Various episodes in the first season showed the damage witchcraft inflicted onto other individuals, whether they were actual witches or not. The boat fire resulted in the death of a parent of each teenager (except Cassie). The demonic resurrection of 1996 destroyed the life of Heather and her creepy caretaker brother. The loss of power drove Charles and Dawn to kill folk in pursuit of regaining their lost power. Blackwell is only aware of what the power did to him, but Ehrman's script relies on the audience's memory of these traumatic events for the characters as Blackwell orates in front of the circle members. The drama with Eben and Samuel taught Blackwell a valuable lesson about perspective; specifically, one's perspective about magic is as powerful as the magic itself. None of the teenagers bicker after the speech. Adam admits regret for doubting Cassie's father. The others seemed reassured by the speech. The witch-hunters will come for the circle. The circle members just need to be brave and confident in their ability to wield magic without destroying themselves or the people they love. The journey to this point wasn't ideal. There were inconsistencies, digressions, lack of direction; but the teenagers were consistently concerned about the effects of their power and in doubt enough about their ability to use it to bind the circle that this scene felt like it was a long-time coming.
The resurrection of the demons was the most urgent and immediate story in "Sacrifice." A witch-hunter named Samuel came to Chance Harbor to tell Blackwell about Eben's plan. Samuel strayed from the pack because of his reluctance to sacrifice his life for the cause. The story accomplished quite a bit as already written about in the two paragraphs above. The story also led to a big Blackwell reveal for the circle: he can use magic. Additionally, they learned about Blackwell's role in the demon outburst in 1996 which eventually led to the death of Nick, Heather and Melissa's possession. But none of the characters run in fear. If anything, the truth brings everyone closer. Eben's increasing power transformed the witch-hunters into a credible threat. Eben should retain power even if the circle discovers which witch gave him power. The magical crystals are the answer to Eben's demons. The circle simply needs to locate the other five crystals, wrest at least one away from Charles, so it's not quite so simple after all. "Sacrifice" and "Curse" injected much-needed direction into the season's endgame. It was odd for the parents to be absent only a week after the events of "Curse" but The Secret Circle must have budget constraints.
Adam and Cassie continued to deal with the effects of elixir. Their passionate love for one another is still a bit hard to accept in light of how lazy the writing was for them most of the season. The characters spend much of the episode apart. Adam's busy running a dinner for the Chance Harbor High School hockey team. Cassie is busy with Jake, Blackwell and Samuel. Cassie's hurt each time she's around Adam. His behavior and tone of voice are a far cry from the boy she still loves, and who loved her, not too long ago. Deep within him dwell feelings of rage and frustration. Melissa and Faye, who helped waitress the dinner, use Adam to help them compete against one another for the affections of the captain of the hockey team. The flirtations are innocent. The dude's girlfriend shows up. Adam freaks out. He continually asks the hockey captain if he knows how lucky he is to have love. In the backroom, after he's thrown a punch and the girls talk him down, he admits he's frustrated because he remembers perfection with Cassie but none of those feelings he had during said perfection. It's lame and doesn't really work, but this is where the character is.
The show missed a tremendous opportunity to end the episode on an uplifting note. The episode ends on Blackwell digging up the bones of an unknown person. Earlier, though, Blackwell offers to play a game of mini-golf with Cassie. She's trying not to fall apart. The gesture is sweet and paternal. Cassie agrees to play a game with mini-golf. The writers don't return to the agreement because the scene wasn't about playing mini-golf as much as it was about their relationship deepening with trust and love. I miss the days of the old genre shows on The WB (mainly Joss' shows) when an intense story would end in a moment of fun and lightness for the characters, whether it was Wesley worrying about being paranoid, or the Scoobies eating lunch outside and enjoying one another's company. It would've been nice to see Cassie and Blackwell actually playing a game of mini-golf. TSC needs to keep their viewers hooked though and ending an episode with a cliffhanger is quite important.
However, the human element of the show is sometimes lost. Diana and Grant were involved in a story tonight about the importance of truth and trust in a relationship. It was a shallow story with a poorly developed character. In other areas, the characters are too concerned with their romantic entanglements or lack thereof. The teenage characters never seemed fond of one another. There haven't been scenes in which they just see a movie or hang-out at the Boat House or get into silly supernatural adventures. The TSC writers take their story seriously. How refreshing it would've been to see Cassie and Blackwell just mini-golfing, getting away from the intense drama of their supernatural other selves. Of course, there's work to be done to naturally portray these moments. The characters need to like one another, and the audience needs to believe they like one another. The point is The Secret Circle can be a drag to watch; its world zaps one's energy. If they just took a cue from a vampire slayer show that aired for seven seasons in regards to characterization, character interaction and dynamics, a major flaw of the series could be corrected.
David Ehrman wrote "Sacrifice." Nick Copus directed.
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