S02.E01: Safe Space

[Lady Calypso]

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SEASON PREMIERE — Following the devastating loss of The Elders, Mel (Melonie Diaz), Maggie (Sarah Jeffery) and Macy (Madeleine Mantock) take over their duties. Maggie takes time to celebrate her birthday with a big bash, but Mel finds herself too preoccupied with their new responsibilities to join in the fun. As the girls clean up the following morning, Macy shocks her sisters with an announcement. A mysterious hooded foe attacks The Charmed Ones who escape through a portal while Harry (Rupert Evans) has an unnerving encounter with the villain. The girls land in a secret location where they uncover more about the mystical world of The Elders…and community workspaces. Macy nurses a serious wound and Maggie meets a handsome stranger (Jordan Donica.) The Charmed Ones quickly become aware of the gravity of their new roles and must decide if they are truly prepared for the responsibility. Stuart Gillard directed the episode written by Liz Kruger and Craig Shapiro (#201). Original airdate 10/11/2019.

[UNOSEZ]

Good return... I like the new setup... I'm not looking fwd to any harry/fake harry/Macy stuff... Not that the two don't have a spark.. Its just so cliche... Look fwd to more out there cases of the week.. With diff kinds of magic.. And I'm cook with Macy keeping her don't powers.. As she's my fave... 

[AnimeMania]

Very disappointed with how this turned out. I didn't want a very dark season where Harry is dead and the Charmed Ones are fighting demons who are slaughtering witches. I was hoping they would do a very light comedy where the Charmed Ones are getting to meet and protect all of the different magical creatures while learning about new types of magic.

[GaT]

They reset the series? If feels like they changed the whole thing, their old lives are gone, & they're just going to be living alone in the house? Yuck.

[iMonrey]

I kind of liked it and I think it's probably a good idea to start moving away from the original series. I thought it was a good setup and a good season premier in that it stayed focused on the three sisters throughout, rather than a particular villain. 

There are several things I didn't understand, though. Was the Book of Shadows destroyed? It sure looked that way, unless it regenerates or something. I didn't understand why the big metal door at Elders Central opened up to a shopping mall in Seattle. Guh?  Unless I missed something they failed to explain that. So the entire time they spent there seemed pointless.

Interesting that the CW moved this show from Sunday nights to Friday nights. That can't be a good sign.

[Primal Slayer]

I enjoyed it but destroying the Book of Shadows? Between that, the elders, The Source, their powers.....more than ever it does feel like an insult to the original show that they are using the Charmed name while destroying everything related to the source material. If I pretend that this show is named something else then it's fine. 

The "command center" felt very Power Rangers/X-men. They really screwed up with getting rid of premonitions since now they have to use a magical computer that tells them when witches are in danger. But if they are without their powers then how are they supposed to save their fellow witches?

[Keywestclubkid]

They have a command center now complete with flashing in trouble lights? Oh god

[Mikay]

I liked this well enough. Some elements were clunky, in particular, I disliked the safe space location, and wish that the new love interests for Maggie and Mel were introduced somewhere else so we didn’t have to go back.  As far as the new love interests go, they weren’t incredible,  but they were all an immediate step up from much of the old crew, especially Parker. I could at least see that the potential was there. I also liked Macy and Harry. 

I thought the biggest improvement was the stakes and the atmosphere. Last season felt like the show wanted to talk about important issues(sexual harassment, race, different waves of feminism, threats toward women) and there were some standout episodes that mixed those in, but I often found the issues themselves to be poorly integrated into the show’s overall worldbuilding. Establishing straight away that witches like women are under attack, from Macy looking at a history placard recounting the institutionalization of women to rid them of their power, to witches themselves literally being hunted down by demons in what is shaping up to be a war of survival, feels like a natural way to keep the themes front and center in a plot relevant way.  Unlike last season, where the themes were on the margin(exp. Angela Wu stood in for women that experienced sexual harassment and were silenced, and she showed up for like two episodes, one of those episodes was when she was in a coma!), the main characters themselves are on the run. Their lives are directly imperiled like all the people they have to protect. 

I was pretty curious how this premiere would play out when they set fire to the world last year by murdering the elders, having Macy become the source of prophecy, then defeating the source, and slaughtering the Sarcana in a span of a few episodes. The worldbuilding had been shaky up until then, with a slew of forgettable magical creatures flowing in and out, and the motives of the power players(Elders, Sarcana, Alastair and his demon pals, Fiona, other magical creatures) being almost impossible to follow. So a clear focus on protecting endangered witches, and presumably other magical creatures, from a command center(I actually thought of  Shadowhunters, but Power Rangers works too!) does feel like an improvement to me. 

Also shout out to the corny humor, which survived in tact!. Witch-ness protection. I will show up for the silly puns. 

Edited October 12, 2019 by Mikay

[quazimodo]

Their new command centre is giving me Supernatural bunker vibes.

[UNOSEZ]

7 minutes ago, quazimodo said:

Their new command centre is giving me Supernatural bunker vibes.

