The TV Chick

Secret Circle fans, please join me in a moment of silence to mourn the CW’s long winter hiatus. This week’s mid-season finale was a solid, plain old awesome hour of television. I need more now.

The Blackwell Family
Looks like Cassie’s evil. Well, at the very least she has the potential to be evil. Cassie and Jake learn that Cassie’s father, John Blackwell, or J.B. as he’s listed on Calvin’s secret family tree, comes from a line of super evil magic. This is the first we’re hearing any details about Cassie’s father and the revelation just raises a whole new host of questions. What was Amelia doing with someone so full of dark magic? And also Dawn, who alluded to a past relationship with Blackwell. Clearly, the ladies of Chance Harbor have a bad boy complex. But did Dawn ever follow through with that old attraction to Blackwell? Could Faye be the second Blackwell descendant in the circle? We don’t know much about Melissa or Jake’s parents, so it’s hard to make an educated guess without a little more backstory from those two. Just for fun, I’d like the second Blackwell descendant to be Diana. I have a feeling a dark magic showdown between Cassie and Diana could be epic.

Jake and the Witch-hunters
Jake’s been an interesting addition to the show. A significant step up from Nick, but I still feel like he’s not 100% meshing with the show. It almost seems like Jake is on a different show from the rest of the characters. Jake’s show is good, but it doesn’t fit with what’s going on with the rest of the circle. Part of the problem comes from how fast story moves on Secret Circle; there wasn’t time to delve into Jake’s character before thrusting him into the center of a plot to kill Cassie. The show kept telling us that Jake was a threat and that these witch hunters are dangerous, but they were never able to execute their plan with any degree of success and now after 3 or 4 episodes of build up they’re sailing away from Chance Harbor on their magic-free boat. Jake’s final moment at the end of the episode was a strong one. His sacrifice for Cassie really deepened his character, and I hope the writers bring Jake back for more in the second half of the season.

Adam, Diana, and the giant elephant in the room also known as Adam’s jealousy
Whew, Adam has some emotions. Thomas Dekker needs to calm down. Adam’s jealous rage over Jake ‘kidnapping’ Cassie was over the top and borderline ridiculous. He just got dumped by Diana, shouldn’t the boy take a moment to lick his wounds before pursing another girl? Speaking of moving two fast, maybe Diana should wait a few days before diving in with her old crush on Melissa’s cousin. Adam was supposedly the love of her life; that takes more than a few days to get over. Teenagers these days, so silly.

Dawn and Charles…and Jane
Looks like this relationship has a new master. Now that Charles has a crystal, he holds the power. No more following Dawn’s bidding. He does want he wants. And what he wants apparently is to steal his family’s book from his daughter and poorly modify Cassie’s grandmother’s memory. Not the finest displays of magic, but I’m sure Charles has more impressive things coming up. I love the new dynamic between Charles and Dawn. Previously, they needed each other; both powerless (and probably a little lonely) they used one another to find a way back to magic. But now that Charles has magic and Dawn doesn’t, does their partnership remain in tact? Do they continue to pursue the same goal of that mysterious ceremony that will return them to full power?

A few extra thoughts on the first half of Season 1

• Where does Melissa go from here? The girl was barely in the last two episodes of the season and she spent most of the other episodes complaining or crying. Boring.
• The Secret Circle ‘theme song’ creeps me out so much. But it like it.
• The show has turned out much darker than I expected, which has really elevated it to a new level. The writers have found a great balance between the soapy teen drama and genuinely tense, scary moments.

Dear writers, more fierce Faye episodes like last week’s please.