Charmed season 2 episode 3 review: Harry and Mel visit the astral realm

In this week’s Charmed episode, Harry and Mel journey to regain their powers while Macy makes a suspicious new witch friend.

Last week’s Charmed saw the group divide and conquer in their mission to save witches in the war against demons. This week, we pick back up with Mel monitoring the map at Elder HQ as she desperately works to decode the Book of Elders for a way to regain her powers.

Macy and Harry return from another mission–one saved, one lost. An exhausted Macy lashes out and walks over to the Book to give it a go, but it’s protected against demon magic and throws her across the room.

A concerned Harry warns Macy that she must sleep, but she tells him she can’t. She never knows when the assassin could show up in her dreams. A pained Harry promises to get their magic back, “The magic is still within us. We just have to reclaim it.” And come on! Just kiss already!

But also, yes, get the magic back. That’s important, too.

Once Harry begins helping Mel, he soon finds an owl symbol representing the Sentinel–the guardian of the astral realm who may be able to help them regain their magic. They soon gather all the ingredients, but still need a human anchor.

Cue the witchy shopkeeper, Katrina, who Mel categorically refuses because, “She’s kind of into me.”

“Well, all the better,” Harry responds. “Who else is gonna commit to five hours of meditation?”

As it turns out, Macy’s concerns are very real. As she drifts off for a moment while watching the map, Sexy Harry (demon doppelgänger Harry) appears and whispers, “Why have you been avoiding me?” Macy startles awake to find a new light on the map.

In a very Macy move, she jumps through the portal alone, afraid to lose any more witches. Macy soon finds the endangered woman on a train in San Francisco, following a trail of blood.

But, making the critical mistake of all television characters, Macy talks instead of immediately porting back with the girl, and the two get kidnapped and taken to a demon holding cell where their powers don’t work.

Using some good old fashioned science, Macy and her new witchy friend Abigail, rig the door so the demon is shocked when he comes to unlock it and they get the chance to escape. After a brief chase involving some impressive witchery from Abigail, Macy finally ports them out of there and back to Elder HQ.

Meanwhile, Mel and Harry are astral projecting with Katrina. They soon find the Sentinel, who is so happy for companionship after so many years, that he is reticent to be helpful.

Finally, the Sentinel offers them a clear rainbow drink and tells them they’ll be fully empowered after they go back to the physical realm, but warns the universe will claim its consequence.

And the consequence comes knocking almost immediately when a kiss between Katrina and Mel covers Katrina in worms. Their powers are returned, but Harry “can’t heal worms.”

The whole thing is just too cruel, even for the Elders, and Mel encourages Harry to take a leap of faith with her that they are still in the astral plane after all. Orbing onto the roof, they jump off together and end up back with the Sentinel who congratulates them on passing the test.

While he doesn’t restore their powers, he does give them some kind of scarab so they can decode the Book of Elders, which is a pretty big victory for the Charmed Ones at this point.

Back inside Elder HQ, Abigail reveals she knows that she’s with the Charmed Ones and had prayed they were alive. A cautious Macy takes off her blindfold, and as she explores the room, Abigail encounters the Book of Elders in the same way Macy had, getting knocked across the room.

Assuming she’s a demon, Macy goes on the attack, but in truth, Abigail is part demon/part witch like Macy. On the one hand, it’s nice that Macy now has someone to share her burden with, on the other, the whole thing is still a little suspicious…

Not to mention, the demon overlord planted a tracker in Abigail and has descended on SafeSpace. Maggie and Macy devise a plan to lure the demon down to Elder HQ where he will be powerless so they can vanquish him.

It’s important to note that the demon in question is Callum, the same demon who left the bar in the previous episode at the mere mention of the demon overlord. While Abigail claims he’s the demon overlord, that just doesn’t seem likely…

Right before Abigail stabs him, the demon mutters, “It’s you, isn’t it?” and if that’s not ominous foreshadowing, I don’t know what is. Mel and Harry return just as the deed is done and Harry suggests a celebratory cocktail, leaving Abigail and Macy alone again.

Macy opens up a portal for Abigail, but tells her she wishes she could stay, and as they hug to say goodbye, a new red dot appears on the map–a command center breach. Macy pushes Abigail away just in time to see the knife she’s holding.

There’s a brief struggle before Macy gets the knife and overpowers her. As she’s about to stab her, Abigail sees Macy’s green scar from the assassin and shows Macy hers, telling her the assassin is after them both.

I suppose at this point, Charmed still wants us to think the assassin and the demon overlord are two different people. This feels kind of like a “no duh” moment, but apparently, it’s enough for Macy since Abigail is still around next week…

Overall, all seems to be well, aside from the fact that poor Katrina is hallucinating worms. Perhaps those unintended consequences are still out there. Or maybe Katrina will remember more than Harry and Mel initially thought.

Charmed continues with new episodes Friday nights on The CW.