S01.E17: Surrender

[Lady Calypso]

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DEEPEST DESIRE — When Niko (Ellen Tamaki) reaches out to Mel (Melonie Diaz) for help, she unknowingly reveals a new demon. Maggie (Sarah Jeffery) volunteers to infiltrate the “cult” to help thwart him, but when she goes missing Macy (Madeleine Mantock) and Mel set out to find her before it’s too late.  Harry (Rupert Evans) must face the consequences of the “gift” that The Elders have bestowed on him, leaving Mel, Macy and Maggie shocked and angry.  Mel thinks that Fiona (guest star Leah Pipes) might be the key to helping Harry, which seems to cause trouble between her and Jada (guest star Aleyse Shannon).  Meanwhile, Parker (Nick Hargrove) is getting worse and Maggie has an idea on how to make him better.  Megan Follows directed the episode written by Sarah Goldfinger (#117).  Original airdate 3/31/2019. 

[Primal Slayer]

Overall I thought this was a pretty solid episode.

The Elders are officially TRASH and I don't know how they can really keep them in the show after this. The fact that they so willingly condemn a whitelighter to death because he broke an innocent rule is ridiculous and the way they spoke to TCO....was mind blowing. This was the most I have ever liked Mel and her ability to speak up. Macy/Maggie really should have as well. Though I didn't understand why the sisters thought "oh we'll reveal magic and force their hand" would only work once, keep doing it until they ACTUALLY listen to you and not just speak AT you. Of course this entire plot should be a S2/3 plot but whatever at this point.

The demon wasnt bad but I was thinking about how Buffy used a lot of similar themes when it came to sexism and everything but they didnt hit you over the head with it, you actually went back and thought "oooh hey this means THAT!" so I wish Charmed was smart enough to do it instead of spelling it out for us. Oh he uses a phallic looking dagger to kill these people, how we vanquish him by throwing a knife into his penis. 

Powers as usual were....new Charmed like. Mel's freezing is hella strong! Not only can she freeze someone and have them be touched over and over without unfreezing, she is able to freeze long distance and through closed doors. Still not a fan of the fight scenes with her and Maggie since I just feel like they are unearned and just there to show them being badass instead of the sisters having a reason to train like Prue/Phoebe did.

[AnimeMania]

My favorite scene was Fiona slapping Harry while he was frozen.

Did The Elders really try to send Chastity to Tartarus and not realize that she never made it there?

It was strange that Niko told Mel that she is always around when weird things happen especially since Niko asked her to be there.

The demon Viralis' dagger didn't look anything like a phallus, I guess Macy was fantasizing about Gavin again. 

[iMonrey]

I can't wrap my head around what the Elders condemned Harry to. Sure, remove his powers or "clip his wings" as they did to Leo in the original series. But Leo didn't spontaneously turn into a 98 year old man. Geez. Talk about cruel and unusual punishment! How could he even explain that to people if the Elders are so damn concerned about magic being exposed? Mel hadn't really even done anything yet before they were teleported to the Elder Council or wherever that was but Harry is supposed to go around rapidly aging in a matter of days and they don't think anyone will notice that?

I'm not sure if the show understands the damage they are doing to the concept of the Elders here unless it is their intention to make them look as diabolical as possible, and I doubt that.

[Stardancer Supreme]

9 hours ago, AnimeMania said:

My favorite scene was Fiona slapping Harry while he was frozen.

Did The Elders really try to send Chastity to Tartarus and not realize that she never made it there?

It was strange that Niko told Mel that she is always around when weird things happen especially since Niko asked her to be there.

The demon Viralis' dagger didn't look anything like a phallus, I guess Macy was fantasizing about Gavin again. 

Look like Fiona has a hidden agenda... Hopefully Harry will be okay! 

The Elders are ridiculous. I would have made sure Chastity made it to Tartarus in light of other shenanigans currently afoot.

We need a Sarcana episode soon. Clearly Jada and the others are about to be pawns in whatever Fiona is cooking up.

My only quibbles are that 1) I didn't quite buy Maggie being able to overpower Mel when it comes to scrapping.  2) Why is the show pushing Niko on us? Is the spell used on her about to break? 3) Did TCO hear Fiona "whisper" to Jada? Worst acting voice ever.

