by Ryan J. Downey
Cassie and Adam finally kissed, Jake returned, the school dance caught fire and Faye made a power move that backfired in a major way! There were heavy duty happenings in Chance Harbor on this week's episode of "The Secret Circle," with some of the sexiest moments this show has attempted, new angles to the two intersecting love triangles and ever furthering mythology, to boot.
When Britt Robertson told Hollywood Crush earlier this week that "Fire/Ice" would contain a "classic Faye-Cassie stand-off," she wasn't kidding. If anything, she was politely underselling just how explosive and juicy the drama would get.
"Cassie releases a demon that ends up killing Nick, then she brings Jake into the Circle and it turns out he's a witch hunter. And then she almost chokes Adam to death with her mind yet I'm the evil one?" Faye asked the rest of the group, incredulously, toward the end of the episode, after the Circle teamed up on her following her episode's worth of scheming and power-tripping. "Miss Innocent here is full of dark magic. Evil magic. How does this bitch get a free pass and I get burned at the stake? Forget it. Screw you guys."
The episode begins with Diana and Cassie waking up after the sleepover from hell that included Cassie nearly being buried alive last week. They have a contentious chat about Jake ("He's still a part of the Circle. We need him," Cassie insists) before they change the subject to the evening's Fire and Ice dance, where you may only wear red or white. The pair playfully decide to use magic to change the color of Diana's dress, but thanks to Cassie's dark nature, the dress catches fire instead.
Meanwhile, Adam is getting some more reminders from his dad about his destiny—mainly, the fact that he's supposed to be with Cassie romantically. At school that morning, Cassie sees Jake running around outside, except upon further inspection, it's just some lookalike. Cassie tells Adam she wants to learn more about her dad, from whom her dark magic is derived. He suggests she try the city records and offers to come along. While there, he distracts the clerk long enough for Cassie to come up with an old address for her father.
Guess where 6 Briar Hill is. The Secret Circle clubhouse! Turns out the abandoned house where the crew hangs out is in fact the former residence of none other than John Blackwell. According to Diana's Book of Shadows, it's the area of town where magic is strongest.
Voodoo man Lee parks his cool car at the high school and Faye catches him lurking about. "Stalker much?" she challenges. He unashamedly cops to watching her and her friends. "I guess you and Melissa aren't the only teen witches in town," he says. "Blondie, emo boy and the girl scout." Faye half-heartedly pretends he's crazy. He persists. "I think you've lost your magic after you bound your circle."
Back at the Club house, Adam invites Cassie to the dance. Cassie demurs, insisting that she doesn't want to hurt Diana. "Diana has made it clear that she is moving on. Like I should be doing," Adam says. "What if you and I are really meant to be together?" Cassie says she can't think about that right now. Adam counters with, "it's funny, because these days, I can't think about anything else." Awkward silence.
Cassie notices a symbol in the basement of the Clubhouse that she's seen in her Book of Shadows. While she's talking about this with Diana and Melissa, she realizes there's a page missing from her book. She figures out that Faye must've taken it and calls her to demand it back. Faye has been scheming with voodoo boy who says he can perform a ritual that will allow her to steal Cassie's power. What does he want in return? Just a favor someday. "You're not getting laid," Faye insists. ""When we have sex, it's not going to be because of a deal," he smirks. Faye tells Cassie she'll meet her at the dance to give her that page back. But her and voodoo boy obviously have other plans.
At the dance, Cassie runs into Adam's dad in the hallway. She grills him about her father and whether he had anything to do with the big fire years ago. He's evasive, though he says her father didn't start the fire. He warns her to stop prying into her father's past. He says her late mother wouldn't approve. "Probably not," she replies. "But she doesn't have a say anymore."
Diana makes herself dance with a guy who isn't Adam, who later tells him how happy this made him and manipulates her into agreeing to give Cassie a pass to date him. And just as these two are cooling off (whether Diana likes it or not), some of the fire from the episode's title is heating up as the chemistry between Lee and Faye almost explodes during their kinky ritual, which includes Lee unzipping her formfitting mini-dress and gently cutting her with some animal teeth. She gets her powers back… And then some! But as she waltzes back into the dance and starts abusing the magic left and right, the other members of the Circle start passing out. All of them except Cassie.
Faye eventually lights some fires that endanger everyone in the school (and lead to some broken glass dropping everywhere from the ceiling, too). "Whatever you did is not affecting me, it's hurting the rest of the Circle!" Cassie points out. Faye, feeling guilty, demands that Lee reverse the spell. He reluctantly agrees, but says: "You know you talk a good game, but inside, you're just another scared debutante."
Cassie and Melissa are nearly killed before a mysterious person wearing boots comes to their rescue. The group confronts Faye outside. "This isn't the first time you've almost killed someone and the rest of us had to clean it up," Adam says. That's when Faye's list of complaints about Cassie comes out. Then she storms off, tracking down Lee for what looks likely to be more steamy scheming together.
Later, back at the Clubhouse, Cassie wonders whether her father was trying to pull his own dark magic from inside of himself. She'd like to try the same thing, but Adam won't let her. "Your destiny is important to me," he says. And then they finally kiss! Just as they are really getting into it, we see the same boots that saved Cassie from the fire descend the basement stairs: it's Jake! And he saw them making out!
What did you think of last night's episode? Are you Team Jake or Team Adam? Do you think Faye will ever relent in her search for power? Tell us everything in the comments and on Twitter!
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