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Post by orokiah on Mar 6, 2012 19:57:53 GMT
The Secret Circle, Episode 1.12: 'Witness'
**spoilers follow**
After a couple of decent episodes, this one was only ever going to disappoint. Going back to the night of the boat fire: great! Seeing it all through Cassie's eyes, via Jake's suppressed memory: not so much. A younger Dawn and Charles are nowhere to be seen. Amelia and Heather are noticeably absent. A hooded John Blackwell does some magic with a coin and then wanders off, leaving the rest of his Circle to burn. There's more older generation intrigue, as Ethan is seen walking away from the boat, seemingly in cahoots with the witch hunters and/or Blackwell. But it's just another plot thread left hanging, in a series that has more than enough already.
The big reveal--that the witch hunters are behind the fire, having lured the Circle to the boat with the promise of a truce--is another letdown (and surely not the whole story). It's also symptomatic of the turn the season has taken. After being teased with demons, the witch hunters entered the equation, and there's barely been a mention of them since. What about the deal Dawn struck with Abaddon, who so memorably possessed Melissa, leading to Nick's untimely death? It's forgotten: like Sally Matthews, and Jake's cold-blooded murder of Calvin, also seem to be. And then there's Melissa herself: missing in action yet again, along with Grandma Blake. At best, the show is lacking a firm sense of direction. At worst, its scattergun approach to a story arc--throwing ideas out there until one of them sticks--is plain old sloppy.
There were bright spots, and as usual in The Secret Circle, the brightest of them involved the older generation. Jake and Nick's parents were instantly compelling, and will hopefully reappear in future trips to the past. Back in the present, Dawn is still unable to persuade Charles to return the crystal, and enlists Ethan to help get it back. Unfortunately for her, Ethan gets just as drunk on power as booze, and once he's exacted his revenge on Charles, he decides to keep the crystal for himself. Poor conniving Dawn is back to square one: but the prospect of her and Charles teaming up against Ethan makes it all worthwhile.
Other highlights: the eerie graveyard of ships, the discovery of animal bones in Blackwell's coffin, and the tearjerking sight of Jake, twice over, watching his mother die. Best of all, Adam and Diana not only use magic, but put aside their problems and work together to help Cassie and Jake, demonstrating the sort of teamwork that the series espouses, but rarely puts to use.
Cassie's line about 'super special dark magic killing plans' really should be heaped with irony--instead it's played completely straight. If all the witches of the Circle could perform magic when apart, however minor, Cassie's super special status would be a good deal less jarring. Faye's lust for power might have driven her into a thinly-veiled subplot about drug addiction, but her desire to go solo is looking more reasonable by the episode.
Crossover appeal of the week: Cassie reliving Jake's memory of the boat fire / Thelma reliving Ella's memory of being burned as a witch. Cassie is meant to be invisible, but a character on the boat spots her and tells her she's not supposed to be there--suggesting that she, just like Thelma, is not only witnessing events, but taking a trip back in time.
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Post by orokiah on Mar 11, 2012 19:49:32 GMT
The Secret Circle, Episode 1.13: 'Medallion'
**spoilers follow**
A huge improvement from last week: a well-paced and balanced episode, in which all the major players get something to do, and their relationships take some intriguing strides forward. The Secret Circle is always more enjoyable when there's some solid character development in evidence--and when that development is fairly shared around.
This episode is a great example: Jake being a murderer is finally addressed, leading to him seeking comfort in Faye; Cassie slips further to the dark side while trying to master Blackwell's medallion; Adam is the voice of reason for a change, advocating that Cassie trusts in the Circle instead of interfering with things she knows nothing about (hurrah!); and Ethan co-opts Diana into arranging Adam's birthday party, despite being the prime mover behind their break-up. Melissa is back too, becoming addicted to magical drugs at breakneck speed. It's a bit rushed, and a little bit seedy: but it's a better kind of trip than her regular offscreen jaunts with her many unseen relatives.
Better still are the hilarious hijinks of Dawn and Charles, at odds over her desire to kill Kate, and Ethan having hold of the crystal. Charles' solution to this problem is simple: he drugs Ethan and steals it back. Meanwhile, Dawn, the most inept baddie of all time, tries to manipulate Lucy--Blackwell's psychic, the woman who saw Cassie in the boat fire, and the obviously evil guest star of the week--into locating the other family crystals. Unfortunately for her, Lucy is actually working for the witch hunters, on a mission to steal the medallion, and stabs her. Fortunately for the show, Charles finds her, and uses the crystal to save her life. It's the highlight of the episode, partly because there's genuine suspense involved. It's far from a given that Charles will revive Dawn, given the tensions between them; the fact that his instinctive response is to save her, and the way the pair of them react in the aftermath, suggests there's a different kind of tension altogether brewing. Gale Harold and Natasha Henstridge have fantastic chemistry: I can't wait to see how it all develops.
