A familiar face begging for Jordan’s help may hold the key to solving the mystery of The Unseen and putting an end to their plan to resurrect the Lost One. If the sisters can put aside their own differences first.

Multiverses. They’re all the rage at the moment, aren’t they? There’s certainly an argument for the MCU behemoth being somewhat of a genre trendsetter, but you know what didn’t need alternate realities adding to the mix? This show!

Yes, turns out Harry’s new mystical woman in the Video Store (seriously, who thought THAT was a good idea? And no it doesn’t count if you have one of your characters mock it in dialogue) is a Whitelighter from another version of the world with another version of the Charmed Ones. Yay. What does that add to the ongoing plot? Not much.

The Unseen have the O.G. Book of Shadows that Mel helpfully lifted from the past and hasn’t remembered to put back yet and oh wouldn’t you know it, those pages that manifested in it when Jordan and Harry tried to destroy the bowl allow a new one to be conjured. What a helpful shortcut…

Luckily, Pixie Chloe comes to Jordan with a concern about her other sister and a mysterious note she’s left which suggests creepiness is afoot. Jordan takes it to Maggie thinking it’s worth a follow up. Maggie goes to saddle up the sisters three only Mel would rather hang with her new girlfriend (and thinks Maggie is just being led by her *ahem* attraction to Jordan more than anything) and Kaela has taken off. So it’s up to her, Jordan and Chloe to investigate by delving into Chloe’s sister’s memories and working out what might have turned her head to the cause of The Unseen. Shock and surprise, it relates to the other dead Pixie sister. More shock and surprise, despite an apparent complete dead end she’s backed into, Maggie is able to find an easy fix because who needs consistency of anything when Magic Is The Cure?

And Kaela? If you think multiverses are old hat, wait until you see her roadside encounter with a mysterious stranger and the subsequent spirit journey which openly addresses the issue of consent in dialogue without then ever really explaining why the fairly unsavoury shortcut was taken.

Yes, this is the episode in which it is finally revealed who the Lost One is. The episode title might give a little pointer as to the general direction of travel but suffice to say this is yet another instance of a whole bunch of Important Stuff that might have been nice for someone to have mentioned before if the writers hadn’t so suddenly and obviously invented it all Five Minutes Ago.

So another world-threatening villain (in much the same cast as previous ones). Another apparently hopeless fight for the Sisters Three. Shall we place our bets now, or just assume this will go exactly the way it looks like it will?

Verdict: Like a slow-motion car crash, this whole series is unravelling fast. Cancellation may be the best thing that could have happened. 4/10

Greg D. Smith