The characterization here follows an overly familiar path, with the fallout from Prue's death taking some expected turns here. Piper, the person affected the most by her death, is swimming in a river of denial, evident by the gung-ho demon-vanquishing bender she's embarked on. The story unfolds in as predictable a way as possible, finally ending in the unsurprising 'breakdown at Prue's grave' closer that was inevitable. But Holly Marie Combs is undeniably great in these moments, and that final scene where she visits Paige at work and offers an olive branch of sorts was beautifully performed. She knows it's the right thing to do, opening up to her newfound sister, even though part of her is still holding back after recent events.Continuing the themes of the season, there are some explicit discussions of the changes in the sisterly dynamic: Piper now the maternal figure, Phoebe the middle-child stuck trying to maintain balance and perspective, and Paige young and reckless. Paige's adventures with the Book of Shadows are pretty dumb (struggling to drive with her giant boobs, most notably), but I guess it's interesting to see a sister having fun with magic once again. Eh. I'm grasping here.
What ends up surprisingly flat is the entire Fury plot. Maybe it's because of how little they were on-screen, or maybe because of all the references in the script to previous (more impressive) possessions, it kind of didn't work. It's also unfortunate that they're so reminiscent of the Banshees from last season. Or, to be more specific, from four episodes ago.
Nonetheless, Hell Hath No Fury is another fine episode. The budget increase is still evident (I liked the opening car chase), and the fractured dynamic between the sisters is again intriguing. C+
Credits
Guest stars Scott Mosenson (Donnie); Becky Wahlstrom (Lila)
Writer Krista Vernoff Director Chris Long
I personally find the predictability of this episode is one of the things I liked about it. It used a tried and testing formula to get Piper to confront Prue's death head-on. It was completely necessary.
ReplyDeleteI do agree about the Furies though. They weren't half as great as others that the show show has had in the past (Banshees for example).
I truly hate this episode and consider it one of Charmed's worst because it seems to be Kern's way of trying to make *us* hate Prue and hate Shannen - be glad she's gone and accept Paige instead. That never succeeded for me. If anything this episode made me hate Paige.
ReplyDeleteWhat Paige says is SOOOO wrong, and as an assistant social worker, it's insulting to us.
Piper should *NOT* hate Prue for being gone, nor should Paige hate her parents for being gone. That indeed is pure "feel sorry for myself" - pure selfishness on both of their parts in the worst possible way - count how many "I's" there are in Piper's speech - it's always all about her.
Piper can hate the fact that Prue is gone; that Prue was so prideful that she almost let herself be killed, but just like Piper blamed Leo for letting Prue die and continued to hold it over his head, hating Prue just made her a worse person. Only by accepting the fact that Prue is indeed gone, that it was her time to go and Piper shouldn't blame anyone, and then by deciding to make Prue proud of her by being the best leader of the Charmed Ones she could possibly be rather than the worst could Piper have gotten past Prue's death, the way I got past my own mother's death - and that's something Piper never did - hating Prue never helped at all.
Rather than trying to make Prue proud of her, Piper slipped more and more into self-pity, turning her into the true bitch of Charmed, much more than Prue ever was.
You continue to have these really interesting interpretations of certain stories, Esmeralda. I didn't get that from the episode at all, but the way you explain it really makes you question if it was the right thing to do, particularly as it does seem to cast Prue in a negative light.
ReplyDeleteGreat insight, particularly how you mentioned your own identification with the story.
I actually really appreciate this episode and think it's fairly top notch, if only for really focusing on the fallout from Prue's death and bringing Paige into the fold in a pretty respectful manner. This is the episode, I feel, where Paige was made to "earn" her place in the show. Three episodes into the Shannen-free season and the writers were still letting us cope with her absence and allowing Paige to be somewhat rejected and held off. The way she was finally truly brought into the family felt natural to me and the fact that it tied in with her actively saving a spiraling Piper through her own experience with loss as an orphan was elegantly handled. This show has had *plenty* of very mediocre episodes in the C range, but I honestly think this one's a cut above that grade. An A-, maybe B+ for me (the furies were a little weak). I even appreciated the silly hijinks of a magically-ignorant witch to balance out the rage and sorrow going on elsewhere. Cole was great, too, fighting alongside Piper and getting increasingly frustrated, caught between resentment of the danger she was putting him & Phoebe in and not wanting to let Phoebe lose another sister. Loved the review, though! Sorry for the long and late comment.
ReplyDeleteReally great comments, thanks! Hell Hath No Fury is one of those episodes that I feel I could have been too harsh about. There's a couple of other ones, that I'll probably go back and re-review at some point.
ReplyDeleteLoved hearing your take on it. Thanks for reading!
I actually enjoyed Hell Hath No Fury more than I should. It nicely taps into Piper's pain, and bring Paige into the Wiccan fold organically. I enjoyed the light tone, and the dark undertones used with by Piper.
ReplyDeleteDidn't appreciate the Prue hate bashing at the end but I'm okay because HMC sold that scene and it was heartbreaking. I hoped with her convo with Paige she would have retconned and said the anger of loosing Prue made her say that than hating on Prue.
Also this episode introduces Cole as the .5 of the Power of Two and a half which I liked for him.
Petty Side Note: This was probably the last episode I think Alyssa Milano looked great and really loved her look in this episode.
Also this episode has some brilliant one liners!