Other highlights: Diana's sweet, awkward speech at Adam's party; Faye teasing Melissa over her new found friendship with Diana; the montage at the end, to the epic, haunting strains of The Raveonettes' 'War in Heaven'.
Downsides: Jake's redemption seeming no more substantive than him discovering the witch hunters lied to him, then switching sides (so is he assuming they were lying about the other child of Blackwell too--hence never mentioning it once since he returned to Chance Harbour?); the way the rest of the Circle timidly acquiesces to a ritual Lucy has persuaded Cassie to perform, and then stands back dumbly while she drives Lucy out of town, single-handed, with her super-special dark magic powers. Britt Robertson is chillingly effective as Dark!Cassie, a version of the character that's creepy, and unpredictable, and interesting--but once you separate the spectacle of Cassie being An Awesome Badass, it's the same old routine: Cassie saving the day at the expense of the other characters...yet again.
Crossover appeal of the week: Cassie discovering the Balcoin medallion is missing from her secret fireplace hidey-hole / Ella discovering the stone of Belial has vanished from hers.
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Post by orokiah on Mar 21, 2012 20:23:53 GMT
The Secret Circle, Episode 1.14: 'Valentine'
**spoilers follow**
This far into the season, it's safe to say there are some things that guarantee an above-average Secret Circle episode. In no particular order: emphasis on the ensemble and not just Cassie and her Super Specialness; all of the Circle being present and correct; a horror vibe; use of the show's atmospheric, seaside setting; and an appearance from Charles and Dawn.
This episode lacks the latter (sadly passing up the chance to expand on Charles' decision to save Dawn), but everything else is present and correct: even Melissa! And with Cassie and Adam sharing a passionate kiss, and the appearance of a figure at the end who can only be John Blackwell, things finally seem to be going somewhere.
The best bits: the scary hooded figures haunting Cassie, and the brilliantly-realised gothic church, looming out of the fog. The juxtaposition between two very different triangles: Adam/Cassie/Jake and the battle between Faye and Diana to be Melissa's BFF (Cassie's love life has its moments, but watching the girls bonding and casting silly spells is much more fun, and exactly the sort of interaction this show needs). A drugged-up, hilariously irreverent Diana and Melissa. And the return of Isaac the witch hunter, adding some layers to Jake and his sudden change of sides.
The bad: No Dawn and Charles, and even worse, not a single mention of them--Faye hosts a sleepover at the house she shares with her mother, and they couldn't spare one line to mention where she's gone (presumably off on her and Charles' never-ending search for crystals)? More bad decisions from Cassie, who is the damsel in distress yet again; not so much the plucky heroine as the frequent victim of plot-induced stupidity. Cassie is much more interesting when she's all dark and reckless, and having the heroine place herself in danger by following the bad guys is a well-worn trope--but it's also incredibly lazy. At least she does, for once, manage to save herself, even with Adam and Jake rushing to her rescue.
This week's crossover appeal: The circumstances may be different--but the sight of Cassie, wandering into a darkened, seemingly abandoned church, is highly suggestive of episode 2.1 of Hex.
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Post by orokiah on Mar 27, 2012 11:14:36 GMT
The Secret Circle, Episode 1.15: 'Return'
**spoilers ahead**
Blackwell Is Back: and despite an underwhelming start, his introduction marks the point at which The Secret Circle rediscovers the momentum that much of the season has been lacking. That he returns powerless (or so he says...) is an obvious, and not entirely successful, attempt to subvert viewers' expectations. Blackwell paints himself as a reasonable sort of guy, and despite Cassie's initial hostility--their awkward reunion is the stuff of soap opera, all stilted conversation and flying incriminations--it doesn't take him long to win her over.
Blackwell is a very cool customer indeed: as persuasive as he is charming. But he's also a Balcoin, with all the evil that entails; and in the last episode alone was revealed to have stolen hundreds of witches' powers, using the show's favourite MacGuffin after Dawn and Charles' beloved crystals, the medallion. He claims to have been summoned by it, and just like Isaac the witch hunter (now discredited in their circles, thanks to his paternal fondness for Jake), he wants Cassie to give it to him, ostensibly to protect her. Hmm. Blackwell isn't going to be a cackling, black-hatted villain--if there's one thing this show excels at, it's shades of grey--but his slide back to badness seems as inevitable as Jake doing a 180 on his witch hunting ways.
