Charmed review: Plot twist reveals the identity of the shadow demon

We’ve got sacred magical artifacts, electricity powers and Maggie becoming closer with Parker in a new jam-packed episode; “Out of Scythe”.

Maggie’s older sisters continue to deal with their own issues in this episode, but Maggie still steps into the spotlight this week. She finds herself having to decide whether she wants to drop out of her university, as well as discovering what Parker is hiding from her. However, she doesn’t realize that Parker is holding back another even bigger secret.

The supernatural story of the week is that the three magical pieces of the Scythe of Tartarus, an object used to open a door to a prison harboring the most evil of spirits, is being hunted down by a mysterious shadow demon. This week’s story forced the girls to interact with some new magical beings we haven’t seen before, including a wine-drinking satyr who gets everybody drunk which results in humorous hangovers.

The plot also gives Macy the opportunity to be honest with her sisters about finding a mysterious key, which she initially believes holds the metaphorical key to the “darkness” inside of her or offers some explanation to her past. However, it is revealed that the key is related to the Scythe of Tartarus. The revelation also allows Mel and Maggie to announce what they know about Macy being abandoned, having overheard their mother worrying that there was something wrong with Macy.

The sisters and Harry grow stronger as a group and convince Macy that she can fight whatever “darkness” is inside of her. Harry has become a very important figure in the sisters’ lives, offering them both magical and personal advice, and it’s clear the sisters have very high regards for their Whitelighter.

The girls’ continue to face difficulties in their personal lives when Mel makes the decision to take a break from following in her mom’s footsteps, working in Woman’s Studies, and to figure out what she wants to do. Her character has been the most developed so far this season after losing her mom, girlfriend and job in such a short space of time. Mel is now completely thrown in at the deep end and must search for meaning in her magical life.

Meanwhile, Macy gets a promotion at work and struggles to fire her friend Galvin. Instead, she stands up to her boss and figures out other ways they can make budget cuts in the lab. It seems Macy is becoming more and more outspoken and less shy and easily-persuaded. The resilience growing in her character will most likely help Macy in resisting the temptation to move to the dark side.

Despite her sisters’ issues, Maggie is the main star of this week’s episode, which pays off thanks to her incredibly genuine and sweet character. With her power to read minds, Maggie realizes Parker is hiding something from her when they go out on their first date. After Maggie walks in on Parker injecting himself with drugs, he persuades Maggie it was medicine. Parker confesses that he has an auto-immune disease that severely decreases his life expectancy and Maggie uses her empathetic powers to ensure he is telling the truth.

However, Maggie misses something huge when the ending of the episode reveals Parker is the shadow demon who was hunting for the Scythe of Tartarus as per his father’s orders. We learn along with Maggie that Parker is only half demon. After Maggie feels Parker’s pain whilst he is in his shadow form, is seemingly being forced by his father to carry out acts of evil.

Parker has always seemed like a slightly shady character, being almost obsessed with Maggie and overly-intuitive of her wishes, but I don’t think anyone expected a plot twist as big as this. As Parker is half-human, does he truly like Maggie or is the whole thing a scam to get closer to the charmed ones? It’s interesting to see where this complicated storyline will go from here, and whether Parker will have to choose between his romance with Maggie or his father’s influence.

On top of this, we also have a new character in the form of a mysterious woman who shoots electricity. This stranger turns up out of the blue to steal the Scythe of Tartarus but we don’t understand her position or motives just yet. The woman’s power also produces a mark identical to the one on the sisters’ mom’s body after she died. Mel realizes this could mean the stranger is responsible and must investigate further. Harry indicates the woman’s teleportation ability suggests she is not a demon, so she could be a witch, but is she on the side of good or bad? Only time will tell.

What did you think of “Out of Scythe”? Let us know in the comments!