Loveday Writing

In regards to each Charmed Ones’ individual subplots, I felt that Maggie and Jordan’s subplot of demon hunting affecting their relationship was a little boring as it was touched on in the previous episode and wasn’t fully resolved. I did appreciate the closure of Mel and Ruby’s now-ended relationship, however this should have been addressed in the premiere or the previous episode. While I enjoyed seeing Kaela and Harry’s training, I feel Harry trying to find himself has already been addressed and I don’t know where they could really go from here that could be new and interesting.

My main reason for feeling that this was the weakest episode of the series was due to its disjointed pacing. I felt it was all over the place and I was constantly jumping from one subplot to another without any smooth transition. Much like last week, the threat of the week and its resolution (of sorts) was anti-climactic.

The rest of my review will be character by character.

Mel and Ruby – I’ll start with their subplot as I felt it was the most interesting. We were told in the premiere that Mel and Ruby had broken up, but we didn’t know the why and when. It was revealed in this episode that Mel proposed to Ruby five months ago and Ruby said no.

Mel briefly spends some time in the attic trying to freeze tennis balls, in an effort to regain her time/freezing powers back, to no avail. I thought that she regained her freezing power during her pregnancy, however according to the Charmed Wikia page, her powers were cut off when her future baby returned to her future self. Although this explanation wasn’t provided in previous episodes from what I can tell.

It also appears that Mel is having premonitions of the break-up. While premonitions could be regarded as a time power, Maggie already has this power, so I don’t understand why Mel is apparently gaining this power as well. According to Joey Falco, one of the show’s writers (although he didn’t write this episode) apparently it’s the “first gasp of a new power” and the next two episodes will show what she can really do with her powers. While I understand the need for subplot and story arc seeds to be planted, if you’re having to explain this after the episode has aired (or during), then the writing needs work.

When Mel throws a tennis ball and smashes Ruby’s vase in frustration, she finds a box with the rest of Ruby’s stuff in it, which includes an unopened bottle of champagne. Mel decides to drink it and subsequently get drunk.

At the end of the episode, Ruby comes over to see Mel. Ruby tells Mel that she rejected her proposal due to the timing of it, and felt that their relationship was all about her and her Charmed duties, and that Mel didn’t know her very well.

Overall, I was happy to get some closure on Mel and Ruby’s breakup.

Maggie and Jordan, and the Tallyman – Maggie’s demon hunting was shown to be straining her relationship with Jordan in the previous episode, but in this one, the conflict really comes to a head.

After fighting at Kaela’s “framily” dinner, Jordan hides looking up the magical coins from the Tallyman from Maggie. When Frank calls Jordan, telling him there’s something he should see, he and Maggie go to his house. They hear Frank screaming from the distance and when they get to his house, they find him locked in a magical, glass box attached to a time bomb filled with poisonous gas. Jordan tries to disarm the bomb to no avail, but instead of poisonous gas filling the box, confetti comes out.

When they get him out of the box, he tells them that he heard a funny sound coming from his dishwasher, he went to check it and he was knocked out. When he came to, he was in the box. When Frank thanks them for the whiskey Maggie has poured him, they tell him that they didn’t bring it and he tells them he didn’t buy it, which makes them realise the Tallyman left it for them. They all find a green egg on the counter with a note. When they hear ticking and can’t find where it’s coming from, Frank realises it’s inside him and he explodes.

When Kaela comes home and finds the egg, she screams for help and is taken away. Jordan finds what looks like a snakeskin on the floor. Mel, Maggie and Jordan figure out that the snakeskin was shed from a Lamia, a half serpent, half witch, who mark their territory with a neon-blue substance, and are known for their distinctive screech and skin shedding.

They manage to track Kaela and the Lamia to the San Juan Islands, where they find Kaela in a cocoon. They get Kaela out of the cocoon, but she’s unconscious and Jordan needs to heal her. While he does so, Mel and Maggie find the cabin the Lamia is living in. When Kaela comes to, she tells Jordan about the egg, being able to identify it due to her training with Harry on the reproductive cycles of magical creatures.

Kaela and Jordan rush to the cabin where they find Maggie and Mel attacking the Lamia. Kaela and Jordan tell them that the Lamia was just protecting her baby. This makes them realise that the Tallyman planted the Lamia’s egg at Frank’s house to pit them all against each other. They then hear ticking and the Lamia gives them her egg to put in her nest, as she realises she won’t survive. She then explodes in front of them.

Back at the Manor, Mel, Maggie and Kaela realise that the Tallyman is watching them, due to both Frank and the Lamia exploding in front of them. It’s revealed that the spider the Tallyman handles is actually a magical surveillance device he is using to watch them.

Towards the end of the episode, Jordan tells Maggie that she is losing her empathy and points out she would have killed the Lamia if he and Kaela hadn’t intervened. He also tells her that she needs to figure out what she wants and who she is, otherwise their relationship won’t work. The episode ends with Maggie being harassed in the street by a catcaller and beating him up.

Kaela and Harry – The episode kicks off on a happy note, with Kaela clearly more settled with her new life, as she dances into the Manor and makes a “framily” dinner for everyone. However, the dinner ends abruptly when she accidentally upsets Mel for unintentionally bringing up Ruby, and causes a fight between Maggie and Jordan.

Later at the Command Centre, Kaela calls out Harry on not attending the dinner and tells him how disastrous it was. She also puts her foot in it with him, when she reveals she placed the dinner she made in a bowl he and Macy bought at a flea market. Harry is also trying to teach Kaela the history of magic and the Charmed Ones, but she is not paying attention as she’d prefer to learn as she goes. After Kaela brings up the bowl, he suggests that they start duelling.

During their duel, Kaela calls him out on his teaching methods and that she needs to succeed or fail on her own merit. He stabs her at the end of the duel, although it’s revealed to be a simulation. He tells her that she’s the most unrefined, reckless witch he’s ever trained and tells her she needs to be less of herself. When he walks into SafeSpace, Roxie has two bouncers waiting for him as she wants to see him.

When Harry goes to see Roxie, she gives him a Malleable Maven potion to make Kaela more compliant when he teaches her, she also tells him she’s a Circadian and she doesn’t have much time left on Earth before she has to go underground for seven years. She also gives him a magic mushroom, which will help him find out who he really is in the magical world. Harry takes the potion but not the mushroom and leaves her office.

At the end of the episode, after Mel, Maggie and Kaela deal with the Lamia, Harry has drinks with Kaela at the Blue Camelia and apologises to her for his behaviour. Harry shows her the potion but tells her to continue being her true self. He also tells her he won’t be training her as being a whitelighter doesn’t feel right for him anymore. At the end of the episode, he takes the magic mushroom and disappears.

Stray Observations:

-Mel has been documenting weird incidents in the magical community, which included:

• An elf kidnapped and buried alive.
• A satyr waking up to his vineyards burning.
• Razor blades in the school lunches of goblins.

-Harry training Kaela was reminiscent of Leo training Billie in the predecessor series, and the duelling scene was reminiscent of Cole training Phoebe in demonic hand-to-hand combat, also in the predecessor series.

-Kaela had an ex who used to collect her hair.