|
This show has been off since May. If you haven't seen it by now, oh well. If you want to see it, there are spoilers in this review, so you've been warned!
I'm going to give you the summary first, then characters, then my reasons why this show got cancelled. I'm doing it this way because I have more to say about why it got cancelled than about the actual show. It will seem at points like I don't like the show, so I'll say here now that I freakin' love the show and I wish it had gotten a second season! Enjoy!
Basically the show was about these six kids figuring out that they're witches with these powers. They get it in their heads to bind the circle so that their powers could be more manageable and they don't hurt anyone. It follows Cassie Blake, a girl who grew up away from magic and all that good stuff, only to end up going to Chance Harbor to be immersed in it anyway.
Cassie Blake, played by Britt Robertson, grew up away from Chance Harbor, her mother's hometown. Her mom was a witch but didn't want Cassie around it so she moved away. But one fateful night, Cassie's mom is murdered by some unknown assailant who never actually goes inside. She's obviously murdered by a witch. Cassie ends up moving to Chance Harbor with her grandmother, (the mom from Heroes!) and she quickly finds out that all of this wasn't random. She meets these group of people who automatically talk to her and want to be her friend, and are naturally after her power. A complete circle is six, so now that she's there, they can finally do so.
What I didn't like about this exchange was how these characters were set up. Already, Faye, was this uber bitch who just knew Cassie knew she was a witch and would do anything to prove it like lock Cassie in the car and set it on fire. I can tell you now that I hated Diana's character, she was just so pushy. Her little wide eyed plushy stare fixed onto Cassie and worked so hard to get her apart of the circle. It was like jeez calm down. And Cassie just sort of stumbled around, asking questions where needed, and not really taking any active part in the show until towards the end.
Because it's CW, they love their love triangles. They like having the bad guy and the good guy competing for the little dainty doe eyed heroine. In this case, that would be Cassie. Don't get me wrong, Britt is a really attractive young woman, I just felt like they kind of forced it here and she had a hard time choosing between the two even though it was obvious who she was going to choose. All in all, her character was actually entertaining to watch.
With her character, she was John Blackwell's daughter which made her more powerful than the rest. I liked that they gave her character this extra boost and I liked the power struggle within the group. I also liked her struggle with the power. Blackwell was practically king of black magic, and as we all know, black magic is very seductive and using it too much causes the witch to go overboard. What I liked was how she was a good witch, she tried to help anyway she could, but when she used the black magic, you could see how much she liked it and wanted to keep going. So I thought the writers did that pretty well.
Adam Conant, played droolingly (yes, I'm making that a word) by Thomas Dekker. Dekker has been in a lot of TV since he was very little, most notably on Honey I Shrunk The Kids: The TV Show, so I was a little surprised he was on this show. He's truly a phenomenal actor and this show mostly had new faces that main stream TV problem isn't used to seeing, but I could see why they would want him on the show.
Adam was the cliched good guy of the group. He was already established as Diana's boyfriend, they've been friends forever so naturally they're together, and of course, since the arrival of Cassie, it was obvious that she was going to throw a huge wrench in their relationship. What I didn't like was how Adam didn't really have his own identity outside a stereotype. He was the good guy, the referee of the group, the perfect shoulder to cry on, he never really got upset. He took care of his drunk dad. It was just like, can he actually have a solid character? He was just the same cookie cutter good guy love interest and I was like seriously?
Don't get me wrong, he got upset, he threw down when need be, but I just wanted his character to be a little more established. He was the Jimney Crickett of the group who would tell everyone that something was a bad idea. I just would have liked to see he have some annoying quirk or some adorable quirk, either one.
It's established early on that Cassie and Adam had this undeniable attraction to each other. When Cassie was being told how she's a witch, they did magic together and it was really powerful. When Adam kissed her, they made a street light break. It was cute and the whole season, I was screaming for them to get together but I think the writers relied a little too heavy on "they're supposed to be together" rather than "them working on being together". They looked cute together, but as an audience, we were just supposed to accept that they were supposed to be together. Even his dad was saying that he was supposed to be with Cassie's mom because it was destiny but she left him for Blackwell so now that destiny has manifested in their kids.
Despite all that, I loved Adam, he was just the smart one of the group. He kept them focused on the main goal and he was always willing to help. But he wasn't without his problems. He had a temper too, he could fight, and even he got fed up with his dad's drinking.
Faye Chamberlain, played by Phoebe Tonkin, was perhaps my favorite character. No, scratch that, she was undoubtedly my favorite character. Faye was the resident bad girl of the show, and though it was a cookie cutter role, Phoebe just totally made it work. She owned her character and made it work. Most TV bad girls are spoiled little brats but seeing who Faye's mom was, you could see why Faye was the way she was. The only thing I didn't like was that she was supposed to have an American accent yet her Australian accent would definitely slip out.
