Well, this week we had a nice episode, although we had some ideas that had been previously used on Charmed (and some well-known plots that are used by a lot of shows), but that didn't make it any less enjoyable. I have to say that it wasn't the best episode so far, but still, I'm enjoying this season very much, and as I said on my previous review, Charmed got me back.

That said... Let's go on with the review. The episode theme was the battle of the sexes, hence the name "Battle of the Hexes". It's an interesting theme, but of course, I felt it was a little too exaggerated in this episode. But, in the end, I feel it was a valuable lesson that they passed through at the end. Men and women complete one another. In relationships or out of them, it's a balance. There will never be a harmonic world without either one of the genders, cause they need each other. That was nice... the rest, I have to confess I found a little farfetched, but that didn't stop the show from being enjoyable.

So, first let's go on with little insights about the episode, then about each of the characters. Starting with Phoebe. I was a bit angry with the way she's looking for love. It was nice of them to make her a little less... date-y (I know, I've just created a word!), and now... she's thinking she can find love by having lots and lots of dates? Hmm... that reminds me of the way Phoebe went in the past few seasons and that's when she lost the place of my favorite character on Charmed to Piper and Paige. I miss the old free-spirited Phoebe, and I was getting a little bit of that old Phoebe in those earlier episodes, but this sentence:

"I'm busy too. I have dates.. lots and lots of dates..."

Followed a little later by:

PIPER: "Are you trying to get pregnant again?"
PHOEBE: "No, I'm trying to find love"

... made me remember the Phoebe I didn't like. I hope they don't keep on doing this to her, cause I was enjoying her a lot this season. Is she expecting to find love by dating? Unless this is done on purpose and is part of a plot, maybe that will make her realize that you can't find love if it isn't the right time to find it (or, let's be honest, if you already found it and lost... hint hint... Cole Turner?), love won't come to you. If that's what they're doing, then I'm fine. Otherwise... oh well, you know the picture. Besides that, not much to talk about it, Phoebe wasn't the main focus of the episode (which is nice. I have to be honest, I was a little upset with almost all episodes about Phoebe in the last seasons).

Let's move on and talk about Piper and Leo. Yes, let's talk about them together, cause they're that united this season. This would be awesome, if Brian Krause hadn't been laid off... (Can I say... Bad move?). I reiterate here... this is by far Brian's best season. Maybe he's trying to show to whoever told him to go what a big mistake they've done (I'm not going into the "who did it" thing here, not the right place). Anyway... I loved the interaction, the nice couple moments, the little arguments that are normal in every married couple. It was nice to see them trying to get P3 to be the hype club it was, actually, heck, it was nice to see P3 again! It seemed that with Magic School, the writers had forgotten that there was a club that was ran by Piper and used to be the coolest place in town. So the ending with Liz Phair definitely made me think that the writers are trying to get back to the Charmed Old Days. And it's working as far as I'm concerned.

On to Paige... and well, I love Paige this season. I don't know, I'm having a hard time deciding what character I like more. Piper or Paige. Oh and Leo, but since he's a male character, I'll give him his own place in my preferences (And boy, is Brian looking good or what??). Paige was sent an assignment by the Elders, supposed to help a future whitelighter. Turned out the whitelighter was a little ghetto kid, being forced by a gang to commit some crimes (Robbing a liquor store, in this case). I loved the sentence where he asks:

"Are you my guardian angel or what?"

And Paige smiles and answers: "Or what". Cute.

Then, well... here's to hope. I hope they keep Ivan Sergei as her love interest. Not as the "love-interest-of-the-week", but a serious love interest, cause Paige deserves it. Prue had Andy, Piper has Leo, Phoebe had Cole, we can't say... oh, Paige had... Glen? Brody? Richard? Can we really say that either one of those were the kind of love that Andy was to Prue, that Leo is to Piper or that Cole was to Phoebe? Paige needs someone that stays, someone that swipes her off her feet and that she can really call LOVE. And she has GREAT chemistry with Ivan Sergei, who's playing Henry, the parole officer she met while helping her charge. So, let's hope they will stick this one... and they'll keep Ivan cause he's great. I like him. Now, this is where the old and safe plot I said in the beginning of the review comes to life. The relationship between Paige and Henry is a little like we've seen before. They meet in a situation that they don't agree with each other, they bump into each other a while, they have little arguments... We've seen that before. But at least they didn't flat-out hate each other to then find they were madly in love. Good thing, at least.

And yet about Paige, that was maybe one of the best parts of the show, as it has been from episode 1. The interactions, the way Paige's working on her whitelighter cases, her faith in her job and in people. I'm loving every part of it. And Rose's looking great.

Ok, then... last but not least... Billie. Oh well... I have to be honest with you, I was a bit afraid when they said they were introducing a young witch, but I'm just adoring her now. Kaley has totally got the hang of her character, it no longer sounds artificial (it sort of did in the first episode, but it's understandable), she's interacting wonderfully with the sisters... So, the plot was old. Billie finds a mysterious belt while helping Phoebe in some assignment by Homeland Security, and her curiosity gets the best out of her and she tries it on... and becomes Super Billie. We've seen this superhero plot before where the three sisters became superheroes (due to the little drawing witch guy). So this part was, well, done before, but it was still great. Kaley's doing a good job and her acting was very nice in my opinion. Except for the exaggerated part I told you all about... why was she so bitter with men? And it's a lot of cliche to show that kind of feminism. But I digress... Billie's reaction to her new superhero powers were natural. I could sympathize with her walking down the street in the superhero costume... Kaley's acting was so natural that we really believed she was embarrassed with the whole situation. And the way she shifted between being herself or being under the belt's powers was naturally done. Very good, Kaley. The part of this plot that ticked me off: Why don't they at least try to stick more to the mythology? The whole Hyppolita part made me shiver. Actually, it always makes me shiver when they try to insert mythology in the show, cause I know they won't do it right. But that's me being picky cause I'm faithful to my Greek mythology and I want it to be portrayed right. Oh well... It's fiction, I know. But a girl can have her pet-peeves, can't she?

Some nice episode tidbits:

- At least Billie's Superhero costume wasn't so far-fetched as the sisters' back in the episode they were superheroes. I liked the hairstyle too, looked great on Kaley.

- Oh well, let me say it again, Brian's looking and acting so good. Is there ANY WAY we can stop him from going? Maybe sending tons and tons of letters? Calling them nonstop? Making petitions? Anything?

- I loved the invisible Leo part. That was SO funny and so well done by Piper and Leo... that made me laugh so much!

- I'll say it again... Alyssa's got her hair so nice. I only liked it better when she made the blond highlights on Season 3. I hope she doesn't mess up again (hint hint... short hair doesn't look good on you, Alyssa).

- It's cute to see Holly with her baby weight. She's a lot more beautiful now than when she started, so there we go (well, you know people say mommies always look better!). We don't have to be skinny to be beautiful, girls. And what about that hair...

- Did you notice I didn't mention the demons? They're so insignificant this season that they're not even worth mentioning. I do miss the Big Demon Guy though... I hope they bring someone, at least to be a more regular demon... Or make better demons-of-the-week. Those ones are quite lame, sorry to say.

Ok, well... that's it for this week. I hope you've enjoyed this review as much as I enjoyed writing it!