The Winter Solstice 1998 secrets almost broke everything, but instead they lit a fire under Briar. Although she mostly wants revenge and to kill William before he hurts Miss Graves, she mostly wants to save the city and the school. William aside, everything she's come to love is in danger, and a moonstone can restore Miss Graves' powers so she can help them defeat it. Everything is in the hands of a teenager as danger stands right in front of her as Coven Academy enters the final stretch of its season.
Thankfully, Briar isn't alone with William (as Mr. Cole) for long as Teagan comes in and points out it isn't the middle of the night. William notes how technically they could still be expelled for him catching them in the vault. I love that they tell him they're trying to stop Briar's mom’s killer, and he asks them if they want to stand up to Miss Graves. Briar doesn't back down; she sticks to the knowledge that it was Miss Graves and she needs to find something to go against her magic. He doesn't want them anywhere near her, wanting the council to take care of it, as he tells the girls to go to their rooms.
As Briar reveals she succeeded in grabbing the moonstone, Teagan worries she'll never be confident in using her magic. But despite her not being able to stop him with magic, they talked their way out of it. The moonstone isn't the only good thing that came out of this mission. When Agnes read Sasha's mind, she uncovered the truth about William. As he walks past her into Miss Graves’ office, she calls in by name, stopping him in his tracks.
He tries to deflect, but as soon as she calls him out, he shapeshifts to his true face. She threatens to turn him into the council if he doesn't go to them himself. Although she reminds him she's immortal, he's not fazed because he doesn't need to kill her; he just needs a spell to get her out of the way. Unfortunately, that's a spell that traps her in a painting.
Jake and McKenna's mission
McKenna comes into Jake's room without knocking after he leaves her a sad voicemail. Not being able to get around it, Jake tells her that Briar believes the real Mr. Cole is dead and an imposter is in her place. That imposter killed her mom, but McKenna almost doesn't believe it because they still think Miss Graves is the true killer and could be lying to Briar. But then again, Briar isn't gullible.
Since they can't go to the council without potentially ruining Mr. Cole's life if Briar is wrong, McKenna wants to join Jake to help him find out the truth for themselves. Finally, after she tells him she has the teachers’ addresses thanks to being head witch, he has no choice but to let her join him.
Jake and McKenna search Mr. Cole's home, but they haven't found the basement yet. Even the scanning spell didn't bring anything up, but Jake won't give up. It leads him to a locked door that is going to take dark magic over light magic to unlock what's hidden. Unfortunately, now McKenna knows Jake can wield dark magic as he unlocks the door with one chant. The door only reveals a closet full of hats, which makes him want to tell Briar before Miss Graves tells her any more lies.
They wait for Miss Graves to regain her powers
Teagan thinks they are having tea as Miss Graves prepares the table. As she's telling her they aren't, Miss Graves smashes the moonstone into tiny pieces. She makes the witches brew and drinks it. Since restoring her powers this way is grueling, she tells the girls to leave.
As the girls wait and worry back in one of their rooms, Sasha decides it's time to tell her truth. She tells them she beat the impossible and got accepted to Coven Academy in Florence, Italy. It's the campus where all the council members went and one that Sasha has dreamed about since she was five. Briar and Teagan are all for Sasha following her dreams, but Sasha is surprised they aren't begging her not to break up the coven. Instead, they want to stand by her and not in her way.
Miss Graves comes face-to-face with William as he sits at her desk. She creates a chase, begging him to stop, but he casts a spell and reveals she's not actually there. Briar’s coven comes out of the shadows of the school’s halls and casts the same spell Mary's coven did in 1998 as Miss Graves watches from the balcony. As they have him trapped, Jake runs in and breaks their hands, ending the spell. William grabs Jake's hand and pulls him through a portal.
The real Mr. Cole revealed
Briar returns to her room to find Ollie standing in the dark. He's no longer crazed, but the aftershock is there all over his face (blood) and his body language (hurt over not being able to see her anymore). She tries to make him understand she feels safest with him as he keeps pulling away. He finally confesses Jake was telling the truth about the scrying mirror. He begs her to uninvite him, but she doesn't give in until he tries to attack her. The second she shouts it, he's swooshed out the window, hopefully shutting off access to the vampires who want to attack the school.
William (as Mr. Cole) begs Jake to return to school, but Jake doesn't understand how he can return after thinking Miss Graves is so bad and going against the girls. He harps on being a wanted man and knowing he doesn't want Jake caught up in a fight. William talks him into it, then teleports out, leaving Jake alone.
Briar texts Jake that he needs to hurry so they can talk but assures him he isn't in trouble. Jake is still convinced he saved his teacher's life and that Miss Graves is feeding the girls lies. They tell him to walk into the infirmary for the truth. He walks in to find the real Mr. Cole lying in the bed with Miss Graves at his bedside. Miss Graves calmly tells Jake that this is the real Mr. Peter Cole, and Jake set a dangerous man named William loose. She reveals that the real Mr. Cole is barely hanging on as Jake watches his chest raise and fall.
