Charmed: Something Wicca This Way Goes (7.22)

This feels a lot like a series finale, and knowing the twenty-two brain farts that form season eight, this damn well should have been the series finale. Something Wicca This Way Goes plays like a greatest hits hour, full of references to past episodes, old spells and former characters. Some of the dialogue could be interpreted as too self-conscious, but I feel it kind of worked here. I liked seeing the sisters revisiting the past to try and find new methods to destroy Zankou, as well as the Halliwell's mutual concern over their newest antagonist and his grand scheme to steal the Nexus and gain ultimate power.

Charmed: Death Becomes Them (7.21)

While this is pretty good, it would be foolish to not acknowledge that Death Becomes Them could have been a hell of a lot better. The central conceit for the hour revolves around innocents that were lost, and the guilt that manifests in the Charmed Ones when Zankou brings them back from the dead. The sucky thing being that two of the three zombies are introduced literally twenty minutes before they're zombified, while season three 'lost innocent' Inspector Davidson was more a victim of Prue's decision making, and not so much Phoebe's. It's just a little annoying that behind-the-scenes sniping prevented somebody like Shannen Doherty returning, since that would have made a ton more sense from a storytelling perspective. Then again, Andy or some illusion of Chris could have made interesting zombies, even Charisma Carpenter's Seer. Eh. The whole thing feels like a missed opportunity in that regard.

Charmed: Imaginary Fiends (7.20)

They really exhausted the Wyatt character by this point, am I right? This is another story about Wyatt being taken over by evil, only this time Future Wyatt is dragged into the present day where he once again becomes that leather-clad mumbly-voiced villain with evil facial hair. It's interesting to see a show that explored moral ambiguity so successfully in the recent Avatar arc unsurprisingly return to obvious characterization. Like always, good and evil are treated as two vastly separate ideologies, awkwardly discussed by Wyatt as he whines at his parents for raising him 'good'. Ugh. It's ridiculously mundane.

Charmed: Freaky Phoebe (7.19)

Having now entirely ran out of ideas, Charmed's quality pretty much relies on stumbling across decent actors who can elicit some fresh sparks out of stale material. Guest stars, obviously, since we'd be stupid to expect any real effort from most of our tired regulars anymore. Freaky Phoebe's A-plot only works because of Suzanne Krull, a character actress who entirely nails Alyssa Milano's voice and mannerisms and helps lift yet another 'sister possessed by evil' story into something far more entertaining than it has any right to be.

Charmed: Little Box of Horrors (7.18)

Charmed has fully settled into its post-Avatar, standalone-driven run, and this is another episode that kind of works in spite of all its flaws. The Hope character can easily be called out for being a little too reminiscent of a certain blonde vampire slayer, but I liked the introduction of a new mythology entirely removed from the sisters. It opens up the Charmed world a little, at least implying that the Charmed Ones aren't the only cursed-with-a-sacred-duty ladies in the universe.

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.

Charmed: The Seven Year Witch (7.16)

Not as teeth-pullingly boring as I remember, but still pretty underwhelming for the 150th episode. The Seven Year Witch is a fangirl shriek in the form of a Charmed hour, full of melodramatic dialogue about Piper and Leo's 'miraculous love' and an annoying Route 66 trial for the big ol' lunk of former Elder. Thank God, then, for Julian McMahon. He doesn't get a whole lot to do, but sparkles with charisma as always, and the script does us all a favor by making him bounce off of Holly Marie Combs and Billy Zane, the only actors on this show right now who don't make you want to reach for lighter fluid and a matchbook.

Charmed: Show Ghouls (7.15)

This is just okay. Show Ghouls has an interesting central premise, with the time loop and the doomed victims and the Pardon My Past-style fashions and time period, but the show never really runs with any of it. Count Roget isn't at all interesting, and the story quickly devolves into annoying out-of-body hijinks soon enough. I did like the thing with the playing cards, and Phoebe's "uh... Surly?" line, but nothing else really stood out.

Charmed: Carpe Demon (7.14)

And we return to our regularly scheduled programming. I get that the show would want to do something lighter after the Avatar arc, but guuhhh. Don't get me wrong, Billy Zane is ridiculously charismatic as Drake, having immediate chemistry with all the ladies and able to make even the lousiest dialogue sparkle, but the episode begins to blow as soon as the Robin Hood thing starts up, leading to an ending which drags on for what feels like a century and an array of annoying subplots.

Charmed: Charmageddon (7.13)

Watching the Avatar arc, it's interesting to see the parallels to last season's finale, in which the characters were all stuck in an alternate universe where everything seemed outwardly perfect, only for the slightest imperfection to be zeroed in on and punished with death or injury. The 'utopia' seen in Charmageddon is nowhere near as extreme as the one from last year, and all the better for it. Instead of having their legs blown off for the smallest hint of anger or moral outrage, people simply vanish, while death itself is treated as something pretty inconsequential, handled with the laziest cry of 'they're in a better place'.

