S02.E19: Unsafe Space

[Lady Calypso]

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SEASON FINALE - In the season finale, The Charmed Ones must stop the Faction from reaching the sacred tree in the Command Center before disaster strikes. In the meantime, Mel (Melonie Diaz) has a surprising encounter with Ruby (guest star Bethany Brown), Maggie's (Sarah Jeffery) newfound powers prove a double-edged sword, and Harry (Rupert Evans) and Macy (Madeleine Mantock) deal with a new twist in their relationship. Joe Gallagher directed the episode written by Jessica O’Toole and Amy Rardin and Christina Piña (#219). Original airdate 5/1/2020.

 

[Primal Slayer]

It was a decent finale and overall episode.

Not sure why Melanies new bae's power couldnt just be wind.....never a big fan of spells creating mroe powerful powers than...inherit powers. 

They really couldnt go more than 5 mins of having Harry/Maggie be happy could they? We just spent a WHOLE SEASON of them being dramatic with one another only for them to get together and now Harry wants to get rid of his feelings for Maggie!?!?! Are you KIDDING ME?

I did get a good laugh of "Retired witches attend this bar and pretend to be fans of this oughts Witch show" as an obvious wink and nod to the OG and its fans. 

[Cranberry]

That worked okay as a finale, I guess! I wonder if they'd originally planned to wrap up this storyline and do another soft reboot for season three, and if their plans have changed now.

I'm really not down for more Harry/Macy angst.

I thought when Mel's girlfriend Ruby turned out to be a witch, we might actually get to see her more because she could be part of the main plot, but apparently it was a way to break them up instead. I can't even say I'm disappointed, as we barely got to know the character. I suspect the writers are paving the way for Mel and Abigael, as there's been some subtext there for a few episodes now.

Julian's sister is a witch, right? How will she feel about him capturing and killing magical creatures to bring her back?

 

[GaT]

So, that happened. If they are going to still be in that safe space place next season, I think I'm done. It's been stupid since they started it, & it doesn't seem like it's going to get any smarter.

[janeta]

Ok, i'm confused: when did Julian and Viv ( ? His aunt) decant Jimmy? And then he got rebottled, so that the CO could decant him again? I missed the timeline here somewhere....

[iMonrey]

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Joe Gallagher directed the episode written by Jessica O’Toole and Amy Rardin and Christina Piña

I've noticed all the episodes have several writers credited. Maybe that's the problem. Too many cooks.

Last week, Maggie unleashed some sort of energy wave that hit a couple of guards and caused them to start fighting one another. Look how quickly she mastered this newly discovered power - she can change people's feelings at will now?? I think the reason this show is so loosey-goosey with the powers is so they don't have to follow any rules, logic or consistency. 

Ruby doesn't want to be a witch any more, but she still has power? Um, what's the difference? Presumably she doesn't want demons coming after her, so it seems like she'd need to relinquish her powers and become mortal to prevent that.

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Ok, i'm confused: when did Julian and Viv ( ? His aunt) decant Jimmy? And then he got rebottled, so that the CO could decant him again? I missed the timeline here somewhere....

Somebody sent Jimmy after the COs in the season premier which is why they wound up in hiding at Safe Space Seattle. Originally we were told demons were at war with witches (which . . . aren't they always?) and killing them all so the assumption was that some demon had sent Jimmy to assassinate the COs. That whole thing sort of fizzled out and then we started hearing about some "faction," which turned out to be led by Aunt Viv. So apparently she's the one who uncorked Jimmy and sic'd him on the COs. 

Honestly, this season has been such a jumbled mess of conflicting ideas and plot points, I don't know how anybody can be expected to follow it.

[Terrafamilia]

I only started watching this season so I have to ask, has the magic tree existed under Seattle since time immemorial? They should use their Chosen Charmed Ones power of three thing and just move it all to some new undisclosed location.

Note to retired Elder lady: If you want to reduce the likelihood of someone accidentally or hastily stepping out of the magic circle - be sure to make it bigger.

[Happytobehere]

Dear show, if you don’t want to do Harry/Macy, simply do not. Don’t play these BS games with the viewers.

My questions centered on Harry’s request are 1) he asked to forget, but is Macy going to remember? 2) Has he done something to Macy absent her consent to make her forget? 

