2.04 Decontructing Harry

[Tim]

So we find out what dark lighters are.    During his investigations, Harry comes upon a statement that says that white lighters are created "at great cost".  The trail leads to another living white lighter, a woman, in a mental hospital.  Harry is told that she has a twin sister there, and said sister is totally insane.  However, Harry then puts it all together, that twin is really half of the female white lighter.   And the same thing happened to Harry.

Apparently, when white lighters were created, they were split into light and half haves.  The being we've been seeing is Harry's own dark half.  And now that dark half has Macy.

Was it just me, or that monster they faced looked more like something the Winchester boys would face.

And the Queen monster, when freed, shows gratitude and leaves.   No black and white stuff here.

And, if what Abigael says is true, then not all demons are out to kill witches.  No 1950's thinking here.

Last week, I wrote:

Let's hope Abigael has no connection to the despised Cains.

Well, that hope was dashed.  Why?  WHY, did they make her a Cain?  Abigael could have stood on her own.  Why tie her to characters that no one liked.  And does that mean we'll have to see Parker's ugly face again? 

Still, Abigael says that there was no love lost between her and her father. 

A good episodes, despite the Cain connection.

[adzpower]

I really did enjoy this episode, though I have a few critiques.

Loved Mel earning the respect of the queen, this is looking like the start of a true friendship between the sisters and the magical community, and might I add, I prefer this type of magical community, actual intelligent creatures based on real myth, not half-naked girls in nymph costumes or leprachauns.

Speaking of Mel she still doesn't have her powers back, though she seems to be getting good at potions which will come in use at some point, Maggie is somehow having visions? Um....what happened to her other powers? I'm a little confused about that, seemingly her powers are returning but aren't the ones she previously had? Weird. They've now given her premonitions, Jordan is studying law so much like Cole could end up a lawyer, and Maggie is the youngest, I feel that this is a little TOO much connection with Phoebe.

Though I do have a theory about them getting their powers back, Maggie's abilities are tied to emotions, and she felt guilty about getting the job over Jordan, so she helped Jordan, and then suddenly got some of her powers back, this might be the key, they need to lean into doing selfless acts that suit their powers? I might be reaching here but you never know.

And here it comes, Abigael is indeed the spawn of the devil Cain - eurgh. I will say so far she seems more interesting than her family members, and I like that a lot like Macy, she doesn't seem to be either good or evil, yes she killed the witches, but she is also uniting the demons in some fashion, the demons who believe witches are in the wrong, very interesting imo. I just hope she doesn't take over the show. I've said it before but I like them leaning into the grey area, it just works better.

And now for my favorite part, the huge whitelighter twist! I did not see that coming at all! So in this world, when the elders create a whitelighter - a being of pure good, they are separated into an evil twin as it were, and these are the darklighters, I love this version, again, showing that the elders were not the true paragons of good, but also again leaning into the grey area, the elders knew that people have both light and dark in them, and the only way they could make sure whitelighters were purely good was to take all the dark out, and of course that dark had to go somewhere.

I like where this storyline is going, perhaps the darklighter Harry wants to merge back with the whitelighter Harry, which would make Harry a little different once you add the darkness back into him. I can't wait to see where this goes. Though it seems dark Harry has a little obsession with Macy, he stalks her in her dreams, kidnaps her etc when he could have just killed her.

So my only real complaints for this episode were Maggie has random vision powers she never had before, Mel still doesn't have any, I'm actually a little concerned, this episode it dawned on me that the writers have started to make Maggie a lot like Phoebe, and with Mel being good at potions, this makes her more like Piper, I'm a little concerned that since Maggie got premonitions, the writers would give Mel the exploding power Piper had, which is a big no-no for me as it made the power of three basically useless in the original once Piper could just blow up 3/4 of the demons they faced.

And of course we got another connection to the cursed Cain family, no doubt Parker will definitely be back at some point now, greeeeeaaat.

