Cons: Star Quit before series wrapped. Wandered away from historical elements. Misuse Occult terms.
The Bottom Line: An intriguing Darkshadows from across the pond, it mixes witches, ghosts and private schools with humor, horror, and full frontal nudity.
talyseon's Full Review: Hex - The Complete First Season
Plot Details: This opinion reveals minor details about the movie's plot.
Hex: Season One (2004)
Thelma Bates: You've had a rough deal, Cassie McBain. Your dad's disappeared; your mother's a nutter... Cassie Hughes: My best friend's a lesbian ghost. Thelma Bates: Life sucks! Cassie Hughes: Oh, and there was one other thing. Apparently, I'm a witch. Thelma Bates: Well, I could've told you that.
Hex is a BBC series about a private boarding school Medenham Estates where a young woman, Cassie Hughes (Christina Cole) discovers a powerful magical artifact, a canari, which awakens the magic within her. It comes with a price; not only is she tempted to petty revenge by her powers, but she attracts the attention of Azazeal, (Michael Fassbender) first among the Nephilim, or fallen angels, banished from heaven for the sin of lusting after mortal women. He wants Cassie to bear him a child. She is understandably reluctant, though intrigued by his unearthly lustiness.
Azazeal needs a sacrifice to build his strength, and ends up choosing Thelma Bates (Jemima Rooper), Cassie's best mate, and roomie. Thelma is a lesbian with an obvious crush on Cassie. However, Thelma is not out of the picture yet, as she comes back as a ghost. With her invisible side kick, Cassie is thrown into a world of visions, reincarnation, and a plot for the fallen angels to escape the prison of hell. Thrown into the mix are other students at Medenham Estates; the luscious Troy (Joseph Morgan) who was Cassie's first love interest, his roomie, Leon (Jamie Davis) an irrepressible hedonist, the Queen Bee Roxanne (Amber Sainsbury) and her sidekick wannabe Gemma. (Zoe Tapper) There is a lot of drama and trauma as who mates with whom is worked out amongst this set, with Roxanne being the kind to deliberately cause problems, and to undertake projects like the seduction of the priest.
Meanwhile Thelma is busy investigating the strange goings on about the place. She is aware Cassie is in a lot more danger than she is willing to admit. However, her warnings about men are frequently misconstrued as part of Thelma's lesbian obsession with Cassie. Cassie should have learned to listen better. Azazeal is after something specific, only Cassie can get it for him, and he will stop at nothing to get it.
Sadly, Christina Cole decided to leave the show after episode eight, so they introduced a new character, Ella Dee (Laura Pyper)a mysterious kick@$$ supernatural warrior who has extensive experience fighting the Nephilim; she was Jack the Ripper, cleaning up after Azazeal in his quest to bear a son. The series shifts its focus to her, as Cassie disappears from the scene.
The show has been compared to Charmed. I think it could also be fairly compared to Dark Shadows. Yet it is more complex than either of those shows, probably because the British have a higher opinion of their viewing audience than Hollywood does of theirs. There is also a nice spicy splash of nudity; Christina Cole may not have known about the full angle of her shower scenes, and this may have contributed to her harsh feelings about the show. It appears her family was not amused. On the other side of things, there are several very sexy young men on the show, though only one, Felix (Stephen Wight) treats us to the Full Monty. However, the girls spying on the boys shower room gives a nice view of some celestial bodies. Mostly moons.
Full frontal nudity and butt shots aside; it is the human drama, the relationships between people that makes it better than its American cousins. Sadly, while there were some early hints that flashbacks to historical events would be a regular occurrence, they did not make as much of this angle as I felt they could have, not until they needed to give Ella back-story. Still, the sweeping lawns and ornate Tudor structure give the series a wonderful historical feel. Filmed at Englefield House in Berkshire, the school is a character in its own right.
One thing that does annoy me is the shows reassigning the definition of occult words. Nephilim are not the fallen angels, but their children, and Seraphs are not monsters, but an order of angels. Still, these are minor quibbles in an otherwise wonderful series. I can't wait until season two is available on Region One DVD.
Experience the highly-acclaimed, BBC drama series that has become a hit with fans and criticsv around the globe. "Nothing on broadcast can hold a cand...More at HotMovieSale.com
Epinions.com periodically updates pricing and product information from third-party sources, so some information may be slightly out-of-date. You should confirm all information before relying on it.
- Add to My Yahoo!: 
- Add to Google Homepage: 
© 1999-2009 Shopping.com, Inc.