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Cassie and Diana try to change the color of Diana's dress for the big winter school dance, but instead they set it on fire. Damn dark magic. Adam confesses to his DWILF that he has feelings for Cassie. At school, Diana looks a little uncomfortable seeing Adam and Cassie chatting. Cassie and Adam start researching her father and find out that he lived at the abandoned house that they use for their witchy pow-wows. She also finds out that Faye stole a page from her family's Book of Shadows.
Lee tells Faye that he can help her get her solo powers back. He proposes that they steal Cassie's powers in order to do that. They steal this necklace from Cassie's house, then go to school (where the dance is taking place) and perform this weird ritual that involves a giant red star on the floor of a classroom and Faye taking her dress off. Cassie tries to talk to Ethan (who is allowed to chaperone the dance after maybe two weeks on the wagon -- Chance Harbor does not know how to care for its children) about her father, but he tells her not to go there. He says her mother wouldn't approve of her digging for info, but she replies that she doesn't get a say anymore. Touché. She gets Cassie's power, which makes Diana, Adam and Melissa start passing out. Then, she accidentally sets the gym on fire. When she sees that she's making the others sick, she demands that Lee tell her how to reverse the spell. Melissa passed out in the bathroom before the fire started and Cassie tries to save her but she passes out in the smoke. She and Melissa both wake up on the school lawn. The Circle confronts Faye and she has the nerve to actually get defensive. Why does Cassie get to almost kill people and it's OK but it's a big deal when she does it? Faye goes to Lee's and tells him that she is done with the Circle. It looks like there might be some sexy time happening soon with those two.
Cassie sees a phantom Jake hanging around, but it keeps turning out to not be him. After the fire, Adam and Cassie are at the abandoned house where Cassie has found, in the basement, an etching of the same sign that Faye had used to draw out her dark magic. She wonders if maybe her father was trying to get rid of his own dark stuff. After a little tug of war with her Book of Shadows, Adam and Cassie finally kiss, only to be interrupted by some boots clomping down the stairs. It's Jake. For real.
Most interesting development? Melissa and Diana grow closer as friends. Melissa is out of her funk and lets Diana draw her out further. But also, Melissa still has a soft spot for Faye and feels bad for her when it's all gone down. That said, she tells Diana that she's scared of Faye. Diana says she's actually scared of Cassie.
Want more? The full recap starts right below!Dear People Who Run This Show: Do you really think we need the entire premise of the series laid out for us before every episode? I understand the desire to pick up new viewers, but I would think you would try to make what happened inside of the show engaging enough to pull people along. Just hearing Cassie's stupid dead mom tell her she's a witch is not enough.
And we begin with Cassie and Diana in Diana's bedroom. I'm assuming all of the empty bedrooms in the house are being used to house Charlie's shoe and beanie baby collections and that's why the two of them are sharing a bed. Diana's just out of the shower and Cassie's still in bed looking at her Book of Shadows, which she thinks will tell her about her father. Why would she think that? It is it a memoir or a book of spells? Wasn't it her mother's family's book? Why would her mother -- who took great pains to keep her far away from Chance Harbor and any memory of her father -- leave her a book that told her about dark magic? You could argue that it's a "More You Know..." scenario, but then why wouldn't she have just taught her this shiz from the beginning if it was as easy as Charlie setting her damn house on fire to thwart her plans of keeping Cassie in the dark... no pun intended. And, why did they kill her? Couldn't they have used her help? Ugh. They leap from random idea to random idea on this show without ever digging into the logic (or lack thereof) of the crap they've already given to us. Anyway, Diana wonders if it's a great idea for her to learn about her father. And, seriously, those pages are so old -- how are they still writing on them? Is it laminated? Jake told her that knowing where it comes from can help her control it, but Diana doesn't think they should take his advice. Cassie reminds her that Jake is still a part of the Circle, with that weird inheritance clause about Nick dying and passing on his Circlehood to Jake. She wonders what will happen if he never comes back and Diana says that they won't be as strong (who cares? You people hardly ever do magic.), but they'll be better off. Now, it's fun time. Diana says that she's running the Fire/Ice Winter dance at school and they're only supposed to wear red or white, but she has this black dress. Why don't they try to change it to red? Fun! This could be fun! So, they hold the dress and start chanting about threads and yarn and stuff turning to red and, wouldn't you know it, the dress catches on fire. Wear natural fibers, folks. Cassie's like, "That was me."
At the Boathouse, Ethan tells Adam that he's chaperoning the school dance. Wow. Chance Harbor does NOT know how to take care of its children. DWILF or not, the guy should not be in charge of anyone's safety nor their fruit punch. He tells Adam that he's been off the sauce for a couple of weeks. Things are tense between the two of them. Ethan apologizes for what he said to Diana about him and Cassie. Adam confesses that he has felt a connection with Cassie since the moment he laid eyes on her. Drunk Father Knows Best.
