Considering that I’ve never seen an episode of The Vampire Diaries, you might not believe me when I say that I’m primed to be a big fan of Secret Circle. But when you add up Kevin Williamson, who’s Dawson’s Creek is ostensibly based around my dad’s hometown (well, the next small town over), Brit Robertson, of whom I became a big fan on Life Unexpected, and a good, angsty high school drama, and I’m sold. Natasha Henstridge is just the cherry on top of the pie (oh, for Pete’s sake get your minds out of the gutter).
I was immediately drawn to Robertson’s Cassie Blake. Being thrown back into her mother’s old world, without her mother, would have been a tough enough emotional journey in and of itself. Finding out you’re from a family of witches is just too much. But she handled it with strength of character that she shouldn’t reasonably have at her age, and that I’m not sure she even knew that she had. This strength, though, is balanced by a vulnerability that really fills her out. I especially loved the moment when she first used the fact that her mother never told her about her lineage as a defense, and then visibly realized the disappointment of never having this conversation with her mother.
I’m not sure what to think about Faye just yet. On one hand, she’s seemingly set to be Cassie’s primary antagonist (at least at her age level). However, her reaction to Cassie’s inability to get out of the burning car doesn’t point to someone who has no regard for her well-being. Similarly, when Diana was hurt during the storm, she immediately lost the cocky, devil-may-care attitude that she had showed in summoning the storm in the first place. I’m curious to see how things play out for her as the series goes on.
Less ambiguous on the good vs. evil dynamic is Gale Harold’s Charles Meade. When, in the first episode of a new series, your character is clearly established as a cold-blooded murderer, there’s really not much left up for debate. His antagonism towards Ethan Conant is also interesting. I can’t wait as the layers are peeled back on the history of the previous Circle. Meade seems to be the only one that retains any powers so far, no doubt surrounding the “incident” sixteen years ago. What was that incident, and does it have anything to do with why Cassie’s mother married a “bad” guy.
Considering what I’ve heard about The Vampire Diaries tendencies to kill off characters on a whim leave no character safe, I’m curious if the same philosophy will hold true in Chance Harbor. You’d think the six kids of the Circle would be safe, because the Circle apparently needs to be complete for the real power to flow. So, if one of them goes all Dark-Willow, then they’re really up the creek, no?
Clacked by Ivey West 
on Sep 15, 2011 @ 22:00 EST5EDT
This may sound tweeny and horrible, but I have a major crush on the guy who plays Adam now. “It’s written in the stars!” Their chemistry was craaazy. Ok, stopping the fangirl crap now.
I checked this out, mainly because I was a fan of Thomas Dekker when he played John Connor in the late, great, gone too soon, Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, but to be honest I was not expecting this to be very good. I thought it would be typical CW fair, ie. Gossip Girl meets teen supernatural drama (like the insufferable for anyone over the age of 25 Vampire Diaries), and it certainly has some of that element. But color me surprised, but it actually was kind of good, intriguing and surprisingly dark. I also was not aware that Gale Harold was in it, who I’ve been a fan of since his Queer As Folk days. I have to say the opening scene was quite effective in its brutality.
Dekker also shined in this role as did Brit Robertson, which was surprising since I gradually came to loathe her character on Life Unexpected. Now I definitely think it was just the character, because as Cassie she’s really quite good.
I totally agree with your take on Faye. I think we all as teens knew that “bad girl” who acted out all the time, but whose mischief stemmed from being troubled and neglected, not true malice. Actually control freak Diana strikes me as the more dangerous of the pair. Something tells me that if you pissed her off enough (say by stealing her boyfriend) she could and would burn the whole town to the ground in consequence.
*POST AUTHOR*
I don’t watch VD, but everyone I know that does loves it, and no one in that group is under 25 :P.
I never watched Queer as Folk, but have always like Harold after roles in Hellcats (I know … Not my demo either, but loved its comedy), the Unit, and others, and he was solid (if not great).
Dekker, when I interviewed him at SDCC, was completely different from what I expected. He’s played such “all-American” jock type characters, and he is, or at least portrayed in the press room, decidedly against type.
I hear you that LUX got very melodramatic in its second season, but I chalk that up to the writing trying to find a foothold with viewers. I hated the “dating a teacher” storyline to an immeasurable degree, but still love her performance.
If TSC can capitalize, even minimally, on TVD success, it will do quite well. I’m looking forward to where it can go.
Ah, my apologies to your VD loving friends, no offense was intended. (Oh. They really need to come up with a different abbreviation for that.) :P
The only thing I’ve seen Dekker in was TTSCC, and I didn’t think that character (John Connor) was very “All American jock”, did you? I loved that character and I thought his portrayal of JC was very good for such a young actor. Admittedly I haven’t really seen him in anything else so maybe he does play mostly that type.
Yes, LUX sadly became ridiculous in the second season. The dating a teacher storyline was one of the things that drove me nuts, but the other thing was the static nature of Lux’s character. I mean I know she was a kid, but she just never seemed to learn anything and made the same stupid mistakes over and over. So yeah, the fault was probably more with the writing than Britt Robertson’s performance.
I too hope this sticks around for awhile and can continue to be as intriguing as the pilot.
*POST AUTHOR*
Maybe jock is over emphasizing the type …
This was just not who I expected: https://yfrog.com/picsy