EDIT - So after mulling it over for a few hours I've realised that perhaps Maggie isn't getting visions at all, perhaps it had something to do with that ring Jordan was wearing and for right now both Maggie and us - the viewer are assuming this power comes from her, she kept touching Jordan and nothing was happening but it was when she touched the ring before she got the vision, hmm....

[Tim]

And here it comes, Abigael is indeed the spawn of the devil Cain - eurgh. I will say so far she seems more interesting than her family members, and I like that a lot like Macy, she doesn't seem to be either good or evil, yes she killed the witches, but she is also uniting the demons in some fashion, the demons who believe witches are in the wrong, very interesting imo. I just hope she doesn't take over the show. I've said it before but I like them leaning into the grey area, it just works better.

Yep, no 1950's black and white morality there.  Thank God.

And now for my favorite part, the huge whitelighter twist! I did not see that coming at all! So in this world, when the elders create a whitelighter - a being of pure good, they are separated into an evil twin as it were, and these are the darklighters, I love this version, again, showing that the elders were not the true paragons of good, but also again leaning into the grey area, the elders knew that people have both light and dark in them, and the only way they could make sure whitelighters were purely good was to take all the dark out, and of course that dark had to go somewhere.

I like where this storyline is going, perhaps the darklighter Harry wants to merge back with the whitelighter Harry, which would make Harry a little different once you add the darkness back into him. I can't wait to see where this goes. Though it seems dark Harry has a little obsession with Macy, he stalks her in her dreams, kidnaps her etc when he could have just killed her.

And clearly this splitting happened without the consent of the white lighter in question.  Harry was completely unaware of it and was surprised when he put two-and-two together. 

And that female white lighter seemingly went insane because of it.

[adzpower]

I also notice she was referred to by the elders as "alpha", so we can infer from this as well as from the old information Harry found that this woman may have been the first ever whitelighter, and perhaps once she found out what happened she had a breakdown? I guess we'll see her again at some point.

[Katie]

Oct 26, 2019 22:05:13 GMT -5 Jean said:

Lots of nods to Classic Charmed. Both sending Macy to San Fransisco, and the title of this episode also comes from Season 2 of Classic Charmed.

Abigael being made a regular right away, interesting, I just hope she won't turn into Cole, Leo and Chris and take attention off the sisters and Charmed Ones. I'd rather she turn out to be bad, than good, because making her good, as I don't want her to become another Billie and someone to solve too many problems. We'll see.

I don't like the book of Elders, still, the worse thing they did was destroy their book of shadows, I just don't like them getting that high level of spells. The book of shadows was good enough. Hopefully, they eventually ditch the command center, when it is no longer needed, I don't like it, it feels too Power Rangers and Superhero base, which just isn't needed.

Them being believed dead to the world is going to bite them eventually. How can Maggie or any of them apply for a job and not have someone know they are alive with background checks. That goes for all of them, they are believed dead, and still using their own names. Not hard to get caught sooner or later. Or is the show planning to have them relocate somewhere else every season? How long until they glamour themselves with fake names.

I am interested to see where the assassin story is going.

I wonder if Abigael is Alastair's daughter? Didn't we already get the news a few months that they were casting her unless they ditched that story? I hope so, then it means Parker stays gone. If she is Parker's sister, then I'm less interested in her story, it just means it all comes back to the Cain's. I hope I'm wrong.

And sadly you are right. I have to admit, I'm not happy with this, Abigael was made a regular right away, when they introduced her. And no doubt, Parker will return.

Please don't tell me Maggie/Parker/Jordan are the love triangle of S2.

Yeah, I'm loving the season so far, but the Caine's being important again, is putting me off. I hope that Abigael isn't going to turn into Billie and take attention off the sisters, and save the day in some episodes.

Interesting episode. The actress playing the whitelighter in this one, was on Smallville, Riverdale and Grimm. Seen her in plenty of shows. Noticed her right away.

