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Jane is actually dead. We begin at a post-funeral gathering at her house. Cassie tells Diana that, if it's true that the two of them are sisters, she'd be happy. That's sweet. She then tries to comfort herself by making out with Adam, but he's not into it. John manages to convince Cassie that witch hunters killed Jane and this makes her all dark magic crazy mad. Charlie doesn't come to the wake because he has the good manners not to show up at the funeral of someone he killed. Diana talks to Charlie and finds out that, yep, he and her mother were broken up right around the time of her conception. Jake and Faye steal pills from Dawn in order to just, you know, feel better and the pill bottle actually contains Faye's family crystal (also, this discovery occurs as they're getting it on -- old habits die hard).
Then, at 7 Briar Hill, this weird thing happens where this table spins around by itself and a crystal sinks into it and disappears. The Circle thinks that witch hunters stole it to keep them from collecting their crystal puzzle and Jake decides that it would be a good idea to talk to Isaac. He says that Isaac wouldn't approve of Eben's demon association and would likely help them. One of the young dudes, Ian, shows up and says that Isaac was killed by Eben. Cassie blames him for Jane's death and starts to do her dark magic choking thing. Jake tries to stop her and she tosses him to the ground, but somehow it's more effective when Diana gets in her face and says, "Stop!" Magic is so crazy.
John and Charlie fight at a coffee shop after Charlie finds out that John is Diana's father. He decides to leave town with Diana and John convinces Dawn to talk to him. She does and suggests to Charlie that he should stay so they can get rid of John (not exactly what he had it mind).
Melissa and Adam are hanging out and, in an effort to find his family's crystal, remembers the cloaking spell that his grandfather used to use. He's just practicing on a coin when he uncovers a secret panel in his house. Meanwhile, the others are at an abandoned amusement park. They find Ian plus other witch hunter twinks who have been murdered. They deduce somehow that it was the witch that helped Eben summon the demons that did the killing. I seriously must have missed something because I don't know how they came to that conclusion. Melissa and Adam find the crystal-locating map. Diana and Cassie talk about dark magic and how uncomfortable Diana is with it. Then, they see somebody running. They assume it's the witch helping the hunters and stop him. IT'S NICK! I repeat, Nick is alive. I cannot wait for Melissa to get the news.
Want more? The full recap starts right below!We begin at Jane's post-funeral party. Thank Balcoin, I was afraid that was a fake out. I'm sure she's a lovely woman, but that actress... I'm sorry. She drained the energy and logic out of every moment she spent on my TV screen. Except for that moment when she was dying -- that was exciting and made lots of sense. Cassie is wandering around in a daze, but she looks amazing. Diana is there and Cassie approaches her. Things are awkward but Diana is sympathetic to Cassie's situation. Diana isn't telling anyone that she might be John's daughter and Cassie tells her that she would actually be really happy to find out that they are sisters. Jake comes in and tells Faye that they can't let the witch hunters get away with killing Jane. A bunch of blue hairs in the room (all of whom are like 30 years older than the actress who played Jane) stare at an emotional Jake. Faye tells him to dial it down. She suggest that they take something to remove the "edge."
In another room, Dawn suggests to John that they could get the big bad witch hunters if she had her powers back (can she give those to him?), but he says that she's just thinking about herself. Cassie is hiding in her room when Adam pays her a visit. He tells her that Jane was amazing. Meh. Cassie says that she doesn't have anyone now and that was her last connection to her mother. No one knows her. Adam reminds her that he knows her now. She's crying and weak, I guess, and leans in and starts kissing him. John knocks on the door and she starts apologizing to Adam. He says that he "gets" it. John opens the door and she has moved away from the bed at this point, but there's still some tension in the room. Adam takes off and John asks Cassie how she's doing. She's pissed that he apparently slept with half of Chance Harbor and he tells her that he's broken up with Amelia and his thing with Elizabeth (Diana's mom) was a one-time thing. Stop slut-shaming your dad, Cassie. He tells her that they have to stay focused because the witch hunters are closer than ever. You know, he could have just thrown the witch-killing jar away. He didn't have to change it to make it Jane's. That's bad news. She gets the dark magic score and she says that she wants to destroy the witch hunters. She says that they have to find the last two crystals.
Faye tells Jake that she thinks that her mother has some drugs that they can take, because she's been really chipper lately and that can't be the result of anything but narcotics. They knock over her purse with magic and Jake is going to grab the pill bottle that is luckily and obviously right at the top of her stuff when Dawn turns around. Faye hugs her mother and acts like she's really grieving in order to distract her. It works!
