S01.E04: Exorcise Your Demons

[Lady Calypso]

Quote

STRONGER THAN YOU KNOW — While waiting for The Elders to arrive, the sister’s patience is growing thin as they keep a watchful eye on their new charge. Once one of The Elders, Charity (guest star Virginia Williams), appears, she gives specific instructions on how to handle the situation. Mel (Melonie Diaz) does not agree with the solution and enlists Maggie (Sarah Jeffery) and Macy’s (Madeleine Mantock) and even Harry’s (Rupert Evans) help, but it means going against The Elders. Meanwhile, Macy, Mel and Maggie are all starting to realize that juggling their two worlds is becoming more difficult. Ser’Darius Blain and Ellen Tamaki also star. Melanie Mayron directed the episode written by Marcos Luevanos (#104). Original airdate 11/4/2018.

[Lady Calypso]

So, it took the Elders two full days to come down and deal with a powerful demon. Of course they did. I did enjoy Charity, to my surprise. She admitted when she was wrong, she was firm in her decision, and she was kind of helpful. I get Mel wants to help and that killing the demon was also killing Angela, but...I also saw Charity's side. 

I'm still a little wary of the change in how Elders work from the original, but....I guess this does make more sense for Elders to literally be senior witches. They're more helpful that way. Also, their transportation method makes more sense than the reboot's Whitelighters! 

I liked Macy's stuff. I like her exploring her family heritage and her questioning why she was given up. It's much more interesting than her boring romance with Pushy Galvin. 

I can't say I blame Maggie for not wanting to touch the Harbinger. I did enjoy the line about Maggie only going to that school because her Mom essentially got her in. It intentionally revealed a little part about Maggie. Even if she wasn't distracted by demons, she doesn't seem interested in school. I also do not like Maggie kissing her Kappa sister's boyfriend. Not only is Parker bland, but Lucy's been a good friend to her. Plus, the scene was very off. 

Sorry Nico's cop partner. You were cute, but you're dead now. Sucks for Nico and for Mel. And I guess Charity's way of cleaning things up was framing Nico's partner. 

[Primal Slayer]

Oooh boy...so this episode was on par with lasts week but this definitely brought about some of the most major changes from the OG...

We are introduced to our "1st" Elder...Charity who apparently is just a powerful witch. This already raises so many questions for me, especially after we find out that the sisters mother was also an Elder! So if older Witches become Elders then where do Whitelighters come in? And they are already dying off? Oy vey. So many questions about these versions of the Elders....are they dead? They are obviously witches which means is Harry a witch? Do they age? Was their mom already dead? How do you gain Elder status? Where do Whitelighters really reside? Why are Whitelighters dead people but Elders alive? I am trying to do the whole "this is a new show with new rules" but it is really hard for me to wrap this major difference around my head.

I found bringing in an Elder to say "ok so this girl must die because she possessed by a very powerful demon and is already dead" only for Mel to rebel and say "ugh...I just did a simple spell that proved that she is in there", why should we be caring or listening to these Elders when they cant even be right about something so simple? We had that and then we had the girls mother hide a spell in the Book of Shadows on how to expel said demon, like that is something pretty important. If she is an Elder why wouldnt she share that with her fellow Elders? And we end on Charity getting mind wiped by what I presume is a high level demon...so again. What use are the Elders? All they've done since we met them is fail. 

Introducing Nico's partner and killing him off in the same episode was a rush. First of all, Nico was at the Halloween party which didnt seem to get brought up. Then we had him trail the girls and find out their secret only to get killed but not even have Harry who is like 2 steps away from him try to heal him. It made zero sense. Just so we could save the innocent but get rid of the pesky detective. FYI..they should've given Nico's actress some tear drops because she didnt shed a single tear during that emotional breakdown.

Really disappointed that the girl was saved. If we are rushing into things then we should already hit on the "not every innocent can be saved" storyline. If anything the detective should've stuck around longer.

Maggie continues to grow though it I am 100% over the sorority storyline and the love triangle they set up for her to cause issue with her sorority sister. BUT Maggies powers grew this episode which, while quick, wasnt bad. She can now communicate via telepathy with those she touches. Should come in handy.

