Last week, we were told about Heather by Zachary. According to him, Amelia, Cassie’s mother, did something to her that was worse than death. Intrigued by the story, Cassie investigates Heather Barnes and learns that she survived the fire sixteen years ago. The boatyard was where the kids used to hang out and party. Heather was with Amelia and the others the night of the fire. After two years in a psychiatric hospital, Heather was taken to Finn Creek to live with her brother Wade. Heather is in an odd catatonic state and hasn’t moved in sixteen years. With Adam’s help, Cassie discovers a sigil on Heather’s left wrist. Cassie talks to Heather, and the woman grabs Cassie. Determined to know the truth about the past, Cassie sets out to help Heather.

Nick and Melissa are still together as lovers. Faye warns Melissa that Nick’s a dog, so she needs to be careful. Melissa thinks Faye is supportive, but Melissa allows Faye’s digs at Nick to get to her, and Melissa accuses Nick of cheating on her after she sees him talking to another girl. Later, Melissa apologizes to Nick, and the pair is back together.

Cassie tells Adam about finding her mother's Book of Shadows.

Since Cassie knows she cannot perform magic alone, she tells Adam about her mother’s Book of Shadows. Adam’s ecstatic. Cassie’s book is different from Diana’s book—different histories and spells. They find the meaning of the sigil in the book. Amelia cast a suppression spell on Heather for unknown reasons.

Later, at the house in the woods, Adam begins to help Cassie make the potion for a spell to help Heather. Diana walks in. After getting caught up, Diana wants to know how they know that spell. Cassie reveals her Book of Shadows. Diana expresses concern. What if they make things worse? What if they perform the spell incorrectly? Diana tells Cassie to stop what she’s doing, and she basically orders Adam to not help Cassie. Instead of offering to go get her Book of Shadows and compare notes, Diana shows that she’s not as mature as she stated at the end of last week’s episode. After all, now she has two reasons to be jealous of Cassie: Cassie and Adam have a connection, and now Diana is not the sole holder of all the knowledge.

Time passes. Cassie is alone when Faye shows up at the house. After filling in Faye about the situation (one of the weak points of this episode are all the recap conversations), Faye agrees to help Cassie with the spell in exchange for looking at Cassie’s Book of Shadows. Cassie agrees. They go to Heather’s home. Wade leaves. They sneak in. After trying the spell twice, nothing seems to happen. Wade returns. The girls leave. After they drive away, Heather wakes up, attacks Wade, and leaves.

The last twenty minutes of the episode are action-packed and suspenseful. It’s night. Diana and Adam are at The Boathouse. Diana has learned that the sigil is connected to black magic and demons. Adam tries to call Cassie. Cassie isn’t answering her phone. She’s left Faye in her room because she heard a knock at the door. Downstairs, the door is open. Cassie closes it and turns. Heather is there. Her breathing’s irregular, and she doesn’t seem to know where she is. Heather asks for Amelia. She scratches her left arm. She needs to see Amelia. Cassie tells her who she is. A light of recognition sparks in Heather’s eyes. Heather remembers that she tried to help Amelia escape Chance Harbor with Cassie sixteen years ago. They tried to stop it. Amelia wanted to protect everyone. But they couldn’t leave. They had to go to the boat. Amelia had to try to stop the evil, but she couldn’t prevent the evil from entering Heather. Amelia couldn’t cure Heather, but she was able to take the pain away. Heather writhes in pain and collapses to the floor as she faints.

Faye answers Cassie’s phone and starts to talk to Adam while Melissa is next door at Nick’s.

Heather chokes Faye.

Heather regains consciousness. Cassie wants to know if Heather knows what happened all those years ago. According to Heather, when witches gather, demons are summoned. The demons are drawn to the power and want it for their own. Amelia couldn’t stop all the demons, and one got inside Heather. Before she can tell Cassie anymore, the demon takes Heather over. Possessed Heather lunges for Cassie and slams her against the wall, which knocks Cassie out. Faye comes down. In a move worthy of ‘The Exorcist’, Heather leaps to the top of the staircase. Faye yells for help.

Adam and Dawn hear Faye and leave The Boathouse. Faye runs to Cassie’s room and tries to open a window. Melissa, through the window, sees Faye in trouble. Melissa and Nick rush next door. Cassie wakes up. Heather chokes Faye. Cassie pulls Heather off Faye. Heather chases Faye and Cassie downstairs. The girls hide under the dining room table. The rooms begin to go dark, so they run for the front door. At the door are Melissa and Nick. Nick protects the girls. Heather runs out of the house and into the street. She stops. Getting out of his car is her brother Wade. Suddenly, another car comes and hits Heather, killing her.

Adam and Diana arrive. Before the ambulance takes Heather’s body away, a small snake slithers out one of Heather’s wounds and hitches a ride on Nick’s jacket. After Nick and Melissa have sex, the demon-snake enters Melissa’s ear.

Cassie is relieved to learn that her mother’s spell helped Heather, but feels guilty for basically causing Heather’s death. Diana says that they need to be careful and slow down. But Adam tells Cassie that they need to know what happened sixteen years ago. Their lives depend on it.

I have two issues about this episode. The first is the reference to other magical fiction. In a previous episode, Adam tells Cassie that their lives are not like ‘Harry Potter’ because they don’t need a wand. Those familiar with ‘Harry Potter’ know that experienced witches and wizards don’t need wands all the time, but I let that one slide because it was a casual reference. In this episode, Faye tells Melissa that she wishes their lives were like the first half of ‘The Craft’. I’ve avoided comparing ‘The Secret Circle’ to any other TV show or movie so I could evaluate the show on its own merits. But the show expressed Faye’s desires by alluding to a film, revealing more than the writers may have wanted.

The Craft’ is about four unrelated girls who are witches. They form a circle by invoking the Watchtowers of the North, South, East, and West. Addicted to magic and desiring more power, Nancy invokes the spirit and invites Manon into her soul. Mad with power, Nancy turns on Sarah. The circle is broken. Sarah has to use magic to defend herself. Nancy goes insane. The other two lose their powers while Sarah keeps hers. Out of the six on ‘The Secret Circle’, Faye is the one most similar to Nancy. I was hoping the writers would not have taken such an easy route with Faye; I was expecting Faye to be much more than a Nancy clone. There’s still time for Faye to be more; perhaps that’s where the tension will be—to see if Faye will follow Nancy’s path. I wanted to watch ‘The Secret Circle’ without having to think of another piece of fiction. Unfortunately, the writers have made this impossible since now I have to think of ‘The Craft’ when I think of Faye.

The second issue is the pace. While the last part of this episode was tense and scary, the show took too long to get the action rolling. In an episode of this nature, there was too much talking. Instead of hunting for Heather, Heather came to Cassie, and all of the action took place in the house while Grandma was conveniently at work. This show has great potential. The foundation has been set. We know the premise now. Allow the story to happen instead of telling us what we know. It, we have learned, has been unleashed. The demons are coming. Now release the witches and let them kick some demon ass!