Loner

The Secret Circle
Season 1, Episode 3
Episode Information
Air Date	September 29, 2011
Writer	Richard Hatem
Director	Colin Bucksey
Episode Slogan	ADAM IS JEALOUS WHEN CASSIE BRINGS A DATE TO THE SCHOOL DANCE
Episode Guide
previous Bound	next Heather

Loner is the third episode of the first season of the CW series The Secret Circle. It aired on September 29, 2011, bringing in 2.12 million viewers.

Summary

A cute jock named Luke asks Cassie to the school dance, and after watching Adam spend time with Diana at the boathouse, she accepts his offer. Meanwhile, Melissa sees the dance as an opportunity to get closer to Nick. Faye, on the other hand, has no plans to go and remains focused on finding a way to control her powers. Dawn discovers someone from their past, an intense man named Zachary, is in town asking questions about Cassie and the Circle, so she asks Charles to keep an eye on him.

Plot

SPOILERS AHEAD

At school, Faye is upset that she can't use her magic. Diana reminds her she just has to have another member of the circle present. She tells her to be thankful things are under control and hope Sally doesn't remember she almost killed her. Diana asks Cassie if she wants to hang out later, but Cassie doesn't think they should be friends. She doesn't like lying to Sally about what happened. Melissa and Nick finish up some midday bonking. She asks him if he wants to go to the dance, she doesn't care if Faye knows. He tells her they're just about sex and if she wants more, it's over. In school, Cassie asks Sally what happened to her arm. Sally says it's a blur, but she keeps getting flashes of Faye, like she did it. Sally remembers Faye giving her the "bitch stare" and then waking up on the rocks. A cute guy named Luke asks Adam about Cassie. Charles reports to Dawn that Henry's body is in the lake house and won't be found. Charles says he brought it on himself. Henry was Faye's grandfather. Dawn says they have to move fast before people find out what they're up to. Diana sees her dad leaving Dawn's office and finds it weird. Adam introduces Cassie to Luke and he asks her to the dance. She says she has to help Sally decorate and asks for a rain check. Sally and Cassie review dance plans at the boathouse. Sally notices her staring at Adam, who works there. Adam asks Cassie if she's going to the dance with Luke. She's not, but says maybe. Then she finds Luke and takes him up on his offer. Outside, a man named Zachary approaches her. He says she looks like her mother. He didn't know she died. He asks if she's going to live there and seems concerned when she says she is. He tells her her mother vowed never to come back and then accuses her of being a witch like her mom. He grabs her when she tries to walk away. Diana comes out and uses magic to shove him aside. "I'm not going to let this happen again," he says. Diana and Cassie go to the house and find Faye. Adam and Melissa join them and they tell her about Zachary. Cassie tells them Sally might be onto them, too. Melissa and Faye are irked to have lost their individual powers. Diana assures them they can work together. Diana's dad wakes her up to ask about Zachary. He asks what he was saying. Charles says he went to school with him and urges her to stay away from him. She asks what's going on with him and Mrs. Chamberlain. He says they're dating (even though they're not, just evil plotting). She's all for it. Cassie goes through her mom's old things and finds a yearbook, with photos of Amelia Blake and Zachary Larsen and a woman named Heather. Cassie and Diana look at the yearbook. They wonder if he meant the fire. Diana thinks it was witchcraft and they covered it up, but none of their parents will talk about it. Diana wants to find out what he meant. Melissa and Faye concentrate on trying to move a phone together. It works. Faye can't believe Melissa wants to go to the school dance. She pointedly says, for Nick's benefit, that she likes dancing. Dawn meets up with Charles. He tells her Zachary approached Cassie. Dawn mentions that Zachary was friends with Amelia. He wants the crystal to go talk to Zachary, but she suggests they can't kill everyone who asks questions. He briefs her on their dating cover story. In the abandoned house, Faye looks for an old spell to practice with. She tries to light a candle using magic, but can't. She turns around to see Zachary Larsen watching her. He says the six of them are witches, saying he knows their families. He asks if they've bound their circle and taunts her to stop him. He sees she has no power and the circle is bound. She runs off. Cassie meets up with Luke at the dance, but can't stop looking at Adam. Melissa is happy to see Nick when he arrives, even though he's cool to her. Diana talks to Mrs. Chamberlain, letting her know she's happy she and her dad are dating. Mrs. Chamberlain goes along with it. Luke goes to get punch and Adam talks to Cassie. He tells her she looks nice, but she tells him no compliments. Sally tells them to start dancing so other people will. Faye comes to the school. Nick rolls a joint in the hall and Melissa tries to get him to dance, but he's rude to her. Finally, he asks her why she likes him, since he just treats her like dirt. She's about to walk off when Faye finds her and tells her about Zachary. Adam and Cassie dance and he tells her they have to make things work. Diana interrupts them with news about Zachary. Faye suggests they look him up in school records, she has her mom's master key. Luke finds them and Cassie makes up a story about them working on dance committee stuff. Charles finds Zachary on his boat. Zachary immediately tells him his daughter is a witch and he knows what he is. "Now that Cassie Blake is back it's happening all over again," he says. Charles denies anything is going on. Zachary think Charles knows they're practicing but isn't stopping them because he's up to something. Zachary says he has no choice. He whacks him with a crow bar and beats him into submission. He grabs a knife, saying all he has to do is kill one of them. Adam and Diana log on to Faye's mom's school computer and look up Zachary Larson. He was suspended for fighting. He skipped school with his girlfriend Heather Barnes. Diana recognizes the name. In the hall, Melissa tells Faye she thinks Nick hates her. Faye says he hates himself and has issues since he lost both parents. Adam sees that Heather and Amelia were on a million activities together. They check the story about the fire that killed their parents and see that Heather Barnes was among the victims. They think Zachary blames what happened to Heather on their parents, but he's taking it out on them. Luke asks Cassie to dance, but she says no. He says never mind, since he can tell she's distracted and not into him. Faye finds Nick and chews him out for treating Melissa poorly. In the hall alone, Cassie runs into Zachary. She runs. Charles finds Dawn and warns her Zachary is coming for the kids. Adam, Diana and Nick go looking for Cassie. Everyone stalks the halls. Cassie hides and sees Zachary walk by, so she steps out. But he's right in front of her. He grabs her. The others see her. They're all together and decide to see what their full power is. Zachary holds Cassie down with a knife when they walk up on him. He says Heather didn't die, "what Amelia did to her was far worse." The boys arrive and help lift him into the ceiling then drop him to the floor, knocking him out. OK, now what? Faye wonders. Dawn walks around the corner and they quickly compile a lie, that they found lockers open and papers everywhere and the man was already there. They say he slipped and fell. Dawn says he's an addict and has been breaking in and vandalizing the place for years. She tells them she'll deal with it. Later, outside, Faye reports that her mom had Zachary arrested and asked them to keep it quiet so it doesn't reflect badly on the school. Cassie thanks them for saving her life. Cassie wants to know what her mom did to Heather, but Diana assures her that can wait til another day. Melissa leaves, with Nick following. He invites her over, but he says he just wants to hang out and watch a movie. She says Ok. At Cassie's house, Diana tells her she thinks they're better together than they are apart. She tells Cassie she sees the way Adam looks at her. Cassie assures her it's nothing. Diana says she hopes Cassie is right because she's loved Adam for as long as she can remember. She tells Cassie she wants them to be friends. Charles and Dawn pull over with Zachary in the trunk, bound and gagged. They put the crystal in his pocket and Dawn cuts her hand and recites a spell. She tells him he's marked and she can find him anywhere he goes. If he ever hurts any of their children, she will turn his life into a living hell worse than Heather ever knew.