This is another Cassie-gets-kidnapped episode, again by the witch hunters, but when the cunning Eben spells her into trying to kill Blackwell, for once even her all-powerful dark magic can't save her. It takes the whole of the Circle to come to the rescue: score one for teamwork, and good old Circle magic. Elsewhere, Melissa is tempted into one of Callum's seedy voodoo parties, where he discovers she's a witch and locks her in a room, seemingly about to try to steal her powers. By the time Lee, Faye and Diana come storming in to save her, Melissa has already saved herself, merely by warning Callum not to test her. When he remarks on how powerful she is, it's tempting to see it as foreshadowing for her reveal as the other child of Blackwell.
Then again... There's Dawn's fondness for Blackwell, which points to Faye; and early in this episode, Charles comments that Cassie has become like his second daughter while staying with the Meades--a twistedly prophetic statement, if both Cassie and Diana are Blackwell's. Still got my fingers crossed that it's Melissa, though. Jessica Parker Kennedy carries off even the most minimal of scenes with aplomb, and she rocked the demonic possession scenes earlier in the season: the dead-eyed dark magic look would suit her down to the ground. She's far too good an actress to be left kicking her heels in the background so often.
Best bits: Cassie ignoring Blackwell's plea to keep his return quiet, and straight away telling Adam; the fact that Eben actually comes prepared, complete with the nasty-looking eyedrops he uses to spell Cassie; Jake being both hero and traitor, thinking nothing of turning Blackwell over to the witch hunters in exchange for Cassie's life; the Faye/Melissa/Diana triumvirate, channelling the sisterly bond of Charmed at its finest (with some added slashy subtext). The girls' interaction is fast becoming one of the best parts of the show, and it's a great contrast to the angst and anguish over on the Cassie/Jake/Adam side of things.
The bad: No Dawn, yet again, and only a brief appearance from Charles. Their impending reunion with Blackwell promises great things for future episodes, though.
This week's crossover appeal: This episode went to a place that Hex dangled briefly, but never got the chance to go: reuniting Cassie with her mysterious, absent father. Meanwhile, Grandma Blake is still languishing in a clinic, recovering from her crystal-induced mental collapse: an obvious parallel with Hex's Lilith.
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Post by orokiah on Apr 1, 2012 18:34:32 GMT
The Secret Circle, Episode 1.16, 'Lucky'
**spoilers follow**
Striking imagery has become a hallmark of this series: the picturesque Chance Harbor, the graveyard of ships in 'Witness', the gothic church in 'Valentine'. The image that closes this episode, a mass of crows, circling over Cassie's house as she and Adam consummate their relationship, is another top-notch visual, right up there with the best.
The reason for the crows? Blake/Conant love affairs aren't just written in the stars: they're a curse. Good news for Jake and Diana; even better news for those of us getting tired of Adam and Cassie's sweet but charisma-free romance. The caveat being that this is according to Blackwell, who may not be full-blown evil at the minute but is still decidedly shady. He spends part of this episode playing daddy to Cassie, part of it nursing a knife wound courtesy of Ethan, and the rest sneaking around the abandoned house, throwing a tantrum when he can't find what he's seeking. Cassie, who witnesses this, is for once not easily won over, and it takes Blackwell a whole couple of scenes--the door being slammed in his face in one of them--to convince her he's legit.
Blackwell might love his daughter, and be concerned about her use of dark magic, but I'll be amazed if the show doesn't go down the path of him using his epic, Azazeal-like powers of persuasion to get Cassie and her Circle under his sway, for the purposes of some mysterious, nefarious scheme. This is The Secret Circle, after all: every other stranger who's come to town has had the exact same storyline.
Almost as well-worn a story driver is the fundraiser. This week it's Casino Night, which sees Cassie and Adam kissing and making up after arguing over their fathers, and voodoo Lee choosing Faye over his formerly comatose ex (revived using Faye's siphoned-off power, which she then uses to kill him. Whoops.). Most interesting of all is Dawn, reuniting with Blackwell, and instantly transforming from powerful woman to starry-eyed schoolgirl ("Your funeral was lovely," she purrs, ignoring his brush-off. "I wore red."). Charles is the only parent still to meet up with Blackwell; with Dawn firmly under JB's spell, and Ethan's botched attempt at murder, he might well be the only one to offer any resistance. If he ever reappears, that is: he's currently offscreen somewhere, in the twilight zone where he, Dawn and Melissa have spent large parts of the season, that seems to have swallowed up Sally and Grandma Blake entirely.
