Ms. Taco's Pilot Review-The Secret Circle

The Secret Circle premiered last night on the CW. It stars, most notably, Britt Robertson (Life Unexpected) as Cassie Blake a seemingly normal teenage girl who, after the mysterious death of her mother, comes to find out that she is a witch. Now that Cassie has moved to the small town her mother grew up in, five other teenage witches are counting on her to complete their "secret circle", which would render their powers unstoppable.

I think there's a lot to like in this one and definitely some interesting places it could go. First off, Robertson. She's as likable as she was in Life Unexpected, which makes her an easy protagonist to root for as she navigates the complicated web of this small town. And speaking of the small town, the creepiness factor is very nicely done here. Watching it, I kind of felt like I was watching one of those small town horror movies. I'm not sure if it's the lighting or the way it's shot or both, but I definitely was sufficiently creeped out at some points. The mysteries here are good too and their are several. What went wrong with the last "secret circle"? Why was Cassie's dad a "bad man"? What is the history between Cassie's mom and Principal Chamberlain? My theory is that since Adam's dad claims he was meant to be with Cassie's mom, that Principal Chamberlain was meant to be with Cassie's dad? What is the history between Fay and her mom, Principal Chamberlain? They both seem to be on the wrong side of the tracks, so why so much antagonism? Any while we are on the subject of antagonism, what's the deal between Fay and Diana? Is it simply a power struggle or is there more history there? Any most importantly, what do Principal Chamberlain and Charles need Cassie to do? I love a show that weaves several different mysteries together, if it's done right. This episode planted all of the seeds very nicely and I'm interested to see how they all unravel.

And of course the inevitable love triangle, set up from the very beginning. So now we know that if Cassie and Adam don't end up together, something is going to go very wrong, which is going to have us all hoping for the Cassie/Adam pairing. But, what about Diana. I was reading somewhat that this will be a hard triangle for viewers to settle on since both girls are so likable, and I think that's true. So far, Diana is a pretty likable person, which makes rooting for Cassie here pretty tough. I think it makes for an interesting triangle. Adding Nick into the mix, which I'm guessing they'll do at some point since he was staring at Cassie through her window, could be interesting, but right now it's way too early to tell. Nick is barely fleshed out so right now he's little more than a guest star to me. The same goes for Fay's friend Melissa. I realize that it was only the pilot and there was a lot to set up, but these two characters despite being part of the "circle" were barely involved. That definitely needs to change.

My biggest issue with the show is the actual witchcraft. What exactly are there powers? That ends up being my gripe with a lot of supernatural shows. I don't want to sit around watching them be able to do anything they set their minds to. There needs to be some rhyme or reason, a limit. The witchcraft aspect needs to be more well-defined, and if it's not at some point, that will be a definite turn off for me. Right now, the mysteries are definitely pulling me in and I will be checking out a lot of this one.