Diana goes home and asks Charlie why he wasn't at the funeral. Guys, Charlie has killed three people. He's a maniac. He says that he had work stuff. She asks what the nature of her mom's relationship with John Blackwell was and he reacts poorly. She clarifies by asking if John is maybe he did. This does not help. Gale Harold really drops the ball here. It's like he's trying really hard to look upset in some really unique way, but it just comes off as contrived and UNSOLD. Ain't nobody buying. He stammers a bit but wants to emphasize that he's Diana's father because he raised her- which is kind of an inadvertent admission that, yes, it is possible that Blackwell her daddy. He tells her to not talk to him, that he's manipulative and will make her do bad things. She tearfully agrees.
At 7 Briar Hill, Cassie apologizes to Adam for attacking him. He tells her that she doesn't need to apologize. John gets Cassie, Melissa and Adam in a circle. They put their crystals on a map and John tells them a spell which makes the crystals light up and point to where the missing crystals are. One happens to currently be at Jake's house... which is where Jake and Faye are currently making out. Clothes are coming off, thankfully, and they agree that this is a one-time only thing. Man, they are attractive. I'd never agree to that with either one of them. Faye grabs the pill bottle in order to partake in "mommy's little helpers" and finds that the bottle actually contains her family's crystal! Nice work, Dawn. Just carry that thing around all of the time. You should leave your diary hanging out too. Wait.
At Briar Hill, Faye and Jake show up with the crystal. They know that it's a dead one because Faye admits to... trying it out. Cassie says that now they only need to find "Adam's FAMILY crystal." Seriously, that was her emphasis. As if we'd been effing around with other kinds of crystals. Adam's didn't appear on the map and John says that his grandfather must have cloaked the crystal before he died. John suggests that he look around for clues about what his grandfather's cloaking spell might have been. He also says that they can recharge Faye's crystal, but they'll need the entire Circle for that. They agree to meet later.
Diana is looking through a photo album when Cassie shows up. She tells Cassie that she told her dad about Blackwell and he had no idea that he was her father. I'm not sure that's the information that I got from that conversation. Cassie tells Diana that they need to get together later to recharge Faye's crystal and she's incredulous. Should they be doing everything that John tells them to do? Cassie gets it but reminds her that the witch hunters are closer than ever and they killed her grandmother LAST NIGHT. Really? What is so urgent that they needed to make this happen the very day? Who made the food for the wake that quickly? All of the phone calls that they would have had to made? And, there's the civil arrangements -- calling the authorities and whatnot. Does the cause of death on her death certificate read "witch hunter stuff"? The people who write this show obviously never partook in funeral arrangements. Well, good for them. Here's hoping their clueless asses remain tragedy-free.
Adam and Melissa are rifling around his grandfather's stuff. He's not in a great mood. He says that he didn't really know much about him except that he built the Boathouse and taught history at the high school. Melissa senses that something is off and asks about him. I must insert here that I'm digging this trend of pairing these two for scenes. They work really well together and, bless them, always give you the feeling of progression; like, we're in a different place from where we started. He tells her that Cassie kissed him and she confirms that it was a real kiss. Adam is feeling hopeless about the search, correctly pointing out that a man secretive enough to use a cloaking spell wouldn't necessarily leave hints lying around. Melissa suggests that they hit the bottle for inspiration.
Back at Briar Hill, Diana finally shows up. She tells them that Blackwell is her father, which is a trend on this show -- make a deal about how you're not going to tell everybody something and then tell them two scenes later. Way to ratchet up the tension guys. Hey, wanna plan my funeral? Suddenly, things start shaking in the house. The table holding one of the crystals -- I'm assuming Faye's -- starts spinning around. Everything is thrown off of the table except the crystal and then it's like the table swallows it. It's gone. Faye says that they got "out-magicked in our magic house." Jake comes in and says that it was witch hunters, because there is ash around the house. These guys need some sort of surveillance equipment. That these guys can just show up and sprinkle some shit around and kill you? Protect yourselves. They point out that magic was used to steal the crystal, so it must have been the traitor witch who took it. Maybe they want it for more power or to keep them from making the crystal skull. Jake suggests that he speak to Isaac about this. Yeah, he's a witch hunter but he wouldn't agree with what Eben is doing. Cassie says that she'll run it past her dad, but Diana says that they don't need to do that. They were a Circle before he ever got there. Meanwhile, Charlie gets home and sees a note from Diana on the fridge. She's with Cassie. He speed dials John on his cell.
Melissa and Adam are drunk. She asks him if he felt anything romantic when Cassie kissed him. He didn't. She wonders if maybe things will develop naturally between them but Adam reminds her that someone from the Circle will die if they get together. Then, he notices a coin on the wall that belonged to his grandfather. He remembers him doing a magic trick with it and making it DISAPPEAR. He plays with it and makes it disappear himself, but... he doesn't know how to reverse it.
