Charmed: Scry Hard (7.17)

Does it bug anybody else that Charmed usually introduces a new development, only to have characters fretting over it for almost the entire following episode? We have literally four scenes here with Piper and Leo having the exact same argument about Leo's newfound lack of powers, Piper worried about him and concerned for his safety. It's ridiculous. Similarly, it's frustrating to see everybody make such a huge deal out of demon attacks, seven years after they first began happening. Piper is crazily melodramatic over Leo getting a little cut up, while Paige is similarly shocked when she's told about it. Stop getting so damn jarred by the same thing over and over, people! It's difficult to articulate, but it's like working a manual labor job and getting a little bruised every couple of days. It becomes routine, so you stop being so surprised by it. And yet these characters act as if a new attack on the Manor is something akin to the resurrection of Christ.

Gah. Apologies for the rant, which is only semi-related to this episode. Scry Hard cribs various elements from episodes like Size Matters, The Painted World and The Importance of Being Phoebe, while simultaneously destroying Zankou in the process. It's disappointing to see a promising villain played by a talented actor wind up being exactly the same type of demon the Charmed Ones always fight. So he wants the Nexus, and he wants ultimate power. Snore. Broken record, dude.

Finally, there's that Magic School development, with Leo taking over. Regardless of how the sisters even have the power to commandeer a change like that, why the damn hell does Paige want to "spread her wings" and fly on out of there? She's a social worker, then quits to become deeper involved with magic, starts temping, gets bored of that, finds a new purpose as teacher/supporter/whatever of magic school, and quickly grows tired of that, too. This character makes no sense anymore, and it really bothers me that the show allows her to just casually drop almost all of her narrative consistency. Not that I ever gave a damn about her hijinks at Magic School, but it feels like they take a huge dump on Rose McGowan every week. It's no surprise that all of her performances have become a barrel of tics.

Scry Hard is too overly familiar to be truly effective, with too many storylines that were done years ago to better effect. Throw in some ridiculous characterization and it's the worst episode in a long while. D

Credits
Guest stars Oded Fehr (Zankou); Rebecca Balding (Elise Rothman); Mailon Rivera (Craven); Peter Siragusa (Bauer); Patrick Bristow (Jordan); Collective Soul (Themselves)
Writers Andy Reaser, Doug E. Jones Director Derek Johansen