The Secret Circle TV Show Review - What Happened All Those Years Ago?

The Secret Circle TV show first aired on the CW on the 15th of September 2011. It was initially approved for 10 episodes but was quickly extended to a 22 episode first series, once it was clear it had a following and that there were fans who loved the show.

It is easy to see how The Secret Circle TV series quickly became so popular when you consider the 3 main reasons.

When you take into account that The Secret Circle series is in the currently popular genre of Dark Fantasy and Supernatural beings.

It's quick success is also highly likely because The Secret Circle TV series began life as a set of novels by L. J. Smith. The Secret Circle books have been incredibly popular over the past 10 years and have a loyal audience and following.

Also TV audiences have been sucked into another L. J. Smith adaptation already in the form of The Vampire Diaries, which airs in the time slot right before The Secret Circle, also on the CW.

However, The Secret Circle has not sat on it's laurels and hoped this would continue to bring in viewers. Instead the TV series revolves around interesting characters and a dark mystery is at it's core. Like The Vampire Diaries, The Secret Circle is not afraid to kill off key characters and one of the The Secret Circle's central characters has already been killed off in the first season.

Continue reading if you want to find out more about The Secret Circle cast and characters and the mystery surrounding the boat yard accident 16 years ago.

The Secret Circle TV show is about a teenage girl called Cassie Blake, who loses her mum in what she thinks is a tragic accident. Cassie believes her Mother died in an accidental house fire. What she doesn't realise is that it was started deliberately by Charles Meade.

When Cassie's Mother dies, Cassie goes to live in Chance Harbor with her Gran. Chance Harbor is where Cassie's Mother was born and raised but left there after the tragic "boat accident". Again another accident that was no accident.

Cassie meets some kids at school who are acting weird around her, and begins to see why her Mother left all those years ago.

Diane Meade, Adam Conant, Nick Armstrong, Faye Chamberlain and Melissa Glaser are all friends at Chance Harbor High School. They encourage Cassie Blake to come with them to the old abandoned house and tell her she's a witch. They are all witches too as they are descended from witches. Cassie's Mother never told Cassie about her family history and Cassie is shocked.

Cassie thinks they are crazy and doesn't believe them but soon realizes she has magical abilities and can do spells. Cassie agrees to become a member of the Coven but there's secrets she's unaware of.

Cassie is told not to tell her Grandmother or anyone else about her abilities.

Witchcraft is no longer practiced in Chance Harbor because of the mysterious accident of 16 years ago, in the boat yard, where most of the Coven lost at least one parent in the fire. No one will tell the teenagers what happened and no one is guiding them in their discovery of magic and their new found powers.

Cassie finds her Mothers Book of Shadows. Diana is the only other member of the coven to have a Book of Shadows.

Diana and Adam have known each other since they were little kids and recently break up when Adam meets Cassie. According to Ethan Conant, Adam and Cassie are "written in the stars", just like he and Amelia were supposed to be.

While practicing magic, Melissa is possessed by a Demon. The Demon inside Melissa tries to infect the other members of the Coven with Demon's too but Cassie goes to her Grandmother, Jane, for help. The Demon hides inside Nick and leaves the house before Jane can kill it. Nick is later drowned in the Harbor to make sure the Demon does not survive.

Nick's brother, Jake Armstrong, returns to Chance Harbor to attend his brothers funeral. Jake is not what he seems and he is a Witch too. However, Jake believes Witches are responsible for his parents death so he works with Witch Hunters to kill Witches.

Jake tries to kill the other members of The Circle but fails as Cassie taps into her Dark Magic. Jake was unaware of her Dark Magic until he finds out Cassies Father, John Blackwell, is descended from a long line of Dark Magic Practitioners, thought to have been killed generations ago.

Jake finds out from the Witch Hunters that Cassie is not the only child of John Blackwell in The Circle.

Meanwhile, Dawn Chamberlain and Charles Meade continue to scheme in the background. They hope to use the new Coven to get their magical powers back. The Parents Coven was stripped of their powers 16 years ago, after the accident where many of their Coven died.

Although Dawn and Charles do not have powers of their own, they are able to tap into the power stored in crystals. They need these crystals to be able to reverse the spell that stripped them of their powers. These crystals are hidden by the Elders, who are also Witches and are mainly comprised of the teenagers Grandparents, who still have their magic.

