Original Air Date: 29 September 2011
Storyline: A cute athlete named Luke asks Cassie to the school dance, and after watching Adam spend time with Diana at the boathouse, she accepts his offer. Meanwhile, Melissa sees the dance as an opportunity to get closer to Nick. Faye, on the other hand, has no plans to go and remains focused on finding a way to control her powers. Dawn discovers someone from their past, an intense man named Zachary Larson, is in town asking questions about Cassie and the Circle, so she asks Charles to keep an eye on him.
Trivia: Faye's birthday is revealed to be February 25, 1995.
Best Quote:
Luke: Are you saying you're a loner?
Cassie: I've been called worse.
Review: The Secret Circle is no Charmed, that's for sure. Charmed had very complex characters and a lot of entertaining witchcraft stuff that this teen show simply doesn't. But that doesn't mean it's bad. For the age group that it addresses, it has all the makings of being a hit as long as it keeps delivering good mystery.
Of course, I don't buy it that Cassie didn't have a social life at her old school. It's a bit far-fetched, don't you think? Also, going on a date with a cute guy just to make another one jealous isn't exactly a good idea, as she experienced herself when Luke figured out she was more interesting in Adam than in herself. Which is bad, as Luke was gorgeous and she could use friends outside the Circle.
There wasn't any development on the reasons why Dawn and Charles wanted the Circle to be bound, but another mystery rises as Cassie encounters someone from her mother's past: Zachary Larson, a boatman who has his own reasons to want the Circle destroyed. Apparently Cassie's mother did something to his girlfriend and he doesn't want thing to happen again. The good thing is, this new threat brought the six together despite their differences and gave us the first of what I hope many cool group spells. Also, Dawn going after Zachary and "marking" him was pretty interesting, I'm wondering how that even works.
Other than giving us some more action at a faster pace than we got used to from the first two episodes (keep it up, we need more of that!), this installment allowed for some character development. Cassie and Adam are still the main focus, as they both recognize there is something between them but don't know how to act, with Diana being in the middle. In the end, Diana expresses her worries to Cassie, but wants to be friends with her; is this maybe a way to keep her in check? We'll see. I, for one, would like to see a little bit of bad mixed with her kindness, it would make her character a lot more interesting.
There's also some development with Melissa and Nick. "He's double damaged", as Faye says, and opening up to people is difficult to him, while she doesn't like herself enough to stand up for herself. A match made in heaven, if you ask me. It was painful to watch Melissa go to so much trouble just to get a guy. No girl should humiliate herself that much. But maybe there's something there for Nick too, as Faye's speech to him led him to make a move towards a closer relationship with Melissa.
As for Faye, she basically remains the same cold selfish bitch who looks out for her interests before the Circle's (though standing up for Melissa showed a softer side of the town's reigning bad girl). I'm still not warmed up to Phoebe Tonkin; other than her looks, she doesn't have what it takes to play a powerful character as this one.
The show seems to be getting better as each episode passes, but I'm still weighing it in. It still needs to speed up the pace a little bit more though, otherwise it won't retain TVD's audience for long. The Secret Circle 1x02: Bound Back to Season 1
