Drama
East of Eden
Netflix’s ‘East of Eden’ serves as a solid retelling of John Steinbeck’s epic novel—including all the moral quandaries of its source material in explicit fashion.
“You’re a witch” is not what Briar expected to hear when she got to Crescent Veil Academy.
In fact, when she arrived in New Orleans to attend Crescent Veil, Briar thought it was a school for troubled teen girls. But she soon discovers that Crescent Veil Academy (Coven Academy, as some students endearingly call it) is a school of magic. The witches and warlocks who train there all have something unique to offer. For instance, a witch named Sasha can read people’s feelings; Tegan, another student witch, can bend time; and the school’s headmistress, Ms. Graves, helps all the young magic users hone their abilities.
According to Sasha and Tegan, Crescent Veil Academy exists to prepare witches and warlocks to “rid the world of dark forces.” And New Orleans needs the help.
When Briar arrives, students at Crescent Veil are buzzing about recent vampire attacks across the city. In fact, three of their own have fallen victim to one such attack. While the witches prepare to fight the vampires, the warlocks are teaming up to find the missing students.
Fighting evil sounds great … but Briar has other things on her mind.
For one, Briar meets a guy named Ollie. Even though he’s not a Crescent Veil student, Briar thinks Ollie seems great … really great in fact. But a student warlock named Jake thinks otherwise. Maybe it’s only because Jake is interested in Briar, but he suspects Ollie is hiding something—potentially something dangerous.
More importantly, though, Briar is determined to find out what happened to her mom, who was mysteriously murdered. Briar’s mom had a connection to Crescent Veil—and maybe to the headmistress. The more Briar discovers about the school and the supernatural world, the closer she gets to learning the truth about her mom.
Soon enough, Briar dives headfirst into magic. She forms a coven with Tegan and Sasha. And together, these teenage girls will fight evil and uncover secrets.
From its title alone, Coven Academy—which is available on Disney+, Hulu and Freeform—advertises its primary concern.
Witchcraft and magic are central to the show’s plot. All the show’s main characters practice magic or display some type of supernatural ability, from shapeshifting to controlling minds to teleporting. Characters chant incantations and cast spells, and there are even scenes in which people communicate with the dead. While several characters use magic for evil purposes, Coven Academy primarily depicts witchcraft as something that can be used for good.
Additionally, violent content includes vampires attacking and sucking the blood of human victims (and those scenes can be more intense and graphic than your usual Disney fare). Characters occasionally misuse God’s name, too.
Romantic subplots in Coven Academy present another concern. Two teen guys take interest in Briar, and she shares an onscreen kiss with each of them. Furthermore, romantic tension is suggested between Briar’s coven sister Tegan and Crescent Veil’s head witch, McKenna.
From witchcraft to bloodsucking vampires to LGBT romantic tension, Coven Academy has many briars and brambles that might make the show a bit too prickly for families.
(Editor’s Note: Plugged In is rarely able to watch every episode of a given series for review. As such, there’s always a chance that you might see a problem that we didn’t. If you notice content that you feel should be included in our review, send us an email at letters@pluggedin.com, or contact us via Facebook or Instagram, and be sure to let us know the episode number, title and season so that we can check it out.)
Briar arrives in New Orleans to attend what she thinks is a school for troubled girls, but Briar soon discovers she’s actually at a school for magic. As the world of witches and vampires is revealed, Briar conceals secrets about her mother.
Characters display and discuss supernatural abilities throughout the episode. Several witches use magic to telekinetically move or break objects, and one warlock talks about a spell he wants to try. A witch displays her ability to bend time, and another witch attempts to read Briar’s emotions. People also discuss astrology, and one scene briefly shows a sign for a tarot emporium.
Vampires with sharp teeth and glowing red eyes attack a group of girls. The vicious details of the attack are only shown in silhouette, but the girls scream in terror and someone leaves a bloody footprint. In another scene, a vampire sucks the blood of a human, and the vampire’s mouth is covered in blood. Later, someone writes on a wall using human blood. We learn that vampires and other “creatures of the night” are hunting Briar.
One character laments her magical abilities, saying they “suck,” a teen girl describes a teen boy as being “hot,” and there are five misuses of God’s name. The teen characters can also behave rudely, both with peers and authority figures.
Netflix’s ‘East of Eden’ serves as a solid retelling of John Steinbeck’s epic novel—including all the moral quandaries of its source material in explicit fashion.
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