David Gray/The CWWe know we're getting older when we find the local drunk dad (see: Adam Harrington as Ethan Conant) the hottest character on a CW show (The Secret Circle).
Luckily, we're not completely shallow: Ethan is also a complex character haunted by a past he can't forget no matter how much he drinks, and fans can expect to see Nick's (Louis Hunter) shocking death to have a huge impact on Ethan (and his liver).
We chatted with Harrington about Ethan's "shocking" actions in tonight's episode—and that time he played the superhero version of Gale Harold. Say wha?!
"I was really shocked by it," Harrington admits about tonight's episode, in which Ethan dramatically shakes up Adam (Thomas Dekker) and Diana's (Shelley Hennig) relationship. "You're not going to get away from something like that on a show like this. I was shocked and I'm just as shocked at the fallout it is going to have on people."
Fans can expect to see Ethan struggle with Nick's death in a major way as it brings up some not-so-cherished memories of all the loss he suffered 16 years ago. "It sends Ethan on a bit of a spin. He starts drinking and he gets drunk at Nick's wake, and unfortunately he says something to Diana that he shouldn't. And it has a serious effect on her relationship with Adam."
Ethan's drunken confessions will strain his relationship with Adam, and Harrington says episode seven will show the two "having a serious conversation" as Adam grows tired of asking himself, "How long can you deal with a drunk dad?" One topic they will be address is whether or not Ethan loved Adam's mother, which is "a big concern for Adam."
"I think what you're starting to see is a difference between what fate is and how fate will protect these people...Ethan views messing with fate [as causing] so much damage, like he implies that he did 16 years ago," Harrington explains. "Ethan is worried that Adam will follow in his footsteps and not do what he's saying to do and put himself at huge risk and danger."
Speaking of danger, there is certain someone in town who isn't a fan of Ethan talking to the kids: Charles (Harold). In fact, Charles almost killed Ethan in the pilot for talking to Cassie (Britt Robertson) about her parents. So will Chance Harbor's two hottest dads continue to butt heads?
"I think we will, but I think with something like that, as you saw in the pilot, when Ethan and Charles go head to head it's pretty dramatic so I don't mind that they haven't gone head-to-head because you know things are just simmering," Harrington says. "The more Charles gets kind of diluted with Dawn (Natasha Henstridge) and what they're doing and what they're not, and now they've killed Nick and Ethan is supposed to realize that he has to make a decision as to whether he is going to try and drink himself away or face these things ahead of him. You just know that they're going to go head-to-head again."
The two actors share an interesting past, with Harrington playing a version of Harold's iconic character Brian Kinney on Queer As Folk. I played the superhero version of Gale, I played the fictitious super-version of Gale," Harrington says with a laugh. "Gale and I actually never met, but because of our experiences working on that show we had some acquaintances in common, it just kind of felt like an inevitability that we would meet. I think what is so much fun in this is that we were playing two different versions of the same character before and now we're just arch-nemesis. I have a ton of fun working with him and we just kind of locked into that animosity to each other early on."
Besides Charles, Harrington teases that Ethan will have to deal with another (and possibly bigger) threat in episode seven: Someone shows up from Ethan's past threatening to give Cassie details on what happened that long time ago. We see Ethan at the end of the episode make a decision as to how he feels about whether he wants to start actually get involved or not."
Get that magic, back Ethan! You go, Ethan! (But seriously, get your magic back so we can see more of you. Thanks!)
The Secret Circle airs tonight at 9 p.m. on the CW.
What are you most looking forward to in tonight's episode of The Secret Circle? Are you going to miss Nick? What do you think Ethan drunkenly tells Diana? Would you like to see more of the conflict between Ethan and Charles? Sound off in the comments!