When Maggie shows Macy and Harry the chamber beneath the Vera house that she and Parker discovered, unintended consequences occur. Mel finds out more about the Sircana and their agenda, but the secrets that she must keep are coming between her and her sisters. Macy seeks help from the Elders to ‘cure’ her demon side.

Charmed dials back the whacky from its peak highest level last week to a more reasonable level this time out, with some of the better stuff the show has done so far manifesting between some of the standard silliness.

That chamber that Maggie and Parker ‘discovered’ last week turns out to be directly beneath the house and possessed of great power. When Macy and Maggie are down there, each does something that they really shouldn’t have, leading to two very different sets of consequences. For Macy, it’s a new ability that initially terrifies her as she draws the wrong conclusion from the evidence before her. For Maggie, it results in something that could have been whacky but actually works quite well as she and Mel ‘bodyswap’ for most of the episode.

Both Melonie Diaz and Sarah Jeffery get the opportunity to show off just how much they’ve been studying one another, though in fairness I’d say that Diaz is the better of the two, nailing both Jeffery’s delivery as well as her physical tics and even the way in which she holds herself. Of course it’s a less than ideal time for both of them – Maggie has Kappa Rush (Mel’s idea of literal hell) and Mel is starting to get in very deep with the Sircana, having secrets revealed to her which they really don’t want sharing with anyone, her sisters included. It’s nice that the episode balances out the obvious moments of comedy with some genuine introspection for each of them, and there’s a genuine sense that each learns some powerful truths about the other from the experience in ways that will help both of them to grow.

Meanwhile, the monster of the week relates more directly to Macy. Having approached the Elders for guidance on how best to deal with her little personal problem, Macy ends up discovering a little more about the attitude of the witches’ governing body towards demons and also other things. There’s a clear #metoo thread running through this subplot, which encompasses the present and the distant past, and plays out with surprising poignancy given the location in which the final confrontation plays out. It’s infuriating to see an episode this well-written, acted and directed compared to some of the other ham-fisted handling of these kinds of issues and storylines before now. If this show could only get more consistent, it could do some really good things.

Events end on a massive cliffhanger, of the sort that genuinely made me sit up and take notice as the credits began to roll. Needless to say – looks like things are about to get very interesting indeed for the Charmed Ones.

Verdict: One of those episodes where the elevator pitch would sound daft but is actually pulled off with deft and emotional style. If only they could all be like this. 8/10

Greg D. Smith