TV Review: The CW Charmed Episode 1.02 “Let This Mother Out”

This episode begins with an innocent being attacked by a black blob of a demon (but at first, it looks more like she’s being possessed – I suppose that’s why her eyes were closed, so that we wouldn’t see a possession taking place) while working as a janitor at the lab. Okay…

Meanwhile, at the house, the sisters face Harry who, when he disappears, they agree to figure out who they can trust..the ouija board or their advisor, Harry. Eh. Harry is to be trusted so I am already over this storyline. I get that the sisters have to learn to trust the whitelighter in their on time realistically, especially since this whitelighter storyline is on the fast track compared to OG Charmed, but they need not drag it on for too long so as to keep as many OG viewers as possible on board for as long as possible.

I love that Macy says they can’t let emotions get in the way and need to be smart about making their next moves while Mel is all about using the ouija board for answers. Maggie sides with Macy and they decide to stay away from the ouija board until they can figure out if they can trust Harry. During this conversation, the Book of Shadows opens up to a truth serum spell. They decide to use it on Harry at the right moment. I love that the Book of Shadows is doing what it does best, leading the sisters to the spells they need.

Next, Maggie heads to the hospital to meet her sorority while they visit Angela Wu…as they all hold hands, Maggie not only hears everyone’s thoughts but also hears Angela, in her hospital bed, screaming bloody murder. Looks like the gloves Maggie wore to prevent her powers while out do not work. Good, they better not. That defeats the purpose of getting into magical mayhem. While that scene was rather terrifying, the next time we see Maggie, she’s in bed with her on again off again, Brian, about to have sex…only she hears everything he’s thinking and oh my gosh, it’s hilarious but in the moment absolutely distracting, the ultimate kill joy. Oh my God. Talk about a nightmare. And then, to top it all off, she heard him say that he loved her so much and has to get her back. Whoa! So much is happening in this one scene and it’s amazing. I loved it. But what will Maggie do now knowing that these will be her exchanges?

Meanwhile, at the lab, Macy discovers that Galvin is her new project team mate. I’m going to trust that the writers have a reason for doing this because if that reason is having at least one love interest close to the sisters in a manner that keeps them even closer because of their professional occupation, ala OG Andy, then they already have Nico (a cop) in that position so TWO love interests who are also conveniently placed professionally seems like overkill. I hope they prove me wrong and balance this well though.

Later, Macy heads to the hospital to visit the innocent who was attacked and sees Harry already in the room, wiping the innocent’s memory of the demon attack. Mel is still back at the house alone with the ouija board and receives a message that says “Melly.” So Mel starts asking questions that only her mom would know to answer. When Maggie comes home, completely frustrated with the new state of her sex life and sits down with Mel at the ouija board, in comes Macy, not at all thrilled at the sight of things. Next thing you know, the board is literally grabbing Maggie… so like a anybody would do in this situation, Macy destroys the board.

Before a full blown debate about the board can be had, in comes Nico for lunch with Mel, they’re officially back together. All of the sisters and eventually, Nico disperse to go on about their day. Before heading back to work though, Macy finds out from Galvin that the innocent has died. She has the truth serum in a water canteen, which she plans to use on Harry at work to get to the bottom of him being good or evil. Problem is, Nico took the wrong canteen while she was at their house so Nico took the serum instead. I didn’t actually see this exchange so it’s just implied that it happened? Did I miss something or is it indeed implied based on what we see in the interrogation room when Nico tells the perp that they have nothing against him? I feel like things like this need to be seen and as clearly as possible.

It’s at this point that Nico calls Mel to confess her love for her…Mel immediately knows what’s going on and heads down to the station to take Nico out of work – at which point Nico tells Mel she slept with her ex-fiancee, Greta twice the week before. In this, we learn that Nico left her ex-fiancee for Mel. Interesting.

So Maggie’s at home fixing the ouija board and gets a message that says, “Release Me.” It’s at this point that if there was any doubt, there isn’t anymore that obviously the person contacting the girls through the board isn’t their mother. At night, Maggie and Mel release who they believe to be their mother from the board’s hold. Mom tells them that Harry killed her, will kill them, and she needs to speak to Macy right away because she doesn’t have a lot of time. A very convincing demon indeed.

Demon Mom tells the girls the Prism of Souls is the only way to trap Harry and Harry has it hidden somewhere behind a mirror, where he can keep an eye on it. They remember that Harry has mom’s antique mirror (anyone else get OG Gideon vibes for a hot second here?), so they go to the mirror and touch it, only to discover they can go through it. The terrified look on Maggie’s face brought me to laugh out loud, it was so real oh my goodness.

They all go through the mirror and have to touch the prism to release it…Maggie is hesitant and Mel is all, “Maggie, we don’t have time for this!” and she pulls Mel’s hand up to the prism. Ha. Got to love sisters. They get the prism, go back home and find Harry fighting with their “mom.” Harry says she’s a demon. Maggie can’t feel any good vibes from her and is on Team Harry so now it’s her turn to get the sisters on her side. It doesn’t take long before a battle in the manor begins and I totally geeked out at Mel freezing time and demon mommy in the air on the attack. That was so great! One of my favorite moments in this episode. Harry tells them that the way to vanquish this demon is to show them a reflection in a mirror, so in 2018, they break out their smartphone and the selfie mode for the camera comes to good use. Okay, if that’s how we’re doing it…

Wrapping up the episode, Maggie breaks up with Brian. Understandable, needing a break from dating after the experience she had. Mel and Maggie give Macy their mom’s room. And Harry shows up saying that the black ooze is the primordial form of The Harbinger of Hell, which heralds the 3rd phase of the prophecy. The Harbinger is hunting for a human vessel and everything will change if it finds one.

Ugh. This again. The apocalypse thing. I’m totally not into this storyline which is unfortunate because usually, I am all about the apocalypse. But it seems like this is season one’s major story arc and I’m just…bored with it. So. I’m really hoping the pay off is worth it because the beginning of the build up isn’t doing anything for me. And it seems awfully fast, now that they know Harry is legit good, off to the next good vs evil which turns out to be the ultimate evil gearing up for the end of the world. Ehh.

Overall, decent episode. I also love how Harry quickly put a pin in the “Meghan Markle” nickname, in which the girls called him that so that he wouldn’t come every time they said, “Harry,” not realizing he only came when they called him in times of need. So what did you think of the episode?

Charmed airs Sundays at 9/8c on The CW.