S02.E04: Deconstructing Harry

[Lady Calypso]

Quote

FRIEND OR FOE — Macy (Madeleine Mantock) and Mel (Melonie Diaz) join forces with Abigael (Poppy Drayton) to track down the Assassin; Maggie (Sarah Jeffery) starts her new gig and has a breakthrough when she reaches out to help Jordan (Jordan Donica). Harry (Rupert Evans) discovers a horrifying secret. Ken Fink directed the episode written by Natalia Fernandez and Jeffrey Lieber (#204). Original airdate 11/1/2019.
 

[MeThinkMeNot]

I liked the episode and I'm happy that we're getting more info about whitelighters and darklighters. Hunter was great, Parker was tolerable but Abigail is fun and has excellent chemistry with everyone. Now that Poppy's a series regular I'm excited to see what they do with her character. 

I feel bad for Harry though. He looks so lost and sad this episode. 

[iMonrey]

I don't get it. The Elders split some Whitelighters in half to create Darklighters? On purpose? Why? Does anyone understand this?

This season is just so damn weird. I still don't see the point of moving to Seattle and relocating the show to this stupid mall or whatever it is. I still don't get where their house is supposed to be. Up on the roof of this mall? This is so dumb. Like nobody is ever going to go up on the roof? Even if it's invisible somebody might bump into it.

And what's the point of making Abigail Alistair's daughter and Parker's sister if they've relocated the show to the other side of the country? Coincidence much? 

I just don't think this show works as a serialization. They really bit off more than they could chew last season and now they're doubling down on that. They're all over the map. First there was some demon assassin because the demons all want to destroy the witches but now it turns out Harry was split in half and the other half is a darklighter so how does that tie in to the demons who are at war with the witches? Is anyone following this?

[MeThinkMeNot]

57 minutes ago, iMonrey said:

I don't get it. The Elders split some Whitelighters in half to create Darklighters? On purpose? Why? Does anyone understand this?

This season is just so damn weird. I still don't see the point of moving to Seattle and relocating the show to this stupid mall or whatever it is. I still don't get where their house is supposed to be. Up on the roof of this mall? This is so dumb. Like nobody is ever going to go up on the roof? Even if it's invisible somebody might bump into it.

And what's the point of making Abigail Alistair's daughter and Parker's sister if they've relocated the show to the other side of the country? Coincidence much? 

I just don't think this show works as a serialization. They really bit off more than they could chew last season and now they're doubling down on that. They're all over the map. First there was some demon assassin because the demons all want to destroy the witches but now it turns out Harry was split in half and the other half is a darklighter so how does that tie in to the demons who are at war with the witches? Is anyone following this?

I guess in order to create Whitelighters, the Elders had to remove their darkness (along with wiping their memory)so that they'd be loyal. But the darklighters that come from this process are unhinged, so the Elders probably locked them away. This is my assumption based on what we've heard this far. It would make sense that this sort of thing would happen. The Elders were witches and not all-knowing. Was this caused by using magic for personal gain? Having a balance between good and evil? I don't know, but I'm excited to find out. 

Harry's darklighter is doing his own thing as he captures the heads of all of the magical creatures. We don't know why he's doing this though.

As for the demons, they probably know that the Elders are all dead (Hunter probably blabbed to everyone he knows about doing this) and the Charmed Ones are missing. So they are using this to their advantage and trying to gain more control and power in the magical world.

Abigail is trying to become the Overlord so she can prove that she was always the better Caine kid. As for her plans, who knows at this point. She was raised by a witch, but she clearly sought out approval from her demon father.

[UNOSEZ]

Yeah I'm not particularly confused... It seems the process for creating whitelighters creates darklighters as well.. Probably locked away by the  elders.. With them dead at least one is free.. Who knows maybe more... Abby wants to unite demonkind.. I'm guessing the witch=good/ demon=bad dynamic is a bit more nuanced... I'm actually enjoying this season a bit more than last.. I really like abigael.. Do wonder  what the deal is with Jordan... I assume its something magical... I like more talk of other supernatural  creatures and hopefully ppl down the road... Their house is in an empty lot.. and its invisible.. So as long as no one tries to build there I guess they're ok... It did just dawn on me while Maggie and Jordan were taking that marisol really lwr her kid go thru life not knowing she was half black... It doesn't seem like she was really together with Mel's dad for a long time.. Or even exclusive... She coulda just made up a separate dad for her.. Its not like they knew about Macy... Just weird... Maybe it'll come up if she gets deeper into it with Jordan... HE was raised by his grandmother.. So if they get serious you know she's gonna wanna meet the new girl

[Mikay]

I found this to be a pretty solid episode. Some things are gelling a bit more to me, and I think tonight the decision to make the Elders human witches finally paid off. I interpreted Harry's plot to be that the creation of whitelighters, purely good, but also totally subservient to the agendas of the Elders and witches as a whole, required the Elders to remove their darkness and wipe their memories.  The first whitelighter was created in 1693 so around the Witch Trials. Perhaps after seeing humans turn on human women, some of whom might have been witches, they wanted a guarantee. The process clearly underwent a bit of trial and error because the first whitelighter can barely speak and her double is completely unhinged. That's quite the original sin. Evil!Harry is clearly evil, but he seems far more high functioning than the woman at the insane asylum.