In the woods, the rest of the Circlers are waiting for Isaac. This dude Ian shows up instead. At the coffee place, Charlie meets John. He's pissed that Diana knows that John is her father. John says that he didn't plan on telling her -- she figured it out herself. Then, Charlie punches John all over the place. Eventually, John grabs him by the neck and Charlie's like, everybody can see you. Yeah, everybody can see him defend himself after you attacked him. Anyway, Charlie says that he's going to take Diana far away from Chance Harbor and he'll never see her again. Meanwhile, Dawn notices that the crystal is gone.
Ian says that Isaac is dead -- Eben killed him. Suddenly, Diana remembers him from Halloween. He was one of the guys who kidnapped them. Cassie accuses him of killing her grandmother, but he says that he doesn't know what she's talking about. She calls him a murderer and he reminds her that she lit Ryan up like a torch. Then, she does her dark magic choking thing. Jake tries to stop her but she pushes him down. Then, Diana's all, "STOP" and it works. Cassie stomps off and Diana tells her that her dark magic almost kept them from finding out what really happened with her grandmother. Apparently, Isaac didn't kill the witch traitor as Eben had instructed him to do, so he got killed himself. Ian walks away, which makes Cassie really angry. Jake says that they got what they needed -- they know that the traitor wasn't stealing the crystal for the witch hunters (because they're trying to kill him/her too). Diana suggests that, if Isaac did it, maybe they can convince more witch hunters to turn away from Eben. Cassie wants blood though.
Back at Briar Hill, they discuss how to get the crystal back. Diana says that she would never use dark magic, even if she had it. "We're very different people," she says to Cassie, which is so super shitty. Fuck her. They search on the map with the other crystals and find that it's near Hudson Fields, which Faye says is the creepiest place in the world.
Adam remembers that his grandfather would say something make the coin reappear. He takes a piece of paper and a pencil and draws over the cloaked coin, revealing a Latin phrase. He and Melissa say it together and the coin reappears. Also reappearing? A panel on the wall. At Dawn's, she greets John. He explains his beat up face by telling her Charlie found out that Diana is his daughter, which stuns her. He reminds her that the two of them "tried" as well. She makes some vague remark about how he never forgave her and he says that's not true. He asks her to convince Charlie to stay in town. He needs Diana in order to defeat the witch hunters. She says that the elders will never let them have power, but he says that they're getting rid of the elders after the witch hunters are gone. She agrees to talk to Charlie.
Adam finds a box in the panel. The crystal is not in the box. Melissa says they need the crystal-locating map. So, Hudson Fields is an abandoned amusement park. It's raining and someone is watching them. They split up to find the crystal: Faye/Jake and Cassie/Diana. Dawn goes to Charlie and -- per usual in this town -- doesn't knock on the door. Just shows up in his kitchen. Charlie says that John is trying to steal Diana. She says that Faye stole her crystal and gave it to John. She says that it's their fault. They brought Cassie to Chance Harbor to get their powers back, but they've just handed all of them to John. The Circle will be bound no matter where they are.
Faye and Jake are flirting, even though everything's super spooky. Suddenly, Faye sees a person. It's Ian. His throat has been slit. They turn on the power and it turns a ride on. Other throat-slitted dark-haired dudes. Jake thinks it was the traitor who did it. They keep on looking. Jake finds a trail of blood and he and Faye follow it. Back at Briar Hill, Melissa and Adam are trying to find the crystal on the map. John shows up. It looks like the crystal is somewhere in the high school. Jake and Faye are in fun house and shit keeps popping out at them. Cassie and Diana are walking in silence when Cassie says that Diana's truce idea isn't going to work now that Ian's dead. Sure, says Diana, not if people keep killing people. She says that Cassie has lost all judgment between right and wrong since John has been in town. She says that she's letting her dark magic take control. She reminds Diana that her dark magic saved Diana's life, so she can reserve the judgment. Fine, but killing people is wrong and Diana vows to keep telling her that. They see a hoodie-wearing dude who is struggling. They chase after him. Jake gets a feeling and looks somewhere. He finds a Sway, which is what's used to transfer power from witches to humans. Then, he finds a notebook with a picture of his own parents. Weird. Right? I have NO IDEA what this could mean. Cassie and Faye chase after the dude. He's running and Cassie uses her magic to control this spear that is part of this suit of armor. Diana asks her to not kill him, but the spear keeps aiming at the dude's back. At the last moment, the spear chases direction and knocks the guy down without piercing him. They run up and grab the crystal, which fell out of the guy's pocket. Then, they get a look at his face. IT'S NICK. Nick!!! Nick and Jake might be onscreen at the same time. That's the promise made in this moment! What will happen? Anyway, Nick runs off. And they just stand there.
Jeff Long is a writer/performer living in Brooklyn. He can be reached at jeff.long75@gmail.com and followed on Twitter at @jblong.
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