The Secret Circle 1.17 'Curse'

This episode was clearly the show’s attempt at putting an end to the never-ending chit-chat about prophesised events, and actually exploring them, and in some cases changing their meaning completely. As a single entity, the episode was definitely one of the more successful ones, but the implications that some of this week's events could have on the series makes me wonder where The Secret Circle is actually heading.

In 'Curse', Adam and Cassie’s passionate night together has unforeseen circumstances for the rest of the circle. When Faye starts to investigate Lee’s disappearance, she puts herself in danger when Eva demands she help bring Lee back to life.

As I was expecting, Lucky’s events made a lot more sense when looked at in the context of the events that followed it. Cassie and Adam’s forbidden romance isn’t so forbidden after all. One thing the Vampire Diaries thrives on is the hidden agendas of some of its less conventional characters. It figures that John’s plans for Cassie and Adam weren’t all in his daughter’s favour, but it still hurt to learn that he’s putting his daughter through some series pain, just to prevent magic from becoming a negative attribute of his daughter’s person. I’m not completely buying the witch hunter’s as these harbingers of doom, since their presence has been non-existent the past few weeks, but I’m glad there’s some external force that’s bringing the circle together.

Cassie and Adam’s “written in the stars” shtick felt a lot more real these past couple of weeks than it had before, and being able to buy into that made this quick turnaround a lot more powerful that it would have been had I been stuck in the same mindset I was a month ago. It’s devastating to finally see Cassie’s dark magic finally make an impact on her personality, and her relationships since all it’s done so far is cause a few random outbursts of bitch. It may not have been through any fault of her own, but Cassie has finally learnt that her dark magic could ruin her life if she doesn’t give it the weight it deserves.

What was my favourite plot line over the past two weeks resulted in one of the most anti-climactic conclusions the series has had so far, turning an attention grabbing plot into pointless filler. Everything building up to said conclusion was a total thrill, but would it hurt them to maybe elevate this story to something bigger? Eva was clearly an opportunity for the series to bring about a potentially fierce rival for the circle, and a lesson in poor control of strong power within you. Intra-communication within the circle is something I find myself loving every week, even if the stuff elsewhere is a little lacklustre, and Faye, Diana and Melissa’s detectiving was just the right amount of dark humour, and light drama to make me feel like this series still has its original mission statement at heart.

Charles and Dawn’s quest for power continues to suck. Their disconnect with the rest of the series rings even more true since all of their actions have had very little impact on the circle itself since Nick’s death back in October. OCTOBER. If this constant toying with Jane Blake doesn’t head anywhere new soon, it’s going to start causing a drain on the rest of the series. As of this week, it seems like it might finally change direction, since Charles has finally decided to make a move against Blackwell himself.

Curse was an episode that made a lot of head-way with regards this season’s bigger plots, but while some of the twists lacked impact, the episode was still a strong chapter in this show’s narrative, even if I'm at a loss as to what direction the show might take next.

8/10

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