The Vera sisters are each grieving the loss of Macy in their own way, as is Harry. Just as it seems like they may never get back to being a proper family, strange events overtake them which suggest there may be another Charmed One in the world.

I was fairly convinced that Charmed wouldn’t survive the loss of Madeline Mantock’s Macy. Of the three main characters, Macy always felt the most undeserved to me for three seasons, never seeming to be allowed by the writers to enjoy even one moment of happiness without somehow being cruelly punished for it. For all that, Mantock was always my favourite cast member, and Macy’s story was always the most interesting. So imagine my shock when I enjoyed this episode a heck of a lot more than anything the show put out in Season 3.

Things are not well in the Vera household as we rejoin it, some six months after Macy’s passing. Maggie is spending her nights with Jordan out on the streets taking her grief out on demons and other nasty creatures, and Mel is whiling away her own evenings in the company of various women, Ruby having vanished off screen. Harry mopes at home and it’s basically down to Jordan and the gloriously welcome returned Josefina to try to keep them all going and snap them out of the funk.

They’re fighting a  losing battle on that score, until something intervenes and they find themselves face to face with Kaela.

Kaela is a mechanic with a passion for art and cancer survivor who lives in a bus and is evidently – from a bit of dialogue thrown casually in – at least bisexual. She may also be a witch, though she is unaware of that last part. What’s interesting here as I think of another talented actress playing a bisexual central character (Naomi) is that for all that show does wrong, here it’s actually handled much, much better.

Lucy Barrett has just the right combination of smart-mouthed acidity and internalised fragility to play the character absolutely pitch perfectly, and gives the show a chance at a bit of a soft reboot in more ways than one as she gets to be a POV character seeing and learning about magic for the very first time.

At any rate, the girls think they may have found their missing part, though Kaela is less than convinced, but shenanigans ensue which are entertaining and also quite creative Kaela’s specific power results in a Threat Of The Week that I genuinely wasn’t expecting, and the resolution is excellent

As for Jordan, he gets the other part of this week’s narrative. Attending a Pixie Becoming Party, he witnesses some appalling events which suggest a new and terrifying threat may be lurking in the shadows. I’m so happy that Jordan Donica is back for this season, because he’s been one of the stronger elements of the cast since he joined, and his character just continues to grow.

Verdict: A pleasantly strong opener which promises much good stuff to come. 8/10

Greg D. Smith