Loveday Writing

We are then shown Macy waking up and going through a similar process. When she finds herself in Safe Space, she takes her phone out and starts to record notes. She finds blood on the floor and switchboard room door, but doesn’t know who it belongs to, and discovers that her powers don’t work. When she finds her way back in the Manor, she finds a smashed window and a bloodied shirt.

We then see Mel walk through the Manor’s front door, with her hand wrapped up in the same bloodied shirt that Macy found. She sees a framed photo of a white man she doesn’t know on top of a cabinet. She then sees Macy in the backyard, but when she opens the door to go to her, she finds herself into Safe Space, and then in Maggie’s room when she walks through another door. She eventually catches up with Macy in the backyard, where they briefly discuss the situation and Mel reveals she broke the window to test whether the Manor was real. This leads to an argument between them, with Macy telling Mel that they need to stay calm and gather data. When they hear thudding coming from the garage, they open the door to find themselves in Safe Space again, but this time they find Maggie hiding behind a fort and behaving strangely.

Maggie reveals to them that she has been by herself for 42 days and is able to pick up on when a bright, shining light will come through by warning them to put on sunglasses (and putting on her own pair). Maggie also can’t remember who Mel and Macy are, or who she is. Maggie finds Macy’s lunch box, although it is labelled ‘Macy Vera’ instead of ‘Macy Vaughn’. Finding the lunch box triggers a memory, which plays out as Mel describes like a ‘virtual reality sim’, which they can all see. The memory reveals that the Shea Group board rejected Macy’s proposal to let the non-profit legal clinic hire a space at half price. As the memory plays out, the sisters realise that they were trying to find the magical prison, and they think that they’re not actually in the Manor, but in the prison and it looks like their world.

Macy points out that the magical prison is perfect as the inmates don’t get out because they don’t realise they’re trapped. But Maggie points out that the Macy’s name being incorrect on the lunch box proves that the prison has glitches. Moments later, the sisters are separated again. Mel is in the Manor and finds the floor turning into quicksand. Meanwhile, Maggie finds herself back in her room and sees a photo of her and Antonio together on her bed. Maggie says that this photo isn’t real and it starts changing. When she focuses on a memory of running into Antonio the photo goes away. This makes Maggie realise that the prison’s glitches trigger their memories.

When Macy and Maggie save Mel from the quicksand floor, they inform her of their findings that the prison doesn’t understand context or emotions, and they need to focus on their memories triggered by the glitches. Mel shows them the picture of the man she found earlier and this triggers a memory of the man coming to her at work, informing her that her classes will be audited, at the request of Dean Eldon. Mel remembers that she filed an official complaint, where she pointed out to Dean Eldon that she had no right to have her class audited without her consent. Dean Eldon agrees to no longer have her class audited, however she wants Mel to sign an NDA. Mel refuses and publicly protests, arguing that Dean Eldon was using auditing as a way to retaliate against her for not teaching her outdated book. This leads to a memory where the sisters figured out that the symbols could be translated to numbers, then sounds and into an incantation.

When the three of them say the incantation together it doesn’t work, but it does when they say it separately. The sisters say the incantation separately again and the portal opens. They walk through it one by one and find themselves back in the Manor. They briefly believe that they are back in the real world, only for Mel to find a photo of the three of them with Marisol, and therefore another glitch. Moments later, the light comes through again, confirming they are still in the prison.

Maggie tells Mel and Macy that instead of focusing on the memories, they need to focus on breaking the down the illusion so they can see the prison for real. They manage to do so and find the portal, but the Chupa-Alma shows up, blocking their way. Maggie tells Mel and Macy that the Chupa-Alma is an illusion too as they already vanquished it, and tells them to run through it. They do and they arrive back in the real world, with Harry welcoming them back. The sisters seal the portal using a Babylonian spell.

The next morning, Mel goes into work prepared to be fired after her protest was filmed and went viral. However Kevin informs her that her students (himself included) protested Dean Eldon’s decision and the College has put her on leave for retaliating against Mel. Meanwhile, Macy tells Gloria that the Safe Space staff have agreed to pay for their own drinks so the non-profit legal clinic can be funded, and has announced this decision on Safe Space’s social media, to prevent the Shea Group Board from rejecting her proposal as it would look bad for them if they were to do so.

Towards the end of the episode, Harry and the sisters discuss the fact that they know how to get in and out of the prison, but they need to find out who created it and why, and how finding this out will help them resolve their magical allergy to each other. The episode ends with Jordan coming into the Manor and telling them there’s a monster outside.

Overall I had mixed feelings about this episode. Exploring the magical prison was necessary due to its discovery by Harry and Macy in the previous episode, and I enjoyed the mysteries that came with the sisters figuring out how it functioned, however the exploration took place without any set up and therefore it was hard to keep up with at times. I also felt that the pacing was a little slow, especially as we’re not made aware that they’re in the prison until one-third of the way through the episode. There were also some elements that were predictable, such as the reveal that the sisters didn’t return to the real world the first time, and the monsters arriving in the real world as revealed by Jordan in the final moments of the episode.

It will be interesting to see what happens next now that the sisters know more about the prison and the monsters have arrived in the real world.

Stray Observations:

-According to the Charmed Wiki page, this is the only episode in the series where no character uses a magical power. The sisters relied on magical instincts and knowledge to escape, rather than their individual powers.

Best one liners and interactions:

• “You haven’t failed, you just haven’t succeeded yet.” (Maggie to Macy)
• “On the positive side, I’m not alone. On the negative side, I’m not alone.” (Macy recording notes)
• “Fog is nothing but an illusion, walk through it and everything becomes clear.” (Maggie repeating the quote she heard on her meditation podcast)
• “I had less notifications when we died in Hilltowne.” (Maggie on finding multiple notifications on her phone after returning from the magical prison)