The Secret Circle ended 2011 with an intriguing set up for 2012: there is a second offspring of John Blackwell in the coven? And both Cassie and this half-sibling possess dark magic?

That was the main takeaway from "Balcoin," an episode that left Round Table panelists Matt Richenthal, Carla Day and Eric Hochberger with plenty to analyze. Join them now as they do exactly that...

What was your favorite scene from the episode?
Matt: The disagreement between Dawn and Charles over the crystal and over Charles' seemingly screwed up spell on Jane. As I talk about in answer number-four, I'm a big fan of this generation and want to see more time spent with these two.

Carla: Sadly, none of the scenes jumped out at me. I guess I'll go with Jake standing stoically on the boat, looking out at the pier. 

Eric: I'll have to go with the easy, obvious choice. Pretty much the entire confrontation on the boat at the end. Right up until the cool shot of the group standing on the dock as we're left wondering: who else has black magic?!? Ooh, good segue...

Which coven member is related to Cassie?
Matt: I know Faye seems too easy... but it's not like there are many options here. We know it's not Adam. I'm gonna stick with the mot obvious choice and assume they give us an explanation for why Faye has not been able to practice on her own.

Carla: The obvious guess is Faye due to her mother's apparent interest in Cassie's father. But she isn't able to do magic on her own and she has tried. Jake is the only other member of the circle that can do magic on his own, but that could be because he wasn't there for the binding ceremony. So... I'm going with Melissa. I have no reason to think it is her other than she has the least developed background. I'd love to see it be someone we haven't met yet.

Eric: I think the most obvious choice would be Jake due to the fact he's able to practice magic on his own. But, man, that'd be way too incestually gross. Even for the network that brought us Derena. It's not like this is Game of Thrones. Get it? Cause of Cersei and and Jaime? Anyways. Next best, far less gross choice? Faye, based on Dawn's thing for Mr. Blackwell.

Do you want to see Jake return?
Matt: Yes. We need a morally questionable member of the coven, along with another prong to the Diana/Adam/Cassie love triangle. Let's make it a rhombus, shall we? With one side possibly intent on killing all the others! I like it.

Carla: Definitely. I like Jake. I want to see more of him and Cassie together, either as friends or more. Jake is a complex character that is being pulled in two different directions and I want to see it play out.

Eric: Pretty sure we don't have a choice based on the 2012 promo. But, seriously, his character is finally growing on me. Albeit as slow as it takes his face to change expressions. Yeah, that slowly.

Give the first half of season one a grade.
Matt: I'll be a tad generous and give it a B+. There's potential here, no doubt, but I wanna see more of a focus on the elders and I actually think it hurts TSC that it airs immediately after The Vampire Diaries. It's simply impossible not to compare the shows and impossible not to feel like this one is a watered down version of the incredible action in Mystic Falls.

Carla: B. I like the show and plan on continuing to watch it, but the mystery and relationships are lacking depth. When it comes back, I'd like to see less superficial relationship stuff and more exploration of the mythology. In particular, I want to know about the families that make up the circle.

Eric: B-. I think it took too long for the series to give us a real arc to invest in. I loved Charles and the elders, but their storyline seems much on the backburner as we really concern ourselves with the witch hunters and dark magic. Unfortunately, that stuff just came in towards the end as a tease... right before they left us on hiatus.