"Did you just call me a ho?" This really shouldn't work, but somehow winds up being crazily entertaining. It seems more than ever that Charmed's cribbing of pre-existing source material ends up being a game of chance. I felt the whole 'sword in the stone' story in season six was an hour of boredom that added nothing new to the concept, while the Sleepy Hollow riff was similarly weak. But here we have freaking pirates and parrots and ridiculous ghost fog, yet it all kind of works. It feels like something fresh, throwing in some new sets and even stronger new set pieces for the Halliwells to plow through, and I really liked the damn thing.Charrrmed! sticks close to original pirate lore with the fountain of youth and the 'ahoy-matey' crew, but I liked that a bunch of reference is made to pirate movies, the sisters turning to Hollywood when the Book of Shadows provides little information. It's another approach that breaks from tradition, happily veering away from the annoying predictability of recent antagonists.
Also worthy of considerable praise is the whole Entrapment knock-off with Phoebe slinking between the lasers during the museum heist. It's ridiculously silly, but again somehow works. Plus the 'blowing up the glass and freezing it mid-explosion' shot was majorly cool, am I right?
Charrrmed! also introduces Agent Kyle Brody, a lunk of vagueness with insider knowledge on the Charmed Ones. His arrival also coincides with the departure (for now, at least) of annoying Inspector Sheridan, whose entire subplot was becoming more ridiculous by the week. Fun episode, the show finally doing something right after coasting for so long. B+
Credits
Guest stars Nick Lachey (Leslie St. Claire); Jenya Lano (Inspector Sheridan); John Richard Todd (Elder); Shelby Fenner (Carly); Michael E. Rodgers (Reznor); Sam Rubin (Movie Critic); James Patric Moran (Young Black Jack); Kerr Smith (Kyle Brody); Harve Presnell (Captain Black Jack Cutting)
Writer Cameron Litvack Director Mel Damski
Such an entertaining episode. It has a fun feel-good feel about it and just like you said gives an air of freshness even though pirate material is pretty overexposed. That definitely makes it a success.
ReplyDeleteAnd of course the Entrapment scene is awesome purely for the fact that it's one of the few times in the show's latter seasons that Phoebe ever got to do something action-y and worthwhile!
The main issue I have with this episode is that the ending is a tad anticlimactic. I always wanted an all out fight scene between the girls and the pirates. It would have elevated it into an "A" hour for me.
P.S. Love Piper's blow up / freeze. I had been waiting for her to do that like a geek ever since The Source did in "Charmed & Dangerous"
Again, we're differing here! Looking back on my review (I wrote it a god few months ago) I can see I was fairly fed up by this stage. It was new and fresh, but it was a little too stupid for my taste. At least they have the decency to admit how stupid it is.
ReplyDeleteThe only thing Brody had going for him was the fact that Kerr Smith is kinda hot. After that he was totally passable.
Great review, and you made some decent points about the fresh interpretation of an old idea, I just didn't like the episode enough.
PS, that blowing up the glass thing WAS cool, very reminiscent of Charmed and Dangerous, only more Bond esque!
Damn, this is gonna get heated, Panda! I always liked this episode, and thought it was one of the stronger standalones from the later years. Like Nad said, it's a little anticlimactic, but it had a definite uniqueness to it that I really responded to.
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