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Now everyone is on a quest to find their family crystals. They set out for their respective grandparents' houses as a first resort. Diana bails so that she can go on a super romantic date with Grant. Callum tries to mack on Melissa but Jake tells him to eff off, thus switching Callum's evil focus from Melissa to Jake. He follows Jake, Cassie and Faye on his evil motorbike to Jake's grandparents' house, where Cassie finds a piece of paper with the names and birthdates of all of the Circle Jerks. Jake's grandpa shows up and is all doom and gloom about how the Circle is going to die. He says that John was interested in having multiple children in the Circle. Hmm. Then Jake says something about how Isaac mentioned that there was more than one child of John's in the Circle. ALSO, Faye read her mom's diary and found out that she was hooking up with John back in the day. Callum breaks into Grandpa's house when no one is looking and makes off with the map to where the old crazy guy hid his crystal.
John and Charlie have a tense meeting where John tries to get him to join in helping defeat the witch hunters. He refuses and they threaten each other. Then Charlie goes to Jane (who is FINALLY back from the Home for the Neurologically Demised) and they plan to kill John.
Diana has to ditch her date in the middle. Cassie had inadvertently taken a picture of the crystal map, so she sends it to Melissa and Adam and they go to the site, which is an abandoned iron mine but with working electricity. They find the crystal and Adam almost falls into a pit, which provides for a close moment between this new duo. Are the writers finally focusing a little on their Secret Circle secret weapon, Melissa? Let's hope so. But then, Callum finds them and he's got a gun. The rest of the Circle shows up and hear a gunshot that happens when Adam and Callum struggle. Cassie can't enter the mine because Jake's grandfather put a spell on it preventing her dark magic to enter. Callum tries to speed off and Faye attempts to stand in front of the bike and stop it with her own magic (because now she thinks she's a Blackwell). Nothing happens but Cassie shows up and stops the bike. They take Callum out of town and mark him and tell him they'll know if he ever comes back to Chance Harbor.
Wow, so Jane and Charlie paralyze John and are going to kill him with one of those little bottles with personal witch shit in it. Jane asks John if he killed Amelia, which he denies. Her crystal confirms that he's not lying, so she doesn't want to kill him. Charlie grabs the little bottle and puts a lit match in it, but it actually kills Jane. Wow. John had found the bottle earlier and changed the contents. He tells Charlie that the only reason he isn't dead is because he still has use for him. Faye asks John about whether he's her dad or not. He says that Dawn was lying -- they never hooked up.
Diana tells Cassie that she wants to take a break from the Circle. I know, right? Um, and she mentions that she wasn't able to enter the mine. She's Cassie's sister!
Want more? The full recap starts right below!Everybody's real serious to begin and it doesn't even appear to be about some sort of school dance. Could it be? We start with Faye and Melissa rifling through Faye's house. They're looking for Faye's family crystal. Melissa doesn't think they're going to find it because the elders would have been hanging onto them and they're the ones who stripped the powers from the Circle's parents. Faye points out that her grandfather is dead and says that, if he had a crystal, her mother found it. So, they look in the last place Faye would be, the bill chest. We all have wooden pirate chests where we keep our bills, yes? They don't find the crystal, but they do find Dawn's old diary from the '90s. She loved Weezer and John Blackwell.
At 7 Briar Hill, Diana and Cassie walk in on Adam and Jake reading about the Burning Times when a ton of witches were killed. And this was before the witch hunters had demons helping them. Faye and Melissa come in and announce that they had no luck finding the crystal. Cassie's is the only crystal they have so far. She says that her grandma told her that the crystal serves as a lens that amplifies individual power. Geeky! Faye, PER USUAL, decides that she wants to flippantly try out the power. So she grabs the crystal in order to make a vase shatter. Then, more glass starts to shatter and Cassie's screaming at her to stop. John appears and grabs the crystal and tells Faye that it's not a toy and that its power can be drained.
They discuss getting the rest of the crystals and Adam asks why they can't just tell their grandfolk about their predicament (i.e. being hunted down like foxes by witch hunters and demons), but John says that they'll just be stripped of their powers. Really? I'd think Henry being dead would put a real crimp in that generations Circle. Also, are they going to take on the witch hunters? If so, I'd be like, "Later. I'm going to plan a school dance." Jake says that he will drive to his granddad's to find his crystal. Adam's grandparents live on the other side of the country. Deedee from Hunter has been kinda hard to reach ever since she tried to kill Cassie. Melissa says that she could easily be able to search her grandmother's place.
