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'Secret Circle' Recap: 'Beneath'

Posted 11/4/11 10:48 am EST by in TV Recaps


Secret Circleby Ryan J. Downey

The first season of "The Secret Circle" has paid sly tribute to a number of genre milestones in short order, from "The Craft" to co-executive producer Kevin Williamson's own "I Know What You Did Last Summer" series in some ways. This week's episode, "Beneath," gave us some more great teen movie staples—a road trip, a sexy game of truth-or-dare—while spinning the show's love triangles into a pentagram, to boot.

Remember last week when Cassie set her dance date on fire with some dark magic? Now we've seen a bit of her "bad girl" side (or as much as our sometimes naive central heroine seems capable of one) via a little make out session with bad boy Jake, who she doesn't realize is actually a traitorous witch boy on the side of the witch hunters plotting to kill her and all of her friends. Of course, the Circle has been down an essential member ever since Jake's brother was drowned by Charles, so it seems inevitable that Jake may eventually turn good.

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'Vampire Diaries' Recap: 'Ordinary People'

Posted 11/4/11 10:21 am EST by in TV Recaps


Vampire Diariesby Cassie Title

I am still processing. I am still processing. I need about 10 yoga classes and 46 deep, cleansing breaths to finish processing all of the insane information I have been waiting a full season to find out. And now, I’ve basically found it all out! My mind is in overload, I cannot handle it, Namaste.

Now of course, me being me, I still want to know more. Because knowing one thing is never enough! I must know all things! I must! I must! But let’s go over the main stuff first, and then we’ll get to my very small disappointments from last night's "Ordinary People."

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'Glee' Recap: 'Pot O' Gold'

Posted 11/2/11 10:03 am EST by in TV Recaps


GleeI should probably address the big statutory elephant in the room first and foremost. While anyone could have seen the sparks between Puck and Shelby coming from a mile away, the surprise kiss at the end of last night's "Glee" must have caused more than a fair share of pull-hugging gasps. It was all kind of cathartic and definitely nice to see a sweeter Puck balance out the earnest craziness of Quinn. Framing Shelby as a bad adoptive mother for Beth qualifies as going off the deep-end a bit, for sure. Quinn's gone dark, and she's going all the way. The storyline stuck out throughout the episode as the most interesting (and anytime a Foreigner song is featured, I'm sold), so seeing things move that quickly right away definitely digs the hooks in audiences for the next few weeks. This could mean so many things for both Shelby and Puck, not to mention Quinn, who probably won't be too happy about the whole arrangement. If you haven't brushed up on your law recently, I'll fill you in. Even if Puck's past the legal age of consent, this cannot happen. As a guest star, Idina Menzel isn't expected to stick around too long, so we should see some fireworks soon.

They didn’t exactly waste any time, either, introducing Damian McGinty’s character after his shared win on "The Glee Project" this past summer. Rory Flanagan, a new exchange student, showed up right away to charm(s) his way into Brittany’s "pot of gold," which he hopes eventually means a snog or two. The relationship is unfortunate for a few reasons. Brittany doesn’t exactly understand that Rory is only Irish and not an actual leprechaun. She also can’t understand most of what he says. Rory plays along with Brittany's assertion that granting her three wishes will earn him her pot of gold. The bullied new kid just hopes that if he sorts through enough boxes of Lucky Charms and hides enough Snickers bars in her cat’s litter box, he’ll get the kiss he’s hoping for. For all his troubles, we were treated to an interesting take on the Kermit the Frog classic "Bein' Green."

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'Secret Circle' Recap: 'Masked'

Posted 10/28/11 11:35 am EST by in TV Recaps


Secret CircleI've finally found something beautifully menacing Faye and I have in common: We both love Halloween! So it was with the same uncharacteristic giddiness the bitch witch displayed while lugging around a zombie mannequin that I too relished last night's holiday-themed "Secret Circle."

The episode opened with Cassie and Faye perusing an antique shop in search of tricks and treats for the Halloween party Cassie would be hosting (thanks for skipping town on the scariest night of the year, Grandma Jane!). Of course, this being a shop in Chance Harbor dedicated to ancienty, mysterious items, it's owned by a witch. As Faye changed out of the multi-strand necklace she thought constituted a top, Cassie went to the counter to pay, but when she and shop-owner Calvin brushed hands, the mirror behind him shattered! Too many witchy powers at work?

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'Vampire Diaries' Recap: 'Ghost World'

Posted 10/28/11 10:24 am EST by in TV Recaps


Vampire Diariesby Cassie Title

If Mystic Falls wasn’t enough of a weird, supernatural vortex for you (vampires, werewolves and hybrids, included) than last night’s influx of ghosts must’ve made you pretty happy. You know who else was pretty happy? Basically, no one. Starting with...

Damon. As the episode opened, dude was tied up and bound in a chair. I, for one, had a sneaking suspicion that this was not going to turn into the S&M scene we’ve all been waiting for, but a girl can dream. Who had tied Damon up if it wasn’t sexy Katherine (is she alive?!), or finally-succumbing-to-the-tension Elena, or evil-ripper Stefan? Mason Lockwood, of course! The dead, ghostly werewolf. Damon couldn’t see him, but using his smarts, figured out that the torture scene that unfolded was parallel to the scene in which he killed dear Mason. So, he went to find...