Best of the rest: Cassie's overconfidence being punctured when she loses control and almost kills Ethan--another great little visual--using her dark magic (she's much more interesting when it's a struggle, not an excuse to push her to the forefront and reduce the rest of the Circle to dumbstruck bystanders); the still-sizzling chemistry between Faye and the ill-fated Lee; Melissa's little scene with Jake, calling back to Nick; and Diana's flirtation with newcomer Grant, who is handsome and charming, and in the grand tradition of Secret Circle, surely much too good to be true.
Not-so great: Still no Charles, and only brief glimpses of Dawn: what a waste of a fine pair of actors. Blackwell is a fascinating character, but the conniving duo have consistently been the most compelling part of the show; it's a real shame that they're being sidelined. And then there's Melissa, reduced once more to drifting around, dispensing words of wisdom to Jake and her galpals Diana and Faye. Sweet scenes that they are, Jessica Parker Kennedy could do this kind of stuff in her sleep. Of all the candidates for the other child of Blackwell, Melissa is the one who needs it the most.
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Post by orokiah on Apr 17, 2012 18:48:48 GMT
The Secret Circle Episodes 1.17: 'Curse' and 1.18: 'Sacrifice'
**spoilers follow**
These are episodes worth watching--and talking about--back to back, partly because of the Cassie/Adam storyline which permeates through both, and partly because of the sheer amount of continuity that's packed into them. Yep, The Secret Circle has finally remembered such things as Jake killing Calvin Wilson, Charles killing Amelia, the existence of Grandma Blake and last but not least, demons: lots and lots of them, in all their snake-like glory. And then there's the lovely, eternally patient Diana, reeling from new love interest Grant being revealed as a liar (this is Chance Harbor, he's a guest star: of course he is), and turning on Cassie as a result: castigating her for being a drama queen, and telling her that not everything is about her. Wow. Go Diana.
She's wrong, of course. The Secret Circle is Cassie's story, and there's little hope of that changing any time soon, however much more compelling the supporting players continue to be: but there's something enormously satisfying about hearing one of them actually saying it. Add in all the nods back to previous episodes, and there's a real sense of threads being tied together, ready for the home straight. Either that...or the writers have been spending an awful lot of time lately lurking in fannish places.
The good: Blackwell, continuing to be both devoted dad and super-shady badass; giving inspirational, fist-punching speeches one minute, and digging up shallow graves the next. Charles and Dawn, sparking up the screen yet again: busy sniping, blackmailing and burying knives in each other's backs the way only they can (much as I love their dynamic, these two are utterly wasted on a teen show that's never going to give either actor the screentime they deserve. I'm fully expecting one or both of them to be killed off in the finale). The continuing shake-up of the Circle pairings, with the Charmed-esque Faye/Melissa/Diana combo giving way to Faye, Melissa and Adam. The new audio effect for Cassie's use of her dark magic, in which the background noise fades and her heartbeat is amplified: the struggle with evil is the most effective part of her character and story, and the effect makes it all the creepier. It brings home the sense that Cassie really is losing a part of herself by tapping into it, just as Blackwell suggests.
The bad: Ethan hates Blackwell and knows him to be untrustworthy, yet he's vanished from sight in these episodes, apparently having bought his story about the Conant/Blake curse--which turns out to be exactly that--without a second thought. Maybe his brain's been addled by all the drinking: even starry-eyed Blackwell groupie Dawn is smarter than that.
That Blackwell was lying about the curse is no surprise, but it would have been far more interesting if it was real. On the bright side, it rids us for the moment of Cassie and Adam, who have a sweet kind of chemistry but are still deathly dull together (Adam is instantly much more likeable once he's separated from her: that's not a surprise, either). Both Britt Robertson and Thomas Dekker give it their all, emoting desperately to try to pass off lines about perfect moments and loving each other forever and ever, before supping back an amnesia-giving potion like they're Romeo and Juliet. But when the characters have only been together for a few episodes, it's just not that convincing, however many times 'written in the stars' is wheeled out for another impassioned airing. A couple of seasons down the line, this might have worked. But seventeen episodes in, it's too much, too soon.
Spurious crossover appeal: In order to entrap a demon, Blackwell draws a circle in the dirt and then adds some magic symbols; much like Ella and her hexagram. And how can any Hex fan possibly resist a pair of episodes themed around curses and sacrifice?
