Loveday Writing

This finale goes back to the moment where Kaela left the Blue Camelia after Dev’s memorial service, as this was proven to be the pivot point in time that needed to be changed, so the devastation played out in last week’s episode doesn’t happen again. Moments later, Josefina arrives with the tape and tells Mel and Maggie that they need to watch it.

After they watch it and find out what happens so they can prevent it, they get right to work. Mel runs into Roxie on her way out. Roxie is just about to tell her about the Bee Bop murder, only for Mel to tell her that Lloyd did it. Mel also tells her not to go into her seven-year hibernation without saying goodbye, like she did the first time.

Mel portals to Kaela as she’s driving and begs her to come back, Kaela tells her that Dev’s loss and everything before it was too much, but Mel counters that she knows how she feels due to her own losses but running away won’t bring them back.

Meanwhile, Harry returns after Diana has hit him over the head and asks Roxie if she’s heard of another world with other Charmed Ones and whitelighters, she tells him she hasn’t and asks him to run the Blue Camelia during her hibernation. Josefina then arrives, asking Harry for his help on finding out where and when the tape came from.

Meanwhile, Maggie finds Jordan in SafeSpace. She kisses him and declares her love for him, when he asks her what prompted this, she tells him that his death did, he declares his love for her, then asks her what she meant by his death.

In the forest, the troll who stole the Book of Shadows is dedicating his loyalty to the Lost One. The Lost One/Inara reveals she knows that the Charmed Ones are on to her.

At Infinite Home Video, Josefina grabs a tape off a shelf only for the tape, and then the shelf to disappear. Diana arrives and tells them that something is making the world unstable, and that hers and their worlds are connected. They tune the TV to see into the present and watch the troll in the forest. We then see Mel, Maggie and Kaela disguise themselves as members of the Unseen to get to the troll and take back the Book of Shadows. They tell him they need to know the Lost One’s plan, but he refuses and says one way or the other, it’s their last day on Earth, he drinks from the Tallyman’s flask and explodes. As Mel, Maggie and Kaela leave the forest, Inara tells them that they can’t stop her and the ground shakes around them.

They return to the Command Centre to inform Jordan of everything, just as he’s finished watching the tape. Mel talks about having an intense headache which she thinks is due to “Inara’s temper tantrum” but Maggie suggests it could be due to her period coming up, as Maggie’s started yesterday and Kaela’s on Monday. Jordan tells them that magic’s got nothing on their sisterly connection. This gives them the idea to find Ishani and Ishta for help.

Mel and Kaela go back to the road to find Ishani. Mel finds Ishani’s container of drugged banana fritters and casts a spell to find the path that Ishani took to find her. Harry uses the troll’s remains on Maggie’s bag to go to the Veil to ask him what he knew about Inara’s new plan.

When Harry gets there, the troll asks what he’s doing there, Harry asks him the same question and asks where he thinks there is. The troll thinks he’s in the Heaven that Inara promised him, but Harry tells him he’s in the Veil. Harry tells him that the Lost One is Inara and that she lied to him, and that the problem is not the current Charmed Ones trying to do the right thing. Harry asks if he’s really angry at them or something else. The troll doesn’t know where to start, and Harry offers to help but asks about Inara’s plan. The troll tells him that if she can’t fix the world, she’s going to end all magic. When Harry asks how she’s going to do that, we’re shown a ball at the bottom of a forest tree that starts glowing.

Back at the Command Centre, Maggie and Jordan are about to go down to the Sacred Tree only for Maggie to have a premonition as she touches the door, seeing that Ishta has been kidnapped by demons and is at the Punch Bowl. When they disguise themselves to fit in at the Punch Bowl, they discover that Ishta is actually willingly fighting the demons.

Meanwhile, Mel and Kaela track Ishani down to a bowling alley, where they find her drunk and unwilling to help them. Kaela makes a bet with her that if she wins a game, Ishani helps them, if she doesn’t win, they’ll leave. Maggie and Jordan can’t convince Ishta to help, so Maggie fights her to get her to listen. Maggie tells Ishta that she used to be her, fighting demons to deal with her grief and that it won’t work, she needs to forgive herself for what happened to Inara. Back at the bowling alley, Ishani wins as she invented bowling. Mel tells Ishani that she was a lot like her, drowning her pain in sex and booze. Mel hugs her and says she’s sorry she lost her sisters and that she’s stuck in her life, but she can help her get unstuck.

