Charmed Reboot Season 1 Episode 9

Rating: 4.5 out of 5

Plot: “Mel turns to Harry for guidance after learning information that leaves her questioning everything she knows; Macy is determined to not let fate get in the way of her potential relationship with Galvin.”

The plot was very interesting and well-paced. Significant but not overabundant time was given to each character and story arc. The Sisters got the most screen time and focus, as should be. Each of the supporting characters got enough screentime to serve the purpose and tell their storyline this episode but not enough to steal focus.

Positives: The episode was obviously the midseason finale. I normally hate those episodes because they are, generally, poorly written and cause a disjoint in the season. However, this one was very well written. It concluded a bit of the story arc questions that have been quite up in the air. Exanples Include: 1) When will Maggie discover the truth about Parker? 2) How is Galvin’s protection rune going to be circumvented? 3) What are our villians main motivations? 4) When push comes to shove, who will Parker side with? 5) How could the source come into play? On the Other side it propsed a lot of new questions going forward. For Example: 1) What are the main goals of The Sarcana and how does recruiting Mel play into that? 2) Are the Elders really as pure intended as they like to protray themselves? 3) Is Jada really into Mel or is she just seducing Mel to her side? 4) Is Maggie going to forgive Parker and does he really deserve forgiveness? 5) Even if Maggie does forgive Parker, could their relationship actually survive? 6) Is Galvin now going to be in on the sisters’ secret Life as witches? 6) How is Harry going to be rescued from Tartarus and exactly how will this experience affect him?

Negatives: Harry being dragged into Tartarus makes a lot less sense when you consider that Harry could have orbed to safety at any point. I guess we’ll have to pass that off on Harry being intoxicated and not thinking clearly. Otherwise it turns the cliffhanger into a massive plot hole. Now that Galvin’s protection rune is null and void, it seems as though Macy/Galvin may officially become an item. Not looking forward to seeing that. Dr. Wagner was proven to be untrustworthy and working with/related to the villians. This is unfortunate because I was hoping she’d become the Elise of this reboot.

References to the original (This section contains spoilers for the original series.): Parker seems to be a counterpart yet also an antithesis for Cole. While both Parker and Cole are half-demons who manipulate the youngest sister and that manipulation becomes something else, their motivations are quite different. Cole started out as a totally evil demon with little humanity intent on killing the sisters before developing an obsession with Phoebe and abusing Phoebe and her family. Parker, on the other hand, is very human and seems to truly love Maggie. While he did do some bad things, he never wanted to and was forced into those actions. His motivations weren’t evil. He was simply seeking to survive but even at that he didn’t want to hurt Maggie or her sisters. We learn some aspects of The Source that differs from the original Charmed. In this one, the source can only be brought out into a demon born from a human. In the original, options were much wider as the source could be any upper-level demon. I like this change as it makes the source more unique and it narrows the chances of us seeing multiple versions of the source like we did in the original. A demon shapeshifted into one of the sisters. We saw a lot of that in the original series. I’d go as far as to say too much. Mel and Maggie talking about Maggie’s deadbeat father reminds me a lot of how Prue would talk to Piper and Phoebe about their own deadbeat father, Victor.

Theories/What I’d Like To See: I think we will have to wait at least an episode or two before Harry is rescued. I hope this isn’t just skated over and Harry is actually impacted by it. He could potentially develop PTSD and this could lead to showing a positive representation of trauma recovery. I think we will also learn more about why The Sarcana need Mel so badly. I’d like to see other whitelighters and see how they compare and contrast to Harry.

Favorite Character This Episode: I’d have to say it’s probably a tie between Macy, Parker and Harry. I’ve been loving Macy and Harry for awhile but this is the first time Parker has won me over. I kinda want to adopt him. He may only be 7 or 8 years younger than me but regardless he is my son now. Over the hiatus I will be busy drawing up adoption papers for my new child.

Favorite Quote/Interaction: I loved the bonding between The sisters and Harry this episode. Especially, the Vera’s sharing Marisol’s traditions with Macy and Harry.

Tidbits: I kinda need family history of the sisters. I wonder if we will get to see Tartarus or if it will remain mysterious. Honestly, I’m hoping we don’t get to see it and our only knowledge of it comes second-handed.

Please join me again for next week’s episode. In the meantime, please send me asks and/or messages. I would like to get more involved with the community.

Autistic Piper Halliwell

Autistic Piper Halliwell
While I prefer a Charmed revival or spin-off, if a reboot were to be greenlit, I would like for Piper to be confirmed Autistic. While unintentional, a lot of her personality traits could be looked at as autistic traits.

Piper always has to fidget and never keeps her hands still, whether holding something or rubbing her hands. She has severe anxiety and worries how others perceive her. Her main wish throughout the series is to be “normal,” which many of us autistics can relate to, at some point. When stressed, Piper retreats to the kitchen and cooks or simply mixes ingredients, which along with the fidgeting could be seen as a type of stimming. She is also obsessed with cleaning, also, when stressed, she cleans more. A lot of Autistics, such as myself, suffer from OCD, and a clean, perfect environment is one of the few things in her life that she could control.

She is also concerned with any type of change. For example, When Paige reorganized the kitchen, brought in her furniture, and indexed the book of shadows, Piper couldn’t adjust to the change and had to “fix” it for no other reason than it wasn’t right, as she viewed them.

While hyper-empathetic and connecting with people’s emotions, she also is the most logical and faces facts easier, even if it goes against what her emotions or sisters tell her, such as the Christy situation or when Phoebe betrayed them for Cole. On the other hand Piper has trouble processing her own emotional state and needs confirmation from others, such as when she couldn’t process her heartbreak over Prue dying until Paige validated her feelings and gave her permission to grieve.

While at P3, Piper is often shown as distracted or staring off when the others are enjoying themselves, especially during the musical performances, when could be seen as her trying to compensate for the overstimulation.

All that being said, Piper Halliwell would make a great Autistic character, much like Billy Cranston from Power Rangers (2017) or Theo Carver from Days of our Lives (1965).

Charmed Bicons

Phoebe Halliwell and Maggie Vere - Bi Icons

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Harry is very much involved in the world still. Leo was not. Though I hate his job, Harry has one to keep up appearances. The only time Leo had a job was when he was pretending to be a Handyman to get into the sisters lives. Harry has his own place to live whereas Leo didn't. Harry doesn't remember his time being alive but Leo most definitely did. Harry was more truthful than Leo. It's stated that orbing others is difficult and draining for Harry. Hopefully this means that Harry won't become a magical taxi like Leo. While we're on the subject of orbing, the styling of how they orb is quite different. I wonder if there is a reason that was changed for plot or if it was just a not so great aesthetic choice. Harry seems to be quite active in the sisters fights against evil and is very helpful. Leo was very much a passive, inactive character. I can only think of a couple times where Leo was actively helping the sisters. Usually Leo would just give them a crappy pep talk before hand and just heal them after. Finally, Harry seems to be a whole lot more professional and knowledgeable than Leo. If anyone else noticed any other differences, feel free to let me know.