My better not be the case thought: With the show having a tendency to go soap opera on us, this better not be a set-up for Macy to get back with Julian having forgotten her feelings for and night with Harry to be pregnant, with only Maggie knowing Harry could be the father.

Despite my issues, I thought this was a pretty solid episode. 

 

 

 

[iMonrey]

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My questions centered on Harry’s request are 1) he asked to forget, but is Macy going to remember? 2) Has he done something to Macy absent her consent to make her forget? 

Maggie can't make Harry forget he loves Macy. Her power is she can change the way people feel, so she can essentially eliminate Harry's love for Macy. He'll still remember he used to love her and Macy will still love him, so I don't see how this is even a viable option. It's a stupid plot twist because they seem determined to drag out this Macy and Harry thing as long as possible. 

[tennisgurl]

Oh my God, if they dont want Macy and Harry together, just dont make them be together, dont just put them together and then come up with reasons to keep them apart over and over! Just have them be a couple or not a couple! Of course, OG Charmed pulled this crap with Piper/Leo for like a million seasons too, so I guess this isn't a new thing. 

On 5/2/2020 at 10:52 AM, iMonrey said:

Ruby doesn't want to be a witch any more, but she still has power? Um, what's the difference? Presumably she doesn't want demons coming after her, so it seems like she'd need to relinquish her powers and become mortal to prevent that.

 

Yeah that was really confusing to me. She is still a witch, she still has her powers, just she doesn't want to use them because demons would come after her, but she still has powers so they should still come after her, so...whats the difference? What do witches even do anyway? Other than the Charmed Ones, the witches we see all seem to mostly just live normal lives, when they arent running away from demons, just that they can also teleport or something. Do they fight demons too? Use their powers to help people? What is the "witch life" that Ruby doesn't want exactly?

The whole bit about witches meeting under the guise of being fans of a "witch show from the aughts" was kind of cute, I admit.

I would say that this episode was a decent enough finale, but this season in general has been a mess. It had so many ideas, so many plots, so much going on, that it never took a second to breath, or to really explore any ideas thoroughly. The sisters fake their deaths! Family issues! Everyone gets a love interest! Curses! Abby! Demon/Witch war/truce! Elders are gone! Except for one! Our powers are gone! Our powers are back, but different! Evil Twin Whitelighters! Rouge human faction! They just threw so much stuff at us, that I felt like we were watching three seasons all cobbled together. Some of these ideas are interesting, but they went by so quickly that the show seemed to have no idea what they wanted to do, and the characters themselves got lost in the shuffle. 

So whats the over and under that coma sister is a witch?

[Primal Slayer]

On 5/4/2020 at 11:38 AM, tennisgurl said:

Oh my God, if they dont want Macy and Harry together, just dont make them be together, dont just put them together and then come up with reasons to keep them apart over and over! Just have them be a couple or not a couple! Of course, OG Charmed pulled this crap with Piper/Leo for like a million seasons too, so I guess this isn't a new thing. 

At least with Piper/Leo the reasonings made sense. They were together in S1, broke up due to him being a whitelighter then had a very consistent relationship as opposed to an entire season of Maggie/Harry lusting after one another and getting together for 5mins before they already face a breakup.

[Camera One]

This episode wasn't meant to be the finale, so I thought it didn't work as one at all.  I don't want to see any of these arcs again in Season 3 but now we have to.

Is Viv and Julian truly about "helping humanity" or just keeping the sister alive, at all costs?  Does Julian not realize it can be one without the other?   

I couldn't remember who Ruby was.  Wow, she's soo good at magic with no practice.  

Overall, it was pretty mud a dud episode.  Trapped in a marble?  

At least Elder lady is back.  

As said above, it's annoying to have another obstacle between Macy and Harry so soon.  Maybe he could have simply avoided being stupid enough to step out of the circle when Macy wasn't even in any real danger.

The Elders didn't think of adding another entrance to the Control Center?

Edited May 8, 2020 by Camera One

[Pepper the Cat]

Coma girl 

oops pretty damn good for someone who has been in a coma for 30 years. Nice full lips, nice flowing hair, no contractures, no muscle loss. And apparently recognized her grown up brother right away.