At school, Diana tells Cassie to not worry about the dress. Cassie is worried because they were doing Circle magic but the dark magic took over. I'm confused. Why would dark magic want to burn your clothes? Is it ugly magic? Or, is it just ballistic magic? Let's figure out dark magic, please. Maybe Cassie just really didn't like the silhouette. Melissa meets them in the parking lot and seems like she's in a much better mood. She volunteers to help Diana with the dance. Yay! Diana asks where Holden is -- he went back to school. That sucks, because she was going to ask him to the dance. Weird. Who does that? It's that night. It's settled, they're all going stag. Have you noticed how no one's looking for Luke, the guy Cassie set on fire? Suddenly, Cassie thinks she sees Jake. She follows him, but it turns out to be someone else who looks at her like, "You wanna piece?"
Faye can't get her locker open. Diana approaches her (she's not happy about that) and tells her what time she can show up for the dance. Dawn signed her up for the decorating committee. Faye responds aloud to herself, "Hilarious." Adam approaches Cassie and asks her how she is. She wants to find out about her dad. They decide to check city records. Together. Diana sees them talking and it looks like it makes her feel funny.
Later, Faye sees Lee Lebeque in the parking lot. He says that he has been watching her. He says that he has seen that her Circle includes "blondie"(duh), "emo boy" (heh, Adam) and "girl scout" (double duh). How does he know that? They don't even hang out. WHERE IS JANE? God, this show. I mean, seriously, is she going to die? He says that he knows that she lost her power after they bound their Circle. She gets saucy and vaguely threatens to set his car on fire or something before walking away. She likes him, though.
At the city records office, a lady tells them that they'll need a birth certificate and photo ID to access personal information. John's birth certificate? Her own? Because his birth certificate isn't going to prove that they're related. So, doesn't she have a birth certificate? She wouldn't have been able to enroll in school without it. Adam asks her for records about the property lines of the Boathouse, which sends her to the back. He tells Cassie to look on the computer while he stands lookout. Luckily, she is able to navigate the city records software perfectly. There's nothing: no records, except one address -- 7 Briar Hill. Holy crap, Adam has to show her something. They go to the abandoned house and look up an abandoned street marker. 7 Briar Hill it is. Where's 9 Briar Hill? Or any other Briar Hill house?
Inside 7 Briar Hill. This is where her dad lived. She asks how they found it and he says that, inside of Diana's Book of Shadows, there was a map that showed the "confluence of energy points in Chance Harbor." It brought them to the woods, where their magic is supposed to be at its strongest. So, it's like a cell phone signal, this magic. He takes her to the basement. Why? He decides that's a good time to ask her to the dance, but she doesn't want to make Diana upset. He wonders what if they are supposed to be together, but she says she can't think about that. Wet rag.
At the school, Faye makes fun of Melissa working on decorations. She tells Melissa that she's working with Lee to get her solo powers back. Apparently, his grandpa was a big voodoo guy, so he's not complete horse shit? Melissa scoffs and Faye low blows and says that Melissa's taste in men isn't so great either. Boo. Not nice.
Cassie is about to leave the basement when she hears some metal clanging. She turns on a light and for some reason looks up and sees a sign etched into the ceiling boards. Meanwhile, Melissa and Diana are getting ready for the dance and reminiscing about being kids together. They decide to work on their friendship more. Cassie runs in and shows them an drawing of the etching she saw. She knows that she has seen that in her Book. Diana thinks it's weird that a symbol that her dad wrote would be in her mom's family book. Right? Why didn't you say that earlier? Cassie notices that there's a page missing from her book. Melissa doesn't say a word. Cassie says that Faye is the only person who has had the book.
Faye's at Lee's place. He has cleaned up since she trashed it. He tells her that the sign on the page from the Book was designed to draw dark magic out of people. He's saying that he can pull the magic out of a person with dark magic. She bitches that Cassie doesn't even want her power, so they decide to take it. He warns her though that dark magic can turn on her. He says he would tether their energies together. They don't even need Cassie in the room, but they do require an object of Cassie's that has emotional significance to her. She asks what he's getting out of this and he says that he'll ask a favor of her one day. She says that she's not having sex with him, but they totally are and that's not the favor he's asking. Later for that, though. Just then, she gets a call from Cassie, who is furious about the ripped page. Faye's all, poor Cassie, you're always such a victim. I steal boyfriends and almost kill people, but I'm the victim. Wow. Cassie tells her to stop being pathetic and just give the page back. She says that she will -- at the dance.