My biggest problem with this episode was that it was just way to early in the series for all of this to be happening. This is like S2/3 type stuff if not end of the season type stuff. They are rushing things a lot.

[Lady Calypso]

6 minutes ago, Primal Slayer said:

We are introduced to our "1st" Elder...Charity who apparently is just a powerful witch. This already raises so many questions for me, especially after we find out that the sisters mother was also an Elder! So if older Witches become Elders then where do Whitelighters come in? And they are already dying off? Oy vey. So many questions about these versions of the Elders....are they dead? They are obviously witches which means is Harry a witch? Do they age? Was their mom already dead? How do you gain Elder status? Where do Whitelighters really reside? Why are Whitelighters dead people but Elders alive? I am trying to do the whole "this is a new show with new rules" but it is really hard for me to wrap this major difference around my head.

It sounds like Elders aren't dead, since they're essentially "senior witches"....I think. Their mom was apparently an Elder (which...what?) and if she was already dead as an Elder, then the push out the window wouldn't have killed her. So....basically, those are questions that will be answered at some point.

Whitelighters seem to be dead, like the originals, as Harry specified that he was born in the 1920s. 

[Primal Slayer]

Just now, Lady Calypso said:

It sounds like Elders aren't dead, since they're essentially "senior witches"....I think. Their mom was apparently an Elder (which...what?) and if she was already dead as an Elder, then the push out the window wouldn't have killed her. So....basically, those are questions that will be answered at some point.

Whitelighters seem to be dead, like the originals, as Harry specified that he was born in the 1920s. 

Right but why and how do they bring back the dead to be Whitelighters when Elders are just regular witches who will die? I know we will have to wait for those questions to be answered (if they are) but such a weird thing to introduce and not just answer right away. 

[AnimeMania]

The girls were wearing gloves, but I saw the Harbinger touch Harry's bare hand several times while he was restraining her. The Sorority Sister has been nothing but nice and supportive of Maggie, why are they making Maggie steal her low-life boyfriend. 

[BooBear]

7 hours ago, Primal Slayer said:

Introducing Nico's partner and killing him off in the same episode was a rush. First of all, Nico was at the Halloween party which didnt seem to get brought up. Then we had him trail the girls and find out their secret only to get killed but not even have Harry who is like 2 steps away from him try to heal him. It made zero sense. Just so we could save the innocent but get rid of the pesky detective. FYI..they should've given Nico's actress some tear drops because she didnt shed a single tear during that emotional breakdown.Really disappointed that the girl was saved. If we are rushing into things then we should already hit on the "not every innocent can be saved" storyline. If anything the detective should've stuck around longer.

This was my biggest problem with the episode. Wasn't Nico's partner an innocent too?  I also have severe problem with the elder framing him and Mel not being more upset about that. Not only did that guy get killed  but his life long reputation was ruined.  I really hated the way Mel was so obsessed with saving Angela when, as pointed out many times, if not successful they could have hurt a lot of people.

If mom's power was premonition why didn't she see her own death? 

Gavin remains a pushy snooze and I don't like Maggie and the new guy. So cliche'.  In fact, if you can't write romances writers maybe you should just allow one girl to be single for three seconds. 

This might be the episode that makes me never watch again. 

[Primal Slayer]

Even with the power of premonition, you cant see everything. But it will be an easy out for the future spells that they need that suddenly show up. Interesting that they only called it power of prophecy though. 

[Esmeralda]

They really didn't like Phoebe's power of premonition, did they?  First they give Maggie a different power and then they let their mother have it, but call it something different.  And I will always insist that of the original three, Phoebe's was most important because it showed them which innocent needed protecting.  Of course, that changed in the alternate-universe spin-off known as S4-8 when their destiny changed from protecting innocent to vanquishing the Source and then protecting the Twice-Blessed Brat.

 "We're supposed to protect the innocent, not punish the guilty.".  Looks like this group of Charmed Ones are supposed to punish the guilty not protect the innocent. or they'd protect both Angela and Nico's partner. 

No, I don't want to watch this.  I'm not sure if I even want to hear about it anymore, not unless it changes a lot.