She wasn't an average spoiled brat, she just believed in herself more than other people. She cared more about her needs and wants and thought about the others maybe second to last. When things didn't go her way, she pouted as is typical bad girl fashion, but she also found a way to turn it in her favor. And she kept her armor up. Writers like to show bad girls with a heart, always scorned by a guy, but even when her scorned lover showed up, she kept her armor up. There were times she looked hurt, but it was quickly replaced.
What I liked about Faye was how unapologetic she was. She made a rain storm happen over Chance Harbor complete with lightening and though it got out of hand, she didn't care. She had her power and she loved it. I also liked how blunt she was. She was always telling it like it was and didn't try and sugar coat it. What I also liked was how the writers of the show made an effort to show these teenagers as actual teenagers, not as twenty-somethings trying to pass as teenagers. These characters had sex and loved it. I'm not saying all teenagers are having sex, but it's definitely part of their daily life. Either they're having it, know someone who's having it, or are just plain curious about it.
And TV networks are so tentative around this subject, it's like come on be real. If you're going to show teenagers, show how lazy we are, how quick we love, how hard we fall, and how naive we are. Don't put them in a box and expect real teenagers to connect with them. So I really liked what they did with Faye's character.
She had her own side story when she went looking for ways to unbind her power from the circle without breaking it completely. She got involved with Lee LaBeque played amazingly by Grey Damon. I loved him on The Nine Lives of Chloe King, so sad they canceled that one, and it was nice to see her get her own little story.
She got involved with him but he had secrets of his own. His girlfriend got messed up on a drug and so she's in a perpetual coma. He uses Faye's magic to bring her back inadvertently giving her magic. I liked this little distraction because it seemed like the show was so focused on Cassie, Diana, Adam, and Jake, there was barely any room for the other characters. So it was entertaining with this side story, but it also seemed so at odds with the natural flow of the show it was more like taking a detour than going straight through on a road. It was too much going on, for them to have this side story, because it was short and didn't lead anywhere. It got resolved quickly, the angry ex came back and tried to keep Lee for herself, and Faye said goodbye to all of them. Melissa got hooked on the same drug but quickly got off it, and Faye said bye to Lee. I feel like they could have kept that going in another season if they hadn't wrapped it in a neat little bow so soon.
Diana Meade, played by Shelley Hennig, is like I said my most hated character. I don't know what did it. In the beginning she wasn't that bad but as the season grew on, I just wanted to punch her in the face. This is in no way a reflection of her acting, I think Shelley played her character so well, I had to hate her. She was just so annoying. She was so gung ho about getting the circle bound, about keeping their powers in check and doing magic together, but when the proverbial shit hit the fan, she was so against everything. She was against listening to Blackwell, thought she was too good to use the black magic he gave her because yes, he sired her too, and she broke up with Adam over something his dad said, but then gonna have sex with him in a barn and get mad when he shows up at a dance with Cassie. It was like she just kept flopping between the two.
Then when things really got bad, when the witch hunters were closing in and Blackwell was getting out of control, she decided to run off with this guy who was lying to her about how much money he really has or what he's really there for. Like, he was talking about running off together, and she agreed! I'm sitting there like isn't this chick still in high school? WTF. As a side note, I didn't understand the whole threat of the witch hunters. First they were the main problem, then they sort of fell back in the dark, then one got out of control, then they kept saying that they were coming back but just never did. I don't know what was going on there, but it definitely had me confused.
Diana was just so wishy washy and so stuck on her cloud with her nose in the air, it was like why are you in the freakin' circle then? Because it sure seemed like she didn't want to be there going on the end. I was hoping that Faye would have been the other Blackwell child, I mean how cool would it be to have a bad girl with black magic? Drama gold! But no, it went to Diana. Diana was just so hung up on being better than everyone else. She told Cassie that she would never use black magic, that she didn't want to be her sister, that she was too good to use black magic, I'm sitting there thinking like gee, what a bitch.
Diana just came off as thinking she was the best thing for the circle but then turns around and says she wants out. She works so hard to get them together, but then she can't get away from them fast enough. She was contradicting herself so much I just really didn't like her and I didn't like how she handled the whole situation with Adam and Cassie. She broke up with him on account of his dad, but remained friends with Cassie. I like that she didn't take this out on Cassie. I'm a big believer in girls going after the guys who screw up, not the girls who make them screw up, but of course this isn't always the case. So I do like that part, but then Diana wanted to go and get mad at him for flaunting it in her face. Granted, he shouldn't have done that, but it's like she broke up with him, she shouldn't care what he's doing because she made that conscious choice. I don't know, I just didn't like her but I did like Shelley, I think she's an actress worth looking out for.