The teenagers realize that everything goes back to the boat yard fire and decide to find out what happened. Jake was a child at the time and he was actually at the accident that night. Cassie and Jake go into Jake's memory to see what happened.

Cassie finds out her Parents Circle were betrayed by the Witch Hunters and they killed as many of the Coven as they could. When they tried to kill John Blackwell he escaped, using his Black magic.

Cassie has inherited Black Magic from her Father's line and must be careful. Although it is powerful she has been warned to fight it as it is evil and can change her.

The Secret Circle Cast and Characters

Here is a list of The Secret Circle Cast and the Characters they play.

Cassie Blake is played by Britt Robertson (played Lux in Life Unexpected).

Adam Conant is played by Thomas Dekker (played John Connor in Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles).

Faye Chamberlain is played by Phoebe Tonkin (was Adrian Hall in Home and Away and Cleo Sertori in H2O: Just Add Water).

Diana Meade is played by Shelly Hennig (Stephanie Johnson from Days of Our Lives).

Melissa Glaser is played by Jessica Parker Kennedy (played superhero Plastique in Smallville).

Jake Armstrong is played by Chris Zylka (Joey Donner from 10 Things I Hate About You).

Nick Armstrong was played by Louis Hunter (played Kyle Mulroney in Out of The Blue).

Dawn Chamberlain is played by Natasha Henstridge (Sil in Species and then Eve in Species II and III).

Charles Meade is played by Gale Harold (played Professor Julian Parrish on Hellcats and artist Jackson Braddock on Desperate Housewives).

Ethan Conant is played by Adam Harrington (played Agent Walker in Dexter).

Jane Blake is played by Ashley Crow (was Sandra Bennett in Heroes).

There are so many mysteries in The Secret Circle series that sometimes it's hard to keep track of everything. Although the first mystery revolved around the boat yard fire of 16 years ago there have been many more questions raised since then.

We know that the boat yard fire was actually caused by John Blackwell and Cassie saw that he survived the fire. However, we still don't know why the Witch Hunters were involved in the boat yard or the reasons behind the events of the fire.

It also led us to ask where John Blackwell is now and why he's been hidden for the last 16 years. As far as we know he has never gone in search of Cassie in all that time.

Also what was Ethan Conant doing at the boat yard? Didn't his wife die in that same fire? He obviously left unharmed so did he make some kind of deal with the Witch Hunters? If he did what was it and how could he let his wife die in the fire and not try to save her?

We also know that another member of the Coven is a child of John Blackwell. We are not sure which of the teenagers is Cassie's half brother or sister, but I think it would be fair to say it's not Jake Armstrong. If it were they wouldn't have let him return to Chance Harbor. I think it's Faye Chamberlain or Diana Meade. I think it would be wrong if it was Adam as Cassie and Adam are clearly attracted to each other. If it is Adam then let's hope they don't "seal the deal" before they find out.

We also know that Charles Meade's Mother knows the teenagers have found their power and that the circle has now been bound. What is her agenda and will she tell the other Elders about the teenagers?

Also where is Cassie's grandmother and will she return soon?

We also know that another member of the Coven is a child of John Blackwell's. We are not sure which of the teenagers is Cassie's half brother or sister, but I think it would be fair to say it's not Jake Armstrong. If it were the Witch Hunters wouldn't have let him return to Chance Harbor. I think it's Faye Chamberlain or Diana Meade. I think it would be wrong if it was Adam as Cassie and Adam are clearly attracted to each other. If it is Adam then let's hope they don't "seal the deal" before they find out.

We also know that Charles Meade's Mother knows the teenagers have found their power and that the circle has now been bound. What is her agenda and will she tell the other Elders about the teenagers?

I think you will like The Secret Circle TV series if you like murder and mystery with a side of the supernatural on the side. There's lots of magic involved but it's also about past betrayal. There are numerous secrets to uncover and each week you are kept guessing about what really happened and what will happen next.

If you're a hug fan of The Vampire Diaries then you could grow to love The Secret Circle TV show. They are very similar in some ways as they have both need adapted by Kevin Williamson for TV and they both clearly display his thought process.

If you like The Secret Circle books you might also like the TV series, but be warned - It differs greatly from the books.

Find out how the magic failed on The Secret Circle TV show and how that has led it be a cancelled TV show of 2012.