[Primal Slayer]

If the Elders are watching them that closely then how are they not seeing everything else they do but choose to ignore?

[Primal Slayer]

What's the point of tartarus if the bad guys control it? Or did I miss it being a neutral zone?

[theatremouse]

9 hours ago, Stardancer Supreme said:

Did TCO hear Fiona "whisper" to Jada? Worst acting voice ever.

I could barely hear it. Was it just me or was the sound mix in this episode TERRIBLE? Any scene with any kind of background music the music was 3x louder than the actors. I felt like I couldn't hear half the dialogue. It was really frustrating.

[Stardancer Supreme]

16 hours ago, Primal Slayer said:

What's the point of tartarus if the bad guys control it? Or did I miss it being a neutral zone?

I think Tartarus is a neutral place; it's just that everyone can send anyone there.  Plus Alistair intercepted Charity before she got to the portal.  I am confused about how none of the Elders are aware that Chastity didn't make it to Tartarus. Who did the 2 guards belong to? Wouldn't anyone notice that they didn't come back? 

[Lady Calypso]

We're on episode 17, we barely even saw Charity and Harry together, and now he's getting punished by the Elders? This show really needs to slow down and actually show stuff onscreen more. This is why I can't love this show; everything non-sisters is practically developed offscreen. Magic, fighting, some romantic relationships. C'mon, show.

The original show had issues with the Elders, but even the original show was smart in only having the Elders as a looming presence for their first season and not turn them this awful this quickly. And the original show's Elders weren't great to begin with! I do like how the Charmed Ones here are actually legit treated as what could be the most powerful witches. This show has been consistent with that.

Tyler Blackburn looked like he was having a blast playing an evil demon. Finally, the show gets an excellent guest actor who really played the role. As gross as his demon character was, he was fun to watch nonetheless.

So, Harry makes this big speech about how the Charmed Ones are his legacy and he's so proud of them....but he's only been their whitelighter for, like, six months. You can see how jarring it is to have these big moments so soon in the series. 

Sorry, show. If you're trying to go back to the Niko/Mel pairing, I ain't buying it. I love Mel/Jada a little too much. It's the only romantic couple that appeals to me. Mel/Jada's relationship is complicated, but much more fascinating to watch because of it. Jada is a more compelling character because of the choices she makes and why she makes them. Niko kind of sucks the life out of anything interesting about Mel. 

Also, how is is that Viralis told the girls to kill anyone that got in their way to get that girl, and the only thing they did was knock Niko out when they showed up at her apartment? Plot contrivance, I know.

Fiona's still kind of there for me. She's not really capturing me like the show hopes she's doing.

This episode still was one of the better ones this season. Getting back to some actual demon fighting with a formidable demon and the core of the sisters+Harry was great. 

[iMonrey]

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The original show had issues with the Elders, but even the original show was smart in only having the Elders as a looming presence for their first season and not turn them this awful this quickly.

I don't think they even had Elders in the first season of the original show. The concept of the Whitelighters changed drastically over the course of the series. I agree things are moving way too fast for the first season of this show. They keep skipping over the emotional beats and I don't understand why. At first I figured they were trying to cram as much into it as possible when they didn't know if they'd get more than 13 episodes to make their mark. And it's gotten a little better since then but the writing is still frenetic. 

Was that supposed to be Parker in the final shot when his mother went into  . . . wherever she went? I didn't get what was going on there.

[Stardancer Supreme]

Yes, that was Parker in full demon cloud mode. I would hope that he decides to stay a full demon. He is more useful to TCO as a demon.

[Primal Slayer]

That's the most interesting aspect of S2+beyond for this show...they've blown through SO MANY storylines that should've been introduced later in the series that I don't know what they''ll do. They've 8 years of OG Charmed in 17 episodes. 

[theatremouse]

11 hours ago, Lady Calypso said:

So, Harry makes this big speech about how the Charmed Ones are his legacy and he's so proud of them....but he's only been their whitelighter for, like, six months. You can see how jarring it is to have these big moments so soon in the series. 

I thought they insinuated he'd Whitelightered previous Charmed Ones in the past, and it's only these Charmed Ones he's been with six months? 

