Charmed (2018) Season 2, Episode 10 Review

Charmed Season 2, episode 10 sees Mel getting dragged into her father’s messy life, Maggie protecting Jordan at his 26th birthday party, and Macy and Harry dealing with Abigail’s return while also dealing with their strained relationship. This episode was definitely a step in the right direction, but I still don’t know where any of this is going and I’m now convinced that neither do the writers.

The Good Bits

Mel and Ray

In this episode it’s Mel’s turn to have a moment with her father. Ray shows up to SafeSpace acting sketchy as usual, so Mel takes it upon herself to find out what he’s up to. While keeping an eye on Ray, Mel takes the opportunity to confront him for sucking as a parent. Despite how frustrated she is with her dad, Mel accompanies him on a trade deal. Things, of course, go left and Ray tries to bargain with the dangerous traders by betraying Mel and giving them a substance he swiped from the command center. This proves ineffective, and Mel winds up exposing herself as a witch to protect Ray. I loved these scenes with Mel and her father. Not only does Mel constantly call her dad on his bullshit, we learn that they’re also VERY alike and this is done so effectively because of the great chemistry between Melonie Diaz and Felix Solis.

They don’t necessarily redeem Ray in Mel’s eyes this episode, but they do come to some sort of compromise, which I appreciate. It’s far more realistic than last episode where Maggie has, for the most part, forgiven her father. Again, this man is unredeemable in my eyes, but I predict the writers will fully redeem him in the end by having him sacrifice his life to protect Mel and Maggie, which would bring things full circle. Predictable, but at least it would be reasonable.

Maggie and Jordan

I really liked Maggie’s development this episode. We see her actively and confidently make decisions on her own to help save Jordan from the curse placed on his family. There’s also development in her relationship with Jordan who for once confides in Maggie and allows her to handle the situation. Up to this point, all we’ve seen Jordan do is be suspicious and distrusting of Maggie. When she saves him from a near-death-experience and protects him from a possessed SafeSpace worker, he has no other choice but to trust her. Maggie finally confesses to Jordan the truth about her powers and their friendship deepens. In the end, the sisters manage to work together to stop the dead witch from taking Jordan and subsequently set her free, but not before she lets them know that it isn’t over.

I can’t wait to see where Maggie and Jordan’s relationship goes from here, as there was subtext to Jordan’s growing romantic attraction to Maggie. I also can’t wait to learn what the dead witch told Maggie about the truth to Jordan’s curse.

The Bad Bits

Macy and Harry

Once again, we are treated to even MORE scenes where Macy and Harry fail to communicate and instead resort to being passive aggressive with each other. *sighs*. So, Macy gets a text from Shea, the investor, who has invited her to stay with him in Aspen. Yea, this dude straight up bought her a flight before asking her if she wanted to visit…but I digress. As usual, Harry walks in on her and conveniently sees her texts—cue jealous Harry. Before they can fully fall into their petty routine, Abigael appears and she’s hurt. Harry aids her, but Macy is, of course, skeptical. They take Abigael back to her crib where Harry nurses her back to health, while Macy tries to find out what she’s really up to. Macy discovers that Abigael hurt herself and set the whole thing up just so she can spend time with Harry (apparently, none of this has anything to do with her plans as the Queen of the Damned). Macy tells Harry what Abigael has done, and even though he’s a little doubtful, he agrees to stay away, but not before Abigael appeals to his weakness and he’s back in her arms again.

When they’re back in the command center, Macy looks through her texts with Shea and Harry’s horrible timing has him sneaking another look. They argue until Harry finally says what we’ve all been dying for one of them to say: he tells Macy that he knows that she knows how he feels about her and she can do what she pleases, but she can’t tell him what to do with Abigael. He leaves before he can get a reaction. Macy gets so upset she responds to Shea’s bootycall and uses magic to meet him in Aspen.

I’m glad that Macy and Harry finally addressed the elephant in the room, but it still wasn’t entirely effective. The reason why these scenes with Macy and Harry are so annoying and frustrating is because they don’t make sense. We somewhat understand where Harry is coming from. He believes that Macy knows how he feels and in her not saying that she feels the same, he feels rejected. So he’s rightfully upset at her for having her opinions on his relationship with Abigael, especially when it seems that Macy prefers his evil counterpart to him. Harry feels that his kindness is a turn-off to Macy. His actions and motivations make sense. However, Macy’s does not; her motivations are unclear. Macy has not outright told Harry that she’s not into him primarily because he’s never told her how he feels about her (Mel did). Not only that, but it feels like we the viewers have no knowledge of Macy’s thoughts and feelings. Does she like Harry? Is she conflicted? Why? We’re given subtext to her feelings, but there’s no actual confirmation. Macy hasn’t had a conversation with anyone in which she shares what’s going on in her head.

I just want this melodrama to end. They are beating a dead horse and dragging it around like it’s Weekend at Bernie’s. It stinks. We can tell it’s rotten. Please bury it and move on already!

Abigael

Is Abigael still an antagonist? Last time we saw her, we learned that the half-witch-half-demon tricked the demons into dethroning Parker and making her the new leader of the underworld. However, we haven’t exactly seen her make plans and take action. Most of the time when Abigael appears it’s to be a nuisance for the girls, or ammo for the melodrama between Macy and Harry. If Abigael is our big bad, what does she want? Why does she want it and what steps is she taking to get it? How are the girls in her way and how is she getting rid of them? We the viewers need to see this, too. With the way that most of Abigael’s plans happen behind the scenes, when she’s on screen and visible to us, all we see is a person who is just there to annoy the girls and drive a wedge between Harry and Macy. We must be privy to her plans, too, if any of this is going to make sense. Speaking of not making sense…

A New Conflict/Big Bad

If I sat down with someone and tried to explain to them what this season of Charmed is about, I wouldn’t know what to tell them. I’d say something like “It’s about the sisters having to go in hiding because an assassin is after them, but also, the demons are killing witches and they need to rescue them, but also, there’s a half witch-half demon trying to gain power over the demons, but also, the girls’ father is back and in trouble—oh yea, there’s also a scientist who is using magic to resurrect the dead. Do you see how confusing and disjointed all of this is?

We have yet ANOTHER storyline/conflict introduced this episode. We watch as a scientist uses ember (that Ray gave them) to bring the dead back to life. I feel like this storyline should been introduced later in the season—like at the very end after the demon war conflict is resolved. This would have been a good set-up for next season’s main conflict. Instead, the show is juggling yet another storyline that not only distracts from the initial main conflict, but also convolutes it.

I can’t entirely blame the messy writing on poor creativity. There’s also the fact the writers have to stretch out a story through 22 episodes, which leads to a lot of filler episodes.

Overall

Despite my continued gripes with this season, this episode was effective enough to keep me interested. We got a lot of progress within the characters and their relationships. I am excited to learn what Maggie knows about Jordan and his curse. I want to see how they conclude Macy and Harry’s storyline, and what Abigael true plans are.

Did you watch this week’s episode of Charmed? Let me know what you thought about it in the comments below!

Hi! Shantal here. I’m a writer and a storyteller. I created Shantal Writes to share my experiences with writing fiction. I also provide new writers with tips, tools, and writing advice. I hope you find something helpful while you’re here!