These first three episodes of Secrets of the Silent Witch each set the stage for the story to come in different ways.
The first episode is all about laying down the premise. We get our first introduction to the world, key players, and the premise of the show. Basically, the kingdom is on the edge of a succession crisis. While many are backing the crown prince for the thrown, the second prince, Felix, is backed by a powerful Duke who seems to want to use the younger prince as a pawn to take power from royal hands and collect it in his own. This, not unexpectedly, makes Felix a target ripe for assassination by the crown prince’s faction—especially as he is currently outside the royal palace attending school.
To make things more complicated, the one tasked with protecting Felix, the Barrier Mage Louis Miller, is a member of the crown prince’s faction—making him less than trusted by Felix or his allies. Thus Louis enlists the aid of Monica Everett, the Silent Witch—a powerful mage with no ties to either faction whose face happens to be unknown even to members of the royal family. In other words, she’s the perfect choice to impartially protect Felix from the shadows.
The issue with this first episode is not the information we are given but how it is given to us. The episode is almost entirely expository dialogue where Louis tells the entire situation to Monica. There is very little on the show-don’t-tell front and it all feels like a joke due to how uninterested and downright fearful Monica is of the plan to send her undercover into a school for nobles.
The second episode, on the other hand, is all about fleshing out Monica as a character. When it comes down to it, Monica’s social anxiety—which is so great she developed a new way of using magic without the need to chant just so she didn’t have to talk in front of people—is a complex issue stemming from two sources. The first is a matter of “nature.” Monica is obsessed with math; it is her special interest and she can’t help but want to share how cool and interesting it is with all those around her. (It’s also what makes her so great at magic.) However, she is aware that few people feel the same way about it that she does—even if she can’t quite imagine how this could be.
The second issue is a matter of “nurture.” After her father was killed as a heretic due to the results of his mathematical research, Monica’s new “guardian” would beat her anytime she talked about math in public (and likely any other time the man found her displeasing). This instilled in her a fear of talking—that she never knew what the “correct” thing to say would be in any given situation. In her child’s mind, any wrong word could potentially set anyone off and end with her getting beaten. Thus, her defense mechanism became to say nothing at all. And now, years later, she is nearly unable to speak—even when she knows not answering might lead to problems as bad as saying the wrong thing. Luckily, through her interactions with the various students at the school, she’s starting to overcome her trauma little by little.
The third episode is where the setting and characters are finally put to use. The entire episode is a mystery story where Monica attempts to figure out the identity of the person trying to kill Felix. Using her skills in trigonometry and calculus, she is able to figure out where the assassin was during the latest attempt and then collect the evidence needed to figure out the culprit. In the process, we see her attempts to grow beyond her trauma and both do the right thing to protect her friends.
We also get hints throughout these three episodes about the greater mystery to solve. The idea of memory altering magic and its side effects is naturally introduced into the story and from that we are able to spot the signs that there is a yet-to-be-revealed mastermind pulling the strings from the shadows—manipulating those who have been attacking Felix in various ways.
All in all, these first three episodes are a solid introduction to the world, characters, and general status quo of Secrets of the Silent Witch. And while it started off a bit shakily, by the third episode, this series has already hit its stride.
Episode 1 Rating:
Episode 2 Rating:
Episode 3 Rating:
Secrets of the Silent Witch is currently streaming on
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Dil Nawaz — a writer who breathes life into emotions through words. I find beauty in silence, meaning in longing, and stories in every heartbeat. Writing for me isn’t just passion; it’s a way to connect souls, one feeling at a time.