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'Secret Circle' Recap: 'Wake'

Posted 10/21/11 10:40 am EST by in TV Recaps


Secret Circleby Ryan J. Downey

Witch hunters, boozy revelations, a huge breakup, a girl stabbed in the throat and a short novel's worth of new layers of "Secret Circle" mythology? If we didn't know better, we'd have thought "Wake" was the season finale. But we're still only six episodes in!

"I broke up with Adam," Diana tearfully tells Cassie, late in the episode.

"What happened?" Cassie asks.

"You."

Talk about a shakeup in the central love triangle. And that wasn't all. The last two episodes of "The Secret Circle" have accelerated to a freight train pace as the mysteriously interlocking web of Chance Harbor's past, present and future continued to be revealed.

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'Vampire Diaries' Recap: 'Smells Like Teen Spirit'

Posted 10/21/11 10:10 am EST by in TV Recaps


Vampire Diariesby Cassie Title

As per usual, so much crazy stuff happened on last night’s episode. Like, Tyler was creepily loyal to Klaus! The kids actually went back to school! Stefan and Rebekah enrolled too! Matt tried doing some magic for dummies and then Bonnie had to reverse the spell! And Jeremy totally emotionally cheated on Bonnie with Anna, again! But, as you may have expected, I don’t really care about any of it, because all I can care about is the fact that Katherine succeeded in awaking Mikael. AND HE STARTED TO FEED ON HER! THAT IS RIGHT! THE VAMPIRE WHO KILLS OTHER VAMPIRES MAY HAVE KILLED KATHERINE AND I AM FREAKING OUT LIKE NEVER BEFORE AND IF SHE IS DEAD I SWEAR TO EVERYTHING THAT IS HOLY THAT I WILL NEVER, EVER, EVER FORGIVE JULIE PLEC AND KEVIN WILLIAMSON.

Ahem. Apologies for the outburst. Now that I think about it, I do kind of care about the other things. Just not as much as I care about Katherine. OMG, I can’t even type her name without freaking out. Somebody help.

OK. Let’s focus on something calming. Like explaining every not calm, incredibly crazy-important thing that happened last night.

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'Pretty Little Liars' Halloween Special Recap: 'The First Secret'

Posted 10/20/11 9:57 am EST by in TV Recaps


Pretty Little LiarsThis is where it all began: "The First Secret." Last night's "Pretty Little Liars" Halloween episode delivered many tasty treats (and—predictably—a few trecherous tricks) as we went back to Halloween 2008, when Alison was still breathing, Jenna could still see and Hanna was still hefty. The series' writers really outdid themselves connecting all the dots—and we loved it.

As the liars (all five of them!) debated the merits of "...Baby One More Time" Britney versus bald Britney for Hanna's Halloween costume, Noel Kahn pulled up, inviting the girls to his Halloween bash. "Prepare to be scared," he said with a mischievous grin. I think it was a warning to the audience, as well.

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'Lying Game' Mid-Season Finale Recap: 'East Of Emma'

Posted 10/18/11 11:29 am EST by in TV Recaps


Lying GameFamily reunions shouldn't be this fraught. But, considering this is ABC Family, we shouldn't have been too surprised.

On "The Lying Game"'s mid-season finale, Sutton finally found her way back to Phoenix—in time for her birthday and to royally screw with Emma's life. We thought Sutton was a spoiled brat before, but she clearly crossed into mega bitch territory last night.

As I mentioned, it was Sutton's (and Emma's!) birthday, and the Mercers woke the latter with a birthday breakfast in bed. Emma blew out the candle announcing her "bogus wish," which was to runaway and never come back. Even for a "bogus wish," it was a bit ominous. Ethan made his window appearance, wishing Emma a happy birthday, as well, and telling her he was ready to hit the road with her whenever Sutton returned. But Emma wouldn't have any of it; she would stay and confess her secret to the Mercers.

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'Secret Circle' Recap: 'Slither'

Posted 10/14/11 10:54 am EST by in TV Recaps


Secret Circleby Ryan J. Downey

How did "The Secret Circle" celebrate The CW's announcement of a full season order? Why, by killing off a major character, of course! And with a whipped cream fueled make-out session, to boot.

It probably wasn't planned that way, of course, but just one day after the network brass let loose the news that they'll be keeping "The Secret Circle" around, the inaugural season's juiciest episode yet unfurled a slew of story revelations.

Season one's latest entry, "Slither," took the previous four episodes' sometimes slow boil pace and tossed it out the window. Action abounded, people spilled their secrets to each other and we learned that Cassie's grandma is a badass! There were revelations about what Dawn and Charles are trying to do and why (and what kind of scruples they may actually have); some very welcome deepening of the show's mythology (for example: demons can only be killed by burning or drowning—you know, important facts when establishing a supernatural town!); the intense writhing and snarling of possessed witch kids and yes, the death of one of the Circle's very own.

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