So in my random web surfing, I stumbled upon a television show called HEX , produced for the Brit satellite network Sky one. Being neither British or with access to satellite TV, I endured a terribly slow 2 gig BitTorrent to snag the first season of the show- one of those odd little five episode runs you get from many shows out of the UK.

Anyhow, so I watch the first three episodes last night (including a double-long first episode) and I’m struck by how much this show maps to Sorcerer. I found the show itself quite engaging, and the billing the show has received as the “British Buffy” doesn’t do it justice. It isn’t a supernatural action/melodrama show, but more of a supernatural mystery/melodrama- no kung-fu, no slaying, and no vampires thus far. Some fairly handy magical/psychic powers and a blending of the spirit world and the real world keep things interesting. The acting and dialog is less stilted and ‘clever’ than Buffy as well, and it works with the ‘English accents’. The pace is also slower- taking time for character development- and it doesn’t tip its hand ad to the hows and whys of the setting too easily. All told, I enjoyed it, and look forward to finishing the last two episodes tonight.

Here are some more links with further details- I’ll try not to spoil things too badly though:

HEX at TV-Tome

A fairly detailed HEX fansite.

The witchlore used in the show is fairly interesting- tapping apocryphal Christian concepts, some Jewish myths, and African folk religions (AKA ‘Voodoo’), and two characters thus far are very clearly Demons in the Sorcerer sense, granting powers in exchange for needs being met, and desires being fulfilled- one is the Big Bad of the show Azazeal- a Nephilim playing the role of the ‘Dark Man in the Woods’ to a family of witches, the other is the protagonist’s dead room mate- a lesbian in life who loved the main character, and is now bound to aid her in death.

Beyond this, the show is structured around a very distinctive but initially obscured, relationship map, and uses it as part of the show’s main push- Cassie realizes her powers, her connections to the events of the past, and how her family is tied into the old drama of the place, uncovering links in the R-map all the while building a new one with the usual teen-soap-opera you get when you cram a bunch of good looking young people into a fairly confined space. And of course, the supernatural and the mundane intertwine.

Anyhow- if you have the chance to watch it on the TV, I’d recommend it highly, and if you don’t mind watching it on a computer or burning your own DVDs, it is worth the slow download.

-Ben

I just want to second Baily's suggestion. I found out about the show when someone on the Buffy rpg mailing list suggested it for Buffy inspiration, but I agree that it is even more suited to Sorcerer.

The relationships between the characters is very interesting, and as the show progresses, gets a little more complex (and a good example of an R-map, as Baily also pointed out)

Some spoilers here, but we watched the last ep in the first series last night, and it got well into Sex and Sorcerer territory with a supernatural pregnancy, lesbian ghosts, and some fairly frank discussions of abortion (not the sort of thing I would expect to see on US television).

As I understand it, things will continue in August or thereabouts.

-B

Thanks for the tip. Watched the pilot the other night. (Which I completely did not download illegally off the internet. No sir.) It features ever-so-hip spoiled teenagers dealing with the supernatural, but that's really where the similarity to Buffy ends. Yes, some of the subject matter wouldn't fly on American network TV. (References to lesbian clergy? Nuh-uh.)

It's not quite Clive Barker or anything, but it's good Sorcerer material. I mean, she has a literal demon following her around, making her life miserable by giving her what she wants.