We then cut to the Command Centre where we see Ishta and Ishani fighting. Harry arrives and tells them that he spoke to the troll for hours and he was ranting about the end of magic and an ancient explosive. Ishani thinks it’s mercy days, their failsafe to stop the Conqueror, a bomb to destroy all magic and all who possess it. As Inara can’t rise, she wants to burn it all down.

Mel, Maggie and Kaela make the potion so they can rise Inara. Ishta and Ishani don’t want them to but Mel counters that they don’t have a better plan. Inara rises, this time with a more humorous attitude and she’s not here to fight as there’s no point with the impending blast. Meanwhile, Harry, Jordan and Josefina find the bomb in the forest with Harry informing them that the bomb has been placed at the convergence of three ley lines and when it explodes it’ll follow the lines across the earth and snap back, destroying everything magical in its path. They discover that they only have minutes left before it explodes.

Ishani and Ishta try to get Inara to help and make amends, but Inara refuses. Mel stops them, asking them if they’re going to fight while the world burns. Inara tells them that they’re not going to listen to lectures from them as they’ve already failed. When Inara insults Kaela as Macy’s replacement, Mel and Maggie stand up for her and go to leave. Ishta and Ishani tell them there’s no point, as the bomb has exploded, the only way they can stop it is by taking in all its energy, which means sacrificing themselves. Mel tells them that they’re willing to do that to save the world, and that will be their legacy.

When they arrive in the forest and see the bomb has exploded, Mel, Maggie and Kaela stand in its path, taking in the energy. Ishani then stands in front of Mel; Mel asks what she’s doing and Ishani replies she’s doing what they should have done all along. Ishta than stands in front of Maggie, and Inara tells Kaela to go and absorbs the energy. When Kaela asks why she’s changed her mind, she says this way, she’ll get to do what she always wanted, save the world with her sisters, and this will be their legacy. All three of them absorb the energy, sacrificing themselves, and stop the explosion from ending the world.

Afterwards, Mel goes to see Roxie. Roxie tells Mel that she didn’t tell her about going into hibernation because Camelia didn’t handle it well and thought it would be easier for her if she went quietly into the night. Mel then asks if she can take over the Blue Camelia while she’s in hibernation as she wants to keep it open as the magical community needs it. Roxie says she won’t want the responsibility, but Mel says she needs it. Mel also tells her that she can’t make any promises on her emotional state in seven years, but does promise she’ll be there ready to welcome her when she wakes up.

We then go forward three months to find Josefina stocking the fridge at the Manor and telling Mel how well the affinity group meetings are going between the different magical tribes. It’s revealed Mel is hungover as she went shot-for-shot with a satyr at the Blue Camelia, Maggie walks in, equally hungover as she drank from a keg. Mel asks to talk to Maggie privately, and Josefina leaves to decorate the Blue Camelia. Mel shows Maggie an ad for an apartment for her and Jordan to live in, encouraging her to take this step forward in her relationship.

Up in the attic, Harry tells Jordan he plans on helping the living with his new powers instead of the dead, starting with helping the troll’s family find peace. Jordan tells him he plans on being a whitelighter his own way by helping everyone in the magical community, not just witches.

Back in the kitchen, a sober Kaela walks in with her latest painting, as she’s not hungover as she told Josefina to water down her drinks. Her latest painting is of the three of them. Harry and Jordan tells them that he got a message from Diana, there’s something in the video store they need to see.

When they get there, they find a door with a glowing triquetra and a note from Diana on it. In the note, Diana tells them that she’s free and that the door is for them to walk through. Mel asks if they’re sure they want to walk through, but Kaela points out that everything has worked out for them so far. They walk through it and find themselves at the front door of the Halliwell Manor. They knock on the door but no-one answers it, when Kaela tries the doorknob, she finds the door is open. She encourages Mel and Maggie to go inside, and they do, with the door closing behind them.

Okay, there’s a lot to unpack with this episode, so I’m going to breakdown my thoughts of this episode as a season finale, a series finale, and by sharing my thoughts of the season and show as a whole.

This episode as a season finale:

As I mentioned earlier in my review, the job of a season finale is to wrap up the season’s story arcs and subplots, and establish new ones for the next season (if there is one). The only major story arc to wrap up at this point was Inara’s rise and how to prevent the events that happened in last week’s episode from happening, and find another way to stop her.

