S04.E01: Not That Girl

[Lady Calypso]

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SEASON PREMIERE - Mel (Melonie Diaz) and Maggie (Sarah Jeffery) are learning to navigate life without their sister Macy - Mel distracts herself with new flings at magical hotspot, the Blue Camellia bar, while Maggie is taking on more than her share of demon hunting. Meanwhile, Harry (Rupert Evans) is struggling, mourning his lost love, and Jordan (Jordan Donica) has teamed up with Maggie while navigating his newfound magical powers. Across the country in Philadelphia, an unsuspecting young woman (Lucy Barrett)...is living her life...mechanic by day, muralist by night...when she's suddenly thrust into a new world, coming face to face with the women she's inexplicably seen in her dreams. Just as Mel, Maggie and Harry are uncovering information about this mysterious new person, Josefina (guest star Mareya Salazar) goes missing on her way to a pixie-pledging ceremony, and Mel and Maggie must rely on their "new third" to help their cousin...and find out if she is indeed the other Charmed One that they were told was "out there somewhere." Kevin Dowling directed the episode written by Aziza Aba Butain and Jeffrey Leiber (#401). Original airdate 3/11/2022.

 

[iMonrey]

Opening the new season with a new character was a terrible idea. For about five minutes I thought I must be watching the wrong show. It's been so long since this show was last on the air it was hard enough as it was to remember half of what was going on.

What happened to Jordan? How did he get a healing power? He said he wasn't a Whitelighter. Is Harry still a Whitelighter? Didn't he become human so he could be with Macy or did they undo that? 

Is Abigael gone? Did she die or did she just disappear? What about Maggie's new boyfriend? She seems to be back with Jordan.

The show is still taking shortcuts and skipping important plot points. When the new sister was at the magical hotspot she walked up to the doorman and blew out the candle that transported her and the sisters back to the control center. How did she even know to do that??

Bright side, this episode was a bit more cohesive than anything we've seen the last couple of seasons. I hope the show can slow the heck down and focus on one thing at a time. Jury's still out on the new sister - I don't mind her so far.

[Primal Slayer]

It was an ok episode, not much changes in terms of writing for the show compared to other seasons.

I know the sisters are "mourning" Macys death but there isn't much emotion felt apart from the last part of the episode from them but I wasn't really expecting there to be with just how the sisters have been written for majority of the series.

Maggie/Jordan hunting down some low rent demons didn't feel like it had much intensity to it, why are demons running away from a white and a new whitelighter? The Power of 3 is dead, Maggie doesnt have a dangerous active power...and do these demons even have powers? They're demons but they go poof with a simple poke of an enchanted baton and knuckle ring.

Mel is single yet again, very abruptly. At this point I dont really know if there is any reason to get invested in any future relationship she has since none of they just end randomly. I also noticed that Melanie got some new teeth! She had her gap closed between the shows hiatus, it looks good.

What I was not surprised by...is that they had Harry be the most emotional one throughout the episode. I'm not sure if its just because the actor was able to convey it better but...Harry was definitely having a hard time with Macys death 6 months later.

The introduction to Charmed One num.4...Mikayla...thus far I like her. She and her friends have had more emotion for one another and connectivity than Macy/Mel/Maggie had throughout 30+ episodes. Her power being manifestation... not surprised since we knew she'd be an artist and this is the usual route one takes when a character is heavily into art. I don't really think her introduction scene was needed though because it did absolutely nothing for the character unless she continues to be a mechanic. It's one of those things that should've been played out throughout the season if not at least a couple of episodes. I also see that Mikayla is tall compared to her sisters as well lol so those shots of 3 them will continue to look slightly awkward as they attempt to frame everyone in scenes.

Maggie/Mel being apart from one another was also rushed. It's not something that felt genuine and just like a plot they decided to do to add to the episode. Them finding Mikayla also was a bit wonky. The fact that they already want Mikayla to move in and are ready to embrace a new Charmed sister makes me laugh because this series just refuses to have any type of chill.

Josefina...why do they keep bringing her back just to ship her off back home every time she shows up? Just add her to cast already.

Which brings me Harry/Jordan. With these 3 "supporting" characters...I can rarely remember the amount of times where the men of OG Charmed really had substantial scenes/stories outside of the sisters. I know Cole had some with his demons once he became The Source, Andy probably had some when he was working on the case of the innocent of the week but...I don't really need these 3 to have side stories that do not involve a Charmed One. Maggie/Mel and now Mikayla should always be the connective tissue. They have a storyline that comes back together with them as 3 if not 2 sisters in 1 plot, 1 in another plot where both plots combine.

I don't mind them adding magic to the show, I think having a magical bar is....better than Magic School lol but between fairy wing-parties and magic bars with magical creatures...we need some of the normal world.

Unfortunately as with previous seasons the sisters need a third party to tell them information about what is going on and how to potential fix the problem instead of finding it out themselves and consulting the BoS.

[Primal Slayer]

42 minutes ago, iMonrey said:

Opening the new season with a new character was a terrible idea. For about five minutes I thought I must be watching the wrong show. It's been so long since this show was last on the air it was hard enough as it was to remember half of what was going on.

yeah they really could've at least opened the show with Maggie/Mel dealing with Macys death shortly after it happened, give her a proper funeral, and show us through the months of them growing further and further apart.

