With such a juicy amount of mythology, and a great cast, I was really expecting the series to have blossomed at this late stage in the game. Instead, it’s ended up going around in circles, with a lot of the forward momentum getting lost along the way.
Cassie turns to Jake for help in ‘Medallion’ when she learns that more witch hunters may be on their way. Diana helps Adam’s father organise a surprise birthday for Adam, and Melissa is tempted by Faye’s new discovery.
Cassie’s got a dark side, we get it. I understand that her descent into evil is a huge part of the series’ shtick, but I’m getting a little bored with this constant back and forth of her coming to terms with it. Add to that, the merry-go-round of Jake’s allegiance to the circle, which is really old hat at this point, and every episode seems to follow a pretty standard routine which is, as far as I’m concerned, a trap a series like this should never fall into. Though it felt a little forced, I did appreciate Cassie’s fiery confrontation with Lucy in the woods and judging by the cliff-hanger, it does seem as though things are moving past that annoying in-between stage.
It seems crazy that Cassie would still be debating the fate of her father after the fire, despite numerous hints to the contrary. I get the need to give things time to develop, but there’s been a massive loss of momentum now, and this is the point when things should really be kicking off. If this were Mystic Falls, John would be back by now, and he'd have already killed half the cast...
There’s still a number of interesting dynamics being given a spin here, though they’re being tarnished slightly by the writers’ need to embellish it with more of the same. Charles and Dawn have gone from common enemies, to foes, to fake lovers, but this is the first episode that explored the idea of there actually being something real behind them. Charles rescuing Dawn seems like it could be what was needed to finally liven up their tedious quest for those fucking crystals.
Visitor arrives; warns of coming danger; double crosses the circle; leaves and/or dies. That seems like a pretty good representation of a standard episode of ‘The Secret Circle’, no? I’m not sure why I found it less than inspiring this week, since I seem to be constantly singing its praises against the naysayers, but maybe I was expecting more by episode friggin’ 13. I still enjoyed it, I just wish there was a bit more to it at this stage.
7/10
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