The writers had the sisters retrieve the Unity Bowl and Book of Shadows as it would stop Inara from rising, however she immediately caught on and changed her plan to activate an ancient explosive she, Ishta, and Ishani built as a failsafe if their original plan to defeat the Conqueror didn’t work. I felt that this was a logical next step to take with this story arc.

The story arc culminated in the sisters bringing back Inara themselves, who has a more humorous and relaxed attitude, due to her change in plans and no longer wanting to fight as she’s just eliminating all magic. Ishta, Ishani and Inara fight about Inara’s plan and how they got there, which leads to Mel, Maggie and Kaela determined to stop the exploded bomb in its tracks by sacrificing themselves, telling them that they won’t be the sisterhood who destroyed magic and the world. Moments after they step in the bomb energy’s path, Ishta, Ishani and Inara take their place, sacrificing themselves. I felt that this was the best way to end the story arc as there was no other logical solution.

On a smaller note, I did appreciate how Mel and Roxie’s romance subplot panned out. They actually got to say goodbye to each other in the rewritten timeline before Roxie went into hibernation, and while Mel doesn’t make any promises to Roxie when she wakes up seven years from now, she does promise to welcome her home, contrasting with Camelia’s decision to walk away without warning. Mel asking to run the Blue Camelia for her as she needs the responsibility was fitting as it provides her with a new purpose, although I would like to know exactly what happened with her career as a college professor (maybe I missed something there).

When it comes to Maggie and Jordan’s romance, I was happy to see that they got back together and finally declared their love for each other. While their break-up in the eleventh episode was amicable and reasonable, I felt that they were compatible and I was also happy to see Mel give Maggie her blessing to move in with Jordan. Other than that and fighting Inara with Mel and Kaela, there wasn’t really all that much going on with Maggie individually. Much like Mel’s college professor career, I’d like to know what happened with her tenure as a college student, did she graduate? Dropout? Again maybe I missed something, feel free to let me know in the comments.

When it comes to Kaela, I was happy to see that she finally fully embraced Mel and Maggie as her sisters and her magical destiny, but other than that, on an individual level, there was really nothing else going on with her.

The final moments of the episode, the sisters going through a portal door in Infinite Home Video and landing on the doorstep of the Halliwell Manor, has sparked a lot of online debate. In an interview with TV Line, executive producers, Joey Falco and Jeffrey Lieber, revealed that they wrote this ending as they “wanted to end on something that could move forward but could also be a satisfying conclusion” and that they wanted to tie both the original series and this series universes together. They were also looking to start what would have been the fifth season with the universes knit together, and we would have seen the appearance of the original cast members (if they were available and amenable).

Due to the promo showing the front door of the Halliwell Manor, I wasn’t entirely surprised by this ending, and while it has been established that there have been multiple Charmed Ones and the appearance of Diana hinted at a multiverse with another set of Charmed Ones, I felt that this ending kind of came out of the blue. I feel this way as Diana wasn’t established as the whitelighter to the original Charmed Ones, especially as she hinted at living in the 1970s, and other than showing the front door to the Halliwell Manor, there was really no hints or indications that the original characters were going to be tied in to this series’ universe. I also feel establishing this multiverse connection came too late in the series. It was revealed that Macy, Mel, Maggie (and later Kaela) aren’t the only Charmed Ones in existence, in the second-half of season 2, tying these universes together should have really happened after that or in season 3.

On a smaller note, I was surprised to see that Ishta could just come to Earth as a flesh-and-blood human whenever she pleased, without some kind of explanation. Surely if she could do that, Macy could have done the same.

This episode as a series finale:

I mentioned earlier in my review that the series finale’s job is to wrap up the entire series completely with no loose ends. As the writers wrote and shot the episode before the announcement by the CW network that it was cancelled, there were some loose ends but not many. The Inara/Lost One story arc came to a close, however there was still the loose end of what was to happen next after Mel, Maggie and Kaela walked into the Halliwell Manor, as well as how Diana was connected to everyone. All we ever found out about Diana was that she is a whitelighter from another world and she possibly lived in the 1970s, and that was it.

I felt that this finale, having the sisters, Harry, and Jordan moving forward in their lives, and the sisters possibly meeting the Halliwell’s, tying the two shows together, was a good way to close the show (despite my mixed feelings at the multiverse reveal coming too late).  

My thoughts on the season as a whole:

This season was always going to be a difficult one, due to Mantock’s departure and Barrett’s arrival, any season for any show with a main cast and lead change would be difficult. I felt that this season was the weakest, but not because of Mantock’s departure and Barrett’s arrival, but because of the inconsistent quality and pacing of the writing.

