Hex - New TV Series Review: BBC's Female Answer to Strange?

Hex, BBC’s new series premiered at 10:00 pm EST, Thursday, June 8. The premise behind the story of Hex is: a good witch teamed with a love interest turned ghost doing battle with an ancient evil, at an English boarding school.

In the two-hour series opener of Hex, Cassie, played by Christina Cole, appears to be a somewhat shy and gifted student, harassed by the in crowd. To further complicate her life or add twist to the story (not sure of the intent), her roommate and “best friend,” Thelma, played by Jemima Rooper, is a lesbian. Their relationship is strained by Thelma’s more than best friend feelings toward Cassie and Cassie’s desire to “fit in” with other students. The other students are a mix of “I am just too cool” brats that set each other up and epitomize the “mean natured” gits at boarding school.

Cassie is suddenly blessed—or cursed—with powers such as halting falling objects, setting off power failures and causing fires, because of her accidental exposure to ancient artifacts—the Hex. The story transitions into the predictable situation where, when Cassie gets angry or upset, things happen. She even sets a classmate on fire for heckling and doesn’t look particularly upset by the fact that she did it. Good witch? Cassie is repeatedly visited by a spirit from the past, the original mistress of the hall, where the school now resides. 

After struggling with what she fears are her inner demons or encroaching insanities, for all of five minutes, Cassie shares her concerns about her strange powers with Thelma. Thelma is most understanding—after all she is in love with Cassie. Throughout the story, the viewer is given glimpses of a particularly menacing and broody, yet not bad looking man to whom a name is eventually attach, Azazeal (usually spelled Azazel in biblical references), played by Michael Fassbender.