John says that they shouldn't underestimate the elders, and recommends that they travel in groups. Adam suggests to Cassie that they go with Melissa but Cassie says that she was already planning on going with Jake to his granddad's. Faye calls shotgun -- she's going with Jake too. Diana says that she can help Melissa and they all leave. First though, Cassie stops and tells John that Jane called and is coming home. She says that she knows there is beef between them, but she would love to see them getting along. I'd love to see where John Blackwell gets his tailoring done. Daddy is seriously styling, which makes me on his side in this whole thing. John says that there are "a number of people" in town that he needs to reach out to and Jane is definitely one of them. That's sounds promising, like there will be some vague threats thrown around very soon. He gives Cassie back her crystal and she's on her way.
Grant is waiting outside the coffee place where Cassie works when Diana shows up. He's got flowers and gives them to her and says that he will, for the 24 hours, be nothing but true with her. He's got the boat for the afternoon, so he's taking to her some island place for a sunny picnic. Diana is sorry but she has to cancel. Melissa and Adam show up and Diana begs them to let her go on her date. They tell her to go and she does. While Adam grabs some coffees, Melissa checks her phone. Callum shows up and asks why she hasn't returned his calls. He apologizes for being weird to her about being a witch. Jake shows up and tells him to get away, saying that he only wants their power. This clues Callum into the fact that Melissa also has witch friends. Callum tells Melissa he'd never hurt her, but Jake is another story. He asks if they know how much a pound of witch blood goes for on the black market. First of all, we do not measure volume in pounds. Second, could someone please ask these fucking kids to enunciate? The fact that I have to use my closed captioning to understand what the hell these twits are mumbling? It's ridiculous. You are actors. Use your words. Another reason I love the actress playing Melissa. Clear as a bell. Anyway, Jake and Callum push each other a little bit and Jake continues to be made of Viagra and corn silk. He's so pretty, I can't stand it. Melissa breaks it up and they leave.
Cassie goes home and Jane is there. She didn't expect her until the day. Jane seems super fine until Cassie says that John is back and they visited her at the clinic, which she says she remembered. Whatever happened to Jane is so muddy now, I don't think the actress has any idea what her affliction is. Jane still doesn't like John, but Cassie says that she wants them to get along. She agrees. There's a car honk and Cassie says that she has to go. Nice welcoming committee.
Later, Cassie and Jake are waiting for Faye in his truck. She apparently lied to Adam about having agreed to help Jake -- she's feeling weird around him. She tells Jake that the elixir worked but things are still weird. Faye gets in and they take off, with Callum following them on his motorcycle.
Melissa and Adam are at her grandma's place. She has a TON of crystals. Like, there's a huge crystal collection. They don't try a "real crystal light up" Circle thing, which is totes what I would have done. Meanwhile, Jake and the girls pull up to a house. Jake says that his parents kept him away from their grandfather, saying that he was crazy. He's not there, so they use their powers to unlock the door. There are a lot of locks. It's a total mess inside. There's a conspiracy wall inside, like we all have. This one is about witch hunters (mine is about rumors about Posh and Becks). Cassie finds a sheet of paper that lists the names and birthdates of all of the Circle peeps. Faye says that it means that Jake's grandpa is crazy. Cassie starts taking pics of the walls. Jake says that the last time he saw the old guy was when he crashed his parents' funeral talking about the end of the world. His aunt says that he fell apart after the folks died.
John meets Charlie as he's coming out of some building. He doesn't want to talk to John. He asks him where he has been while all the folks in Chance Harbor were picking up the pieces from the consequences of John's actions. Um, feeling like we need some mediation between the pot and the kettle here, considering Mr. Indignant here has set most of the events of this entire show into motion. John says that he told them that the Witch Hunters' Treaty was a lie but Charlie says that he also told them they could beat them, which John says they could have done if they'd stayed united. Charlie reminds him that he summoned demons, which John admits was a mistake. And, truly, who among us can say they haven't done something similar? Just yesterday, I was seeing Mirror, Mirror with a friend and we happen to be on the same cleanse (Gwyneth Paltrow-approved, so you know our shit's gonna be tight when we're done). Anyway, I really love Julia Roberts and the movie was just the most incoherent piece of compressed fluff and I was kind of devastated even only a third through the film. So, I snuck out and ate a handful of M&M's. Shit happens. Demons are summoned. We move on. But, then, Charlie accuses John of killing Diana's mother. Weird. He says he doesn't know what happened to her. Charlie says that he's going to bury John, then he leaves.
The witches are still looking around grandpa's crazy room, when he enters. He uses magic to press them against a wall with a pool table. Jake says that it's him, but he doesn't believe him. So, they use their power to push the table back, which confirms not only Jake's identity, but the fact that he's in a bound Circle. He hugs Jake then finds out that Nick is dead. He says that the Circle will be the death of all of them.
