"Wake" isn't about any one character or situation because it's entirely set-up. There's been sufficient enough world-building to integrate the Big Bads of the first season. The set-up in the episode's quite vague, though. Jake, Nick's brother, came to Chance Harbor to take care of business. Since Cassie's our eyes and ears, we learn all about him through other characters. Without wasting words, Jake's a wildcard--someone Cassie first sees around a fire (so she thinks he's a possible arsonist). Faye hates the guy because he used her two years ago and left her feeling like a piece of junk. Adam hates him because of something that happened between him and his father, and there's a hint that Diana once dated Jake because she loathes 'jealous boyfriend Adam.' The circle doesn't trust him. Cassie, though, argues on behalf of Jake, insisting that he's a darn good fellow, and trustworthy, because he saved her from a knife-wielding female who actively hunts witches to scavenge their powers (none of that's true but it's the tale Jake tells Cassie later in the episode).
The reason for the vague-ness in the episode's set-up for future storytelling is because Cassie is our lens. Cassie trusts Jake; therefore, we trust Jake because we've seen him save her life. Of course, the doubt creeps in (for the audience) when he secretly meets with the assassin and curses her for beginning the blood-letting process so soon (on the witches). The writers wrote the character to be more ambiguous than the actor actually portrays him to be. The actor's not very good at playing the mysterious Jake because it's not surprising when he meets with a group of witch hunters. Any time multiple characters utter the words "it's been two years! HE'S CHANGED!" the character, most certainly, hasn't changed.
I'm already tired of Jake's arc because the built-in conflicts he has with the life-long inhabitants of Chance Harbor are interesting. Faye wants revenge for how he treated her, which is fine, but she just complains throughout "Wake." Melissa finally tells her to shut up when she reminds her that the wake's for Nick, not her. The tension between Jake and Adam is non-existent. Thomas Dekker tried to make it believable but their confrontations had no life. The most ridiculous exchange occurred during the wake, where Jake is supposed to be in mourning: Adam, with an abundance of macho bravado, approaches Jake and asks, "WHAT ARE YOU UP TO?!?" Now, the brother of the recently deceased Nick could've easily said, "I'm mourning my brother." However, Jake acts like a jackass, insults Adam's father, and a fight ensues. I know that it's a matter of time before we learn more about his relationship with Faye and his feud with Adam, but this episode destroyed any investment I had in discovering more about both.
The reveal that he's a witch hunting other witches as an act of revenge wasn't shocking either. The middle-aged male who heads the group of hunters could be problematic because middle-aged male Big Bads usually suck. The group's fervent and absolute beliefs about witches aren’t interesting either. Give me complicated Big Bads with complex motivations instead of black-and-white 'they-are-bad-and-need-to-die' villains.
Diana broke up with Adam because his father told her his son and Cassie was written in the stars. He warned her that bad things happen to those who mess with fate. Diana went to Cassie's, told her the truth about the break-up, and accepted her friend's consolatory embrace. Adam hasn't ruined their friendship yet. However, a tidbit like 'you are doomed should you mess with fate' isn't put into a script if it won't matter later. Diana's honesty was refreshing, considering how characters usually keep secrets for seasons on CW dramas. Speaking of Adam's father, he made mention of a blackwall (or blackwell) that devastated Cassie's father. The hints continue to drop about the boat fire but they're only hints, thus the specifics are vague. I'm not sure if a flashback episode would be a good idea for this show.
So, his previous two episodes were good enough to distract me from the flaws in the series. "Wake" had its problems. I barely wrote about Dawn and Charles because they weren't interesting. I hope the threat that Dawn and Charles pose to the circle comes back because I thought that idea was awesome. The group of witch-hunters, as I already wrote, is less awesome. The binding spell continues to have flaws. Apparently, the circle binds blood lines, which means it's tough to break. The elders probably stripped Dawn, Charles, and the others of their powers because of the boat fire and the whole demon nonsense. The series is in a proper mess now thanks to "Wake." It wasn't a successful episode, friends and well-wishers.
Of course, I look forward to "Masked" because I'm a fan of Halloween-themed episodes.
Andrea Newman wrote the episode. Guy Bee directed it.
THE YOUTUBE CLIP OF THE WEEK
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