlock, Mr. Cole offers himself as one. She promises him that she'll refer his name to the council for official consideration.
The girls take their discovery to Agnes, but she doesn't believe that could be true about Miss Graves. She believes they believe it's true but she needs to investigate to find out if it's the truth. Then, she warns them not to tell anyone else what they discovered. Agnes takes the issue right to the source, and Miss Graves is worried about who the girls have told. Miss Graves deflects Agnes' questions about what information she could be missing, and instead tries to go find the girls.
Meanwhile the girls are telling Mr. Cole, who sadly believes it could be the truth. Sasha is confused that he isn't shocked. He tells them he isn't shocked because he's investigating Miss Graves on behalf of the council which is why he's at Crescent Veil and close to Miss Graves. He insinuates that Miss Graves is using dark magic (but we know Mr. Cole is the one teaching Jake), and warns them to not let her catch wind of their discovery. He promises to take care of it and for them to keep everyone else out of it so they don't start a school-wide panic.
When Teagan tells the girls they need to warn Jake, Mr. Cole gets more curious. She tells him he's a big reason she's awake because he helped them out. But, by his face, I can tell Mr. Cole isn't buying the vague reason. I think he knows Jake used dark magic to help the girls out.
After using dark magic to help the girls and getting in a fight, Jake's back in his room after that threatening text from Alexander. As he's admiring his marks, he answers a call from his mom. She calls him out for ignoring her calls and he bites back that he doesn't need a wellness check every day. She's calling about Thanksgiving coming up, but before she can tell him more Mr. Cole knocks on his door to have a word with him. He scolds him for practicing dark magic in front of people who won't understand when he specifically told him not to do that.
Because he exposed his powerful side, Briar and the girls will never look at him the same. Mr. Cole is nervous the girls won't keep his secret because witches never do. Jake only wanted to do the right thing but Mr. Cole had hoped he was smarter than risking his secret to save someone.
Miss Graves looks through pages in Mr. Cole's classroom after Briar escapes her. Out of the darkness, Mr. Cole approaches her after she found his maps of the Leylands. He was asking for access to the restricted areas because he's going to be head of school soon. He tells her it's time for her to take a much-deserved leave of absence as he starts to chant. She's sucked through a portal and drops somewhere unknown, but next to another version of Mr. Cole.
Coven Academy season 1 is now streaming on Disney+. Keep reading our recaps here at Show Snob,
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