After the events of the previous episode, the entire community is shaken, but no more so than the circle that is now incomplete, thanks to Nick’s untimely death. And it’s just in time for another threat to emerge, forcing Cassie to accept more of her magical legacy. Oh, and Nick’s apparent replacement is already more or less ready and waiting in the wings.
This is due to a little bylaw in the whole “bound circle” business: once the circle is bound, it has less to do with individuals and more to do with the family bloodlines. It’s awfully convenient, but it does introduce a nice bit of unforeseen tension. Faye may have groused over being limited by the shared power requirements of the bound circle, but Jake, Nick’s older brother, has been pulled into the circle without his consent. That doesn’t make Jake particularly happy.
That’s because the latest threat to the circle comes from a gang of witch hunters, and sure enough, Jake is one of them. Apparently he feels that magic has ruined his family to the core, and he was dedicated to seeing that excised. Now, though, he’s an unwilling part of a bound circle, even as he rededicates himself to hunting them all down. It’s going to be interesting to see how this is all going to work itself out.
Up to this point, Diana was willing to deal with the whole notion of Adam being fated for Cassie, and was making a rather convincing effort in the previous episode to stake her claim. So it’s annoying for her to break things off with Adam, just as a new circle member arrives, catching Cassie’s eye. Adam’s apparent jealousy doesn’t help, but Diana’s character is rather erratic at this point. Would this play into the anticipated “bad girl” persona I was hoping would develop?
Take that, along with Faye’s apparent past with Jake, and it’s really starting to feel like “The Vampire Diaries”, where characters that are supposed to be in high school have lives and histories that would make more sense for young adults. Granted, that’s the norm for any Kevin Williamson production, but that’s one area where “Buffy” worked better. Those characters started out with relative innocence, and developed their complicated histories during the course of the series.
The entire situation with Jake seems a bit too convenient for its own good. He’s not going to end up killing any more members of the circle, so it’s something of a foregone conclusion that he will integrate, eventually, with the rest of the regulars. It’s just a matter of playing it all out and using him to introduce the “witch hunter” threat.
What I do see happening, and sooner rather than later, is Jane’s demise. She’s way too useful as a resource to the circle, and she’s going to get in the way of Dawn and Charlie’s plans before long. And since there are witch hunters about town, that would be the logical way to show that they are, in fact, a real threat.
Writing: 2/2
Acting: 2/2
Direction: 2/2
Style: 1/4
Final Rating: 7/10