Guest Post: The CW’s Secret Circle: How Does It Compare to the Books
Today, we welcome special guest Julia Harpin, from TV.com, to talk about The Secret Circle. And she writes one of my favorite types of posts: a comparison of book versus tv show/movie. Senior year in high school, that we pretty much our second semester of English, and it was one of the highlights of my high school career. But, you’re not here to see me reminisce. We’ll let Julia get started.
Book vs. TV: A Look at The Secret Circle Series
By Julia Harpin for TV.com
Tonight CW airs the second episode of its new supernatural teen drama, The Secret Circle. Like CW’s other Thursday night hit, The Vampire Diaries, The Secret Circle is based on a series of books by L. J. Smith. And like The Vampire Diaries, The Secret Circle television series is going to have some major changes from the book.
How major? The pilot gives us some clues about how the series will differ from its source material. If you haven’t seen the pilot yet, you probably want to get on it before reading this article.
Here’s what I see coming in future episodes.
Cassie’s relationship with her mom will be different.
On account of her mom dying in the first five minutes. Now, I’m not expecting any kind of Obi Wan Kenobi business here, but I do think that Cassie’s mother’s being dead is not going to keep her from being a major part of the series. At the end of the pilot Cassie finds a note from her mother tucked away in a hidden notebook. I’m predicting Cassie’s mother left her other signs and such to help her daughter learn about magic, solve mysteries, get the guy, and all that.
The parents are going to have new, more important plotlines.
In the books the parents were minor characters, but it’s looking like several of them will be prominent in the show. Diana’s father looks set up to be the main antagonist, at least for now. This is very likely one of the reasons why the number of teenagers in the circle was cut from the original twelve in the books to six. With Diana’s daddy taking on the major villain responsibilities, that probably means the show will wait longer to bring out Black John, the book’s major villain. It might even free up Faye’s character to be a little more complicated, and a little less straight up villainess. Which is awesome, because Phoebe Tonkin is making Faye really fun to watch in possibly one of the best performances in the show.
The town will not be connected to the Salem witch trials.
The first sign was that the name of the town has been changed from New Salem to Chance Harbor. In the books New Salem was a New England coastal town founded by witches escaping from the Salem witch trials. Not only is Chance Harbor not named after Salem, but it’s also on the other side of the country. The second sign was the Cassie’s mother’s murder. The Secret Circle book series has a series of murders based on the executions of the Salem witches; hangings, crushings, and the like. Cassie’s mother was burned alive, a method popular in European witch hunts, but never deployed in Salem. So either the creators are playing fast and lose with history (entirely possible), or they’re ditching the done-to-death Salem angle. It’ll be interesting to see if they have their own mythology to replace it.
There’s not going to be a big focus on the high school.
I’m sure it’ll pop up now and again, but I doubt we’ll be seeing these kids in school very much. The Vampire Diaries played this angle too. Creator Kevin Williamson consciously made the setting more about the town and less about the school. Though Secret Circle has different creators, they’d be foolish not to take The Vampire Diaries as a master class in “How To Turn L. J. Smith Books into Piles Of Money.” So far The Secret Circles does seem to be spending more time in Chance Harbor’s streets than its school hallways. The pilot had all of about two minutes by the lockers before jumping to after school affairs.
There will be no crystal skull.
Many of the events of the book series revolve around a crystal skull that houses the soul of Black John. I don’t think it’s going to be making an appearance in the show. Adam didn’t go to Cape Cod to get it. And unless I’m much mistaken, that was Black John who burned down Cassie’s mom’s house. Which means there’s no need to put in a skull for him to come out of. Besides, it’s too likely that having a crystal skull would make people think about the fourth Indiana Jones movie. And no one wants to think about the fourth Indiana Jones movie. Ever.
Did you watch last week? If not, you can catch up before tonight’s episode here.
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Tags: CW, guest post, secret circle, television
Uncategorized | thejen | 
September 22, 2011 5:08 am | 
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