Considering the quality of the recent Cole arc and the fun of Debbi Morgan's throaty-voiced Seer, it's crazily underwhelming for the grand finale to essentially be a huge light-show that lasts for all of fifteen seconds. Even the Charmed Ones seem surprised at how remarkably easy the resolution was. Womb Raider also casually re-visits the demonic rituals and underworld politics that have already become more than a little tired, with random demons with names like Dane and Malik still squabbling over who gets to become the Source. Meh. It's a ridiculously flat closer.Similarly annoying is Phoebe's random bouts of Paige-related violence due to her unborn demon spawn. Elements of the story could have worked, but it was so irritatingly played as comedy that the whole thing fell apart. While I've enjoyed this last run of episodes, it's been undermined somewhat by Alyssa Milano's performance. What should have been a dark story here was rendered almost 'cutesy', like a bad sitcom called 'That Darn Baby!', with Alyssa mugging for the camera whenever her kid did something bad. Same with last week when Phoebe was possessed by evil. She didn't entirely inhabit a genuinely evil character, instead playing the character like Cher Horowitz playing Annie Wilkes in a bad school play. She's just incapable of toning down the chipperness.
One of the few decent elements in the episode is that one small scene where Piper talks to Paige about her pregnancy issues. It's a somber moment, and Holly Marie Combs is particularly affecting in it. She's always great with the calmer, more human material.
Womb Raider cribs too much from other episodes, closes with a disappointing finale and ends with an unnecessary Cole-related cliffhanger. Considering how strong the Seer was a character, she deserved a better exit. And this arc in general deserved a better send-off, too. Blah. C-
Credits
Guest stars Jeff Meek (Dane); Tony Amendola (Dark Priest); Carel Struycken (Giant Demon); Aaron Lustig (Dr. Harris); Nicholas Cascone (Inspector Miles); Mike Pavone (Doctor); Debbi Morgan (The Seer)
Writer Daniel Cerone Director Mel Damski
Although I liked it more than you, I totally agree about the anticlimactic resolution to the storyline. This is an issue that plagued Charmed throughout its entire run and I believe one of its biggest flaws. They would build up so many things and then it would end up being SO anticlimactic and dissappointing. Whereas a show like Buffy for example would pay off plot arcs with amazing fight scenes and long drawn out resolutions, Charmed would solve the arc with a potion and a chant of a corny spell :( It was truly annoying and irritating. Unfortunately this is quite evident in this episode with the sisters trapped in the cage in the underworld and they make it out in the most unexciting way ever! Oh well, at least the buildup this season was the best they ever had. Gotta give points for that huh.
ReplyDeleteThe whole 'the baby did it' thing was a complete mess. You have Milano completely overselling it, while the actual funny moments came from Piper deadpan remarks. Love the Clueless/Misery reference (obviously this would never happen, but I would love that to surface as a long-lost deleted scene).
ReplyDeleteI agree that it was a bit of anti-climax, although I suppose using the power of three spell to kill source number three was a decent way to end the season, with the sisters properly united. The seer stealing Phoebe's demon child, and then the quick shot of the head moving, always surprises me.
Loved your Restless review, by the way. Didn't have anything to add to it, so didn't want to comment there. Really, really liked it though. Looking forward to some Buffy season five; probably my favourite season of anything, EVAR.
Nadim Absolutely. They got stuck in a familiar pattern and never really broke out of it. It bugged.
ReplyDeletetvfan I completely forgot about the moving belly shot, which was admittedly nuts and awesome. But everything else was pretty 'blah' here.
And thanks for the Restless comments. I'm really proud of those Buffy reviews, since it's a show I feel like I can really write about (I guess because the characters are so strong). I really struggle sometimes to write anything interesting about shows like Charmed or The X-Files. But Buffy's a breeze.
I'm interested to read your comments on season five, though. Since I didn't actually enjoy it all that much during my re-watch. It's strange because I adored it when it was actually on the air, but some things really dragged for me this time around. I'll start posting next week.
Thanks for commenting, guys!
It doesn't make sense how can the child be the seer ?
ReplyDelete