42 minutes ago, iMonrey said:

What happened to Jordan? How did he get a healing power? He said he wasn't a Whitelighter. Is Harry still a Whitelighter? Didn't he become human so he could be with Macy or did they undo that? 

Jumping 6 months ahead and avoiding all of this was....a choice. He isnt a whitelighter since he wasnt created to be one but....he's a whitelighter lol. He briefly died when Harry was hellbent on becoming one again 5 minutes after he gave it up to become human lol. Im pretty sure Harry got his powers back because didnt he try to heal Macy?

42 minutes ago, iMonrey said:

Is Abigael gone? Did she die or did she just disappear? What about Maggie's new boyfriend? She seems to be back with Jordan.

Abbi is GONE. I think she went to go find herself? Did Maggie have a new bf at the end of S3? I dont even remember.

42 minutes ago, iMonrey said:

The show is still taking shortcuts and skipping important plot points. When the new sister was at the magical hotspot she walked up to the doorman and blew out the candle that transported her and the sisters back to the control center. How did she even know to do that??

I assume she saw the bar owner have the bounce blow the guy away so she figured that was how she got out of there as well.

[AnimeMania]

With all the stuff the Charmed One's threw into the negative space, Josefina will probably be pooping out weird things for weeks.

Kaela's manifestation powers seem weird since whatever they make is not actually the real thing, but something in between, like the apple. Which brings the Return to Command Center black ball, into question. This could use some clarification.

Kaela seemed to have a lot of unfinished business in Philly, but traveling back and forth may not be too big of a hassle. Kaela seems to be ill as well, we will see where that leads.

9 hours ago, Primal Slayer said:

Mel is single yet again, very abruptly. At this point I dont really know if there is any reason to get invested in any future relationship

I think this might have been done to give Mel and Abigael a chance, but Abigael might now also have a chance with Harry. They do love triangles on the CW.

Macy was the one that did all of the thinking on the show, we will see how they replace her contributions, I am guessing with a lot of help/consultations from outside sources.

[iMonrey]

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Did Maggie have a new bf at the end of S3? I dont even remember.

Yeah, Antonio - that guy in her class who was sort of a rival.

[GaT]

I still don't understand why they didn't make Josefina the new charmed one, it would make sense (and we certainly don't want THAT to happen), she already knows magic, she already knows the sisters, & she's a relative. Bringing in an unknown is just stupid IMO. In fact, Josefina makes so much sense as the new charmed one, it makes me wonder if the reason has to do with the actress being trans.

[Primal Slayer]

1 hour ago, GaT said:

I still don't understand why they didn't make Josefina the new charmed one, it would make sense (and we certainly don't want THAT to happen), she already knows magic, she already knows the sisters, & she's a relative. Bringing in an unknown is just stupid IMO. In fact, Josefina makes so much sense as the new charmed one, it makes me wonder if the reason has to do with the actress being trans.

....yeah I doubt it has to do with her being trans. They wouldnt have created the character at all if they had issues with that. Just the same reason as to why Batwoman didnt make Sophie into Batwoman and created a brand new black character to take up the mantle...Charmed is following suite. 

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TVLINE | Speaking of Kaela, adding her to the fold is really shaking up your dynamic as sisters.

DIAZ | We’re helping her learn how to hone her powers, but the funny thing is, the three of us really have no idea what we’re doing. We’re still figuring it out together with every mission and every demon.

When will Maggie/Mel ever be the ones with the most knowledge in the room?

When will Maggie/Mel ever be thes one with the most knowledge in the room?

Edited March 12, 2022 by Primal Slayer

[Keywestclubkid]

Question so he can heal others but not himself right? 

[Camera One]

I too thought I recorded the wrong show when it opened with the new character.  That first 5 minutes was so boring that I would have switched away if I were tuning in for first time.  

Maggie throwing herself into killing demons and Mel throwing herself into sleeping around was such a boring cliched response to grief that it took awhile to get into this episode.  But overall, it was a decent reboot of sorts.  The new character was reasonably likeable beyond the initial running away bit (which we will need to see more of next week, I guess).  It was nice to see someone non-magical react to magic again.  At least this episode was less boring than the umpteenth Abigail episode from the last two seasons.  This season, I hope they will just focus on the core "sisters" instead of wasting subplots on tangents with the three characters.

LOL when Mel told Kayla that she would help her to learn more about her powers.  Yeah right, they always seem to approach problems randomly though that's more reflective of the writers writing random stuff.

[Primal Slayer]

On 3/12/2022 at 3:47 PM, Keywestclubkid said:

Question so he can heal others but not himself right? 

Who knows, they make it up as they go along like the OG.

[iMonrey]

I watched a recap of Season 3 on YouTube and was reminded just what a colossal clusterfuck it was. It just raced from plot to plot like a manic child with ADD on a sugar high. Macy and Harry were tracking down ancient tables and there were monsters popping up right and left and the Perfecti and remember the Faction? Then there was Julian and his mother and their shady organization, and Jordan being cursed and sent to the tomb of Chaos, and sub plots with Macy inheriting Safe Space and Mel being a teacher trying to put a book on the curriculum and Maggie in school competing for some kind of program and then Mel got her future baby in her belly and then they were all chased around by the Whispering Evil. And Oh Yeah Abigael's sister and her mother and her demon side trying to kill her. And those are just the highlights!

I really, really hope this season can do better.