charmed_autistic

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.

Charmed Reboot Season 1 Episode 2
Rating: 3 out of 5

Plot: “The sisters are warned to not trust Harry, so they concoct a plan to see if he is telling the truth; Harry soon realizes that the sisters are up to no good and tries to help before it’s too late; the sisters struggle with their new roles.”

This episode felt like a step back from last week’s episode. The plot dragged. Things were highly predictable. They played their hands too soon on many aspects. The sisterly Bond felt less believable than in the pilot, which doesn’t make sense to me how that happened because the actresses should have gotten more used to each other and more familiar with their characters and relationships with each other. Considering it’s premise is being a show about sisterhood, the sisterly moments shouldn’t be the least believable or interesting part of the episode. The show is dating itself already by having these very 2018 moments. It won’t have much relatablity for people who watch it later. The oroginal was great about maintaining a timeless feeling. The episode was mediocre at best and that’s me being very generous.

Positives: I only have one. The scenes with Nico were well acted and interesting, if at points poor as hell. I do ship Mel and Nico and the chemistry between them still felt believable. Though I want to see the Lesbian Love Tringle that was talked about. That seems more interesting than anything else that happened this episode.

Negatives: Brace yourself. I have a lot this episode. For a show centering around three witches, there was very little magic. The show is trying to convince us Harry is 100% good now but it’s hard to believe that when the character was set up as a creepy asshole from the begining. It wasn’t the demon possessed ouija board that made me hate and distrust Harry. It was Harry himself. His first interactions with the sisters included him talking about his genitals, condescendingly explaining how he is qualified to take a job that should only belong to a woman, kidnapping them, insulting and talking down to them, mansplaining things they already knew, and manipulating them. Also, this episode was far more cringe inducing than the pilot. Are we supposed to hate the mom? Cause I do. So far what we know about her is that she abandoned her oldest child, lied to the other two about multiple things for their entire lives, and apparently did drugs in the house with her young children and left her eight year old unattended long enough for her to find and begin playing with her bong. Then doesn’t explain it to her daughter and let’s her eight year old make a ceramic bong at school and seems proud about that. And we’re supposed to believe she’s a great mother? I don’t. Next, a sign of increased demonic activity is dogs have more sex than usually….. Apparently demons make dogs horny. I didn’t want to know that. Also, Harry suggested the sisters monitor that but how!? Are the sisters supposed to run around town with binoculars to see if they can see some dogs having sex? Lastly, the so-called feminism wasn’t present this episode at all. The stereotype that women who join sororities are all ignorant and Shallow needs to be done away with yet this episode insists on validating a sexist idea.

References to the original (This section contains spoilers for the original series.): I really didn’t see any this episode and that was disappointing. Once again, If anybody noticed any reference that I didn’t feel free to let me know.

Theories/What I’d Like To See: I honestly feel like this evil Harry plot point hasn’t been properly closed out. Either they need to explore it further or provide undeniable proof that Harry is s on the sisters’ side. I want to see more expansion on the magic system in this universe and how it differs and/or compares to the original.

Favorite Character This Episode: Niko with no competition.

Favorite Quote/Interaction: Niko and Mel outside the police station.

Please join me for next week’s episode. Fingers crossed it improves.