HEXcellent

I’ve finished with season one of HEX, and it exceeded expectations (note the self-control displayed in the previous two words).  I say balls to those who dismiss this series as being without plot or story.  

.*** Spoiler Warning ***




I’m still struck by the metaphor of Cassie’s descent into darkness, and the way it parallels that of Angel in season two of Buffy.  To recap, Azazeal slips Troy the dark magic bug, Troy deflowers Cassie giving her the worm (the dark magic kind, geez) and then Cassie goes bad-girl and eventually bangs Azazeal himself.  Angel went agro after sleeping with Buffy, first toying with Buffy and her friends before turning up the heat and killing Ms. Calendar and then attempting to open Acathla’s big hellmouth.  Both characters start their descent after their first lay and spiral down from there.

But the best comparison may come from the “real world” test.  Joss Whedon has said that the day after “Innocence” aired, he went online and read a note from a young woman who was moved by the episode because her former boyfriend had also turned on her after they had sex.  I’ve got my own real world story for HEX.  Back in High School, I knew a girl named Laurie who was friendly and outgoing if not also a nut.  Laurie talked so incessantly about sex that she marked herself as a virgin in the first minute you met her.  And while you might think that she wouldn’t have remained a virgin for long, her penchant for the wacky made her just too weird for most guys (including me, and that’s saying something).  But finally one guy broke down in junior year and gave her the big one, and friendly crazy Laurie instantly became a smug and silent no-eye-contact bitch.

Now, for Whedon, the choice to push Angel to the Dark Side wasn’t such a leap since Buffy was the title character and her wounding only strengthened our affection for her, so think of how brave Julian Jones and Lucy Watkins were given that Cassie is their lead.