"Today we're going to be talking about the five-minute orgasm". What a wonderful opening line. I can't remember the last time I wanted to bash myself over the head with a fire truck within four seconds of a TV show starting up. My Three Witches resurrects that tried-and-tested Charmed formula that's become even more tiring than the whole 'sister possessed by evil' trope, with the Halliwells trapped in alternate realities where their deepest desires are fulfilled. Cut to Piper in a world without magic (the words 'normal life' automatically put me into a coma), Paige in a world where magic is freely accepted, and Phoebe in a world where she's super-famous and everybody loves her. Naturally.All three realities are thinly drawn, something that makes the fact they take up the far majority of the episode sort of mystifying. Everything seems a little random, too, from the way the sisters can blur into each other's fantasies, to the various incidences this week of the sisters ignoring any personal gain side-effects to their spells.
My Three Witches lurches from one misfiring set piece to another, from the crummy talk show set to the male stripper scene to that ugly CGI explosion at the end. I guess Desmond Askew is fine, if another melodramatic Brit villain, but My Three Witches fails to explore anything fresh or interesting, settling on preexisting ideas and calling it a new episode. D
Credits
Guest stars Desmond Askew (Gith); Gina Ravera (Mary); Kathryn Fiore (Elizabeth); Annabelle Gurwitch (Nina Halter); Kathryn Joosten (Magician's Assistant); Eric Dane (Jason Dean)
Writers Scott Lipsey, Whip Lipsey Director Joel J. Feigenbaum
Great review, but I actually didn't mind this one a whole lot, since I genuinely enjoyed the first 6 episodes of this season, but I have to side with you on the flimsiness of the whole thing, it's a prime example of the "make-up-as-you-do" writing that was starting to plague the show more frequently than not.
ReplyDeleteI'm curious to know what you think about next week's episodes (Soul Survivor, Sword and the City), I loved the guest actor in Soul Survivor, but the rest is a bit of a disaster, and more of a re-hash than this episode was. I'll leave it at that till then!
Weird. I disagree with you on this one Max, I really enjoy this episode. It hooked from in from the beginning no matter how rehashed things. And I remember the moment where Phoebe is in the limo or so and she sees someone threatening her using a picket sign was such a chilling moment! It's definitely one of my top 3 episodes of the season as I hated a lot of the rest! (Cough *Drew Fuller* cough)
ReplyDeleteEven though I own the DVDs (still regret purchasing season six), I've never actually seen this episode the whole way through. I just had to stop. At least other episodes had the decency to be so horrific you can't turn away, but this was uninteresting in a season that wasn't particularly good anyway. This whole season is a mess. The finale is fine, and I liked Witch Wars and episodes here and there, but most of it is so hard to care for. I always liked the manticore episode, too. I have no idea why, quite possibly because my standards for enjoying Charmed had dropped considerably. Unpopular opinion; season eight is better than this mess of a year.
ReplyDeleteDefinitely check out Felicity by the way. It definitely compares well to most of the shows on the WB, and the first season in particular is pretty stellar. Felicity herself is a really well drawn character, she makes typical tv mistakes at times that no sane person would ever think of, but those choices always come from an understandable place. Love the character, love Keri Russell. Love J.J Abrams, really need to check out Fringe because I completely love both Alias and Felicity.
Oh, and Buffy taking the shots in Life serial is the most adorable thing since eskimo Willow! Had to say that, but didn't want to leave it in a comment for the review...(looking forward to your Tabula Rasa review. Heart that episode, even if it gets all depressing in the end).
Panda I'll post them next week, but Soul Survivor is a missed opportunity for me, and I thought Sword and the City was criminally unambitious. I write a lot about the general state of Charmed at this point in both reviews, so look out for that.
ReplyDeleteNad Actually, that is a pretty good moment. It has a nice under-current of creepiness to it. But the rest of the episode just tired me out.
tvfan I get why you struggle with this one. For me, you can always tell what episodes are just 'blah' due to the length of the review. I really struggled writing anything about My Three Witches, because it was just so uninspiring. Not at all like season eight -- my reviews are huge for that. Heh. And I also kind of agree with your 'unpopular opinion'. Season six just bored me to tears, at least season eight inspired some sort of feeling. It's obviously terrible, but I didn't totally despise Christy and that whole thing this time around.
And I'll seek out Felicity. It's always been a show I wanted to watch at some point. And Fringe is definitely recommended. It takes a while to settle in but the big sci-fi mythology it eventually creates is pretty masterful.
And I generally liked Tabula Rasa. It has some bad moments, but I think I was pretty positive about it (trying to remember). I'll post it next week.
I wasn't sure if you knew this but when phoebe was sent to the dream world, she was accidentallying channeling Jason's dreams and desiresee for her so she was sent to his dream world which is why he died
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