S8-17 GENERATION HEX

[Scott]

Again, this is an episode of mixed virtue. On the one hand, who can object to honeymooning Paige orbing in and out whilst Henry is scuba diving? Besides, the outfit Paige is wearing is very colorful. She looks quite peachy!

We are also treated to Piper coming to grips with the absence of Leo when two Magic School students, the only two remaining students out of a class of five in the advanced combat class, come to the manor pleading for Leo's assistance to vanquish the unvanquishable Noxon demons. For the first time, Piper realizes how much went unspoken between the two of them. Trying her best, Piper attempts to render assistance, but cannot fill Leo's shoes. Wyatt, in almost his first completely spoken role, helps
a go at it. After all, as Wyatt lets on, Leo would step aside.

On the other hand, we are forced to sit through the acidic frothings of Christy. Subtlety is not her strong suit. In fact, she is about as subtle as a baseball bat used as a club. Kandor, the last remaining live Triad member, has more personality - and he's a demon! Didn't any one of the writers think for a moment that Christy would have been more

And, let's not make the mistake - as Kandor repeatedly makes - by insisting that time is of the essence. No, it wasn't. Getting close to her parents could have been a clever ruse to disarm Billie. Didn't the Triad think fifteen or so years of demonic brainwashing was sufficient to keep Christy focused?

I believe this is the beginning of the mess that became the Ultimate Battle. The frustration over the buildup has its roots right here when the audience is primed to hate Christy. Suppose the writers and Kern had done this with Cole? Season 3 would have been a train wreck. What made Cole a true threat was the charm and subtlety that he was able to call upon in order to
make credible the great danger he posed to the Charmed Ones. That his humanity and love for Phoebe prevented him from executing his plan does not diminish its diabolical power one bit!

[vandergraafk]

On May 30th, vandergraafk made the following commentary:

WITH THE BENEFIT OF HINDSIGHT, WE NOW KNOW HOW THE TRIAD CAN BE REPRESENTED BY ONE PERSON: THE OTHER TWO STILL EXIST IN THE SPIRITUAL WORLD. OF COURSE, THIS STILL BEGS THE QUESTION: WHY IS THIS TRIAD (THE CORPOREALIZATION) DIFFERENT THAN COLE'S TRIAD? EITHER THEY ARE VANQUISHABLE OR NOT. IF THE FORMER WERE VANQUISHED AND REPLACED BY THE NEW GUYS, THEN THE TRIAD CANNOT PING PONG BETWEEN SPIRITUAL ESSENCE AND CORPOREAL REALITY. BUT, THIS IS ONLY A MINOR COMPLAINT.

MY BIGGEST PROBLEM IS WITH THE TRIAD (MONAD'S) ABILITY TO FREEZE. WHOA, NELLIE. NOT EVEN THE SOURCE HAD THE ABILITY TO FREEZE. REMEMBER CHARMED AND DANGEROUS, WHEN THE SOURCE MARVELS AT HIS NEWLY ACQUIRED (EXTRACTED FROM THE HOLLOW) POWER TO FREEZE? HOW DID THE TRIAD COME TO POSSESS THIS POWER?

WORSE: IF THE TRIAD/MONAD POSSESS THIS POWER, THEN WHY IN GOD'S NAME DO WE HAVE TO HAVE THE NEXT FIVE EPISODES. HEY, TRIAD/MORON, FREEZE THE WITCHES AND KILL THEM. IF ALICE COULD KILL PIPER IN ALL HELL BREAKS LOOSE WITH A RIFLE, THEN SURELY THE TRIAD COULD SLICE THEIR THROATS WITH A KNIFE WHILE FROZEN.

DON'T TELL ME THAT THIS WOULD VIOLATE THEIR DEMONIC OATH. FIRST, WHY WOULD ANY DEMON CARE TO FOLLOW THE GUIDELINES OF ANY SUCH OATH. SECOND, WHAT WOULD THE OATH SAY. WOULD IT MEAN THAT DEMONS CAN ONLY KILL WITCHES WITH DEMONIC POWERS? IF THAT'S THEIR OATH, THEN SO WHAT? DEMONS ARE DEMONIC BECAUSE THEY DON'T PLAY BY THE RULES. HAVEN'T WE HEARD THIS LINE OVER AND OVER.

SO, MR TRIAD/MONAD/MORON: SPARE US THIS CHRISTY CRAP AND JUST KILL THEM YOURSELF.

