As with almost every episode of Charmed the basic concept
is the fight between good and evil. The audience is familiar with the fact that
the sister’s are the “good” and every week there is a nemesis that the
girls fight that is “evil”. The uniqueness of this episode is two-fold in
this episode: 1) Paige was initially the person who created the “evil” thus
releasing some of her own bad tendencies and 2) in her creation, she made both
side of the fight (good and evil) and they were separate entities.
One would think that from Phoebe losing her powers Paige would realize that
conjuring up her “Mr. Right” wouldn’t even have crossed her mind. Seeing
as it was evident that Phoebe was using her powers to try and further her
future, thus resulting in personal gain, Paige would have steered far clear of
using any magics for personal gain. (Small side note: these two episodes really
shouldn’t have come one right after another.) It should be obvious to Paige
that using magic for her personal gain would, no could, be the only result of
this spell. Throw in the fact that all of these “mysterious magical
happenings” were happening in the same time and it should have been obvious
to put one and one together.
Seeing how Paige, however, did miss these clues it was pleasing to the
audience that both Chris and Phoebe were able to “follow the dots” per se
to what results Paige was ultimately helping to transpire. The added twist that
the writers allowed for was the fact that Mr. Right was able to give
information about Mr. Wrong and help defeat his alternate side.
It was also gratifying to see that Phoebe was able to move beyond relying on
her powers and still be able to vanquish Mr. Wrong. This says a lot about
Phoebe and her character development since the beginning of the series. Gone
are the days of a wild and free Phoebe, no longer do we have the
self-conflicted sister who wasn’t ever quite sure of herself (especially when
influenced by the dark side), instead we are granted the distinct pleasure of a
sister who is sure of herself and able to think quickly on her feet. All this
in itself helps to make this episode particularly enjoyable.
While it is no doubt that Piper doesn’t have as much screen time due to
Holly Marie Comb’s pregnancy, it is a little unsettling to see Piper have no
distinctive role in the day-to-day happenings of the sisters. In fact, the
protection and secrecy that Phoebe, Paige, Chris and Leo are bestowing on Piper
while she is a Magic School unnerves and unsettles this viewer. The fact that
we’ve had the “power of three” drilled into us from the beginning makes
the fact that the sisters are able to vanquish and destroy demons without the
third sister doesn’t seem true to the cannon (there are other things as well
that are disturbing, but see This-and-That for those notes).
While Piper’s sabbatical to Magic School is an obvious ploy to allow
Gideon to get to Wyatt for the writers, it is also helping (or at least it
seems to be helping) Piper/Leo and their relationship with one another. It is
forcing the two to deal with one another and their relationship, putting into
play how they will handle having a family together and what their true feelings
are for one another.
The fact that Darryl had a problem with the sisters is something that should
be noted as well. The fact that the Cleaners left him with the memory of almost
getting the lethal injection doesn’t play as what has happened in the past,
the only ones with the knowledge of the changed events are the sisters. The
total fact that the “higher court” allowed Darryl to have these memories
goes against the natural order of things. One would almost guess that this
memory was left in place as a way to punish or hurt the sisters in the present
and future. One would be lead to think that the reaction to this event has yet
to be determined.
This-and-That