As Miss Graves is on the phone trying to secure safety for the school, Mr. Cole walks with the assistance of a walking cane. Miss Graves reveals that Agnes would have probably gotten more if she was here. Little do they know she's in the painting in the office, right behind the wall Mr. Cole is standing in front of. Although she left the basement alone, she sent the council to rescue him.
Preparing for the Winter Solstice
Teagan shows Briar the decorations being put up for Winter Solstice. Briar is nervous that they won't be going to the ceremony with Sasha's decision still to be made, an evil warlock wanting to poison the Leylands, and Ollie out of her life. On top of all of that, Jake is on a mission to find William and make things right. Instead, that's the most dangerous plan ever even though it is right up Jake's alley. With the Leylands opening together, they have no choice but to be on alert and band together even if feelings are hurt.
The girls gather their magical supplies together to get ready for William’s attack. Teagan worries that she'll freeze up again, but Sasha reminds her and Briar both that they're stuck with her. Although Italy was her dream, the coven is her dream now, and she wants them in her future.
After learning that Sasha is staying, Briar chases after Jake when they catch a glimpse of him walking by the room. He finally reveals that William is his dad and he can't believe his dad killed Briar's mom. Briar reminds him he'll never be like his dad. Then, she surprises him by telling him he was right about Ollie. She's sorry for not listening to his paranoia. As he leaves, he tells her to save him a dance at the Winter Solstice if he makes it back in time for her ceremony.
Jake seeks out William
Ollie gives into his hunger and continues to drink human blood. Tesse reminds him how cold it was for his ex-girlfriend to uninvite him from the school. Ollie needs to forget her and go on his first hunting trip. Now he's one of them.
William visits the Vampire Den, and Tesse immediately tells him warlocks are not welcome here anymore. Although he understands why, he hates witches and warlocks as much as they do. William has a proposition for them: tonight at midnight at the Leylands access point, he's lowering the wards at Crescent Veil for them so witches and warlocks can finally get what's coming to them for how they treat the vampires. The choice is now theirs as William teleports out.
Jake meets up with a werewolf to find someone. The werewolf warns him to be careful who he insults since he already has vampires after him. As Ollie looks on from afar, William asks if Jake's looking for him. Jake doesn't back down from accusing William of lying about being his dad like he's lied about everything else. Instead of answering him, he says let's talk inside and pulls him through a portal.
Jake immediately questions William as soon as they land on the other side of the portal. He finally calls him out on wearing another man's face and meets William’s true face. He couldn't go in as himself, as Emma's coven would have recognized him. He didn't get his magic back until July 26, on Jake's birthday, when he summoned his supposed late dad. Although Jake wanted to see his dad again, he knows his plan to cast dark magic on the entire world is wrong. Jake summons dark magic against his dad.
Winter Solstice Ceremony and Party
The girls are dressed to the nines and armed with the best magic they can give heading into the Winter Solstice. This is the best night of their lives. Nothing will stand in their way, not even William.
Miss Graves addresses the witches and reminds them to hold tight to their sisterhood. She calls the coven up one by one, and they join hands as the ceremony begins. They commit to honor the commitment of the coven, and Miss Graves grants them a coven with a magical spell and golden fireflies. Now the party begins.
McKenna pulls Teagan away to talk about why she left their trio. She has to spell it out for her. McKenna didn't want to be Teagan's sister but more. They walk onto the dance floor together, smiling. Finally, I think they're going to be okay.
Jake barrels in and pulls Briar away for a chat. He's obviously shaken from his conversation with his dad. He warns her that his shadow spell wasn't enough to knock William out, so he's on his way here. It's 1998 all over again.
Here's the catch: they can't tell Miss Graves because William is hoping to kill her. Instead, Jake stole William's dark magic grimoire so he and a witch could perform a spell to strip William's powers for good. After double-checking it is really Jake and not William behind his face, they leave the party.
William's plan begins
While Ollie hunts in the night, Tesse rallies the other vamps to hunt down the warlock who murdered Alexander. He reminds them they don't want to make hybrids, so no drinking witch or warlock blood.
As Sasha comes to get Teagan to find Briar with McKenna telling them she went with Jake, the vampires attack the Winter Solstice party. Miss Graves can hear the attacks from the Leylands and thinks William is creating a distraction. She tells the men to guard the Leylands with their lives as she heads for the school.
Unfortunately, it is up to Jake and Briar to stop William. But as they hear the cries from the school, his probability of William creating confusion alerts her to it not being Jake like he begged her to believe. She changes his face with dark magic and reveals William. He took her into the woods towards the Leylands like he did with Mary in 1998. When the protectors leave their post to stop William, he takes them out with one dark chant.
Coven Academy season 1 is now streaming on Disney+.
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