The Secret Circle

Here's another post from guest blogger Mac (pics by me). Enjoy!

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Time to shamelessly launch the pilot to TV Sluts' spin-off, BOOK SLUTS!

(not really)

This Thursday at 9pm on the CW a new show will air called The Secret Circle. It is based on a trilogy of books of the same name written in 1992 by L. J. Smith. As a bit of a paradigm shift, I'm going to go ahead and review these books leading up to the premier.

Two confessions: One, I only read the first two of these books. And two, this is not going to be a positive review. Also, here there be spoilers (for the books, I don't know how true they will keep the show to the original story).

It's one of those late-80's stories we all were obsessed with when we were normal teenagers in the late-80's. A normal teenager who just doesn't feel like she fits in discovers one day that she has this magical power she gets with no training or sacrifice on her part for free. She is the newest member of an amateur coven with far more power than it is safe for any group of hormonal kids to have. There's the clearly-good leader, the clearly-evil wanna-be leader, and our new girl is somehow the fulcrum upon which everything hinges.

I will confess, I totally prefer a strong lead (male or female). But I can totally appreciate a well-written "weak" lead, someone who doesn't necessarily have the ability to face down the bad guys, someone who will be hurt if he or she even tries standing up. But this girl is just stupid. She literally hands over an artifact of tremendous power to the evil girl, simply because otherwise the evil person will tell everyone that she kissed a guy. And I mean, how embarrassing, right? That's totally enough to weigh against the "people are dying" backdrop of the story. I would never be able to show my face in mystical homeroom again.

Also, every guy in the book is attracted to her, from the distant loner who doesn't care about anyone to the upstanding, trustworthy guy who happens to be already dating someone else, and possibly a few other flagrant stereotypes I've forgotten about. And we're not talking teen-age boy crush. No, every single guy is a potential "The One." The entire thing is like if Buffy was diluted with Twilight and Oprah.

In conclusion, it's been twenty years since these books were written. I have every faith that the fine CW writers have it in them to revamp this bland series beyond recognition. If I had a DVR or no plans Thursday night, you can bet I'd be watching.