Ladies of Letters indeed

[Cranberry]

I'm cautiously optimistic. I like that the show dumped all the dead weight characters and kept just our core four. I like the format change where we'll get to see them travel all over the place rather than have demons come to their small town all the time. The command center is kind of silly, but at least it's simpler than the previous council bureaucracy. I like that the girls will (at least for a little while) have to solve problems without using their powers.

Not so sure about a Harry doppelganger, especially if they tie the Harry/Macy romance in with that, but we'll see how it goes.

Overall I found the episode kept my attention and that it didn't feel rushed like so many season one episodes did.

[iMonrey]

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But if they are without their powers then how are they supposed to save their fellow witches?

Harry said they could get them back. I wasn't clear on whether or not they had them back by the end of this episode. 

[quazimodo]

3 hours ago, iMonrey said:

Harry said they could get them back. I wasn't clear on whether or not they had them back by the end of this episode. 

Macy still has her demon powers (which she doesn’t know how to use yet) but none of them have their witch powers back.  I think once Harry goes through the books ( assuming he knows how to read Elders language) they can find something to restore their powers. Or maybe they’ll get the BOS back somehow.

[janeta]

Is is just me or does Harry look younger as each season passes?

and what in the actual hell is that stuff being advertised down the right side of this page today??

Edited October 14, 2019 by janeta

[tennisgurl]

They sure did shake things up, didnt they? Book of shadows? Gone! Elder? Gone! White Lighters? All kinds of dead! Powers? Well, they'll probably be back. I have mixed feelings honestly. I think that shaking things up and dumping some of the dead weight from the first scene, and doing its own thing apart from the OG show, could be a good thing. As for the episode itself, while a bit more dark than I really wanted, did certainly hold my attention and I liked the character beats and some of the new ideas. I really want to know what is going on with Harry and Harry/Macy. It seems like she was getting visions of an evil Harry, and while I am actually pretty into Harry/Macy, this seems like a weird way to do it. I am also interested in seeing the sisters without their powers, and maybe seeing them grow and develop more into their powers again. Last season I thought they got too powerful too fast, so this could be a good way to explore things with them more.

I know that this show is trying to do its own thing and break away from the original Charmed, but I really think they might be breaking away from too much in the original Charmed mythos. I mean, the Charmed mythology was always pretty inconsistent and weird, but the stuff that has always been there (book of Shadows, White Lighters, Elders) being gone and replaced by some lame computer bunker like we are somehow trapped in another aborted Supernatural spin-off just seems...wrong. Like we arent even really Charmed anymore, and even the most iconic parts of the show arent important anymore. Which is weird, considering this episode also introduced probably Dark Lighters and those acid spit demons, so its like they just replaced some of the iconic aspects of the show with some of the weird random bits of the show. I am totally fine with the show doing new things to distinguish itself, but this seems to be a bit much. Also, I thought that the sisters and Harry being the new defacto leaders of the supernatural community and meeting and helping different supernatural creatures and seeing lots of different magic sounded really fun, more fun than tons of murder and throwing out everything from last season almost. 

Anyway, I am a least interested to see what happens next!

Edited October 15, 2019 by tennisgurl

[Camera One]

I had mixed feelings.  I was half doing other things during this episode, so I can't say it was riveting.  

They didn't really explain the portal going to that Safe Space in Seattle.  Is that going to be a continuing location?  

I wouldn't mind seeing them travelling to different places around the US or the world saving witches, but when the portal to Vermont appeared, it was already too late.  The witches were killed by the Masked Harry with the green bullet, but what was up with the giant shapeshifting rats?  

I'm not a big fan of seeing dead witches, so I hope every week isn't a pile of dead bodies.  It's just depressing to watch.

I hate doppelgangers so hopefully the Evil Harry subplot will end sooner rather than later.

I guess I won't miss that university campus, but hopefully the sisters will still have a semblance of a "normal" life.

[GaT]

On 10/12/2019 at 11:04 AM, Primal Slayer said:

I enjoyed it but destroying the Book of Shadows? Between that, the elders, The Source, their powers.....more than ever it does feel like an insult to the original show that they are using the Charmed name while destroying everything related to the source material. If I pretend that this show is named something else then it's fine. 

They've completely destroyed "the power of three" by only having Macy the only one with some demon powers, that was pretty much the basis for the original show.

[phoenics]

I tried to watch S1, but found it clunky and try-hard.  It's very hard to match the lightning in the bottle that was the original Charmed - mostly because that show had massively inconsistent mythology that was driven by changing sisters, etc.. I tried so hard to get into it last season and really struggled - it just dragged and felt like an inferior copy of the original - not a fresh take.  And to be honest, the idea of the sisters being the guardians of the magical community just felt like yet another retread.  The original series already did that.  Unless the show was going to do it with a fresh take, then ... meh.  So - take my opinion with the grain of salt that I barely watched more than 2 episodes all season.  Until I decided to watch S2 and then watched the last episodes of S1 to "prepare".  

I LOVE that this show rebooted itself, keeping the elements that worked and giving itself the chance to really slowly grow and show the witches learning.  I love the darker turn.  I loved everything about it.

And Harry/Macy - my God the chemistry was just way off the charts.  What a nice surprise.