Original Air Date: 20 October 2011
Jake: Got yourself all dolled up just to come say hello. Cute.
Review: Last week, The Secret Circle made a bold move and killed one of the main characters after only five episodes. I said then that I didn't see the rationale behind that, for various reasons, and that I didn't see how things could profit from this. But lo, Nick has been quickly replaced by an older version, in his brother Jake (TV's Joey Donner, Chris Zylka), who not only completes the circle (because the circle not only binds them to each other, but to each other's bloodlines - and this answers that question), but has a big secret of his own, that will definitely prove dangerous to the kids: he's a witch, but also a which hunter, who swore to avenge the death of his parents by ridding Chance Harbor of his kind.
He did one good thing, though, and that was awaken Adam's protective side when it came to Cassie. He acted like a jealous boyfriend (but the wrong's girl's boyfriend, as Diana put it) every time he saw Cassie talking to Jake and that, plus Ethan's drunken blabbing, led Diana to break up with Adam.
The breakup scene was the most action we saw in this episode. It's also the best one - though I didn't mind Adam picking a fight with Jake either. It was refreshing to see Diana finally understand that she and Adam are not meant to be more than just good friends on the long term, and going to Cassie to talk about the breakup was refreshing: since they're stuck together, honesty is the only policy (up to a point). But, and there's a bit but in all this... I feel it all happened way too soon. Are Cassie and Adam supposed to start dating now? If this happens, combined with the slow-paced action and the almost complete lack of real threats for the Circle, this show will soon become boring.
And when I say lack of serious threats, I mean it, just look at what happened until now: Dawn and Charles, despite their plotting, aren't really big ones (they have an agenda, yes, but they won't do anything to hurt the kids unless they're possessed by demons); the demon was very fast dealt with, the girl who attacked Cassie was killed... Maybe we'll see more from this Isaac guy, but I won't put my money on it. This show may have a lot of similarities to TVD, but good action is not one of them.
Elsewhere, we learn that Diana is not really meant to be the leader of the Circle, but that the responsibility goes to Cassie, as a member of one of the oldest witch families in history. I wasn't very surprised by that - but I was by the fact that Jane gave her granddaughter the crystal. Would you really give a 16-year old all that power? I seriously doubt she'll manage to keep it a secret for too long.
Also, apparently there's a big bag going by the name of Blackwell, who may just be the thing Dawn and Charles are so afraid of that they need their powers back. I hope he'll be more threatening that everything we've seen so far. As for Charles, he's seriously disappointing me. He started off by being this cool, dangerous guy, but now he's on the verge of a nervous breakdown. Yawn...
This is quickly becoming a show I'll watch just for fun - the slow pace, the chopping editing and the overall lack of acting skills from the cast tend to get boring after a while. The Secret Circle 1x05: Slither Back to Season 1
