Hex: The Complete First Season

It sounds like Harry Potter as envisioned by the former WB: a bunch of impossibly gorgeous twentysomethings play goth teenagers hanging out at a British boarding school, where they engage in sex, alcohol and drug abuse…and magic. Grim, shocking, and thrillingly unpredictable, the BBC-aired Hex is a supernatural-tinged drama that is intense, addictive, and unlike anything on American TV today. Shy, talented Cassie (Christina Cole) studies at the posh boarding school that used to be the manor of a slaveholding lord and his wife (who practiced voodoo). When Cassie finds some doodads left behind by the bewitched lady, she awakens her own magical powers just as—metaphor alert—her own sexuality is blossoming. Enter the demon Azazeal (Michael Fassbender), who makes her life, ahem, a living hell (albeit a sexy one). Compiling the first 10 episodes from 2004-05 on a three-disc set, DVD extras include a “making-of” documentary and deleted scenes. Highly recommended. (M. Johanson)