OH, I GET IT. YOU HAVE TO ARRANGE FOR THE SISTERS TO KILL THE CHARMED ONES SO YOU CAN WIPE OUT THE WINNER AFTERWARDS. WELL, LOOK AHEAD. YOUR PLAN WAS SO COMPLICATED IT DIDN'T WORK. A SIMPLER PLAN IS USUALLY BETTER. JUST KILL THEM YOURSELF.

IN ANY EVENT, WHERE DID YOU GET THIS POWER TO FREEZE FROM?

With hindsight - always 20/20 - vandergraafk did not frame the issue properly. On the one hand, Piper's power is mistakenly rendered as the power to freeze. Superficially, that would seem to be correct. But, as we learned towards the conclusion of Season 3, her power really is one of particle manipulation. She can slow down molecular motion or accelerate it. The former gives the illusion of freezing objects. The latter, of course, blows them apart. But, technically she does not freeze temporal reality. Nicholas knows this and counts on this when identifying that the time was right to claim his bargained for powers in That 70s Episode.

What Kandor, the surviving corporeal Triad member, does is to freeze time. His power clearly can incorporate an entire room of sentient beings or even a public park setting. Yet, it is also selective in that Christy can remain immune to the temporal freeze.

The key to understanding the difference is to examine what happens to the light in the manor when Kandor makes his entrance. Rather than stay illuminated, it goes dim. Time has stopped (and molecular motion with it). Piper cannot attain this effect with her power of particle manipulation. Light photons do not cease to emanate when she causes particles to accelerate or slow down. Now, it is possible that she, too, could cause photons to slow down, but this would have to be directly focused on the light in question.

Now, on the surface this would seem to give a tremendous advantage to the demonic side. After all, Tempus already has the power to roll back time. The Triad seemingly can cause time to stop. However, this may not be the all-encompassing advantage it would seem to be. Perhaps the Triad are able to arrest time only by extracting certain beings from the temporal plane they occupy and placing them in a temporal plane occupied by the Triad. Thus, the Triad would not be able to attack the Charmed Ones while the "freeze" is on. They would have to be extracted from their plane of reality and placed in the Triad plane where they would have access to all of their powers. Hence, the vulnerability is not truly that. Frozen in their temporal plane, the Charmed Ones are immune to the Triad.

[Waveblade]

vandergraafk said:

[DON'T TELL ME THAT THIS WOULD VIOLATE THEIR DEMONIC OATH. FIRST, WHY WOULD ANY DEMON CARE TO FOLLOW THE GUIDELINES OF ANY SUCH OATH. SECOND, WHAT WOULD THE OATH SAY. WOULD IT MEAN THAT DEMONS CAN ONLY KILL WITCHES WITH DEMONIC POWERS? IF THAT'S THEIR OATH, THEN SO WHAT? DEMONS ARE DEMONIC BECAUSE THEY DON'T PLAY BY THE RULES. HAVEN'T WE HEARD THIS LINE OVER AND OVER./quote]

From this caplocks of rage I have figured out what happened to Barbas.

He did show up but as soon the Triad started talking about how they can't break their oaths he got the hell out as quick as he could because you just know things have gone downhill.

[vandergraafk]

Caplocks of rage? Is that the convention. If something is caplocked, then it must be full of rage? I don't know. I do know that I caplocked for one of two reasons: either I want to emphasize positively a point or I just forgot to switch off the caplock key. Nothing beyond that, I'm afraid.

Now, as to the content: that was written a really long time ago. I was quite inexperienced as a Charmed analyst. I'm getting better. The bone of contention - that Kandor could simply have killed the Charmed Ones - was absurd both in terms of TV drama (it would have ended the show) and in terms of the differing planes of dimension. Had I understood then what I understand now, I would not have written that outRAGEous diatribe.

I leave the postings as a a reminder about how much my own thoughts have evolved as a direct result of further reflection or from the pointed criticisms of other participants. Both are invaluable to my continued evolution as a Charmed analyst!

[Waveblade]

I was joking and I did indeed read you entire post. I've gotten into the habit of calling it capslock of rage after reading one to many rants in caps.

I would have made more sense if I called it capslocks of confusion because after additional readings (eg 'What the hell? That makes no sense!)

Vandergraafk, I meant no slight against your abilities as analyst.

[vandergraafk]

None taken. I just have to admit that when I reflect back on my first comments, my interview for the Season 8 DVD disc and even on the beginnings of this forum, I was really, really naive. Reading helps quite a bit. At the moment, I highly recommend the Physics of the Buffyverse by Jennifer Oellette. It is highly illuminating about many of the issues that Charmed touched on. Even though I am still not convinced of the artistic merit of each of those shows, the book is very definitely worth reading.