 

[Keywestclubkid]

They Need to reboot this again like they did for this Horrible Horrible mess of a season ... they also need to have a solid non muddled story line mapped out that doesn't involve 5 different seasons worth of plot points thrown in one season... focus back on the charmed ones and not their white lighter...Stop introducing characters that go nowhere and are dropped for no reason or keeping around ones that just have no point to the story and are just there ( how many times can the same evil person "trick" the charmed ones ( how stupid are you making them?) keep consistent with the powers they have and AGAIN for the LOVE OF all things Holy stop making them so stupid  ....

Edited May 13, 2020 by Keywestclubkid

[marshmallows]

On 5/13/2020 at 12:32 PM, Keywestclubkid said:

They Need to reboot this again like they did for this Horrible Horrible mess of a season ... they also need to have a solid non muddled story line mapped out that doesn't involve 5 different seasons worth of plot points thrown in one season... focus back on the charmed ones and not their white lighter...Stop introducing characters that go nowhere and are dropped for no reason or keeping around ones that just have no point to the story and are just there ( how many times can the same evil person "trick" the charmed ones ( how stupid are you making them?) keep consistent with the powers they have and AGAIN for the LOVE OF all things Holy stop making them so stupid  ....

YESS! Why is there so much focus on their whitelighter? Harry is easily the most interesting character- and well he shouldn't be.

Also for the love of God, can the writers actually show some sisterly love and connection. I feel zero bonding, care, or love between them. It feels like 3 people selected from different families were randomly selected to save the world together. The entire reason why people loved the OG Charmed was the sister's connection, because it definitely wasn't the amazing storylines lol.

 

[Camera One]

The showrunners seem to be doubling down and I don't think they see the problems with this season.

From their interview from fall finale:

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TVLINE | I’m glad. I’ve missed seeing the three sisters fighting together as one.
KRUGER | Sisters are individuals, so we felt it was important to establish them as individuals. By the time they come together as the Power of Three, they’ll have been on their own journeys. We don’t all live in one room with our siblings. They have to go out and have adventures that change them, so they’ll have other things to offer each other when they do come together. We felt strongly that the idea of shedding your labels and having your siblings see you in a different light was an interesting path to put them on.

Well, they were boring as individuals.  

And their interview from season finale:

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SHAPIRO | I feel like Parker and Maggie had the conversation that they needed to have a few weeks back, at least for the moment. That doesn’t mean we’ll never see Parker again, but it certainly put a punctuation on that relationship for a moment. Jordan and Maggie seem to have a very interesting friendship. We’ve really enjoyed writing for him, and I think he’s become a fan favorite, so we hope to continue writing for him. Not only is he a delightful person, but he also gets to be us — the ordinary person in the extraordinary world. And Abby is just a very complicated villain. We really like writing for her, as well. Each of these characters had their place in the endgame of the season, and we felt they really landed in a place that launched them forward. We have plans for all of them. They are all in our future, and in the future of the show.

More Abby for next year.  Same old same old.

[Cranberry]

I'm fine with more Jordan and Abigael as long as they can get them off their treadmills. Abi is interesting, but there's only so much "will she screw over the gang or help them out this time?" they can do before they push her more one way or the other... and Jordan is a good guy, but stuck in a place where he knows he needs to help witches to break his family's curse, but hasn't been able to actually do anything yet. Let's get these storylines rolling.

I agree that we need more sisterly bonding and a little less Harry next year. I like Harry, but he dominated the storylines this year and he shouldn't have. I also get what they were going for with the sisters growing as individuals, but they should have saved that idea for after their bond was truly cemented -- in season one, Macy still felt like the outsider, so we didn't really get a chance to see them as a solid unit before they got split up.

[iMonrey]

To be fair, the actors probably don't follow the "storyline" (such as it is) like the audience does. They get their scripts and do their jobs from week to week and it's probably harder for them to keep track of what's going on. 

But something needs to happen in the writing room because it's a colossal mess. We had nineteen episodes and every one of them had at least three different writers. Without doing any deep diving that potentially  means over 50 different writers contributed to this season. No wonder it was so inconsistent and unmanageable. 

Less is more, show. Less is more. 

