The Charmed Ones must rescue Harry from the belly of the beast, but on the way they make a startling discovery.

With Harry disappearing off with The Faction last week apparently successfully masquerading as Jimmy, things were left fairly tense. How, for example, would Jordan get home lacking any magical assistance? Well, the show solves that one fairly quickly, and then settles in for another round of its usual.

Macy is finally done struggling with her feelings, and has made a decision – now all she has to do is follow through with it, but unfortunately at the very moment she’s trying to do that, something fairly major comes up and she has to change tack.

Infiltrating a party where the Faction might well be holding Harry is a tricky proposition, and requires the assistance (again) of Abigael. Fortunately for the Charmed Ones, their frenemy is having issues of her own that make her – if not happy – at least more willing to assist them. There’s some cool potions stuff as well as a funky new magical device we haven’t seen before, as well as the usual expected sniping between Abi and the sisters.

We all know how these magical heists go now – there’s usually a magical solution to every obstacle, there’ll be a couple of mishaps and false starts and generally everything will work out as planned with a slight unexpected twist. Suffice to say, this is no different.

What’s nice though is some of the character work. Mel and Abi especially get to spend some time together which reveals a little more to us about Abi’s character and why she is the way she is. Poppy Drayton is always a welcome presence in the show and here she gets to show us a little bit more depth to her femme fatale.

It’s also quite nice to see how well Jordan is fitting into the team – previous humans who find out the secret haven’t been handled all that brilliantly and it’s nice to have one who doesn’t get treated like an encumbrance or an idiot. The episode also manages to deliver quite a hefty twist I admit I hadn’t seen coming at all. Overall, it feels like the show is pone somewhat of an upward trajectory at last.

Verdict: Continuing to pleasantly surprise. This still isn’t great, but it’s getting better and better every week. 7/10

Greg D. Smith