There's no Secret Circle on Sky this week: it's taking a week's break as the UK airings have caught up with the US. Unfortunately, that coincides with the Blackwell child finally being revealed in this week's US episode, 'Crystal'. Hmm. To be spoiled or not to be spoiled?.. It's a tough one.
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Post by orokiah on Apr 29, 2012 19:28:08 GMT
The Secret Circle Episode 1.19: 'Crystal'
**major spoilers ahead**
Avoiding spoilers for this episode is definitely worth it. A cracking ride from start to finish, it's one of the best instalments to date, The Secret Circle finally firing on all cylinders. It features fresh Circle combinations (Adam and Melissa), dazzling guest turns (John de Lancie as Jake's eccentric, exposition-loving grandpa), a shock demise (welcome back and RIP, Grandma Blake) and a structure that builds the tension by the minute, leading up to the long-awaited, last-minute reveal of the other Blackwell child...
Diana! The best possible choice, because it wasn't predictable--Faye was always the obvious candidate--and it opens up far greater dramatic possibilities than the other girls did. We've never met Melissa's father, while Faye--who's desperate to be the other Blackwell, and bitterly disappointed that she's not--has never met hers; Diana, though, already has Charles. Making Blackwell her real father raises the stakes for all three of them, as well as for Cassie. Grandma Blake's death leaves her desperately short on family, and thanks to Blackwell destroying her relationship with Adam, she's becoming ever more isolated, and increasingly susceptible to the darker side of her nature. Turning her friendship with Diana into a tentative sisterly bond is a masterstroke. It's a great development all round; the only disappointment is that it leaves Melissa on the sidelines, languishing in the storyline stakes, once again.
Highlights: Grandpa Armstrong and his wall of crazy, sparking disturbing revelations about the Circle's consecutive birthdates and Blackwell's evil plan; Faye and Melissa's search for the Chamberlain crystal, which leads them to Dawn's underwear drawer ("No one that old should have that many thongs," Faye complains, having overlooked the fact that her mother is a) Natasha Henstridge and b) in the context of the show, merely somewhere in her thirties) and then to her teenage diary, filled with 50 Shades of Grey-style outpourings about Blackwell; Charles and Blackwell's tense confrontation; Faye's emotional conversation with Blackwell, who admits he is not her father and claims Dawn is lying about their affair (the first part might be true, but the second is very obviously a lie: if Blackwell's plan was to impregnate as many of the older Circle as possible, why would he have stopped at Amelia Blake and Elizabeth Meade?); yet more proof that Charles and Dawn, who were presented as ruthless bad guys at the start of the show, are actually just hilariously inept. They've spent all season searching for the crystals (in between power struggles and disappearing acts), and still only have two, only one of which works--which Charles promptly manages to lose to Blackwell in this episode, after inadvertently killing Grandma Blake. Meanwhile, the kids have only been at work for one episode and by the end of it have four of them, with only two still to find (the one Dawn and Charles drained in 'Slither' as well as the Conant family crystal).
Is being basically incompetent and slightly less bad than Blackwell enough to save the two most interesting characters in the show from being messily dispatched in the finale? One might survive, but I somehow doubt that both of them will; it's not a good omen that another experienced, older character in the shape of Grandma Blake has also been killed off. This is not only The Cassie Blake Show, it's also a teen show: it probably won't be long before the Circle ends up living together in their abandoned house, half of them orphans and the rest possessing parents and guardians that we'll never get to see. Since the older generations have been the best part of the show from day one, it's a prospect that fills me with dread.
Spurious crossover appeal: Hex's Jo writes erotic fiction, according to Thelma. According to somewhat-less-trustworthy Blackwell, Dawn writes self-insert erotic fiction (and RPF at that).
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Post by fenris on May 12, 2012 16:30:03 GMT
In a prime example of the ruthless haste that is typical of American network television, The CW have cancelled The Secret Circle the day after it's season finale was broadcast; The Secret Circle - the finale of which aired yesterday (May 10) in the US - has also been axed.Fellow CW show Ringer has also been culled. Link to the full article.