[Rahul]

23 hours ago, iMonrey said:

But something needs to happen in the writing room because it's a colossal mess. We had nineteen episodes and every one of them had at least three different writers. Without doing any deep diving that potentially  means over 50 different writers contributed to this season. No wonder it was so inconsistent and unmanageable. 

The CW does not have the budget for a writing staff of 50 different writers for just one show, plus that would be highly impractical. Most writing rooms have 9-10 staff writers for a TV drama. I did a little reasearch and this season of Charmed had 16 different writers contribute:

Liz Kruger

Craig E. Shapiro 

Joey Falco

Nicki Renna 

Jeffrey Lieber

Natalia Fernandez 

Johanna Lee 

Jessica O'Toole

Amy Rardin 

Blake Taylor

Zoe Marshall 

Carolyn Townsend 

Aziza Aba Butain

Christina Piña 

Tommy Cook

Bianca Sams

 

A number of these people seem to be freelancers, however, only contributing one-offs. IMHO Charmed needs to either rehire Carter Covington as the showrunner or fire Liz Kruger and Craig Shapiro, who are entirely responsible for making this season the mess it was.

[Keywestclubkid]

On 5/16/2020 at 12:46 PM, Rahul said:

The CW does not have the budget for a writing staff of 50 different writers for just one show, plus that would be highly impractical. Most writing rooms have 9-10 staff writers for a TV drama. I did a little reasearch and this season of Charmed had 16 different writers contribute:

Liz Kruger

Craig E. Shapiro 

Joey Falco

Nicki Renna 

Jeffrey Lieber

Natalia Fernandez 

Johanna Lee 

Jessica O'Toole

Amy Rardin 

Blake Taylor

Zoe Marshall 

Carolyn Townsend 

Aziza Aba Butain

Christina Piña 

Tommy Cook

Bianca Sams

 

A number of these people seem to be freelancers, however, only contributing one-offs. IMHO Charmed needs to either rehire Carter Covington as the showrunner or fire Liz Kruger and Craig Shapiro, who are entirely responsible for making this season the mess it was.

If they are gonna just hire freelance one off writers the show needs a freaking bible that the writers at least follow so it makes sense .... They really are just throwing shit at the wall here and it shows

[Camera One]

Yes, if that's going to be the case, just do some stories-of-the-week that are at least fun to watch.  Their overarching stories were tediously boring without exception.  

[phoenics]

On 5/2/2020 at 12:17 AM, Primal Slayer said:

It was a decent finale and overall episode.

Not sure why Melanies new bae's power couldnt just be wind.....never a big fan of spells creating mroe powerful powers than...inherit powers. 

They really couldnt go more than 5 mins of having Harry/Maggie be happy could they? We just spent a WHOLE SEASON of them being dramatic with one another only for them to get together and now Harry wants to get rid of his feelings for Maggie!?!?! Are you KIDDING ME?

I did get a good laugh of "Retired witches attend this bar and pretend to be fans of this oughts Witch show" as an obvious wink and nod to the OG and its fans. 

I think you mean Harry/Macy.

[phoenics]

On 5/2/2020 at 4:37 PM, Happytobehere said:

Dear show, if you don’t want to do Harry/Macy, simply do not. Don’t play these BS games with the viewers.

My questions centered on Harry’s request are 1) he asked to forget, but is Macy going to remember? 2) Has he done something to Macy absent her consent to make her forget? 

My better not be the case thought: With the show having a tendency to go soap opera on us, this better not be a set-up for Macy to get back with Julian having forgotten her feelings for and night with Harry to be pregnant, with only Maggie knowing Harry could be the father.

Despite my issues, I thought this was a pretty solid episode. 

 

 

 

I feel it's safe to say the show is pretty gung-ho on Harry/Macy - this is just another twist in their story.  To be fair, Leo/Piper had constant twists and turns in the OG show, so I expected something like this with Harry/Macy - it's the only pairing on this show that has caught on like fire and TPTB know it. So they are gonna milk the chemistry-filled angst to the max.  Based on the fact that this show went up in ratings and is beating out other shows with better timeslots, I think the big difference in S2 was Hacy.  The show is gonna lean into that like the OG show leaned into Piper/Leo.

