"CHARMED" Retrospective (4.01-4.02) "Charmed Again"
"CHARMED" RETROSPECTIVE (4.01-4.02) "Charmed Again"
I just watched the two-part Season 4 premiere of "CHARMED" called (4.01-4.02) "Charmed Again". I rather liked the first half, which culminated with Paige becoming a Charmed One and the sisters vanquishing Shax. I found the second half of the story to be . . . well, rather badly written. But to give you a picture of my feelings about this episode, I made a list of what I deem as "problems":
1) Why had Grams, Patty and her whitelighter Sam believed that it was necessary to hide Paige's identity from the Elders? Okay, I understand that Sam would not want to find himself in trouble with his superiors. But did all of them actually believe that the Elders would kill an infant, whose only crime was being the progeny of an adulterous affair between a whitelighter and his married charge? Or that they would take Paige away from them? The Elders have no right to do such a thing. At least not to Paige. The worst they could have done was clip Sam's wings. Was maintaining Paige's future as a witch or Charmed spare more important to Patty and Grams than her being a part of the family?
2) Why would seeing the ghosts of Patty and Grams in the manor's attic lead Inspector Cortez to believe that Piper, Phoebe, Leo and Cole had murdered Prue and Doctor Griffiths? What on earth could the sight of two ghosts lead Cortez to believe that the manor's inhabitants had committed murder?
3) Once the Source (disguised as Paige's boyfriend Shane) was alone with her in Paige's apartment, why did he not kill her when he had the chance? Why bother going through the trouble of coercing Paige to choose a path of evil? Come to think of it, why did he not kill Piper and Phoebe at the church? Or all three of them at the Manor? In his final scene with the sisters, he used telekinesis to toss Piper against the staircase, and practically flinged Phoebe aside. The only person he really tried to kill was Inspector Cortez. It was obvious that he was more powerful than the Power of Three. In order to kill him, the sisters had to rely on the Power of Three and the spirits of their ancestors in a later episode called (4.13) "Charmed and Dangerous". This only tells me that he could have easily kill not only Cole, but the sisters as well. But he did not bother. Why? Because he wanted Phoebe around to witness Cole's death? Was the Source that much of a moron . . . or what?
4) When the Source wounded Cole, he left the latter at a non-remote roadside for a long time. Yet no one had noticed the half-demon. Why?
5) Here is something I found confusing. The Source was not able to go into the church due to the warding gargoyle. Yet, the evil warlocks in the Season One episode (1.18) "When Bad Warlocks Turn Good" were able to walk freely in and out the church. Granted, the church in that particular episode may not have been protected by gargoyles. But the church in the two episodes looked the same. And when the Source had possession of Cole's body, he was able to enter a church.
6) I also spotted a blooper. When Piper and Phoebe were talking to Paige inside P3, at the end of Part 2, Piper was not wearing any earrings. But upon their arrival at the Halliwell manor, she was wearing long black earrings.
7) "The 48-Hour Window of Opportunity" - According to both Leo and Cole, there is a period - "window of opportunity" - in agreed upon by both good (the Whitelighters) and evil (the Demons) where a witch can decide his/her alliance. Personally, I think this is the dumbest idea ever created by Brad Kern. I find it hard to believe that due to an agreement between the Source's Council and the Elders Council, a new witch is given the free will to choose between good and evil. The free will to choose any path should be a God-given right to any witch, let alone any other being, without some damn agreement between whitelighters and demons. And I found it even harder to believe that once that witch makes his or her choice, he/she will remain either good or evil until death? What utter crap! This "window of opportunity" sounds like something from a fairy tale for children. Apparently, Mr. Kern had failed to remember a certain law of nature - that life is UNCERTAIN and/or there is no real absolute that one can depend upon. There is no certainty that a person will remain on a certain path chosen earlier in his or her life. Even if Paige had chosen evil, her remaining evil would have never been absolute or certain. This where Kern's black-and-white morality really failed him.
8) How is it that Phoebe failed to see the evil within Leo with those glasses she had created for that particular purpose? Leo had darkness within him, like everyone else. Which is why he ended up being infected by the "Deadly Sins" in the Season Three episode, (3.18) "Sin Francisco", like the Halliwells. At the end of Season Six, Leo ended up committing an act of evil with his murder of Elder Gideon. Phoebe should have seen his inner darkness, as well as Cole's. After all, there is such a concept as "the fallen angel".
Well, that is it. Granted, some of the episodes from Seasons One to Three were not that hot. But I do believe that "Charmed Again" signaled the moment when the show's writing threatened to start becoming less than mediocre.