The Secret Circle 1x05: Slither

Original Air Date: 13 October 2011

Storyline: Torn between her loyalties to the Circle and her family, Cassie wrestles with the secrets she must keep from her grandmother. Nick is thrown for a loop when Melissa adopts a new attitude and enlists his help to track down her family's Book of Shadows. Meanwhile, Diana is craving some alone time with Adam and arranges a date night so they can rekindle the spark in their relationship, but all six of them are brought together to fight off a dark force that threatens to destroy the Circle from within. Completely unaware of the new danger encroaching on their children, Dawn joins Charles aboard his boat to further their plans for the Circle, but is surprised to find that Charles may have more than business on his mind.Best Quote:

Nick: I need a new body. Yours will do fine.

Review: Killing off one of the main characters after five episodes? Big no no! But guess what? That's exactly what they did with this show and I'm not sure if it can recover from this. After all, despite all the similarities, this is not The Vampire Diaries, an established series that can afford to lose some of the main characters in order to get the story to move forward. Plus, TVD didn't really kill one of the important ones; now we're left without an actual Circle - which contradicts the very name of the show - and with too many women that I can stand (what's poor Adam to do now, with four girls around?).

I'm guessing though that - much like in Charmed after killing off Prue - a new member of the Armstrong family will surface to take blondie's place, but we all know things were never the same in Charmed after season 3 and I somehow doubt killing off Nick was for the best, no matter how much executive producer Andrew Miller defends it. 
But I started with the end. The episode follows the Circle as they try to deal with Melissa's possession (if someone was supposed to die, why couldn't it be her? she's useless and extremely annoying) - something they're really not all that equipped to do. It turns out later on that the demon that possessed her (and later on, Nick) had been summoned by Dawn and the other members of the last circle and is looking to free other demons from a suitcase full of snakes and is after the power of the Circle.
Well, at least all this was reason for Cassie to finally confide in her grandmother and for us to see some more magic, right? Cause this show has mostly been about teen angst and I really really want it to focus more on the supernatural.
Speaking of teen angst, Diana tried to reignite the spark between her and Adam with a home cooked meal and a special whipped cream desert - and didn't you love the scene where Adam realizes their plans were just screwed up by Cassie's texting? Adorable!But probably the biggest revelation of the episode was that Dawn and Charles are not after the kids, but rather want to protect them and that is why they want their powers back. So killing off Cassie's mother was a good thing, Mr. Meade? I was so hoping that they would actually make interesting villains, but now I'm kind of over them as characters. 
To be honest, the episode felt like a season finale more than anything. I think it was way too early to kill Nick off (if he had to die at all) - but I get it now why the character was never really developed. I will insist it was a bad move unless the showrunners will find a way of convincing me otherwise, but at least it gives us some questions for what's to come: is now the Circle broken? If so, will this draw them closer together and make them realize magic is not to be played with, or will it make them grow apart? And did anyone else get a let's-strip-their-powers vibe off of grandma?
R.I.P., Nick!
The Secret Circle 1x04: Heather Back to Season 1