Edited November 5, 2018 by Esmeralda

[UNOSEZ]

Parker seems douchey... And I don't trust him.. And I don't like Maggie kissing him even if it was to keep him from seeing Angela.. But his speech about the guitar was good ( minus the line about Maggie being smart.. Not that she isn't but as he's obviously smitten with her it feels like a line) didn't like Mel putting ppl in danger.. But I never like when characters do that.. Especially when they frame ppl like the elder and macy as cold for being rational and thinking of other ppl 

[Lady Calypso]

11 hours ago, Primal Slayer said:

I found bringing in an Elder to say "ok so this girl must die because she possessed by a very powerful demon and is already dead" only for Mel to rebel and say "ugh...I just did a simple spell that proved that she is in there", why should we be caring or listening to these Elders when they cant even be right about something so simple? We had that and then we had the girls mother hide a spell in the Book of Shadows on how to expel said demon, like that is something pretty important. If she is an Elder why wouldnt she share that with her fellow Elders? And we end on Charity getting mind wiped by what I presume is a high level demon...so again. What use are the Elders? All they've done since we met them is fail. 

Well, they used the excuse that they didn't have much information about the Harbinger demon (which...WTF?) and they couldn't be sure, so they had to kill her. Charity did admit she was wrong when Mel told her, but still...decided to kill an innocent girl anyway. Well, then she came around in the end, but still. 

It just sucks that the first time we hear about the Elders, it's apparently that they're also being killed off. Well, no shit. You got demons roaming about in Elder Land, just using their power to steal other powerful demons from paint cans and strolling in their black clothing amongst Elders who are probably all wearing white. Apparently, Elders have shit security. 

2 hours ago, Primal Slayer said:

Even with the power of premonition, you cant see everything. But it will be an easy out for the future spells that they need that suddenly show up. Interesting that they only called it power of prophecy though. 

It's why I assume their mother's power of prophecy is different than premonitions or precognition. Power of Prophecy sounds less clear cut, I think. 

Seriously, how is this being promoted as female power we've already had one of the sisters kissing a guy who's in a blatant relationship with her sorority sister?

Also, yeah, Mel was WAY too chill about Nico's dead partner. She seemed more torn up that she knew how he died, rather than him being blatantly framed to...what, protect one girl that was possessed? Ok great, so while protecting one girl who didn't know what she was doing, you're going to be fine with a dead man's name being tarnished because he was in the wrong place at the wrong time and did nothing wrong. Cool, good to know that this may be where you're heading.

[Stardancer Supreme]

Is Niko the only detective in the police department?  The sisters may have to let her in on the supernatural stuff going on if she is going to be the first one on scene for supernatural shenanigans.  Her partner, while annoying, didn't need to go out like that.  And how does one weep with no tears? 

I like Charity, but these Elders can be killed and easily glamoured by demons? Useless.

[UNOSEZ]

23 minutes ago, Lady Calypso said:

Seriously, how is this being promoted as female power we've already had one of the sisters kissing a guy who's in a blatant relationship with her sorority sister?

Also, yeah, Mel was WAY too chill about Nico's dead partner.

I read these comments before finishing the episode.. So when I actually saw her reaction I didn't think it was so bad.. It was more shock.. She knew that the elder said she handled it in a way to keep suspicion of of them.. Don't think she expected that... I was annoyed at the "it wasn't your fault" that macy gave her.. Too many times onbtv shows main characters do stupid selfish things in the name of some nonsense and someone minor gets hurt and instead of the appropriate response we get other characters falling over each other to alleviate the guilt.. That's Bs to me... Melt in her selfish and obstinate attempt to right her percieved wrong.. Put everyone in danger and because she wasn't doing what was asked her girlfriends partner was killed and his reputation ruined( hope he doesn't have kids)  she should be feeling bad and they should let her... I think the show shoulda let him live.. Then they woulda had someone on the outside who could help cleanup messes.. And it woulda been fun watching him and the girls keep this madness from Niki... 

Female empowerment doesn't stop women from making rash or selfish moves.. Its ( to my understanding) about letting them have agency to make their own moves and mistakes.. So Maggie doing what she did isn't cool and a betrayal of a friend who while maybe is supposed to be someone we don't like has been pretty cool.. But I don't see how it isn't empowerment.. 

