Charmed Season 2 Recap and Episode 7 Review

Season 2 of Charmed continues to follow the Vera-Vaughn sisters as they navigate their new lives, relationships and the insidious war being waged on the witches by a society of demons seeking to make them extinct. In the most recent episode, we learn who the overlord is, what’s really happening with Jordan and that ring, what is causing shop-owner Kat’s wormy visions and what Abigael’s true plans are.

Maggie and Parker's Reunion

Seeking to end the senseless deaths of magical beings (in this case the Dryads), Maggie goes in search of Parker (Nick Hargrove) who is the one responsible for uniting demons against the witches. There’s still a lot of chemistry between Maggie and Parker and it made me nostalgic for season 1. Parker isn’t all bad and has actually infiltrated the society as their overlord with plans to end the war against witches. However, teaming up with Maggie again may have blinded him to his sister’s true plans. In the end, Abigael gets the upper hand in her quest for the throne.

Macy and Harry

Image Source: Charmed | CW

There’s also tension between Macy and Harry, but not the good kind. Feeling insecure about what James told him, Harry spends most of their time together trying to get Macy to admit that she may have liked the darklighter much more than him. This does start to get annoying after a while because both characters seem to be acting out of character for the sake of tension. It’s unlike Harry to be this suspicious, jealous and preoccupied with something that isn’t necessarily that important to the problems at hand and Macy’s incessant need to bring up the darklighter and defend him despite Harry’s painful history, seemed insensitive. In truth, the problem lies in the fact that we didn’t get a scene where Harry explains to Macy what he had been through to find her (like finding his painful memories) nor Macy explaining what she experienced while being James’s captive. If we had been given this scene, perhaps this conflict between Harry and Macy over her feelings for the darklighter would have made sense.

Mel and Kat

Once again, Mel rejects another love interest to protect them from harm, but it’s clear that this won’t be the end of Mel and Kat (Shiva Kalaiselvan). Given that Kat is a medium, she might be necessary to the girls at some point and she can’t exactly avoid the supernatural. So, I definitely think we’ll be seeing more of her this season.

Jordan

Macy and Harry do manage to discover the truth about Jordan (Jordan Donica). We learn that Jordan’s family’s male bloodline had been cursed by a witch who had been tortured by his ancestor. The curse dictates that each male will die before their 26th birthday. This storyline is interesting, however, what I found strange was Jordan’s behavior this episode. During a scene with Macy, Jordan snaps at her for punching him during sparring practice. I can’t tell if it’s just the actor’s choices or if this is meant to be part of Jordan’s characterization, but his sudden bursts of rage to the point where he looks like he might punch the girls whenever they “freak him out” is unsettling. Maybe it’s those violent great-great-great-grandaddy genes jumping out? Whatever the case, I hope they tone it down or have a reason for it.

Issues With Season 2

1. The scale of the overarching conflict

I’ve noticed a pattern with most CW shows where they make the overarching conflict of a season appear bigger than what it is. They hype up the antagonistic force, only for the tension to deflate not 5 episodes into the season. You’re left feeling like, “That’s it? That’s what we’re supposed to be worried about?”

In the case with Charmed, the way they set up the witch genocide and the mystery around the overlord’s identity, it seemed much more intense and scarier than it’s built up to be. Now that we know that Abigael and Parker are behind it, it scales everything down to family drama. Not to mention, the show only used two episodes to set up the main antagonistic force, but then this force doesn’t actually do anything to remind us of their power. The stakes just aren’t high enough, in my opinion. There doesn’t seem to be a ticking clock; like, if they don’t resolve this conflict soon, something really bad is going to happen.

And yes, they’re rescuing and saving these witches from harm, but what to do they do with them then? How do they protect them, or do they just throw them back into the world after nursing them to health just for the demons to come back for them again? Why are they not uniting with other witches who HAVE powers, to help them fight?

I’m also tired of the “big bads” of the season being introduced as new friends or unassuming characters that infiltrate the main characters lives. It’s the same tactic season after the season. I’m curious, however, about how they plan to connect Jordan and Kat to the rest of the story, or if they’ll just drop the ball on that one, too…

2. Promising a larger world, but copping out due to low budget

Another thing this season drops the ball on is its promise of a larger world. The girls are given a digital map where they can locate witches that are in trouble. You see locations within the US and even outside of it, but most of the time, they just end up in a forest. It’s clear that they don’t have the budget to travel anywhere, but I’d prefer if they just at least attempted to make the world feel a little bigger than copping out and sticking to forest locations because they’d be more difficult to differentiate. Like even when they went into Harry’s mind, it took place in the Safe Space set…

3. Introducing new supernatural beings without explanation of their existence, and thus we feel nothing for them

This season the show has managed to introduce new magical beings, witches and magical powers. However, they act as if their existence is common knowledge and that these girls were not just introduced to this world a season ago…Last season, when a particular demon showed up, they spent that episode learning about that demon and thus how to defeat them. Now, they just introduce them left and right and keep it pushing without any explanation. Like the Dryads for instance. We know nothing much about them other than they protected a sacred tree and once they were killed, we felt nothing for their loss. Does their death have any real consequences to the magic world?

Overall

This season sticks to its two central conflicts, which continues to give us focus and a cohesive story. However, the writers are flying through these storylines and just scratching the surface of them. They have 22 episodes per season. They could afford to slow down and dig deeper for emotionally impactful storytelling.

Have you been watching Charmed Season 2? What do you think about it so far? Let me know 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!