Spoilers CHARMED (2018) Season 2 review thread

[Christopher]

It doesn't look like there's a thread for season 2 already, even though we're several weeks in. Anyway, there are major changes this season due to new showrunners. They pretty much literally blew up the sisters' status quo in the season premiere, destroyed the Book of Shadows, forcibly/magically relocated the Charmed Ones (and their house) to Seattle, stripped them of their witch powers (at least temporarily), dropped the old supporting cast and created a new one, and gave them a secret magic "Command Center" from which they track witches in danger around the world and teleport to save them from the new threat, which seems to be stirring up war between witches and demons and targeting both sides for its own ends. Plus they've added Poppy Drayton as a new regular, a half-demon who looks like she's going to be a reluctant ally against the common threat.

It's the most massive season-2 overhaul of a TV show's format that I've seen since War of the Worlds: The Series (and before that Buck Rogers in the 25th Century), but so far it seems to be shaping up better than either of those two disastrous retools. I'm not crazy about the fact that it's downplaying the sisterly-bond thing in favor of having the characters mainly go off on their own separate exploits and subplots, with more of a focus on the overall plot arc and establishing relationships with the new supporting regulars. But the writing still seems generally okay, the plot is going in some potentially interesting (if darker) directions, and Drayton is an interesting addition to the cast. I'm still undecided about the new direction, but I'm still watching.

The production values are pretty good too. There was a remarkably well-done CGI monster this week, a sort of giant-werewolf-with-antlers demon called a Kyon (two of them, in fact, in separate scenes), which was a more real-looking furred CGI creature than Gorilla Grodd in The Flash.

Also, there was something amazing and virtually unprecedented in last night's episode. There was a scene with a thunderstorm outside -- and the sound editors actually remembered that the thunder sound comes after the lightning!!! I have almost never seen a movie or TV show get that right. They always put the thunder in exact sync with the lightning, even though everyone who's ever been in a thunderstorm knows it doesn't work that way. They even varied the delay in keeping with the lightning strikes being at different distances -- with the closest, brightest, loudest strike coming at the most dramatic moment in the scene, of course, so it served the drama as well as being realistic. Why does nobody else do this?

 

[Christopher]

So am I the only one still watching this? I've actually been on the fence about continuing. I read an article a while back pointing out some real problems in the show's new approach and how it's in many ways a renunciation of what was good about the first season, and I realized it made some good points. I didn't even realize it had come back from hiatus and wasn't really missing it, and when I started catching up with the episodes I'd missed, I was kind of bored with them and getting tired of how the sisters were always off in their own separate subplots and soap operas and rarely connecting as a trio.

But the past couple of episodes have renewed my hope that the show is still worthwhile. Last week's episode had some of the same soap-opera problems, but it had a pretty moving subplot about the first Whitelighter, Helen (Azura Skye), and her evil Darklighter twin that she was torn apart to create, and when the sisters realized she was never given a choice in her life, they managed to talk down the evil half by showing her compassion and understanding. So there was some nice stuff there.

And in last night's episode, it felt like they were trying to course-correct and address how separated the sisters have become, contriving to trap them in their magical "command center" and force them to confess their deepest secrets and renew their bonds in order to regain the Power of Three that they lost at the start of the season. Contrived, sure, but it was refreshing to see them spending a whole episode together (or at least the parts that weren't about Harry and demon-witch-antivillain Abigael off doing their own thing with the seasonal arc) and finally reconnecting. It's a promising sign.

Also, they did an interesting thing. This show started out as a complete reboot unconnected to the original series, but here, the Vega sisters learned for the first time that they were not the first Charmed Ones, that there have been many trios of sisters before them. I didn't see the name Halliwell among the sisters listed in the magic book, but we didn't see every page -- and it's established later that the Power of Three inevitably kills one of each trio, which was surely a reference to Prue being killed off in the original show. Granted, the backstory and worldbuilding are very, very different in the two series, so it's hard to see them working as part of the same continuous world. But when the ghost of a past Charmed One (Kandyse McClure) shows up to guide the sisters, she mentions something about the Charmed Ones existing in different places, times, and "realms," implying that it could be something that transcends alternate realities. So it may open a door for an eventual crossover with the original.

 

[Gaith]

So am I the only one still watching this? I've actually been on the fence about continuing. I read an article a while back pointing out some real problems in the show's new approach

I also read that article; it was bananapants. But, no, haven't seen any Charmed whatsoever.

 

[Christopher]

Well, it looks like nobody's been commenting on Charmed for a couple of years now, but I just want to say that the current season (the fourth) is probably the best it's ever been, though unfortunately it'll be its last. They killed off Macy at the end of season 3, oddly paralleling the original show, and brought in a new third Charmed One, Kayla, at the start of this season; but since Macy herself was a long-lost illegitimate sister from the start, they didn't go that route this time, instead making it a mystery how Kayla was connected to the Charmed Ones. They finally revealed the answer in last week's episode (which I only just got around to watching), and it was very clever, unexpected, and touching.

 

[Christopher]

Nobody seems to be following this, but if anyone's interested, the series finale was last night. This has been the show's best season overall, but unfortunately, the finale felt rushed and clumsy, and didn't really work for me. At the end, there was an attempt at a link to the original show, but it was cursory and unsatisfying.

Spoiler: Closing scenes

They'd been teasing the multiverse for much of the season, with Natasha Henstridge showing up as a witch from a parallel world, and I'd been hoping we might get a cameo by one of the original cast members. Instead, it just ended with the sisters discovering a door to a parallel world, finding themselves on the Halliwells' front porch, and going inside, with the door closing by itself in the way that was traditional for the original show's season finale endings, and that was it. Hardly seemed worth it.

I wonder if they found out that the show was ending and reworked their finale plans to something more conclusive, hence the rushed feeling. Anyway, it's too bad such a strong season fumbled the landing. It's been an uneven series, but aside from season 2 it's been better than the original, and I'm sorry to see it go.

 

[DigificWriter]

@Christopher The team behind the reboot knew they were on the bubble but chose to still go forward with what would have been an effort to link the new series to the original through potential appearances from OG cast members in Season 5, letting the appearance of Halliwell Manor instead cap the series as both an ending and a signpost heralding a new start and further adventures.

 

[theenglish]

I'm surprised this show didn't get more attention on this board. Overall it was a fun and enjoyable series. It is a CBS production, so I am not sure why it has to be beholden to the CW's cancellation decision, but I guess nobody wants to shop it around. The ending did feel rushed, but I was glad to see it end with a call back to the original series.