Heather was the first episode of the series that managed to reach the tone the writers had been groping for during the past few weeks. Creepy, exciting magic collided with the melodrama of the teen’s lives, creating an interesting mix of two equally appealing stories. The mythology that started to show itself last week is given even more depth and scope, promising to give the series enough stamina to survive a long run.
In ‘Heather’, Cassie visits her mother’s high school friend to find out what happened the night of the fire only to find out that she’s been in a catatonic state since that night. Thinking her mother is to blame for Heather’s condition, she tries to reverse the spell to help her, only to unleash something dangerous upon her and the circle.
While the show is branded as a series that a regular drama revolving around teenagers at its heart, it’s the wacky fun that goes down when they start to play around with their magic that keeps me coming back. ‘Heather’ was the creepiest episode yet, and managed to hit the witch element of the series out of the park, so to speak.
Last week my major concern with the series was that there didn’t seem like there was a lot of back story to keep things going. This week I found out that I probably won’t have to worry too much about that anymore, with demons and black magic finally making an appearance. The entire episode had a 90’s horror movie vibe about it, and in what happened to be a great move, the episode seem to just go with it. We even had the whole screaming at each other moment that some of the old horrors tend to have... I hope that more of this campy fun continues to pop up throughout its run because it was amazing to watch, and it’s something that fits right in with this shows mantra.
The Nick and Melissa saga is clearly one of those “it has a point, I swear!” plots. This week’s cliff-hanger, which was the series closest thing to a Vampire Diaries style one The Secret Circle has had so far, gave the entire thing purpose, it’s just a shame we have to stick this story out until then. I appreciate that it’s given Melissa a personality separate from the bland sidekick she was when we first met her, though.
The Cassie/Adam /Diana triangle is continuing to head for an inevitable crash, but the characters on their own make what should be a predictably dull story into some compelling stuff, regardless of the lack of chemistry I’ve discussed before. Faye is still the character that drives the show and watching her and Cassie together was one of my favourite moments of this week’s episode. If there’s a character that deserves more screen-time, it’s her.
The series seems to have amped things up already, preparing things for a big confrontation with whatever they’ve unleashed next week. A shot of adrenaline to kick start a few of the lesser teen stories, and we’ve got a winner!
8.5/10
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