Strange alliances are formed when the Charmed Ones accidentally ignite more conflict with the Demon world in spite of the truce. Harry and Jordan go on a mission of their own. Macy is torn between her feelings for Julian and Harry.

Well, at least now the girls have the Power of Three back, after so long trying and gathering all that wisdom on the way, they should be able to deal with the issue of the Faction with no problem. Except, of course they don’t because this is Charmed.

Instead, what happens is that they wade into a situation they aren’t prepared for, and their actions lead to the Demon world calling for their heads and an end to the truce. Thankfully, this means that the episode has a lot of Abigael in it, and for once, it seems set on actually making use of her. To date, it’s been very easy to see what side Abigael has been on (her own) and despite the best efforts of the writing team, there’s been very little mystery to that. Here, for the first time, that motivation truly gets blurred, as the self-appointed Demon Overlord has to deal with a very real balancing act between her obligations to her people and her loyalties to others.

Elsewhere, Harry and Jordan get to team up in a segment that may as well be called ‘We haven’t had these characters interact much yet, let’s remedy that.’ Harry wants to follow up a lead on the Faction (involving a company name that even by the standards of this show is outrageously dumb) and he needs Jordan’s help as the only normal human he knows who is also wise to the magical world. It actually does lead to some decent character scenes for Jordan, even if the Harry half of it is super dumb, and the two actors have a pretty decent buddy-cop type chemistry between them.

Finally there’s Macy, who is stuck between a rock and a hard place, romantically speaking, as Julian pushes to take things further and she worries about Harry. She and Harry have finally been getting close again, but is it just her friendship with their Whitelighter that’s holding her back?

All told, it’s one of the better episodes of the season, mainly because it has plenty of Poppy Drayton. That said, it also has some of the more ridiculous moments too – the demon world seems to have a very fluid sense of its own rules and mores and seems able to organise very big events at the drop of a hat. Still, it’s nice to have an episode that doesn’t make me feel entirely dumber just for having to watch it.

Verdict: It’s a low bar at this point, but credit where it’s due, this is actually one of the stronger episodes of the show to date. At this rate there’s a danger it might even get adequate. 6/10

Greg D. Smith