The first two episodes dealt with the introduction of Kaela, as well as Kaela accepting the magical responsibility of being a Charmed One being thrust upon her, however how and why she was chosen as Macy’s replacement wasn’t made clear. The first big threat was established by the end of the premiere, the Tallyman.

While I felt that the season premiere was solid, I found the fact that Kaela, a seemingly random person, and not Josefina, the sisters’ cousin, was chosen as Macy’s replacement to be an odd choice.

Even though the season premiere was solid, the second and third episodes of the season were weak due to predictability and disjointed pacing respectively. I felt that there was improvement in the fourth and fifth episodes due to overdue character development and a fun subplot respectively, although I did complain about the Tallyman story arc being too much of a slow burn in my review of the fifth episode.

In my review of the sixth episode, I declared that this season had been disappointing due to the slow burn story arc of the Tallyman and the episode itself was disappointing. I felt that the episode was disappointing due to the anti-climactic, self-inflicted vanquish of the Tallyman, and the reveal of Harry and Jordan experiencing major character development offscreen. I was less harsh in my criticism of the seventh episode, which I labelled as ‘sub-par’, due to the lack of development as Sunny and the Unseen as big threats, as well as the inconsistencies in the development and advancement of Mel’s and Maggie’s powers, and feeling that the subplots of Harry’s grief over Macy, and Kaela’s unknown origins had dragged on for long enough.

I did see some improvements in the eighth and ninth episodes. In my review of the eighth episode, I wrote that I found the subplots compelling, although it was at this point that I started to notice that the writers had barely developed and fleshed out Kaela as a character, especially when she met her biological parents. In my review of the ninth episode, I addressed the announcement of the show’s cancellation.

I wrote in my review that I wasn’t surprised by the cancellation due to Mantock’s recent departure and the decline in the quality of the writing this season. However, I also wrote that the cast and crew of the show should be proud of what they achieved considering the backlash they had to deal with at the beginning. This episode also revealed how and why Kaela was chosen as Macy’s replacement – she had received Macy’s stem cells as part of an experimental treatment for leukaemia, and therefore inherited her magic. I appreciated that the writers didn’t go with another ‘long-lost sister’ explanation, and I felt that the explanation was plausible and unique, but that this reveal should have happened earlier.

The tenth episode had the introduction of mysterious whitelighter, Diana, who is stuck in Infinite Home Video, a video store with tapes of the world’s history which was created by a witch from her world. I wrote in my review that I enjoyed this episode, due to the character development with Roxie and Sunny’s vanquish by Kaela. However the Unseen and the Lost One were still a threat.

I felt that the eleventh and twelfth episodes were the strongest episodes of the season. The eleventh episode revealed that the Lost One was Inara, one of the original Charmed Ones, who was buried alive by her sisters, Ishani and Ishta, to stop her from becoming the next Conqueror. I felt that this reveal was a satisfying outcome and twist. I felt that the twelfth episode topped it due to its twists and turns, culminating in Inara killing the main characters. While I enjoyed these episodes and they were the strongest of the season, I felt it was too little too late by this point.

My thoughts on the show as a whole:

As a fan of the original series, I wasn’t pleased to hear that there would be a reboot, especially as it hadn’t been all that long since the original series ended (12 years – the original series ended in 2006 and the reboot premiered in 2018). I wasn’t a fan of the pilot, but the show’s writing and acting improved over time, and it proved itself to be a perfect balance of a spin-off and an original in its own right, and I grew to like it to the point that I was sad to hear it was being cancelled. However, for me, personally, the original series will always be superior.

When I found out about Mantock’s departure from the show at the end of the third season as history was essentially repeating itself, I was shocked. However I appreciated that the writers gave Macy a decent send-off and that Kaela wasn’t written as another ‘long-lost sister’. Unfortunately, I felt that this final season was all over the place, that Kaela was underdeveloped as a character, and Lucy Barrett wasn’t utilised enough, that being said Barrett did the best she could with what she had to work with and her performance throughout the final season was fantastic.

I would like to end my review by thanking the cast and crew for their hard work and putting on a mostly great show for the last four years, and I wish you all the very best for the future.

Stray Observations:

-Apparently Roxie once took magical mushrooms and imagined a world where blood was mayonnaise and chickens had ears.

-When Josefina and Harry go to Infinite Home Video, Harry has a box of the mints in his hand that he ate in the alternate timeline.