charmed_autistic

Rating: 4 out of 5

Plot: “Mel is on the hunt for Jada; a changeling demon puts one of the sisters in danger; Maggie signs up for a job helping to market a new dating app which could land her a summer internship; Macy decides to go outside her comfort zone.”

The plot flowed pretty easily though the scenes with/about the demons of the week were quite boring. Though at least the series plot got moved along quite a bit this episode.

Positives: The character development and the overarching plot are what saved this episode, honestly. We learned quite a bit more about the magic system in this series. As y'all may know from my previous reviews, I love world building. It’s my favorite part of any non-mundane series. We get some development from almost every character. While I don’t necessarily ship them, Charity and Harry being exes brings depth to both characters and give interesting backstories to both characters. The racism and fetishization of minorities in dating, in general but especially on dating apps, is an important topic to discuss. I like that they brought it up here. I also like that Charity made clear that the main focus should be paranormal and not mortal crimes. It makes sense and makes more focus on what is needed.

Negatives: Bug demons using humans to reproduce is something we’ve seen a lot of and it’s honestly never been enjoyable. We saw it twice in BtVS alone and those are some of the worst episodes. Galvin continues to get more annoying each episode and it’s not just because I can’t stand the horrid actor. He started out as potentially interesting but each episode has me more and more frustrated at how pointless and annoying he is and how much time is wasted on this character. Why won’t this series keep Asian characters around. They few Asian characters that have been introduced have been either dropped from the series or killed/vanquished.

References to the original (This section contains spoilers for the original series.): Jada being a witch-whitelighter hybrid is obviously a call back to Paige and potentially Wyatt and Chris too. I like how this reboot is tackling how simple-minded the elders could be. In the original, Patty was said to be terrified of how the elders would react to her having a half-whitelighter child but the series never gave any attention to that. Honestly, Harry is what Leo should have been. If Leo had been more like Harry, I might have been able to tolerate him. Also, the P3 nod. I see what the writers did there.

Theories/What I’d Like To See: So, I think we are gonna learn more about the grey morality of the elders and how they aren’t as purely good as they like to believe. Canonically, both Marisol and Fiona saw the Sarcana as a better option to the Elders. Charity and Fiona were sisters on opposing sides. I’d like to see more about how that came about. Also, Charity keeps refusing to say what they did but insists they are terrible. If they are as terrible as she says, why won’t she dicuss why they are and what they did? Probably because the elders are actually the ones who are in the wrong. So Fiona is back. I think we will learn that her backstory isn’t quite what we were led to believe. I don’t think Harry has the true story either. I think the only ones who truly know are Charity, Fiona and Possibly Marisol.

Favorite Character This Episode: Jada brought a lot of intriguing points to an otherwise mediocre episode.

Favorite Quote/Interaction: I loved the bonding between Mel and Harry this episode.

Tidbits: Mel is the fashion icon of this series. Every outfit she wore this episode was gorgeous and iconic. Can someone explain what is it exactly that Alistair is wanting? One minute he seems to hate Parker with s passion and the next he seems to actually like he’s doing this to save Parker. But then it seems like there may be something else going on. I’m very confused. Slight spoiler for the original series but I long had this headcanon that Melinda Halliwell, often called Mel, from the original series is a lesbian. The reboot also has a witch named Mel who is a lesbian. I find that interesting.

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.

Rating: 4 out of 5

Plot: “While waiting for The Elders to arrive, the sisters’ patience grows thin as they keep a watchful eye on their new charge; Charity arrives and gives specific instructions on how to handle the situation; Mel does not agree with the solution.”

The plot was fairly solid. It had a good bit of character moments, which I love though I know not everyone does.The scenes flowed well and were well written for the most part. However, some portions feel forced. Nico’s partner being suspicious of the sisters didn’t make any sense. It was clearly forced simply so the writers can get him there to kill him. We get to see quite a bit of mythology building in this episode, which I hoped for.

Positives: We get to see quite a bit of mythology building in this episode, which I hoped for. We also get more hints towards Harry’s past, which seems to involve Charity. That seem to have some history together. Also, a decent amount of magic was used this episode so that was great, even if a huge portion of that was used by Charity instead of The Charmed Ones.

Negatives: Nico’s partner being suspicious of the sisters didn’t make any sense. It was clearly forced simply so the writers can get him there to kill him. This better lead to some majorly interesting storylines because otherwise it was just pointless. We still don’t know why Macy was given up so that needs to be explained posthaste.

References to the original (This section contains spoilers for the original series.): There are the obvious Mel/Nico and Prue/Andy comparisons. Though I hope Nico fairs better than Andy did. I can’t go through that again. What is it with The Charmed Ones and their attraction to law enforcement? Also, The comparations between Macy/Marisol and Paige/Patty.

Theories/What I’d Like To See: We know Charity tried to make the partner’s death look like a suicide but did she truly frame him or was that the work of the elevator demon to cause distrust between The Charmed Ones and The Elders. However, if Charity did do that then we can expect The Elders will be just as horrid as their original series counter points. Since they changed how Elders work in this reboot it also changes whitelighters and how they operate. Witches have control over the dead apparently because how would whitelighters get made otherwise now. Marisol was an Elder. Hopefully that leads to something.

Favorite Character This Episode: Macy is my favorite this episode. The best emotional beats were from her.

Favorite Quote/Interaction: Macy and Charity talking about Marisol.

Tidbits: I would love for Macy to be canonically labeled autistic. Macy has so many autistic traits. Plus it would help make amends for their shitty insistence on keeping that ableist piece of shit Ser'Darius Blain onboard instead of recasting the bastard. Ableism isn’t cute or acceptable. Sincerely, Your Local Pissed Off Autistic

Please join me again for next week’s episode.

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.