I'm super excited about this show.  I tried to watch in S1, but missed the first few episodes, and just couldn't get into it.  I started binging S2 and couldn't stop... then I made myself stop halfway through and then went back and watched S1 - I much prefer S2, and really appreciate the world-building.  They are creating their own mythology, honoring elements of Charmed, but giving things a different spin.

The whitelighter mythology I really enjoyed - it makes SO much sense that in order to create a super good person who just obeys out of a human there would be "leftovers" of the "ego-driven" and bad parts.

Also - Macy's wardrobe is SO much better in S2.  S1 tried to make her "quirky" in her clothes and I will never forgive those cropped culottes in S1E3 that made her look like she was wearing hobbit clothes.

Bring on S3!

[phoenics]

On 5/5/2020 at 12:58 PM, Primal Slayer said:

At least with Piper/Leo the reasonings made sense. They were together in S1, broke up due to him being a whitelighter then had a very consistent relationship as opposed to an entire season of Maggie/Harry lusting after one another and getting together for 5mins before they already face a breakup.

Leo  and Piper had twist upon twist and angst loaded upon more angst nearly the entire series.  I remember several starts and stops before they got together - and their angst felt uber painful to watch at the time.

Maybe it's because I got to binge this that I just enjoyed the angst with Harry and MACY (Maggie is the youngest sister who is an empath), instead of grated against it.  For once it felt like the show was going to follow through and all the hallmarks of an endgame couple have been in the writing for them - just like I thought it was for Leo/Piper.

I do agree that there was a LOT of Harry this season though, but I enjoyed the way they did the arcs.  The back half of the season centered the sisters a lot more and put them together more too.

Edited July 2, 2020 by phoenics

[Speakeasy]

You know to give the romance subplots their due-the fact I want to smack Harry in the mouth after the end of this episode for suggesting he magically remove his love for Macy shows that I'm engaged with them as a couple. How do ratings from people who watch the show to grind their teeth in frustration look? Remarkably similar to the ones from people who watch it and love every second. 

I'm being well and truly played here. Nonetheless FOR CHRISTS SAKE HARRY HAVE YOU NOT BEEN PAYING ATTENTION TO THE VERY OBVIOUS THEMES OF THIS SEASON?

Daaaaahhhh 😛

You are this close to losing your OTP sticker young man.

Elder Celeste did not explain how the marble worked. It was also not very cool of the Elders not to inform retiree witches about how the marbles worked. The Elders, incompetent as they were horrible, they had it coming. Except for the Indian doctor-Elder Bari, I think, she was nice and it was a shame she got killed.

'We need to find a witch who will give up her marble' -giggitus giggitus

Why did Jimmy need to use the big board to escape rather than orbing away? I notice also how the Charmed Ones just kind of stood there looking bewildered while he made a break for it and they needed a supposedly de-magicked Ruby to bail them out.

So Maggie was having panic attacks because of her daddy issues a few days ago and now she's able to give instant claustrophobia treatments with the new power she got a few days ago.

On that point Maggie is at this point objectively the best one, she's got the best control of her powers, she's actually made the useless power of prophecy (I always felt so sorry for Phoebe, basically defenceless and getting interrupted by visions of death all the time) work for her with her RDJ-Sherlock Holmes technique, she's honestly shown the most decisiveness and intelligence of all of them... I mean her plan for dealing with Abigael without murder? That was a good plan. That plan should have worked.

If there needs to be a leader Maggie should actually be it, is what I'm saying.

That interview @Camera One posted... It's kind of frustrating when writers try to obfuscate like this 'Jordan and Maggie have an interesting friendship'- bro you are clearly setting them up. I know you don't want to go into details but seriously. It might be nice to have a romance with less secrets and lies and stabbing (well probably some stabbing but neither of the lovers stabbing each other).

I have to disagree with them about Abi being an interesting villain, she's a potentially interesting character but as a villain shes not especially intimidating or compelling. I think she'd be a lot more interesting as an ally or antihero of some sort so she has to go through some character development. 

edit: wait, this is the season finale?? What? No! You can't end a season with everything up in the air like that wehere they don't even know if the baddies are going to get into their base. No! Shenanigans!

Edited December 18, 2020 by Speakeasy
Outrage

[phoenics]

Speakeasy your Edit reasons are hilarious, lol.