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Post by orokiah on May 13, 2012 14:33:19 GMT
In a prime example of the ruthless haste that is typical of American network television, The CW have cancelled The Secret Circle the day after it's season finale was broadcast. It's not a surprise given the ratings, but I'm so sad about it. For all its problems (to name just a few: too much focus on super special Cassie, taking away the kids' solo magic, sidelining the much more intriguing adults, meandering, pointless stories that ultimately led nowhere, like voodoo and magical drug addiction--and did I mention SIDELINING THE ADULTS?), I really came to love this show. It promised far more than it delivered, and worst of all, they squandered the talents of Gale Harold and Natasha Henstridge--utterly criminal, since scheming duo Charles and Dawn were by far the best part of the show--but there was still lots to enjoy in what did make it to the screen. The EP's plans for season two are out there, and while I'm not convinced they would have done any of it justice (introducing four more characters when they can't cope with the ones they've got? Really?), it's a real shame they didn't get a shot at it. I'm not that bothered about losing Ringer. But this one hurts.
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Post by orokiah on May 17, 2012 20:12:55 GMT
The Secret Circle, Episode 1.22: 'Family'
**spoilers ahead**
I was going to post about the two preceding episodes (1.20: 'Traitor', and 1.21: 'Prom'), but since I've only just got around to watching them and the show's now been cancelled, there doesn't seem much point. To sum them up: in an utterly pointless turn of events, Nick comes back and then dies again, Charles and Dawn decide not to be morally dubious anymore, and Cassie and Diana go back in time to discover that John Blackwell is indeed Not To Be Trusted.
Maybe it's the fact I was thoroughly spoiled for 'Family', and watched it knowing it was the last ever episode (unless the campaign to get it picked up by ABC Family pulls off a miracle), but I was a little disappointed by it. It's actually a perfect way to put a cap on The Secret Circle: full of potential that's repeatedly wasted, with too much screentime given to things that don't warrant it, while those that do are either ignored or brushed aside.
The good: The set-up for the second season was terrific; a pulsating montage of the sort this show does so well (even if Dawn is yet again nowhere to be seen in it--poor Natasha Henstridge, sidelined to the end). There were some great scenes: Cassie activating Diana's dark magic and later begging her to stay; Jake getting revenge on Eben; Charles seemingly sacrificing himself; the (literal) Balcoin kids cliffhanger; Dawn using magic to save Faye; and Blackwell, the ultimate puppet master, finally getting his just desserts.
The seductive darkness of the Crystal Skull, composed of all six family crystals, explains much about why Charles, Ethan and Dawn were that bit nastier when using them. And there was lots of (unintentional) humour in the way Kate tells Charles and Dawn that the powers they've spent all season scheming to regain have actually been destroyed...and then hands over her own instead, since they stopped killing people and just asked nicely. Pure intentions will get you everywhere, apparently. Funniest of all, Faye outs herself to Dawn (as a witch, that is): a hilarious bit of meta given the sizeable Fayana (Faye and Diana) following in the fandom, and the way magic has been used all season as a metaphor for sex. Dawn tells her she already knows and it's okay; Faye looks alarmed and asks if she's been reading her journal. Hehe.
The bad: The rushed return of Kate Meade. The anvilicious dialogue, chiefly Charles informing Dawn that their "blind quest for power" is to blame for the Circle's predicament, and then telling Kate he needs "redemption". Meanwhile, in the way of villains everywhere, Blackwell merrily reveals every detail of his evil plans to Cassie, once she asks for them. And then there's all the leaps of logic and things left unanswered; some of which might well have been addressed in another season. Most of it, though, screams of the writers dropping the ball, and scrabbling around for direction.
Which exactly are the six families, since Diana must be bound to the Circle on her mother's side, and not through the Meades? Why are the enormously powerful Elders so useless? If they knew all about Blackwell and the witch hunters (Kate "suspected" Diana was not her biological granddaughter, and seemed equally au fait with Eben and his demons)...why did they strip their kids' powers, scarper and leave them and their grandkids to it? And if the surviving members of the older Circle suspected JB wasn't dead, why would the Elders accept it so easily? Where's Sally disappeared to? And Ethan? He hasn't been seen since 'Lucky', and has barely been mentioned. Even the Boathouse set has been scrapped in favour of the Brew, which started off as Cassie's workplace (she had to pay the mortgage somehow when Grandma Blake got shunted off to the asylum) and magically became the hangout of choice for everyone. And how exactly was binding the Circle meant to help Charles and Dawn regain their powers? It's a development that not only came to nothing, but neutered the rest of the Circle, removing the magic from a show about magic, and making Cassie off-puttingly special.