Cast

Main Cast Britt Robertson as Cassie Blake Thomas Dekker as Adam Conant Shelley Hennig as Diana Meade Phoebe Tonkin as Faye Chamberlain Jessica Parker Kennedy as Melissa Glaser Louis Hunter as Nick Armstrong Gale Harold as Charles Meade Natasha Henstridge as Dawn Chamberlain Ashley Crow as Jane Blake (credit only)

Recurring Cast Logan Browning as Sally Matthews Guest Cast Dave Baez as Zachary Larson Zachary Abel as Luke

Quotes

Faye: "I never would’ve bound the frickin circle if I knew I’d lose my powers."

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Faye: "I’m going to find a spell that turns me back into a solo act."

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Faye: "I don’t mind being alone. Unlike you, Melissa, I like myself."

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Cassie: "I didn't have a huge social life at my old school. Or a small one. Or any one at all."

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Dawn: "We can’t kill everybody that gets in our way."

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Sally: "Maybe there’s trouble in Paradise and it’s time to let those eyes wander."

— about Cassie and Adam's mutual attraction.

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Faye: "Disappointed? Imagine me realizing the only way to get something to move is with my actual hands!"

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Melissa: "I wonder what we can do with the three of us?"

Nick: "I’ve got an idea of what we can do the three of us."

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Melissa: "Just cause we’re witches doesn’t mean we can’t go to dances."

Faye: "No, we don’t go dances because we’re not lame."

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Nick: "Why do you like me? I treat you like crap and you keep coming back for more. Do you like being dumped on?" (to Melissa)

Soundtrack

Song Title	Album	Artist	Buy
Did I Ever		Leoni And Manic
Dressed In Dresden	The Hundred In the Hands	Hundred In The Hands	Buy
Girls Like You	Passive Me Aggressive You	The Naked And Famous	Buy
Lovesong	21	Adele	Buy
Sirens	Unpersons	The Pack A.D.	Buy

Gallery

Notes and Trivia

• Although credited, Ashley Crow does not appear in this episode. This is the first episode not to feature an appearance of all nine main characters.
• This is the first time the Circle has ever used their magic together as one.
• Cassie described herself as a loner and admitted she never attended any school dances.
• Under the news article that Diana and Adam found online about the Boatyard Fire accident sixteen years ago, it listed the names of the deceased parents of the Circle - Sophie Ann Glaser, John Blackwell, Elizabeth Meade, Catherine Conant, Thomas Chamberlain, Mary Armstrong and Douglas Armstrong. In Wake, Jake mentioned his parents' names were Richard and Sara, and the two of them were called Richard and Sara too in Witness.
• So far, this is the last episode Sally Matthews was seen.
• The license plate on Dawn Chamberlain's car is Washington plate #319 M2P. The plate on Charles Meade's car is Washington plate #535 OTN.
• When Diana and Adam broke into Zachary Larson's student records, they saw his disciplinary history under the heading "Vice Principle's Notes," which should read "Vice Principal's Notes."