TV Recap & Review: THE SECRET CIRCLE 1.1, Pilot

The Secret Circle a new supernatural drama from the creators of The Vampire Diaries premiered last Thursday night. Here's what happened in the pilot. We are introduced to main girl Cassie Blake (Britt Robinson) driving home one night, minding her own business, listening to the radio, when she is over taken by speeding car. Then all of a sudden her tyre bursts. No problem for Cassie, she's a modern girl who knows who to change a tyre, alone, at night, in the middle of a deserted street, nothing bad can happen right? Still there's the speeding car which has now stopped a little further up the road, maybe they will turn out to be a good Samaritan and help, or maybe not as they ignore Cassie's calls for help and speed away. It's all getting a little strange. Meanwhile Cassie's mum is at home preparing dinner when Cassie calls to let her know about the flat tyre, but their phone call gets disconnected when the same mysterious speeding car pulls up out side the house. A man gets out of the car and starts to walk towards the house, he pours a bottle water on to the floor and at the same time Cassie's mum's sink bursts. He lights a match and the cooker catches fire. He lights another and the fire spreads. He lights a box of matches and the whole house explodes. Now orphaned Cassie is sent to live with her Grandmother Jane (Ashley Crowe) in the small town of Chance Harbour, Washington, the town her mother grew up in and left following the death of Cassie€™s father. Everyone in town seems mighty interested in Cassie, is it just small town friendliness or something more? In her first day at school she manages to attract the attention of five students in particular who seem very keen for her to join them. Firsts there's resident bad girl Faye (Phoebe Tonkin) and her side kick Melissa (Jessica Parker Kennedy), good girl Diana (Shelley Hennig) and her boyfriend Adam (Thomas Dekker) and finally mysterious bad boy Nick (Louis Hunter), who happens to be Cassie's neighbor. Diana invites Cassie to hangout after school at the Boathouse, a bar popular with the school kids. Cassie heads on over to the Boathouse where she meets Ethan (Adam Harrington) who explains he was in love with her mother and that their two families are destined to be together, it€™s written in the stars. Adam comes over and explains that this is his dad; he's the owner of the bar and is more than a little drunk so not to listen to him. Cassie sits down in one of the booths where she is greeted by Faye and Melissa, who suggest she and Adam would make a great couple. Cassis not liking the conversation or the company gets up and leaves. Faye and Melissa decide its time Cassie found out about her powers and decide to lock her inside her car and set it on fire in the hope it will force her to get in touch with her inner witch. No such luck as Cassie, like any normal person, just panics when faced with death, until Adam rushes in and rescues her. However the whole experience leaves Cassie questioning what exactly is going on in this town. Meanwhile the mystery increases as Diana shouts at Faye for losing control of her powers, while Cassie's Grandmother Jane asks Dawn Chamberlain (Natasha Henstridge), the principle of Chance Harbour High and Faye€™s mom, if she thinks the kids could be practicing? Dawn assures her that's not possible, especially after what happen before. The next day Cassie meets Diana who promises she will explain everything; Cassie just has to go with her. They head on out to a hut in the woods where they meet, that€™s right, Faye, Melissa, Adam and Nick. They explain that each of them comes from a long line of witches and that with Cassie they have enough members for a full circle. Apparently their parents were all witches who had their own circle before something bad happened and people started dying. Cassie isn€™t having any of this and runs away into the woods. Adam catches up with her and convinces her she€™s a witch by helping her tap into her power and make droplets of water float. Caught up in the magic moment they also very nearly kiss, before Cassie remembers he has a girlfriend and takes off running again. I sense a love triangle coming on. Cassie heads back to the Boathouse where she meets Ethan, who once again starts going on about how she is destined to be with Adam, it€™s written in the stars. He also begins to tell Cassie about her parents when they are interrupted by Charles Meade (Gale Harold), Diana's dad and the man who killed Cassie's mother. He kicks Cassie out and threatens Ethan into keeping his mouth shut by nearly drowning him using those nifty magic powers of his. Out on the dock Faye is using the circles new power to start a storm. Diana's not best pleased and demands she stops it before it gets out of hand, however it€™s too late the storm is out of control and Faye is unable to stop it. Enter Cassie who is able to stop the storm easy peasy. Cassie returns home where she is visited by Adam, she tells him she doesn€™t want anything to do with magic or the circle. She heads to bed where she finds her family's book of shadows hidden in the fire place. Inside the book is a letter from her mother telling her that yes she is a witch, a very powerful witch and to be careful as people will be coming for her power. The show ends with Dawn returning home to find Charles waiting for her; it appears these two are in cahoots. But what exactly is their relationship? They discuss Cassie and her power; I'm guessing these are the people Cassie's mother was talking about, before taking their evil plotting in doors. Sitting down to watch The Secret Circle I was equal parts excitement and equal parts worry, excited to see what the creative team behind The Vampire Diaries ( I'm a big fan) had come up with, worried that we would be watching a rehashed show, just switching vampires for witches. But I need not have worried; while there are definite similarities between the two I think The Secret Circle has the making of a successful show in its own right. Of course it will appeal to the same core demographic as its sister show The Vampire Diaries and will no doubt be helped by being scheduled right after. The pilot works well in setting up the premise, establishing the main characters and laying down the plotlines for the rest of the series, plus it had one of the best opening scenes for a new show. There is a lot to explore in future episodes, Cassie€™s developing power, Cassie and Adam€™s relationship, Diana and Faye€™s power struggle to be leader of the circle, Dawn and Charles€™ evil plans, keeping the circle secret from their parents, what happened to their parents circle. The first episode creates enough intrigue to cause people to tune in for the next episode, but the proof will be in how the show develops over the next couple of episodes. I know I'll be tuning in to see what happens. The Secret Circle continues Thursday, 9/8c, on the CW. It hits UK screens on 28th September, 8pm, on Sky Living.