[Tim]

I also notice she was referred to by the elders as "alpha", so we can infer from this as well as from the old information Harry found that this woman may have been the first ever whitelighter, and perhaps once she found out what happened she had a breakdown? I guess we'll see her again at some point.

That might have been it.

Clearly dark Harry is linked to our Harry.  He seemed to know the safe word that Macy wanted to use.

Abigael was made a regular right away, when they introduced her. And no doubt, Parker will return.

Hopefully to kill him off.

The actress playing the whitelighter in this one, was on Smallville, Riverdale and Grimm. Seen her in plenty of shows. Noticed her right away.

She must be Vancouver based.

[adzpower]

The actress was also in Buffy I believe, I haven't looked her up but I'm pretty sure its this character from season 7:
buffy.fandom.com/wiki/Cassandra_Newton

[Tim]

I liked how that, what appeared to be mindless monster, could show gratitude.  When Mel freed the queen, she "thanked" her and left. 

I like that the other side is not so one sided as it was in the original show.

[adzpower]

Yeah that will definitely come into play later on down the line I think, the queen will spread the news of the charmed ones rescuing her and the other creatures and come to their aid when they most need it.

[Tim]

Yeah, I would really like to see that happen.

We've come a long way from the energy ball throwing morons of the original series.

[Melinda Halliwell]

Other than what's been said here already which I agree on I noticed the reference to original Charmed with 1693 and Salem being both the place and date Melinda Warren lived and started the Book Of Shadows on.

[Tim]

Hopefully, if they bring up the witch trials, they will do it right.  Those poor women were hanged, not burned.

[Jean]

Nov 5, 2019 17:12:14 GMT -5 Tim said:

Hopefully, if they bring up the witch trials, they will do it right.  Those poor women were hanged, not burned.

I sure hope so, and hopefully this leads to us learning more about their family line. We still know next to nothing about where they came from, other than their mother and learning about their fathers. But, I'm still dying to meet their version of Melinda Warren. 

[Tim]

Yeah, that would be interesting to see.

[Melinda Halliwell]

I half and half enjoyed this episode with good things about it and not so good things too and stuff I noticed also.

Maggie helping Jordan keep his lot in Safe Space was good with the project they both pitched so he wouldn't have to pay rent there.

Are the writers trying to make Maggie Phoebe then with her getting the possible premonition because I was miffed why she got that seeing how she'd never previously and expected her to get her empathy back unless she got an advancement allowing her to see what she felt now obviously but then rewatching the scene with Jordan's ring I did wonder if he's either a witch or the rings a magical object allowing someone psychic to see the future through it.

Mel was touted as Piper clearly with her trying to recreate the Book Of shadows and her potion kick which I liked her being counterproductive but do hope her, Maggie, and Macy get their powers back soon obviously.

What I enjoyed also this episode is how the reboot didn't view the queen as inherently evil who should've been vanquished straight off unlike the sisters in later seasons of original Charmed who just destroyed most things going before thinking about things. Christy Jenkins being one person who comes to mind here.

The White Lighter twist is good and an interesting way of depicting their version of Dark Lighters which Charmed got inspiration from Harry Potter perhaps concerning Voldemort and Harry not able to live without the other?

I'll accept Macy and Harry's relationship if it's with his dark half only and not his good self whom I'd rather he remain as their guide and friend.

I felt sorry for what happened to the first White Lighter person which only confirmed my dislike of the Elders more if they were the ones who separated the two people of course.

Finding out Abigael is Alistair's daughter and Parker, Hunter's sister didn't appeal to me meaning Parker could come back some point which I don't want then.

I'd have much preferred her just being a witch the sisters saved.

Hopefully, when the girls get their powers back if this seasons a reboot within a reboot then they do so with their original ones only so Mel, Macy, and Maggie move things, stop time, and read people's emotions before creating energy shields and fast-forwarding time which they get in future when stronger over time.