Siren Song: “Catch 22”

By Lisa Eiseman
Scoopme.com

I really did enjoy last night’s display of Charmed goodness (plus who can complain when it is followed by such an awesome Angel?). Yea, the “demon” wasn’t the strongest we’ve seen, but the Leo/Piper and Cole/Phoebe interaction made up for that.

Let’s begin with Cole and Phoebe, not only does this relationship keep going and going and going, but it seems like it is the little pink bunny who doesn’t run out of batteries. No matter how many times one of them gets killed they always come back to life, talk about eternal love. Cole and Phoebe are the perfect example.

As much as I enjoy this relationship, it ranks in there as one of the most disturbed loves around. Cole is trying hard to prove to Phoebe that his love is true. I really don’t think that Phoebe doubts that, but has reservations about his powers and how they could someday destroy her or her sisters.

“Once again, our love almost killed us.”

-Phoebe to Cole

And boy, does that pretty much sum up Phoebe and Cole as of late. It seems no matter how hard Cole tries to use his powers for good, they keep coming back to bite him and Phoebe in the butt.

The worst thing that can happen is that Cole uses his powers for evil. Phoebe wonders when “out of the thousand of powers you have, how they will kill me.” The ironic part of this whole situation is that Cole was only gathering the powers in the nether world so that he could get back to the human world and Phoebe, the love of his life. Those same powers that finally brought him back to the world are the same thing that will eventually destroy their love. How does one escape a Catch 22?

Tortured love is the stuff that makes television shows become obsessions, makes viewers become cult followers. Viewers would do anything to see their favorite couple get together. To keep viewers interested and tuned in the writers must keep dragging out the storyline (see Leo and Piper; Ross and Rachel; Buffy and Angel; ect.). Yes, the payoff will be there in the end, but I’m pretty sure we have a lot of Phoebe/Cole interaction left for us to ponder and watch.

This week for comedic relief please see Leo and Piper. I was very pleased that the writers are making the “baby” a character as well. It adds depth to everyone and reminds us that the baby will definitely cause changes in the “Charmed” world when it makes its appearance. 

In reality it was normal for the baby to be upset with their fighting, how many children enjoy hearing their parents fight? Well this little “Halliwell” did something about it. 
Switching her parent’s powers was a very smart thing to do; it allowed them to see what the other goes through everyday.
So not only do we have a powerful, playful, and opinionated baby, we have a smart one too.

Allowing for these characters to experience the others everyday life was very insightful, especially learning more about Leo’s job. This is the first time in a long while that I remember hearing direct information about Leo’s job. I know that I really enjoyed getting to see what his job is comprised of, including the voices in the head.

Knowing what these two have to go through each day, almost doesn’t allow time for a child. Yet, they make the time and it seems that this season should be very interesting without have an actual baby present to disrupt the dynamics without a prop.

Odd Man Out
Seeing Paige concentrate so hard on her potions and spells brings to mind the Prue of old. (Please tell me I’m not the only one who sees this) Think back to season, well I don’t remember the exact season, but there was a period of time that Prue was obsessed with finding the demons, vanquishing them and learning to harness and apply her powers. Paige seems to be going through this same phase. The biggest difference that this viewer sees is the fact that Paige has to deal with the white lighter half of herself too. 

This does make the story interesting, especially with the revelation that Leo has voices in his head. What I wonder is the extent of Paige’s powers. Does she hear voices as well? Technically she isn’t a full time white lighter, but other than orbing and healing, is there more responsibilities or duties that she has? Does she have charges that she will have to take care of some day? Really, mixing both a witch’s and white lighter’s power into a person is something I would really like to see the writers explore more.

Even though these questions excite, I was very disappointed in Paige’s role in this episode. I felt like she was just standing around and not contributing all that much to the episode. This probably gets back to what Kim mention in last week’s review: not seeing the sisters “connection”. It seems like both Piper and Phoebe have a very strong connection, but poor Paige is just someone else they use in their coven, not a sister. 

It would be stimulating for the writers to expand on the “obsessed” storyline from Paige’s persona and have the other sisters see a lot of Prue’s personality within Paige. That could make the show find the connection that is lacking with the sisters. 

Overall, the show is still coming along. Replacing a major actor in any television show is hard. Last season it was very evident that a new person had come to the show, this season it isn’t so evident, but it could still use a little cement to put the finality on all of the pieces.

This - and - That
· I wasn’t all that impressed with the Siren. One thing that really caught my ear, however, was the mention that this wasn’t the first time she had gone against The Charmed ones. Does this mean she met another generation of Charmed ones? Or do we know if any other generations ever existed?
· Mermaids, fairytales, siren, comics. Does anyone see the pattern? Mermaids and sirens I’ve always associated as the same or close to the same thing. Fairytales and comics both are fiction made up. Let’s hope we get something very different for the fifth episode.
· Baby Halliwell is such a great devise to bring some added humor to the show. It will be interesting, however, to see if the baby acts up around a doctor.
· Was I the only one who felt bad that Cole was being kept out of the family? Not only did he lose his child, but he learned that his sister-in-law was expecting. I felt really bad that no one wanted anything to do with him.

Next Week:
The Charmed Crusaders are fighting the dark forces of Gotham Francisco. Oh yea, another reason to put the sisters in really tight costumes!

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Review provided courtesy of ScoopMe.com