Macy and Mel decide to follow up on Abigael’s story while still maintaining a healthy distrust of her, but find more than they could have possibly bargained for. Maggie has some unexpected developments when she tries to help Jordan. Harry’s trawl through the Book of the Elders leads him to a horrifying truth.

Credit where it’s due – things pick up a little in this week’s episode of Charmed, even if there is still a bit of repetitiveness there, and Abigael just becomes more and more unlikely as a character as her full background and story get revealed.

Unsure of exactly what to make of their new half witch-half demon guest, Macy and Mel elect to see if they can re-trace her movements based on the story she’s told them and find out what exactly is going on with…everything. As it turns out, the twists this particular story takes are all quite interesting (certainly much better than the previous episodes) and Abigael makes an entertaining addition to proceedings, even if her background and origin do feel awfully contrived. Still, where we thought that the story we were getting was about whoever the Demon Overlord might be, we get something a little more mysterious, and in a first for this season, something which may tie in with what’s occurring elsewhere.

Maggie as usual gets a subplot involving a boy – Jordan again. But again the episode actually plays slightly against type first by having Maggie determine to do something positive to help another person showing actual personal growth and then by throwing in a rogue factor which doesn’t end up being quite what she (and we) think it is at first and which remains to be fully explained/resolved by the time the credits roll.

And finally there’s Harry, who pursues a truth of his own as he continues the laborious process of decrypting the Book of the Elders. The trail he ends up going on does involve some heavily trope-y stuff being said and done but does also make some interesting revelations, especially with regard to a mystery that’s been playing along in the background since the opening episode. Hackneyed it may be, but at least the show finally seems to be aiming for a little depth with its characters, and I’ll take the wins where I can find them.

Verdict: By the standards of the show, a significant improvement. There’s hope that we might get a half-decent season out of them yet. 6/10

Greg D. Smith