The showy central story continues to bug, this time an excuse to allow everyone to fawn over Phoebe's beauty and elegance (hah!) and Rose McGowan to mug like she's never mugged before. Both actresses are intensely annoying here, but it does allow Holly Marie Combs to provide some levity as the one sister who isn't lobotomized by the titan spell. "I find this ridiculous", "This is getting tired": are we sure Holly didn't improvise most of her dialogue this week?When the Greek shit finally wraps, Oh My Goddess! Part 2 isn't a total crock. I still have problems with how the Piper/Leo story was constructed, but Holly always sells the hell out of these things, and her final scene up in Elderville with Leo showcases why she's by far Charmed's greatest asset at this point.
I just wish Leo's departure didn't involve so much contrivance. The sisters are nothing without him? Paige and Phoebe act like idea-free morons without his advice and guidance? Pffft. Leo's always been useless, so don't try and say otherwise, show.
Season five has been a rough year for Charmed, opening with drive and confidence as it settled into a more lightweight tone, before spinning out of control with episode after episode of suck soon after Cole's demise. The show still has the ability to amuse every once in a while, but a lot of the themes that made the series so endearing at the start (the sisterly chemistry, the bond between family) have slowly faded in favor of vapid silliness and unnecessary cleavage. D+
Credits
Guest stars Drew Fuller (Chris Perry); Brian Thompson (Cronus); Will Kempe (Demetrius); Rebecca Balding (Elise Rothman); Sandra Prosper (Sheila Morris); Eyal Podell (Roland); Michael Gilden (Finnegan); Nick Kiriazis (Evan)
Writer Daniel Cerone Director Joel J. Feigenbaum
I always loved this finale, but on re-watch, it was pretty vacuous. You've hit the nail on the head with all your 'Charmed' reviews this week. Mine are pretty much the same, and my review of part 2 is all about how Holly saved the entire thing, which you also touched on. Great reviews.
ReplyDeleteAside from the Nymphs and Lucky Charmed, this 2-parter is further proof of just how embarrassing Charmed became at one point. Yes they produced a lot of singularly great episodes after season 4 but as a through-line for the show, they TOTALLY destroyed everything that it stood for. The "Oh My Goddess" episodes seriously blow my mind with their hideous atrociousness. You basically berated everything that deserved it from the cheap effects to the awful outfits to DREW FULLER WHO IS THE SINGLE MOST ANNOYING ACTOR EVER BORN! I can not describe how much he pisses me off (and after Brain Krause I didn't think that was possible).
ReplyDeleteIt's sad really because you're right, the first half of the season did light-Charmed pretty well in some cases, but by the end of the season, it was just ugh. I actually always wonder just HOW the show managed to stay on the air after season 4. It means people really were invested in the sisters to such an intense degree that they just like us, stuck with it far longer than it deserved!
Ah that felt good to get off my chest! It just frustrates me how idiotically Brad Kern & his writing staff treated their audience starting with this season!