Charmed - Need To Know - Review: "Freedom to Live Ur Life"

Charmed hit the second half of the sophomore season with a stellar outing, featuring strong developments, a character introspective, and a heartbreaking and heartwarming conclusion. Jeff Byrd directed the episode written by Johanna Lee & Jessica O’Toole & Amy Rardin.

At the beginning of the episode, we find our beloved sisters trying to regain their Power of Three. After the failed attempt we find them reflecting on their current lives. That scene was truly powerful and much needed to be honest. The writers threw their lives on their heads, stripped them from the life they knew and while the idea was brilliant and a great set up the repercussions on them was never truly felt. Yes, there was one and the other small scene where it was felt but not on a real emotional level. Let`s see if further outings will dig a bit deeper into this issue.

After the failed attempt, Macy saw her as the cause of it. Madeleine once again blew me away with her performance this week. Such a well rounded performance. She really breathes and lives Macy and taps just into the right emotions to get there. Macy was an only child, always feeling like an outsider so seeing her sisters still keeping their connection alive and being the odd one out made her go to the darkest place she knew. The embrace of Abigael. Seeing Macy reach out to Abigael from all people just showed how desperate she was and how important the well being of her sisters was for her. And no matter what I think of Abigael`s character and the writing for it at this point, her scenes with Macy are pure gold. They had a great connection from the moment she premiered and this episode just cemented it. Also using a character like Abigael to explore Macy`s motivation was a smart move. Season 1 was all about Macy accepting her power and coming to terms with her darkness. Eventually, Macy came to terms with her darkness and turned it to strength for herself. Her letting go of her demon side and the way Abigael "humiliated" her to do so just showed how important her sisters and their wellbeing are for Macy. She dropped her pried and embraced the sisterhood. Macy being brokenhearted after not being able to use her witch powers was another magnificent scene by Madeliene, especially with that perfect background score. Simply wow. The Hacy tease I won`t give too much attention to, but I wouldn`t put it past the writers that the hallucination had to do with Macy`s new witch powers as some fans are speculating online.

Macy finding out about Parker`s status was an interesting twist and her not coming clean with Maggie will be an interesting turning point in a future episode. Will their sisterhood be strong enough to survive it? Only time will tell. Meanwhile, Abigael took Macy`s powers for herself and this makes things a bit more clear. Back in episode 4, I thought Abigael had the same pyrokinesis power as Macy, but she only used her telekinetic powers to manipulate already existing fire. So now she has both telekinetic and pyrokinetic powers. Power up Abigael, you won`t enjoy them for much longer.

On the other side of Seattle, an assassination/kidnapping attempt on the Alpha Dark/Whitelighter brought Helen and the sisters face to face. The organization Nadia is working for wanted to get the Alphas for their collection. Obviously, Team Nadia are the ones who initially attacked the sisters and are on a mission to get all the magical beings and their power. Azura Skye delivered an impressive performance as both Dark and Light Helen as their story was unraveled throughout the hour. Seeing how broken and damaged "good" Helen was and how happy she was after reuniting with her other half brought all the feels. Tormented by the events of her past for over 300 years Helen finally found peace after she was allowed to make choices about her life. Looking back at all the heartache she had to go through over the years it was really sad to see her go, but she passed away the way she wanted and that made her happy.

There are some unclarities surrounding Helen for that matter. Why did she remember her past life? Why is her whitelighter self named Helen as well? Despite Helen`s present time story being over we surely need a flashback episode to shed more light on how she came to be.

The Maggie-Harry scenes during the hunt for dark Helen were very sweet. Maggie encouraging Harry to go for his feelings felt a bit odd considering who it was about, but it fitted the theme of the episode and how much the sisters are sacrificing cause of their magic. But don`t go there Harry, please don`t go there. Sincerely, the Charmed Fandom. The episode ended with Maggie and Mel letting go of their restrictions and experiencing some freedom and happiness.

Other Tidbits:

- Abigael looked smoking! That dress is a whole new level of hot.
- Duh! Of course, your Darklighter is alive Harry! Obviously! You are, so why wouldn`t he be. Thie revelation would`ve made more sense if revealed before last week`s episode so the angst about Harry would carry some weight.
- Madeleine`s face in that elevator! Priceless! Also her arms! #ARMGOALSFOREVER

with only 10 episodes left this season, the writers seemingly are planning to make shit go down. Let`s hope they will stop dragging some stories and reembrace the Power of Three as soon as possible. Sadly we are on a two-week break cause of Valentine's Day, but in the meantime feel free to share your thoughts on the latest Charmed outing and your predictions of what will go down during the remainder of the season.