Melissa Glaser, played by Jessica Parker Kennedy, was the most useless character I've ever seen. Since the whole show hinges on these six witches, they just had to have her in there. But she was second fiddle in practically everything. She was more Faye's friend than the rest of the group but Faye treated her like an idiot. She ordered her around and if Melissa said something stupid, Faye called her on it. Honestly, this character just didn't do anything for me. She was having sex with Nick, another useless character. So useless, they killed him off only to have him come back as a slave later on. Yeah, still useless. And so useless, he's not getting a review. Melissa was having sex with him on the down low because he was supposed to be the bad guy. Mostly he was just a butthole in the circle, there was just no point to him except to fill up pages on a script.
Then when Nick died, Melissa played the grieving widow, she was so messed up she didn't eat or sleep and when someone came along to change all that, it was only to get her hooked on drugs and let others know that there are witches running around Chance Harbor. Again, perfect for a second season, they could have soo explored that, but alas, they got out of it and that was the end of that. I just feel like the writers had these six prime characters, rife with drama, enough fodder for so many episodes and seasons, but they only focused on four of them and it was like what the hell do you have all the other people for?
Another amazing actress, I just felt like her character was useless. They tried to amend that toward the end where Diana and Melissa are hanging out and Melissa's like, well you guys don't include me, there's a group within the group, Diana says sorry, and bam they're back to being friends. I don't know about any of you, but if that was me, it would take more than a funky little sorry to make me forget I felt left out. That's just me. They had so much to work with and they just dropped the ball.
Jake Armstrong, played by Chris Zylka, was the other part to the triangle. But I don't know how accurate I am in saying that. Since Nick died, Jake immediately took his place within the circle. But his character is a tortured and mysterious one. He's a witch like the others but he's been led to believe that witches killed his parents. So he went to work for the witch hunters in ridding the world of them. A little backwards considering he is one, but hey, that's TV for you. But once he gets around the circle, he feels the obligated need to protect Cassie because he's slowly falling in love with her.
What I liked was how they really made Jake work for it. He fought his feelings for her in the beginning which I liked. It wasn't as automatic as it was between her and Adam and what I also liked was that they kept him close to his nature. He's just a bad apple and he never apologized for it. He used to mess around with Faye but all he did was use her and abuse her. For some reason, I just really like unapologetic characters. I like that he's bad and doesn't try to apologize for it. He doesn't care who he hurts, he doesn't care which bridge he burns, all he cares about is his needs. But when the show had their mid season finale, he offered himself to go in the place of Cassie. He was ready to go back to the witch hunters, knowing the truth this time about his parents, if it meant saving Cassie. That moment made me root for the two of them, because I'm a sucker for a rehabilitated bad boy.
Then when the show came back around, Jake went head to head with Adam. I'm also a huge sucker for guys protecting what they consider theirs. I mean, what girl in their right mind wouldn't want two incredibly hot actors fighting over them? But in the end, Jake kind of backed down which I was mad at but I'd rather that happen than to have him radically change. He went back to messing around with Faye who tried to act like she wasn't mad at him for using her, but hey, that's what bad guys do best. They make you hate them for loving them and love them for hating them. It's a no win situation.
So Jake started helping the circle, and here is where the witch hunters kind of melted into the background. I think because it was a mid season finale, they treated the other half as a whole seperate season which they shouldn't have done. If they'd just stuck with continuing the story, they would have done a whole lot better. All in all, Jake is my imagined boyfriend. He is someone I would undoubtedly want to be with but of course, it would be me hurting him before he even thought about hurting me, making me his equal and therefore making me someone he can't live without. Don't judge me for thinking this out! Ha!
I'm going to combine the last two. There's a running problem about their parents. There's this big mystery surrounding how they died and they soon find out what really happened. There's always no parents in YA especially in books, but there's been a crop of no parents in TV as well. It's just easier. As a writer myself, I typically don't write parents in my YA because there's just something easy and cool about having these kids find out what they are on their own and keeping it from their parents, only to have the parents know the whole time and now there's this level of betrayal. Kids are supposed to keep things from their parents, but not the other way around. So what I liked about this show, was that they at least tried to include parents. But these were some very naughty parents!
Namely Diana's dad and Faye's mom, these were the followers of Blackwell that ended in so many dead. Their powers were stripped away so in their power hungry haze, they devised a plan to siphon power off their kids. Charles Meade was played fabulously by Gale Harold, and Dawn Chamberlain was played by Natasha Henstridge. It's quickly discovered that Charles was the one who killed Cassie's mom in order to get her to Chance Harbor and when a demon run amok and Charles ended up killing Nick.
There was nothing these parents wouldn't do. They killed off some elders for little crystals, they threatened Adam's dad, they just went overboard in their lust for power. Dawn was initially running all the shots before Charles got wise and kept the crystal for himself. This was another problem I had with the show, the fact that the circle wasn't exactly secret. The parents knew about it, the witch hunters knew about it, Cassie's dad knew about it. They should have renamed the show. I know which direction they were trying to take but don't say something is secret when it really isn't.