Also I agree with this:. 

2 hours ago, MeThinkMeNot said:

Harry's darklighter is doing his own thing as he captures the heads of all of the magical creatures. We don't know why he's doing this though.

Evil!Harry is the person the sisters have termed the "assassin"  and he's capturing powerful magical beings, which seem to include the Charmed Ones and Abigail. The sisters initially thought he was part of the demon campaign to murder witches, but he seems to be an equal opportunity attacker with no ties to the war brewing between demon and witch. I wonder if his motives will instead tie more into the how whitelighters were created? The original whitelighter in the insane asylum said that she was a half and seemed distressed. Perhaps, Harry doesn't feel this loss because the Elders wiped his memories?  Maybe his darkside counterpart does feel that half-ness and is trying to do something to remedy the problem. 

This also echoes my thoughts: 

2 hours ago, MeThinkMeNot said:

As for the demons, they probably know that the Elders are all dead (Hunter probably blabbed to everyone he knows about doing this) and the Charmed Ones are missing. So they are using this to their advantage and trying to gain more control and power in the magical world.

The Elders and whitelighters protected the magical world of witches and magical creatures. In the past if there was trouble, the elders could organize and dispatch witches or whitelighters to help. With them totally out of the picture and the magical world reeling from their absence, it's the perfect time for someone like Abigail or any other ambitious demon to try to unite the demon world and wage war on the witches who they blame for their oppression. Abigail seems to be emboldening the demons using an ancient prophecy about the Overlord as a smokescreen since she is the wrong gender to command respect in the misogynistic demon world.  

Based on what we've seen so far, she is in way over her head. She needed the help of the Charmed Ones to take out the demon guy that doubted her publicly and Evil!Harry has her in his sights.  She's also not operating on the best intel as she murdered the witches in Vermont with the venom she was shot with out of spite and misplaced blame for the death of her demon friends. 

Moving on from plot stuff, I thought there were some good emotional beats in this episode for all the sisters. Mel continues to climb the ranks in my eyes, which is crazy as she was a character I changed my mind about every episode last season. Her bitterness at going from one of the most powerful people in the world to someone so weak that she must now depend on a few potions she's managed to scrape together out of desperation resonated with me. I liked Maggie's plotline this episode too and how it tied her strengths as a person into her slowly getting back her powers. There was less for Macy, but her finding common ground with Abigail through their shared demonic background is a good follow-up to her loneliness and desire to belong.  

[Camera One]

I'm always wary of characters working with half-evil entities like Abigail because you just know she's going to escape at some point.  Her snark is pretty funny, but I'm not sure that makes up for the unease of having her on the team.  It didn't make the episode as enjoyable finding out if she was going to stab them in the back.  She murdered innocent witches and wanted to sacrifice a child, which was very despicable.

Did Maggie not know she was going to miss the meeting?  She never mentioned it until the inopportune phone call.

So they are in the lair of the Evil Hooded Darklighter who looks identical to Harry, and then they see Harry, and Macy doesn't move away immediately?  And the other two sisters aren't suspicious at all?  It's frustrating when characters seem to be lacking half a brain.

I did like Harry searching for answers at the asylum.  I'm liking him a lot more this season.  

[UNOSEZ]

14 minutes ago, Camera One said:

So they are in the lair of the Evil Hooded Darklighter who looks identical to Harry, and then they see Harry, and Macy doesn't move away immediately?  And the other two sisters aren't suspicious at all?  It's frustrating when characters seem to be lacking half a brain.

I think he took Macy.. Initially she  was just happy to see harry and as he got closer she snapped back into it. Nubsee her face change.. I dunno if she asked for the safeword.. But the next scene he orbs outta there... As for mel and Maggie.. They were further away and already going to the portal... And up until I guess next week when they tell her... Abigael doesn't know about the assassin being harry's darklighter

[Keywestclubkid]

What was with the weird camera work with Jordan putting on his ring before he touched Maggie? Like they intentionally made sure that the ring and his actin of putting it on was highlighted... please for the love of god don’t make him another secret bad guy with his “complicated” family that was the first to settle in the town that he was being called back to....5 bucks says that his family is decedent from witch hunters or something because they haven’t thrown enough shit at the wall. 

Edited November 3, 2019 by Keywestclubkid

[UNOSEZ]

31 minutes ago, Keywestclubkid said:

What was with the weird camera work with Jordan putting on his ring before he touched Maggie? Like they intentionally made sure that the ring and his actin of putting it on was highlighted... please for the love of god don’t make him another secret bad guy with his “complicated” family that was the first to settle in the town that he was being called back to....5 bucks says that his family is decedent from witch hunters or something because they haven’t thrown enough shit at the wall. 

I don't even remember seeing a ring.. I imagine the family has some kind of history.. But after Parker I can't imagine the show going with another kinda antagonistic love interest... Besides they have abigael who's helping for now.. But is def pro-demon. 

