In light of last episode’s revelations, Macy embarks on a dangerous course of action in her quest for answers. Maggie goes to a frat party to try to help her get over Parker. Harry opens up to Mel about his current fears.

Every time I think I’m done with Charmed – that it’s reached peak nonsense and can’t claw it back – it tugs on the old heartstrings and does something to pull me back in. This week, in a surprisingly nuanced set of events for a character who has been massively short-changed so far, we get to find out the truth behind the little revelation last time out that Macy had been brought back from the dead.

That truth ties into various other revelations but also gives Macy the opportunity to be more than ‘Robot Science Girl Who Doesn’t Understand This Human Thing Called Feelings’. Here, she has to grapple with genuine moral dilemmas, and has to contend with a side of herself that the show has hitherto hinted at but rarely committed to exploring. Moreover, the range of responses she experiences to the news, from the initial shock to anger, curiosity, rebellion and… other stuff speaks to a writers’ room who really understand the subject matter they’re playing with. It’s a shame Macy hasn’t had this kind of treatment much at all to this point but it’s also lovely to see Madeleine Mantock finally get a chance to show what she’s capable of, and have a script she can really sink her teeth into.

Elsewhere, Maggie is still hung up on Parker so of course she attends a Frat Party where the theme is wearing a red, yellow or green outfit to highlight how ‘up for it’ one is. Dragged along by Lucy in her green dress, there’s the usual expected pouting and teen angst that we’ve come to expect from the youngest of the Charmed Ones before events take a different turn and… well let’s just say as much as the episode breaks new ground for Macy, it manages to continue treading the same old tired water with the baby Diaz sister. Perhaps one day this empath will actually get to display a bit of agency or self-awareness beyond her own immediate needs, but this ain’t that day, and instead she gets to be a plot device once again.

As to Harry – he’s wrestling with telling the girls that he can’t be their Whitelighter anymore because his attention is elsewhere (on the fact he has a son). Of the three plotlines, this one manages to be the most frustrating. I can see why he gets paired off with Mel to resolve this, and the parallels between his circumstance and her issues with the suddenly reappeared Nico do work, but whereas there’s genuine emotion here, it can’t help but all feel a little rushed. Like his sudden realisation last week that the girls were his family (despite having known them for very little time) the identification, pursuit and resolution of certain things here feels like it’s crammed into too small a space, which is a shame given the level of the performances.

Week by week, Charmed continues to be one of the more confusing shows I’ve watched. There’s obvious talent both in front of the camera and behind it, but it can’t help but keep getting in its own way when it takes shortcuts or reverts to cliché. I want to love it, I just wish it felt like it wanted me to.

Verdict: Getting almost as much wrong as it gets right. If this manages to score another season, I can only hope it settles down into its groove a little better (and more consistently) than it has so far. 6/10

Greg D. Smith