Hex

I ran into this show a while back on BBC America when I was at home, hopped up on Vicodin (I had kidney stones). I thought what I saw was pretty cool, so I tracked it down so I could find out if it really was cool, or if it was just the Vicodin talking.

Unfortunately, it seems it was mostly the Vicodin. I remember when this show first came out on Sky One in the UK, back in 2004, people compared it favorably to Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Some people even said it was better than Buffy, which I pretty much ignored because that's just crazy talk. Of course there are similarities--blonde girl with lesbian best friend discovers legacy of superpowers, is seduced by demon lover, etc. etc. But the writing and the characterizations just don't compare. There are pretty actors and actresses, and the germ of what should be an intriguing story, but it seems to be to be all over the place. The pilot episode was, for me, dead boring--if I'd started with that one instead of the eisodes I caught on BBCA, I would have given up halfway through the first hour. I found it extremely slow, and what was probably supposed to be edgy, witty banter just struck me as an overabundance of sex jokes. Cassie is an unappealing character--she's a bitch to pretty much everybody, including the long-suffering Thelma (the only character in the show I actually like, though Ella has shown some promise)--and I could see no earthly reason for her hooking back up with Azazeal after his abduction of their demon child. She was possessed when the kid was conceived, then all of a sudden she's claiming she loves the guy, and she's jumping back into bed with him... it just didn't make any sense. And Azazeal, the demon lover trying to conquer the world with his hordes of Nephilim, is kind of a blah character, as well. He's good-looking, certainly, but his evilness seems kind of petty and watered down compared to, say, the Angelus of BtVS Season Two. (I think Azazeal needs "Sending the World to Hell" lessons. Lesson One: Be Scary. Lesson Two: Wear Leather Pants.) Then there's the big plot twist early in Series Two, completely eliminating the person we thought was supposed to be our Plucky Heroine, and a couple of episodes later I'm still wondering where the hell (no pun intended) they're going with this. The characters seem to develop different personalities in every episode, depending on what plot twist they need to serve, and the plot itself doesn't seem to know where it's going.

In any case, I have about nine episodes to go, and I don't know if I'm going to be able to stick it out to the end. If I do, and the show redeems itself, I'll let you know.