Quibbles specific to this episode: Why waste so much screentime on the production of the Crystal Skull, which mostly involved Cassie and Diana making faces at it? How can Kate do a Heather on Charles at the end, when she's given her power to him and Dawn--was it temporary? Is there a missing scene in the montage where she marched over to the Chamberlain house and asked for it back? How can underage Diana pack her bags at the end and up and leave town with Grant? Both her dads might be dead (or so she thinks) but her kickass grandma, though woefully short on screentime, is still around. And why does Diana not only express no remorse over Charles, but then tell Cassie that he's done some really bad things? Diana knows Charles killed Amelia but Cassie doesn't, as far as we know. Is she not the slightest bit curious about why Diana suddenly believes the man she's loved as a father her entire life is now so terrible? While the last few episodes have taken pains to show how black and white Diana's view of the world is, her reaction still doesn't quite ring true.
It's easy to pick holes in The Secret Circle. But it had huge potential, and it's a real shame that it didn't get the chance to grow into it. In some ways, though, perhaps it went out on a high. For its multi-generational pretensions, this is first and foremost a teen show: the adult characters were always the highlights, but they were never going to get the prominence that the actors deserved, and I wanted to see. I actively dislike some of the mooted plans for season two (turn the sweet little friendship between Melissa and Adam into yet another romance? Spend the last three episodes all season redeeming Charles, only to turn him out-and-out evil? No thank you), and I'm not convinced they could have pulled off even the bits I wanted to see (skull-corrupted Adam? Yes please). I'm disappointed it's gone, and I'd be thrilled (and amazed) if it returned on another network--but I'm decidedly torn about the things a second season would likely bring.
Final bits of crossover appeal: Blackwell, completing his transformation into Azazeal with his obsession with siring little Balcoins. Faye, Jake and Melissa almost getting burned at the stake. And the show itself...joining Hex in the big TV graveyard in the sky.
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Post by fenris on Jun 9, 2012 15:45:31 GMT
Have recently bought and watched the Series I & II boxset of Urban Gothic. For anyone unfamiliar with this show, it was a half-hour British horror series that was originally shown on Channel Five. The first series of thirteen episodes was screened in 2000, while the second series consisted of nine episodes and was broadcast in 2001. Intended for post-watershed viewing, it contained a frequent amount of blood and gore, plus a fair smattering of sex and nudity. The show's very first episode 'Dead Meat' will be of particular interest to Hex fans - not only does it feature Jemima Rooper, but the plot centres on a ritual to raise the dead, written by John Dee. Starting several weeks ago with little fanfare, the UK debut screening of American horror anthology series Fear Itself has been taking place on 5* on Fridays at 21:00. Fear Itself was created by producer Mick Garris when his previous series Masters of Horror (an anthology show in which all the episodes were helmed by veteran horror movie directors) was cancelled after two seasons. Finding himself with a pile of now-unwanted scripts that had been commissioned & developed for the third season, Garris sold the premise to a new network, but tweaked the format by opening up the directing duties to a combination of experienced old hands (some of whom had worked on Masters) and several newcomers. Fear Itself was the result. This coming Friday's episode (15/06/12) is entitled 'Eater', and stars Elizabeth Moss (Peggy in Mad Men) as one of a small team of officers manning the night shift in a police station. Upon reporting for duty, she's informed that her daytime colleagues have finally tracked down & arrested a notorious cannibalistic serial killer, who's been locked in the overnight cells until he can be formally charged in the morning. As the night progresses, Moss notices that Strange Things Are Starting To Happen... I'm mentioning it here because 'Eater' is actually a glossy, big-budget remake of an episode of Urban Gothic, Channel Five's late night, made-on-a-shoestring, little seen anthology show from over a decade ago. The only difference between Fear Itself's version and Urban Gothic's original (which was also called 'Eater') is that in the latter the main character was a male police officer.
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Post by fenris on Jul 2, 2012 16:05:24 GMT
Have recently discovered a semi-obscure horror TV series that had a similar setting to Hex. Debuting in September 2009, Valemont was conceived as a six episode series, but was written and filmed so each instalment could be broken up into short 'webisodes', usually two-and-a-half minutes in length. The first six webisodes were shown on MTV in America, with the remainder of the series available to watch exclusively on the channel's website, each webisode initially released a week apart. Valemont centred on teenager Maggie Gracen (played by Kristen Hager), who was informed that her older brother Eric (Eric Balfour) had died. Eric was her only family, their parents having been killed in a car accident several years earlier, and he had been a student at Valemont University in rural Massachusetts, a prestigious, exclusive and secretive establishment with a reputation for producing society's leaders (high-ranking politicians, captains of industry, movers & shakers, etc). Visiting the morgue to identify Eric's body, Maggie discovered his corpse was burnt beyond recognition, and all of his teeth wretched out. The police had only been able to identify him due to his wallet and mobile phone being found next to the body. Although the phone was police evidence, a suspicious Maggie successfully secreted it away and found upon it a series of video messages made by Eric, in which he claimed that his life was in danger due to something he'd uncovered at Valemont. Determined to discover who was responsible for her brothers death, Maggie learnt that Sophie Fields, a student accepted into Valemont, had decided not to attend after falling pregnant. Adopting Sophie's identity, Maggie enrolled at the university, and her investigations eventually revealed that Valemont was home to a secret society of vampires.
