The Ex Hex

“Goddess, we beseech you to make him the sort of man who will forever think the clitoris is exactly one-third of an inch away from where it actually is.”

Vivi and Gwyn’s curse is not intended to be a legitimate hex, and the things they ask of the Goddess are all an effort to make Vivi laugh or feel better after her breakup. They ask for his hair to never be perfect again and for his sexual prowess to lessen just enough that he will never sexually satisfy another woman after Vivi. The scene demonstrates Vivi and Gwyn’s true sensibilities as witches and as human beings: neither has it in them to intentionally hurt another person, even if that person has hurt one of them.

“Rhys knew his father was an incredibly powerful witch, but he didn’t have to be such a cliché about it.”

The Penhallows are powerful witches who take themselves seriously and look disdainfully upon the commercialization of witchery, as in the gimmicky merchandise sold in shops like Something Wicked. However, Simon Penhallow, the patriarch, lives in a house that looks so much like a stereotypical witch’s home that Rhys wonders how their family ever avoided persecution. Penhaven Manor’s outward appearance (and interior decorating) embraces as a point of pride the same stereotypical witch imagery that Vivi’s family monetizes in Graves Glen, which makes Simon seem hypocritical and snobbish.