As 'The Secret Circle' starts to fight its way to the finish line, it’s taking a lot to get the over arcing stories off the ground. Notwithstanding a few meagre plot devices, I think that fact that the show has finally found its feet with regards the bigger picture could mean that we’re about to enter the all-important make-or-break zone. Succeed, and we could be looking at a long-running drama that could easily run 'The Vampire Diaries' off track, fail and it’ll join the likes of 'Point Pleasant' and 'Tru Calling' in the “sc-fi’s that had so much freaking potential” graveyard.
In 'Sacrifice', and old witch hunter friend of Jakes shows up looking for help. When Cassie intervenes, she learns a shocking truth about her father. Faye and Melissa help out Adam when he promises to help them with their love lives.
This episode took a lot of its mythology and fantasy traits and played them up nicely. Demons and dark magic were two of the stories that kept this show grounded early on this year, so it’s nice to see it being woven in with the standard witch hunter plot that, frankly, could use a little spicing up. Though Eben’s been groomed to be this year’s big bad, his presence, and subsequent possession, weren’t that crazy to watch unfold. A few more appearances before now could have given him more of a foothold in the story.
There’s a certain amount of character integrity that’s being sacrificed in the name of staggering certain mysteries that have been plaguing us all season long. Cassie is someone who started out as a sharp, intuitive and competent protagonist, but as the year bore on, and she found herself much too distracted by her spot that love triangle, and as a result she’s become a little dense. Burning off stories rapidly is an art that few show’s can master, and though it’s done well for the Secret Circle to avoid such a tactic, a little dabbling in something like that couldn’t hurt in the long run, especially if Cassie is becoming oblivious to even the most obvious of cons.
Characters that aren’t suffering from a severe case of ditz are Faye, Melissa and Diana. Teen angst and outbursts have meshed really well with the magical undertones the past few weeks, and it was fantastic to see the writers take advantage of that, especially considering the heaviness going on elsewhere. Adam’s case of amnesia hasn’t given me much of a reason to like him more, but it’s nice to see him break out of his brooding shell a little bit. I wasn’t sold on Diana’s side trysts with Grant for a while, but the idea of one of the circle struggling to hide the truth from an outsider hasn’t really been touched on yet, and an external love interests feeds nicely into her now flourishing independence.
I’m glad Sacrifice took the time to set itself out as the start of an offensive against the nagging witch hunters, and though certain parts of this show still aren’t cutting it, I’m loving this new drive and momentum, even if it DOES mean more of those effin’ crystals.
7.5/10
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