Dunno why I got this feeling... But is Macy's dad a demon or some other creature that the elders wouldn't approve of?...  Also liked that the spell was santeria and interested in the fact that the elders have forbidden it.. Which hopefully leads to discussions about how euro-centric these witches and elders seem

[questionfear]

8 hours ago, AnimeMania said:

The girls were wearing gloves, but I saw the Harbinger touch Harry's bare hand several times while he was restraining her. The Sorority Sister has been nothing but nice and supportive of Maggie, why are they making Maggie steal her low-life boyfriend. 

Harry is a whitelighter-he might not be subject to uberpox. 

[Lady Calypso]

33 minutes ago, UNOSEZ said:

Female empowerment doesn't stop women from making rash or selfish moves.. Its ( to my understanding) about letting them have agency to make their own moves and mistakes.. So Maggie doing what she did isn't cool and a betrayal of a friend who while maybe is supposed to be someone we don't like has been pretty cool.. But I don't see how it isn't empowerment.. 

I think, for me, the show has been blatant in how it's thriving on female empowerment but then it immediately falls on cliches like cheating and love triangles. The original show didn't feel the need to have the men so present in the storyline right off the bat. I understand this reboot is entirely different, but it's just so tiring to see "main character kisses unattainable boy", where it's just going to lead into bad drama. A smarter show would have found a different way for Maggie to distract Parker. This is just lazy writing AND still goes against the message they've been trying to send. No, show, I don't give two shits about Maggie and Parker, and her kissing him while knowing he's in a relationship with her sorority sister is just going too far. It made Maggie unlikable for a split second, and Maggie was the only character I was really loving. 

So my annoyance lies with lazy writing. Been there, done that with the love triangles and the cheating. 

[UNOSEZ]

16 minutes ago, Lady Calypso said:

So my annoyance lies with lazy writing. Been there, done that with the love triangles and the cheating

Well I can  agree with that.. Maybe it woulda been understandable if there wasn't an obvious attraction but there is so boo on Maggie.. But also selfishly I was hoping of actually  seeing Maggie with a person of color.. The actress always seems to be paired up with white guys.. Now I'm the result of one such pairing.. And generally have no issue with it.. But the CW seems to have a problem casting women of color opposite men of color.. I mean even tho Galvin is pretty vanilla at the moment its still refreshing seeing two blk folks together

[Keywestclubkid]

Making the Elders "Human" witches and making their mom one was so stupid... good god  and why make the whitelighters travel with a snap of the finger but have "Elders" take days to get anywhere? Why make the whitelighters seem more powerful then elders at all? why even have the elders?  and a brand new witch knows a simple spell that no elder or whitelighter would have thought to use  just to make sure her soul wasn't gone? so killing and framing Innocents is fine in this world but making a glamor or freezing someone so you can be honest with them are huge NO NOS? where is the first do no harm rule for real? and why is every male on this show pretty much a scumbag who cheats or rapes or a spineless wimp? the show just keeps digging itself deeper with each new episode ....when the witches seem like the bad guys and you wish for Witch Hunters to show up because atleast someone would be protecting the innocents from the witches that seem to not care there is something really really wrong with the show

Edited November 5, 2018 by Keywestclubkid

[iMonrey]

I actually thought this was pretty good, although making the Elders simply be witches who are experienced, while a good idea in its own right, does muddy the waters when it comes to Whitelighters. 

The Elders were just always so revered and mysterious in the original show so I kind of prefer this take on it and the shock that they would actually frame a cop for murder and stage a suicide just to cover up a demon vanquishing. Yowza. That makes this show so much darker than the original. Which, again, I don't really mind. I just can't figure out how the Whitelighters come into play.

And, hello Craig Parker! Haven't seen him in anything since Spartacus.

[slf]

I don't care what changes they make to the Elders (and I'm willing to wait and see what they're going for with the Elders and the Whitelighters; it's only the fourth episode) so long as I never ever ever ever ever ever ever have to hear about fucking Magic School. Almost everything about the magical hierarchy and culture on Charmed was just so cheesy and poorly thought out. I'm not upset this show deviated from that.