Valemont was not renewed for a second season, and at the time of writing has not been released on DVD in the United States, simply due to the fact it can still be watched in it's entirety for free on MTV's American website. However, the episodes are region-locked and cannot be viewed by anyone outside the US. Therefore, the show has been released on Region 2 DVD in the UK as a two-disc set of six episodes (as originally intended). The series has also been edited to feature length and shown on the Horror channel as Valemont: The Movie.
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Post by fenris on Aug 3, 2012 14:46:52 GMT
Have recently discovered a semi-obscure horror TV series that had a similar setting to Hex. Debuting in September 2009, Valemont has been released on Region 2 DVD in the UK as a two-disc set of six episodes. The series has also been edited to feature length and shown on the Horror channel as Valemont: The Movie. Valemont: The Movie (the edited version of the six episode series) is being shown on the Horror channel tomorrow (04/08/12) at 16:00, and again on Sunday (05/08/12) at 10:00.
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Post by fenris on Oct 3, 2012 16:39:43 GMT
One show that I believe to be ideally suited for a crossover with Hex is The Devil's Whore, the four part historical drama that was screened on Channel 4 in late 2008. Andrea Riseborough played the series' title character Angelica Fanshawe, a fictitious heroine who becomes close to several real-life individuals who were of key importance during the events of the English Civil War. There is already a Hex connection, as Michael Fassbender had a major role as Cromwell's ally-turned-rival Thomas Rainsborough, but The Devil's Whore also contained some strong fantasy elements. Channel 4 have commissioned a sequel to The Devil's Whore, apparently focusing on Angelica's daughter; Channel 4 has announced the commission of New World, an original four-part drama series spanning two continents and the period up to the Glorious Revolution. Written by Peter Flannery and Martine Brant, New World is described as “a gripping story of love and loss and the human price paid for the freedoms we enjoy today”. The official synopsis reads: “The next chapter of The Devil's Whore meets Angelica, now Countess of Abingdon, in the 1680s. Torture, show trials, summary executions... the restored Monarchy of Charles II has betrayed its promise of tolerance and reverted to tyranny. Behind the opulent decadence of the court, a ruthless terror machine is repressing the liberties won with so much Civil War blood. Across the Atlantic, the tentacles of State terror have reached the New England colonists who are struggling to throw off the shackles of the English Crown. With the spectre of past horrors returning, Angelica strives to protect her innocent daughter Beth from the perilous world outside the haven of Fanshawe House and England's impending descent into chaos. Seeking a new life in an untamed land, Beth finds herself torn between love and the ideals for which her mother stood and her father died.” Peter Flannery and Martine Brant commented: "We are thrilled to be writing the continuing story of Angelica and her daughter Beth in the Restoration. We can't think of a better place than Channel 4 to tell the tale of the love and courage of a group of young idealists as they strive together to make the world a better place to live in on both sides of the Atlantic." Source (CultBox)
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Post by fenris on Oct 11, 2012 0:09:04 GMT
It's easy to pick holes in The Secret Circle. But it had huge potential, and it's a real shame that it didn't get the chance to grow into it. The SFX website has compiled a list of The 25 Worst Sci-fi and Fantasy TV Shows Ever, based on a vote taken on Facebook, but with the SFX staff having the final say. The following is at #25; The Secret Circle Adapted from a series of books by the same author who wrote The Vampire Diaries, L. J. Smith, it’s probably not surprising that The Secret Circle often feels like The Vampire Diaries‘ younger, less cool sibling. In fact, it’s almost impossible to look at it without comparing it to The Vampire Diaries, seeing as it’s basically a re-run with witches instead of vampires. The crucial element that’s missing, however, is sex appeal. While The Vampire Diaries positively drips with it, The Secret Circle has cast a group of bland, charmless adolescents (or pretend adolescents) who have all the charisma of an ulcerated bladder. Add to this predictable scripting, naff FX and fake teenage angst and this is one circle that’s too square to bother with. Source
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