Charmed Season 2 Episode 16 Review: The Enemy of My Enemy is My Frenemy

This Charmed review contains spoilers.

Charmed Season 2 Episode 16

I have a problem with this episode. The problem is that I find it genuinely enjoyable, and I’m not sure what to do with that. Charmed season 2 has been… fine. Not an utter waste of time, but not the best use of it either. The season plateaued fairly early on and has been consistently alright, since. This is the first episode in a while that feels like progression.

In the last episode the sisters finally, after what feels like years, reclaimed the Power of Three. They apparently have to say “potentia trium” out loud to activate it now, and it manifests as a ball of electricity, but it’s theirs and they can use it. When they go to another witch’s aid, they use the ol’ lightning fingers to vanquish their demon aggressors. Unfortunately, they take out the last heir of a prominent demon family, and now there’s hell to pay :ba dum tss:

Godric implores Abigael to finish the Charmed Ones once and for all, and when she refuses —yet again— he turns coat and releases Parker. This should come as no surprise since he did the same to Parker with Abbie. Shenanigans ensue and Parker ends up saving Maggie and Macy, while Abigael and Mel are imprisoned, and set to be sacrificed so Godric can ascend, in what is the ultimate, “fine I’ll do it myself.”

Before the kerfuffle, Abigael attempts to make a deal with another female demon to take over the newly vacant seat at the table. This is the first time this season Abigael has even hinted at using her newfound power as the Overlord to pull other demonesses up with her. This is despite her entire motive, let her tell it, is to end the demon patriarchy. Okay, sis. Only helping other women when it benefits you is not feminist, and I’m not sure if Abigael is suppose to be fake-woke or if the writers dropped the ball with this part of her characterization.

As the title of this episode states, the enemy of my enemy is my frenemy, an adage that could be the tagline for this entire season. The Charmed Ones are short on friends, but when things get complicated, frenemies will do. And Abigael never misses a chance to— actually she only ever helps.

Abigael’s intentions for the Charmed Ones remain unclear. They are in her way, yet she throws away every opportunity to gain the upperhand. If she wanted them dead, she could’ve killed them when they were powerless. If she wants them as allies, she can just choose to stop antagonizing them. I’m not sure if this is a flaw in her character, or a flaw in the writing, but her lack of consistency is disorienting. If you’re a Bad Guy, be that.

On the topic of Bad Guys, the insidious organization I’ve been lovingly referring to as such have an official name now, The Faction (same energy, tbh). The sisters finally know who they are and what they’re doing, and they recognize the threat to the magical world, even if they don’t yet know the Faction’s endgame is to destroy magic.

After months of giving us tiny morsels of information about the then-unnamed Faction, Charmed finally gives us a whole slice. This episode feels focused, and sure of itself, in a way past episodes haven’t been. Where previous episodes felt meandering, this one has a sense of direction towards what I imagine, is a finally locked-down conclusion. I don’t believe the writers had a clearly defined end goal, in the beginning, and the episodes suffered from that vagueness of purpose.

When Macy and Harry track the formerly-reanimated corpse back to a facility in Idaho, Harry enlists Jordan to infiltrate. Jordan takes a sleep potion to appear dead so they can gain entry, and while he’s in a magically induced mini-coma he’s visited by a witch who was killed by his ancestor Lawrence Mortimer Chase. She spits bars then demands he warn the Charmed Ones. Of what? She didn’t specify, because why would she? Meanwhile, Harry is caught snooping and presumed to be Jimmy, so he has to play the role —which includes making out with Bad Girl— until he has an out.

The Faction is Thee Big Bad, but Charmed has also given us Godric. Maggie and Macy free Mel and Abigael and Parker portals them to safety, before Godric can sacrifice them (Macy also discovers her new power to immobilize). This puts Abbie, Parker, and the sisters three on the demon’s hit list, and I get the feeling Godric ain’t one to be played with. He has no loyalties (clearly) and no qualms about ending the Charmed Ones. Abbie never felt like a real threat, but he does, and he has the whole of demonkind behind him.

If the writers don’t fumble the bag, this could make for delectable television. Who doesn’t want to watch the Charmed Ones against enemies who want them dead, and who are capable of killing them, with none of the hangups or conflicts Abigael, or even Jimmy would have. The girls in real fights that have stakes and that they can’t just “potentia trium” out of. That’s what I want to see and where I hope the show goes the rest of this season.

Additional thoughts:

• Macy and Julian are still a thing, and he asks her to be exclusive, but she has “complicated” feelings (aka Harry). I want them to work, if only because I want there to be a strong personal conflict in one or both of them when Aunt Vivian’s true villainy is revealed. It’ll hit different if there are feelings involved.
• Parker has Abbie strip him of his demon powers, so he can be with Maggie, but Maggie firmly rejects him. Good for her, I hope this is the last we’ll see of Parker. Period.

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