[Lugal]

4 minutes ago, slf said:

I don't care what changes they make to the Elders (and I'm willing to wait and see what they're going for with the Elders and the Whitelighters; it's only the fourth episode) so long as I never ever ever ever ever ever ever have to hear about fucking Magic School.

Back in the day my sister and I referred to Magic School as "Blogmorts: A Completely Original Creation Not In Anyway Connected To A Certain British Young Adult Fantasy Franchise" or something like that.  But seriously with Harry Potter old hat now, I think we're probably safe.

[CheezyXpressed]

The Elders from before were horrible and seemed evil, even though they're meant to be good guys. I like how the ones here actually do stuff instead of just criticising and making rules up. 

I'm still not feeling Galvin. He's way too pushy for affection and while that may be cute, it feels more claustrophobic. Maybe if we saw Macy actively avoiding him then his words wouldn't feel so in your face, but it seems like ever scene with him is about how lonely he is not having Macy by his side.

Female empowerment is important, but females are human and do stupid stuff so Maggie kissing the guy to distract him, while horrible, doesn't mean the show isn't about empowerment.

She made a mistake and will hopefully grow from it, especially since the blonde one seems like a nice person. It would be nice if this arc ends with them being better friends as opposed to a love triangle.

 

Nico cried with no tears and Mel seemed calm over the dead guy. I can see why they like each other.

[Maelstrom]

Dear Show,

I know we haven’t known each other all that long, but I just don’t think it’s working out. It’s not you, it’s me - I was expecting you to be entertaining. I’m sorry it has to end like this, but I hope we can still stay friends. But don’t call me, I’ll call you.

Sincerely,

Maelstrom

[dungeonwriter]

I tried this week and could not get past 10 minutes. 

The Harbinger literally kills with a touch, and the Charmed Ones want to save her. Yeah, that's not noble, that's stupid and selfish. Being a soldier for good means sacrifices, and while it's nice to think that there's still a chance, in real life, you need to make cold, hard choices. And the Charmed Ones were rewarded for choosing one person over humanity. In real life, that stuff doesn't work and the victory felt unearned. 

[Camera One]

How did Tripp the police partner end up dead?  I was doing something else while watching, so did I miss something hitting him on the neck?  Or were we just supposed to see the aftermath of him lying there?

I thought this episode was better than last week.  Finally, they addressed Maggie's schoolwork.  It made sense that she got into the school because of her mom.  

Although I wanted the girl to be saved, Mel is a little abrasive to watch.  The Elders are also very frustrating with their kill first, ask questions later attitude.  

And of course, some evil character just easily steals the paint can at the end.  Haven't we seen enough of this plot?  They need to bring it back again later?

The background pop music in this episode was really distracting.

Edited November 6, 2018 by Camera One

[tennisgurl]

Oh goodie, the Elders have arrived! I dont know how I feel about this new version of the Elder mythology here. Having them be just very powerful witches, who can just live their lives, with Elder stuff just being a part time job or something, kind of takes away some of the mystic of the Elders, or what makes them the people in charge anyway. On the other hand, at least these Elders seem to actually do stuff, and dont just wander around in giant robes, or chill on top of the Golden Gate Bridge and wait for the Charmed Ones to complain about stuff. 

I did like Charity actually, she made some good points she admitted to being wrong, and I thought the actress was pretty compelling. Of course, even she gets easily whammied by some presumably demon guy instantly. The Elders, no matter what iteration, are always useless. 

Mel was really annoying this episode. Its good to want to help Angela, and I get that she felt guilty, but she was risking possibly killing a whole lot of people, to save one person, and so she wouldn't have to feel bad. And then, someone else dies for her to feel guilty about anyway! Poor partner guy, not only was he killed, but he had his name dragged through the mud after her death. And yeah, I am happy that Angela was saved, by the sisters seemed super cavalier about an innocent person dying during one of their rituals, and then having his memory ruined. Hope he didnt have a family, because if he did, his insurance probably wouldn't kick in, and they would be screwed. It just felt weird and kind of cold, especially as he was Mel's girlfriends partner. Wow, if she finds out, thats gonna be super awkward.