Everybody's jamming in the high school nightclub. Seriously, the floor is shiny black like where there would be photo shoots. Cassie catches up with Ethan and asks him to tell her about her father, but he's not having it. She asks if her father caused the big fire, but he tells her that it doesn't matter. He then says that her dad didn't start the fire and she doesn't have to be like him. He says that her mother wouldn't want her looking into this, but Cassie says that she doesn't have a say anymore. Take that, dead mom.
Melissa sees Diana looking at Adam and asks if she misses him. She does. Melissa says that she knows that "just moving on" is impossible. Diana says that's not the case -- they're powerful, witchy, slutty-dressed (her words, not mine) girls. Diana decides to talk to Aaron Wegner and his news anchor teeth. She's moving on.
Lee and Faye break into Cassie's house and take a necklace. She thinks she sees something in the window at Jake's place, but nothing materializes. Later, like fast, they are in a school room and Lee is painting a symbol on the floor. Faye is standing in the center in a white dress. They really do move awfully fast. He lights some candles as Faye holds Cassie's necklace, then starts to unzip her dress. She stops him, but he asks her if she wants Cassie's power or not. Exactly what is she going to have to do for this? She lets him continue. Meanwhile, Cassie finds Adam and shows him the symbol that was on the page that Faye tore out. He saw it in Spellcraft, which is I guess the witches' trade paper. He knows it's black magic related. That discovery was about as organic as Adam's hair products.
Back in the classroom, Lee takes this walrus tooth or something and starts cutting(? -- I mean, there's blood or something red that happens afterwards, but Faye is remarkably chill about being sliced) her back in little lines as he tells her that there are 5 energy points along her spine. I guess this is a fresh test or something. He wipes some stuff along the cuts then wipes it with a tissue and puts the tissue in his pocket.
Diana and Adam meet in the hall and Adam tells her that he saw her dancing with Aaron and he wishes her the best. He tells her that Cassie is afraid of hurting their feelings by being around him. She agrees to talk to Cassie. When he walks away, she sheds a tear.
Lee takes the necklace from Faye and puts it around her neck, which makes the symbol around them catch fire. She's so going to get in trouble with her mother. On the dance floor, Adam, Diana and Melissa all start to swoon. Cassie sees Melissa and asks her if she wants to sit. She says she's going to the bathroom to splash some water on her face.
Faye walks towards the dance floor, stopping to unlock her locker with magic. See? That's all she needs from this magic stuff. She bumps into a girl on the floor and tells her to get out of the way, then makes her glass freeze and explode (because they are going to have actual glassware at a high school dance). Suddenly, Melissa passes out in the bathroom, hitting her head on the counter on the way down.
Cassie sees Faye and asks for the page. Faye says that she doesn't have it. Cassie calls her a bitch then walks off. So, Faye decides to make one of the table centerpieces of fake fire become real fire. She does that to all of them, until, well, everything's on fire. Diana passes out and Cassie catches her. She susses out that this is about Faye. She asks why she has solo magic and Faye says that she's borrowing hers. She got the spell from the page she stole. Adam starts swooning again and Cassie tells her that she's the one causing it. Why can't she just see that for herself? Anyway, she takes Lee aside and says that she wants to reverse the spell. She has to threaten him before he'll tell her how to do it -- set some oil on fire and put the necklace in it.
At this point, the school gym starts collapsing. Everyone's running out hysterically. Everyone's outside... except Melissa. Cassie runs back in to get her and finds her in the bathroom, but is overcome with smoke. Right before she passes out, she sees some black boots running to her.
Melissa and Cassie wake up on the grass and don't know how they got there, though Cassie does remember the boots. They all confront Faye and she tells Melissa that she can't act innocent. She confesses to having known about the stolen page, but didn't say anything out of loyalty. Faye can't understand why she's getting such a bad rap when Cassie is always accidentally killing people or almost killing them. That's like comparing vampires and shapeshifters, dummy. Faye eventually stomps off in a huff. She really hates Cassie. Ethan comes out and embraces Adam then gives Cassie some side eye re: the recent fire. Later, Melissa says that she feels bad for Faye, but she's scared by her lust for power. Diana says that she's actually scared of Cassie's lack of ability to control the dark magic.
Faye goes to Lee and tells him that she's done with her Circle. She says that the spell didn't work -- she got the Circle's magic, not Cassie's. They're super flirty but nothing happens. Adam finds Cassie in the basement of 7 Briar Hill. She wonders if maybe her dad was trying to get rid of his own dark magic with the symbol on the ceiling. She's contemplating using the spell that Faye just used, but Adam tells her to give him the book. They play a little tug of war, then they get close. Adam tells her that her destiny is important to him. Then, KISSING. THEN? Jake walks down the stairs. Wow, Cassie's heels are really high.
Jeff Long is a writer/performer in Brooklyn. He can be summoned at jeff.long75@gmail.com and followed on Twitter at @jblong.
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