[Keywestclubkid]

8 minutes ago, UNOSEZ said:

I don't even remember seeing a ring.. I imagine the family has some kind of history.. But after Parker I can't imagine the show going with another kinda antagonistic love interest... Besides they have abigael who's helping for now.. But is def pro-demon. 

He’s gonna have some connection to the magical demonic world cause this show hasn’t figured out how to do the just normal human aspect yet 

[UNOSEZ]

1 hour ago, Keywestclubkid said:

He’s gonna have some connection to the magical demonic world cause this show hasn’t figured out how to do the just normal human aspect yet 

Yeah I'm ok with that... I don't really need humans in these stories anyway.. I'm good with the goings on of supernaturals just fine.. Humans just get in the way and end up getting sucked into it all anyway.. And they always need to be saved or somn.... 

[Camera One]

I guess if Jordan is a normal human, he could still help fight demons with his boxing skills though at some point, they would surely give him a power or some magical lineage.

They explored relationship with a human last season with Nico.

[UNOSEZ]

2 hours ago, Camera One said:

I guess if Jordan is a normal human, he could still help fight demons with his boxing skills though at some point, they would surely give him a power or some magical lineage.

They explored relationship with a human last season with Nico.

And Galvin... Which didn't really work out too well storywise.. I mean they coulda tried to rework them.. But to be fair neither of them were that great 

[Keywestclubkid]

47 minutes ago, UNOSEZ said:

And Galvin... Which didn't really work out too well storywise.. I mean they coulda tried to rework them.. But to be fair neither of them were that great 

Which is why I’m saying if he’s gonna be a romantic lead for her he’s gonna have to be magic adjacent. They just can’t stick a human with them they always die lol  

[Impish Dragon]

On 11/2/2019 at 9:42 PM, UNOSEZ said:

I think he took Macy.. Initially she  was just happy to see harry and as he got closer she snapped back into it. Nubsee her face change.. I dunno if she asked for the safeword.. But the next scene he orbs outta there... As for mel and Maggie.. They were further away and already going to the portal... And up until I guess next week when they tell her... Abigael doesn't know about the assassin being harry's darklighter

Macy did ask but we never saw the reply. 

[tennisgurl]

That was a pretty solid episode, and while the change of location still seems pretty pointless, I like the direction the season is going in now, especially with the lore. Abigail is a fun character, and while I dont trust her, and think that her "become queen of demons to prove to sexist dad she is best kid" goal is kind of lame, she does add a nice energy to the show and I like her relationship with Macy, with them bonding over their witch/demon energy.

So the Whitelighters were created to be pure good, while also subservient, and they had their memories wiped of their human life so they could be that purely good magic servant class, but to do that, they had to put all that darkness somewhere, so it went into Dark Lighters. Thats actually a pretty cool origin story, and the Elders being basically just high ranking witches is finally paying off with them making a lot of mistakes in the process of starting their society and what they actually do. Maybe because Whitelighters are made to serve, Darklights are made to be ambitious? 

So the Harry Assassin is literally Dark Harry, all of the worst of Harry, but apparently the process has been updated since the totally unstable and screaming first Dark Lighter, because he is actually very intelligent and goal driven, and seems to have some kind of actual evil plan. Not sure what it is, but it has maybe something to do with gathering a magic army? And he has a big old evil crush on Macy, so take that as you will. 

I also thought we had some nice character parts, especially with Mel desperately trying to find her power again, going from super witch to almost regular human. Plus, Maggie picks up Phoebes premonition powers! Complete with spaced out magic look! 

[Rahul]

Aside from the season two which felt very cinematic, I have not been enjoying this season at all. I feel the decision to reboot the series once more with a darker and more supernatural emphasis was a gross misstep. This show barely resembles the original Charmed, which the creator Constance M. Burge had always said to be about "three sisters who happen to be witches, not witches who happen to be sisters." The levity and family focus seems to be completely gone, only to be replaced by a cold, confusing mythology like those second rate fantasy shows you see on Syfy (eg. Lost Girl). 

Although witches are my favorite supernatural entity, I am quickly losing interest in this iteration of Charmed and have been contemplating canceling my season pass entirely.

[marshmallows]

I'm late to this as I just recently binged the first season and am now catching up on s2.

Could someone please explain to me Abigail's motives for being the overlord? It makes zero sense to me. She said something about her father's approval, yet she hates him. And she also said something about how she thought TCOs were the ones who were trying to kill her, but then she figured out it was actually the assassin?? Either way, both of these motives are unclear and completely bogus. I would almost rather her just want to be doing evil for evil sakes like Allistar. 

This season so far quite blows in comparison to the first season. S1 may have moved too quickly and packed in enough plot points for at least 3 seasons or more, but at least it had the sisters bonding and working together, each sister had some sort of human ties/life, there were MoTW episodes which are always fun, and the plots although moving too fast were at least interesting and felt personal to the characters. So far this season the only thing that feels personal is the whitelighter/darklighter story which is probably why that's the storyline I'm the most invested in. Also probably why Harry is now my favorite character bc at least the writers are spending time on us getting to know him. But, this is supposed to be about TCOs, not just Harry. I always have liked Harry, but it should be about the ensemble cast, not just him.