Anywho, I liked how they had the parents in. I just wish that they had made the parents more involved. One show I would just like to see where the parents are open about hiding their kids identity. I think it would make for good drama because these kids will have all these questions, but the parents can still be secretive about some things and have their own little drama going on while trying to protect the kids but they're getting into trouble all their own. Just once I'd like to see that. That'll be a greater challenge than having both kids and parents in the dark.
Okay, now it's time for why this show got cancelled. I've mentioned my few grievances when talking about the characters. Like I said, if it sounds like I don't like this show, don't think that. This was a really good show and I really wish it could have gotten a second season. But the giants in TV land wouldn't allow it. =(
Anyway, what I think their main problem was with this show was that they were too ambitious. Ambition is good in any show, they're competing against a lot of other shows all competing for audiences. It's good to go out swinging. No one wants to go to a fight where the other one is this scrawny kid holding onto a prayer. But there is such a thing as too ambitious.
One of the main things were the characters like I said. They really went out swinging with the parents. Usually parents have very minimal contact with the affairs of their kids rendering them useless a la Vampire Diaries or Pretty Little Liars. So they had one point there. And they had a strong foundation with the characters. Adam was the good guy, Jake the bad, Cassie's the reluctant hero, and Diana was drama fodder. But that was basically it. Melissa was grossly underdeveloped, Faye was an awesome character but they didn't know what to do with her, and Nick was so useless they killed him off! They wanted to focus on Cassie coming to town, I get that, I understand it. But if you want a lot of characters, they had to find a way to balance this with the other characters. They're not there when you need them, they have to have their own lives. They're operating within a specific world and if they only show up when they're needed, then they're just characters. It breaks that fourth wall between characters and audience. Audience will only see them as characters, not as people who could be living in a specific world and that's what TV execs should strive for. They were good to some of their characters, but not all.
Another problem they had was what problem to focus on. They had so many enemies to choose from at any given moment. The writers should have picked one or two problems and stuck with it. First it was each other, then Jake, then the witch hunters, then just one witch hunter, then a demon, then their parents' murder, then it was Cassie's dad and the season ended with the foreshadowing of the other Blackwell children coming to town. That's eight problems in one tiny little season. These characters were just split too thin and the show reflected it. Some of my friends stopped watching it or took too long to watch it because there were so many problems, they couldn't keep up. It was the same for my mom. She started out watching it as well, but towards the middle just stopped because there was so many things vying for their attention it frustrated viewers. If they were to just stick with one or two problems, they could have stretched it and then in the second season, focus on something else. Like season one would have been all about the witch hunters and how they beat them back. Season two would have been all about Cassie's dad and what happened to the other parents. Season three would have been about the other Blackwell children. If they would have spaced it out like that, then the show would have lasted. The ratings weren't down because it was a lousy show, it was because they were confusing viewers and as viewers, we want to be entertained, we want to think, but we don't want to be confused.
The romantic drama could have used a makeover as well. Yes, viewers love triangles, look at any YA shows or even adult shows like Trueblood or Hart of Dixie. But what I didn't like was how quick it all was. I think Cassie and Adam should have worked harder for them to be together and then just because her dad was afraid of how strong they would be together, he faked a curse and made Adam forget about his and Cassie's relationship so Blackwell could better control them. Why work that hard for them to be together only to have them break up in a really messed up way? How horrible is it to remember loving this amazing guy and he can't remember at all the romantic things between the two of you? I mean, seriously messed up. And I would have liked to see Jake work a little harder too. I liked that he was fighting his nature and his preconceived hate towards witches in order to like Cassie, but somewhere in the middle, he just sort of gave up. No warning, no nothing and it's like WTF?
If the writers would have just slowed down and not treat the back order episodes as a seperate season, I think this should could have been on for a long time. It was an amazing show, they played their hearts out, and it could have survived. It was just one of those wrong place, wrong time sort of things. People were still kind of hopped up on the Vampire train to care too much about witches. If they were just a little less ambitious, they could have survived. I'm mad that there are no new episodes because I was really looking forward to the next season and the whole deal with the Blackwell children coming to town. Looking now, it probably would have been another situation with too many characters and not knowing what to do with them, but I still would have liked to see where it's going. Freshman seasons are much like the first book in a series. The writers are still getting to know the character themselves and through subsequent seasons and episodes, the characters would have been more established.
Honestly, go and watch the show. You won't be disappointed. I really hope this review hasn't turned you off of it. It should be available on Netflix right now, if you have an account or wherever you want to watch this show. You definitely should, you won't be sorry. Thanks for reading!