[tennisgurl]

These monsters of the week are not very subtle, huh? Its like every bad guy we meet is some evil dickhead out to abuse and suppress women with some phallic knife or magic date rape drugs or something. It was great seeing Tyler Blackburn though, he was clearly having a ton of fun as the demon, he brought a ton of energy to a pretty one dimensional villain.

I kind of hope that Parker stays half human and half demon, he is really a lot more helpful and interesting with demon powers than without. His full demon self looked sufficiently creepy though. 

The Elders really are just so awful! Like, I know that the Elders on OG Charmed were dicks too, but these guys dont even TRY to not be huge assholes. I mean, firing Harry, or giving the Charmed Ones a new White Lighter? Not a great look, but at least understandable. Leaving Harry to die a lingering, slow death, while telling the Charmed Ones to shut up with their pleas to keep him alive, is just twisted! And for such a stupid infraction! They suck so hard, no wonder the Sarcona left them. 

On the other hand, Fiona is apparently evil too, and the Sarcona might not be so on the up and up either. I like Jade, but she seemed awful callus to Mel about Harry dying. I mean, even if she cant or wont do anything to help him, she could at least have a bit more sympathy for her girlfriend losing someone she cared about, not just rolling her eyes and trash talking the guy. 

I do still like Jade more than Niko though, and I much prefer them to Niko and Mel. They have better chemistry, she is a more interesting character, and she has more to do with the plot, while Niko isnt in on the secret, so is kind of just off doing her own thing, and Mel is hiding stuff from her just like when they were together.

So much is happening so fast! Slow down show, take a breath!

[Karen885]

Are they supposed to live in Michigan? Lmao. I live in Michigan. This show is nothing like the Michigan I live in.  In an earlier episode they mentioned being 2 hours from Chicago. 

[krankydoodle]

1 hour ago, Karen885 said:

Are they supposed to live in Michigan? Lmao. I live in Michigan. This show is nothing like the Michigan I live in. 

I thought I misheard when someone on an episode mentioned Michigan, but according to the show's Wikipedia article, it's set in the fictional college town of Hilltowne, MI.

[Karen885]

Maybe based on the town of Hillsdale Michigan and Hillsdale College?

18 hours ago, krankydoodle said:

I thought I misheard when someone on an episode mentioned Michigan, but according to the show's Wikipedia article, it's set in the fictional college town of Hilltowne, MI.

Maybe based in Hillsdale College and Hillsdale, MI?

[Camera One]

It was sad two innocent women had to die for this week's demon-of-the-week.  They didn't explain why Maggie fell under the demon's spell... so the Charmed Ones are sometimes immune and sometimes not?  While I like that the Charmed Ones are shown to be more powerful, sometimes, I'm not sure if they're using that excuse to handwave why they randomly have the power to do stuff.

It looks like Fiona is just full-out evil.  So much for playing with shades of grey.  Jada was pretty heartless regarding helping Harry... it looks like she might soon realize the monster she has helped to create.

What is so infuriating about the Elders is that they took zero responsibility for Charity being able to kill multiple Elders under their nose.  Instead, they used Harry as the scapegoat.  He broke the rules, but how was he responsible for Charity, who seemed to be his superior.   

I didn't get what Jada was saying about how the Sarcona was going to have all the power and the Elders will have none, after whatever Fiona's going to do.  Huh?  They're not really gripping me with the mythology stuff so I must not have been paying attention.

I'm starting to like the three main sisters more, so the show is starting to succeed with that.  The rest of it, though, is still hit-and-miss.  How many episodes has Galvin been gone now?  The Nico stuff is becoming very reminiscent of the Andy stuff from Season 1 of the original, without the past and the personal connection between the two characters, which was what made Andy/Prue work.  

Edited April 8, 2019 by Camera One

[Cranberry]

100%. I want to love Nico and root for her and Mel to get back together, but I don't, because we barely got to see them interact. We needed at least a half season, and preferably a full season, of Mel trying (and barely succeeding) to hide her witchy activities from her intelligent, capable cop girlfriend before she decided to make a big sacrifice to keep her safe. 

I do like Nico. But if she disappeared tomorrow, I wouldn't care. That's on the writers.

[Chas411]

Nico and Fiona have to be the blandest characters ever. I partially blame the writing but I really think the actresses play a part also.