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I know I wrote to you about a year ago with some thoughts on âW.I.T.C.H.,â but I just went through the series for a second time, and rather than just watch it, I was able to study it, catch all the clues and pieces of foreshadowing and other things that I missed.
Last year, it took me two weeks to make it through the first season, and twenty-four hours to make it through the second season. This time, well, I wanted to let the second season breathe a little more, which is why it took twenty-seven hours to make it through this time.
What can I say, itâs addictive.
I think Iâll start with the large cast, which seems to be a feature in every series you produce. I donât feel like anybody got the short end of the stick. Will, being the lead, of course got the most time. Everyone else was well balanced also. Casts this big can be pretty hard to juggle. Five main characters, and so many supporting characters, recurring characters, villains, etc.
Irma was probably my favorite of the Guardians. She just had so much spunk. A huge sense of humor. I enjoyed how she often seemed like she would be the most fun to hang out with, but at the same time, probably the meanest when she was in a bad mood. Cornelia at her worst has nothing on a pissed off Irma. Very scary. God help you if you push her to anger. Iâve known people like that in real life, but I find that TV seldom ever does it well. So I have to commend a series that can take someone so likeable and make them nasty without losing their likeability.
The theme of the season seemed to be growing up. Hay-Lin and Taranee change and grow the most this season. Cornelia does well too, learning to be a better sister to Lillian. Will growing in her powers, as a leader, in her relationship with her parents, and their new love interests, and in her own relationship with Matt.
Ironically, Irma seems to change the least over the course of the season, but thatâs okay, because she still got a lot of characterization.
Surprising nobody, my favorite character in the series was Nerissa. She always kept me guessing. Going through the series for the second time, I could really see her master plan and all the pipe-laying for her. I probably shouldnât mention season one, but I paid much more attention to Trill this time, as well as the Mage. Nerissa just seemed to be everywhere, pulling everybodyâs strings. I liked the twist that she wasnât really out for vengeance, which is a twist that made sense. Watching it the first time, I asked myself why would she want to avenge Phobos, she wasnât there. Well, she was, but you know what I mean. The Knights were all a distraction, and the second time, that seemed much more obvious. But I enjoyed how cold and intelligent she was. She was always scheming; always Machiavellian; and two steps ahead of everyone; all the while carrying around a mountain of repressed guilt. I once described her to a friend with the following words: âimagine if Xanatos and Demona had a baby together, that child would be Nerissa.â I thought Kath Soucie did a magnificent job.
I must also say that the twist that Nerissa was Calebâs mother was brilliant. As I understand it, this was not the case I the original comic book. But I enjoyed it; I thought it worked quite well. It also made things even more chilling in that, when you think about it, she essentially raped Julian. Rape by deception is still rape, and thatâs not something you see often in a cartoon. It almost reminds me of Merlin helping Uther deceive Igraine in order to create King Arthur.
And then there was Prince Phobos. Itâs impossible to discuss what was done with him in the second season without talking about the first. I thought he was pretty one note throughout the first season, but season two did something far different with him, and you really felt how this guy could have held the entire world of Meridian under his control for so long.
I felt the same way about Lord Cedric, he got old really fast in the first season, and when he finally gets out of his cell in season two, heâs not doing much that he didnât do in the first season until what had to be the shock moment of the entire season. I wonât say anymore, but it was nice to see a character I thought so poorly of get that moment. What inspired that twist, I wonder.
The Shagon mini-arc was very well done too. It seems to be a theme in Weisman produced shows to have a character change into something else, all under the control of a villain. David Xanatos turned Derek Maza into Talon; the Green Goblin turned Mark Allan into Molten Man; and Nerissa turns Matt into Shagon. What I also enjoy is just how different each of these scenarios really are. Shagon was a nice personal antagonist towards Will. As I understand it, this is another case where the TV series deviated from the comics for the better. Turning Matt into Shagon just gives that character a lot more chemistry with our heroes than he otherwise would have had.
Would I have liked to see a third season? Sure. But aside from the mystery of who this new teacher was, I thought it was all wrapped up very well, and didnât leave me âneedingâ to see more the same way âGargoylesâ and âSpectacular Spider-Manâ did. It was great television, and Iâm sorry I didnât get to see it when it was originally airing.
Thanks. I was really proud of the work we did with WITCH. Tried to stay true to Season One and build in more material from the comic, and take it all to a new level. Would have loved to have done another season, but...
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