Not cool kissing your friends boyfriend, Maggie. Not cool. The guy is clearly a dick, hard pass!

[AngelKitty]

21 hours ago, Lady Calypso said:

It just sucks that the first time we hear about the Elders, it's apparently that they're also being killed off. Well, no shit. You got demons roaming about in Elder Land, just using their power to steal other powerful demons from paint cans and strolling in their black clothing amongst Elders who are probably all wearing white. Apparently, Elders have shit security.

Yes, I found this quite annoying. If Elders are being killed, you would think they would be extra on guard. Have we seen that guy before or is it a completely new face?

[AnimeMania]

13 hours ago, Camera One said:

How did Tripp the police partner end up dead?  I was doing something else while watching, so did I miss something hitting him on the neck?  Or were we just supposed to see the aftermath of him lying there?

I think he got bopped on the head while being laser focused, training his gun on some people cosplaying the Exorcist. He totally zone out on the fact that he was walking through a Category 5 supernatural tornado.

[txhorns79]

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Is Niko the only detective in the police department? 

I kept wondering what kind of police department was it where Niko would be assigned to investigate and question her own girlfriend.  That made no sense, particularly when Niko cited her relationship with Mel as a reason that Mel wouldn't be hiding anything. 

[rubyred]

16 hours ago, CheezyXpressed said:

Nico cried with no tears and Mel seemed calm over the dead guy. I can see why they like each other.

Hehehehheh. Also I had never seen the actor before, but was extremely distracted that he seemed to be RyanReynoldsLite. I kept waiting for him to be chem-tested with Macy, because I still think Galvin is a non-starter. But then he died. RIP, RR-Lite.

[kirkola]

5 hours ago, AngelKitty said:

Yes, I found this quite annoying. If Elders are being killed, you would think they would be extra on guard. Have we seen that guy before or is it a completely new face?

 I don't think we've seen him before on the show...but he looked really, really familiar.  The actor is Craig Parker, according to imdb.  And I've seen him doing other things, so he was recognizable, but I couldn't place him without imdb's help.

[iMonrey]

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I don't care what changes they make to the Elders ( . . . ) so long as I never ever ever ever ever ever ever have to hear about fucking Magic School.

Or fairies, or wood nymphs, or dwarfs, or muses . . . 

[welnoc]

On 11/5/2018 at 10:26 AM, questionfear said:

Harry is a whitelighter-he might not be subject to uberpox. 

Not to mention dead.

[Rockstar99435]

I like that the new Elders are witches. The original Elders drove me crazy. Their powers/origin story never made sense to me and I hated that they always tried to order the sisters around and give them rules/punishments. It seemed cosmically unfair that the side of Good would handicap itself when fighting Demons who never had any similar restrictions. As long as the Elders are just witches with experience who are a source of knowledge and help who can band together to help defeat bad guys when needed and not witch cops, then I'm okay with them. 

I really hope the blond sorority sister is as nice as she appears, but I can't help thinking that she and the boyfriend are this show's version of Hannah and Rex. She seems way to interested in Maggie. Every single time we see her, she talks about how much she likes her and wants them to be close. It's too much.

[CrazyDog]

What a kind of crappy episode.

I liked Charity at the start, but how is it OK to not only kill an innocent but also frame him for a series of murders? But it's NBD because they saved Angela. Bleh.

That was some seriously bad acting from Nico at the end.

I am starting to only like Macy and Harry at this point. And surprisingly the sorority sister. She seems pretty nice and I hope she ditches the crap boyfriend. Maggie...sigh. Not cool.

I have to hope they rectify what was done to Trip at some point. 

[Chas411]

Maggie is so annoying. I know it’s supposed to be cutesie but the constant distractions by whatever kappa/boy issue crops up near every demon disaster is so eye rolling. Also such a lame move to Kiss the kappas boyfriend. He seems like Such a dud.

Didnt like what happened with Tripp or that they framed him. It was such a bad move given how self righteous they were about saving Angela.

I assume something happened between Charity and Harry given the looks between them. I was more interested in that then any of the other sister romances so far.