Charlie shows up at Jane's place. She says that he's late. She's carving a symbol to the bottom of a chair. They're planning on offing John. When he sits in the chair, his powers will be muted. Then, Charlie is supposed to approach him with the crystal, which will immobilize him. Wait -- shouldn't there be 12 crystals instead of six? Because, weren't all of the parents witches? Jane has made one of those witch killing jars. She made it a long time ago. She says that she should have killed him when she had the chance.
Grandpa says that 18 families escaped from the Salem witch trials 300 years prior. 12 stayed east, while six moved to Chance Harbor. What about Calvin's family? And, are these people inbred? He says that a Balcoin descendant, John, tried to corrupt the Chance Harbor Circle (and possibly cure their hemophilia). Grandpa says that John pushed the Circle to confront the witch hunters. He says that what he really wanted was children so that he could ensure that the generation of witches would be all dark magic. Then, if the other 12 families, which are also dark now, reconnected -- their entire existence would be consumed in a river of blood. Take that however you want. Jake says that they shouldn't have come. Cassie asks him for his crystal but he won't give it to them and says that it's in a mine that is spelled so no witch with dark powers can go near it.
Grant and Diana are at her place when Melissa shows up. She kisses him so that he doesn't see her. She goes to Adam and Melissa in the garage. They have all of the crystals and need her help finding the magic one. Grant comes out but Diana puts him off. He clearly thinks they're weird, but he's one to talk since he's a big liar. He goes and they use their powers and one of the crystals lights up, but then appliances turn on. I'm not sure if they saw which crystal lit up or not.
Faye tells Cassie that she read that her mom hooked up with John and Jake says that Isaac said something about there being more than one Balcoin descendant in the Circle. Crazy. Then, they hear glass breaking. Grandpa says that someone stole his map to the mine. It was Callum. Cassie finds the map in the pictures that she took and says that she'll send it to Melissa and Adam, who can get to the mine before Callum. Grandpa hugs Jake and says that he's sorry about Nick. Poor Jake, he looks like such an orphan right there. It's really sad.
Diana and Grant are trying to have a nice time when she gets another phone call. She has to go. He's incredulous but she says that she will make it up to him. She kisses him and runs away. Meanwhile, Melissa and Adam arrive at the mine. They don't see Callum's motorcycle. Apparently, their magic won't work around iron, but luckily, the place still has power. So, the lights work.
John visits Jane and things move along as planned. He's sitting in the chair and Charlie approaches with the crystal. John is immobilized. Charlie lights a match to put in the witch jar, but first Jane wants to know the truth about Amelia's death. At the mine, Melissa and Adam follow the map. Adam has to swing over this super deep drop-off. He finds the crystal! Then, as he's swinging back, he almost falls. Did they just share a moment? They see Callum with a flashlight and hide. They start to run out, but he catches up with them. He's got a gun. Adam tries to grab it and the gun goes off. Then Melissa just gives him the crystal and tells him to leave. The others, including Diana, arrive and Diana says that she heard a gunshot. Jake and Cassie go into the mine to check on Adam and Melissa, but Cassie can't go because of the spell on the mine. Faye tries to stop Callum's motorcycle with her "dark magic" but nothing happens and Diana has to push her out of the way to keep her from getting run over. Then Cassie comes out and stops the bike.
John tells Jane that he loved Amelia and that she ran away from both of them. The crystal is clear and John says that it would turn black if he was lying. Amelia says that she can't kill him, since he didn't kill Amelia. Charlie refuses to listen and lights a match and puts it in the jar. It kills Jane! John stands up and says that he had days alone in the house. He found the witch jar and made it for Jane instead. He forces Charlie to his knees and says that he would be dead except that he still has use for him.
They drag Callum out of town and Jake cuts his own hand and puts it on Callum's forehead and says some spell. He says Callum is marked now and can never come back to Chance Harbor.
At 7 Briar Hill, Faye sees John and tells him that Dawn wrote that she hooked up with him. He says that Dawn was lying. He also says that her father loved Dawn very much. He tells her that she's not alone -- she has her Circle and him. Meanwhile, Cassie visits Diana's room. She tells Cassie that she wants to take a break from the Circle. Cassie reminds her that she started the Circle and guided all of them. Diana wants to concentrate on boys for a while. Cassie says that they could get killed if they don't stick together. Diana says that she tried to help Melissa and Adam earlier, but she couldn't... BREATHE IN THE MINE. Cassie gets it. Diana is the other Blackwell in the Circle. They're sisters! I wish they were all sisters.
Jeff Long is a writer/performer in Brooklyn who can't breathe in mines, EVER. He can be reached at jeff.long75@gmail.com and followed on Twitter at @jblong.