Charmed: Extreme Makeover: World Edition (7.12)

Zankou is proving to be one of the most charismatic villains since Cole. Oded Fehr is brilliantly underplaying the character, being snidely and menacing without being melodramatic, making Zankou a real threat in the process. It's also interesting to see a bad guy who has an actual plan with real levels, instead of a 'crush-kill-destroy' method that can only lead to death-by-Charmed One. Once again, the season continues to surprise with its crazy levels of ambition, the Avatar story allowing for profound conversations about cause and effect and the importance of moral duality. Yes, this is the same show that brought us Nymphs Just Wanna Have Fun.

Charmed: Ordinary Witches (7.11)

Ordinary Witches straddles two storylines that are both entirely necessary, but both feel somewhat padded out to fill time. What remains absorbing is the Avatar arc and the inevitable questions it brings. Who are the Avatars to decide what actually is good or evil? Like Piper said, is burnt toast something bad enough to be removed from existence in this utopian paradise? The entire story arc itself is riddled with plotholes, and for once the characters are actually acknowledging that fact. It's a ridiculously strong premise.

Charmed: Witchness Protection (7.10)

Something I'm finding interesting about this season is that most of the character-driven drama is rooted in ideas that are sort of derivative. There's tension between Piper and Leo, the sisterhood is threatened by distrust and separate allegiances, the Elders are self-involved and ridiculous, and so forth. But for some insanely positive reason, the writers are finding new shading to old storylines. There's logic to these arcs, and right now each character is being driven by something that feels personal and believable, not things that are only there to service a plot. I feel like I'm praising Charmed a lot lately, which in itself is something new and unexpected. I'm suddenly liking this show all over again.

Charmed: There's Something About Leo (7.9)

One of the major story arcs last season was Piper and Leo's break-up, problems in their marriage further exacerbated by Leo's promotion to Elder status. What entirely destroyed the story was how illogical it was, Piper ending their marriage because of his absence from their lives, only for Leo to show up every week doing the exact same things he always did. This season, the Avatar arc is doing a far greater job at creating conflict between the two of them, Leo clearly having been seduced by this mysterious new power, but unsure about telling Piper. It's something sort of believable as a source of angst, as you can understand why both parties are feeling distant from each other.

Charmed: Charmed Noir (7.8)

Seven seasons in, and the tropes that once made Charmed so engaging and fun have rapidly become tired and annoying. This season is already doing a strong job in breaking new ground, but Charmed Noir is probably the most single-handedly inventive Charmed hour since, gosh, Chick Flick? It looks gorgeous, has a visual identity all its own, utilizes each character well, features some perceptive dialogue, and entirely resists throwing in a bunch of badly-performed demon characters. Yes, this is still the later years of Charmed.

Charmed: Someone to Witch Over Me (7.7)

While I'm enjoying the various plot threads that are gradually coming together, this script was a mess from start to finish. The most important action occurred during Leo's subplot, even if his entire vision quest was an unnecessary detour down clipshow alley with a return from Drew Fuller that nobody sane asked for. We finally learn a little about the Avatars, and you can see why Leo would be attracted to their plan. A world without good or evil? Surely that would be pretty great, right? It sounds promising, even though it's ridiculously clear that things aren't going to end up as promised.

Charmed: Once in a Blue Moon (7.6)

Season seven gets a bad rap, when I always thought it had a drive and ambition that hadn't been seen on the show since at least late season four. I think the fact it's lumped in between arguably the worst Charmed seasons kind of harms it's reputation, since nearly every episode so far has managed to be something kind of fun and interesting -- even if the basic concepts of most of these hours sound horrible in principle. PMS werewolves? Really? But I always sort of liked Once in a Blue Moon, video-game CGI and all.

Charmed: Styx Feet Under (7.5)

This works like something of a sequel to season three's Death Takes a Halliwell, another episode in which the Angel of Death lamented over the importance of his job to a not-so-agreeable Charmed One. It's not as earnest and moving as that previous hour, but still manages to be something pretty absorbing, notably when the fundamental importance of death gradually begins to dawn on Piper. Styx Feet Under works well in spite of Charmed's overriding plotholes relating to death, as well as the continued existence of ridiculous plot devices like 'protection spells'.

Charmed: Charrrmed! (7.4)

"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.

Charmed: Cheaper by the Coven (7.3)

Along with the show's rapid denigration of the concept of death, continuity is also getting brutally beaten every week, and I don't think it's a coincidence that the most glaring mistakes occur whenever Grams appears. Just as in Witchstock, here we have a Grams episode undermined by a ton of errors. She's aware of Gideon, yet didn't know that Piper just had a baby? She had a 'witch talk' with the sisters when they were teens? What? TV series always have a 'show bible' that helps prevent insanity like this, and I have no idea why Charmed isn't using it.