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Post by vandergraafk on Oct 18, 2006 10:42:11 GMT -5
The Source lives. Long live the Source! Well, not quite. Although the Source does make a brief appearance, conjured by a sorcerer in league with a demoness disguised as an annoying parent leader, the Source is sent back to the wasteland after Piper blasts the demoness to smithereens. Foreshadowing, perhaps, Kill Billie, Volume 2, the demoness lures a young Wyatt to a "restored" Magic School where she hopes Wyatt will feel at ease and aid by dint of his awesome Charmed power in the resurrection of the Source. Of course, the demoness has another agenda, too. She imagines a happy demon homelife with the Source and her playing mother and father to a Wyatt who will be raised evil.
Billie's role is expanded somewhat in this episode. She ventures into a Magic School under demonic control in the company of Leo who is attempting to instruct Billie in the history of the Elders and the many possibilities that pre-demon Magic School had to offer including advanced classes in astral projection and telekinesis. Leo, of course, is shocked to discover the almost complete control demons now have over Magic School. He worries that all of the magic contained within Magic School might now be accessible to the Underworld.
Still, the focus of the episode is on the interaction among the sisters and Leo. Phoebe is becoming ever more Dex obsessed, while Paige seems ever more determined to reveal Dex as a player. This leads to an interesting gotcha as Paige glams into Sylvia, Dex's ex-girlfriend. Paige, of course, has misread Sylvia after a chance encounter with her while Paige was on an incredibly boring blind date facilitated by the Internet. Her ruse exposed, Paige is set upon by a furious Phoebe as the manor temporarily takes up figurative residence on Wisteria Lane.
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Post by Xenith on Oct 19, 2006 15:26:59 GMT -5
The Source was devoured in the wasteland by the Sandworms...so how the heck is could he have been brought back...Aaargh. Continuity hang-ups like that really get to me, although I think if the Source had been brought back to stay, the sheer awesomeness of that would probably have helped me get over it.
Instead we got what was quite possibly the single most contrived vanquish in the history of this show. Never had an ending left me feeling so... empty. The Source, the greatest evil to exist the Charmed Ones' destined foe...a ray of hope for an exciting final season...dead in what 10 minutes? Then add in the lame lame lame lame lame awful crappy lame lame lame lame Contrived^9999 way in which the Source of All Evil was easily sent back to the wasteland... It was an absolute insult to everything the show stood for to have the whole original purpose of the Charmed Ones killed without a fight like that. I was seriously one good rerun away from not tuning in the next week...
Also I should add that the Desperate Housewives rip-off was also absolutely horrible. I mean yeah Charmed has always been "borrowing" from pop culture, but this subplot wasn't just Charmed's spin on a DH subplot it was a near rehash of it, it's like Charmed just completely took it right from the DH script changed the names, and dropped the drugs. Heck it was so blatant I wouldn't be surprised if they stole dialogue right from the show...it was pathetic. Even Charmed's Sex and the City takeoff was more tolerable than that...
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Post by vandergraafk on Oct 19, 2006 16:47:19 GMT -5
I'll confess I've not really studied Desperate Housewives that much. I am aware of all the backstabbing that goes on, etc. So, what was the storyline exactly in DH that was so blatantly ripped off?
As for the Source: well, there are several ways of looking at this. First, I agree wholeheartedly that his appearance was wasted. The vanquish was way too easy. But, let me suggest that the problem lies not in the conjuring from the wasteland - although you have correctly pointed to a problem. Rather, it is the whole notion of the Book of Shadows that is problematic.
In the novel "Shadow of the Sphinx", which I almost hesitate to call on as any sort of authoritative source since Cole's name is changed from Turner to Porter (sic), there is an interesting bit on the Book of Shadows. At its most basic, the Book of Shadows is a reflection of the experiences of the Warren witches. Potions, vanquishes, etc. have been placed in there by the Charmed Ones predecessors. Yet, we know that the contents change. Things that were not in there suddenly appear. Things that were in there disappear. In Witch Trial, we watch as things are erased as they are read in reverse order. During Season 3, we watch the book turn evil as Prue's black wedding occurs and her sisters are turned. Demons are described and vanquishing potions suggested, if they exist, for the demons thus described are written down. Usually, the Charmed Ones find a vanquishing potion or a brief description with respect to the demon or warlock of the week.
However, suppose these latter entries are not spur of the moment insertions by a vigilant Grams or a surprisingly helpful Elder, but rather are indeed the recorded experience of past Warren witches. Perhaps, then, one of their ancestors did indeed encounter Belthazor or a Javna. Then, their vanquishes of these creatures was never permanent. That being sent to the wasteland and being devoured by the sandworm was not permanent. Or, perhaps the fact that Cole disrupted the normal functioning of the wasteland by destroying the sandworm allowed the essences and powers to remain in a state of limbo.
What I am suggesting, of course, is that Cole, in slaying the sandworm, freed the essence of the Source and in fact absorbed its powers. Upon the vanquish of Cole, these powers were returned to the wasteland where they could be conjured anew. Still, conjuring the Source and wasting his appearance are two separate issues. Moreover, maybe Cole had nothing to do with it. Maybe the sandworm only devoured the powers and essences for an interim period pending their release back into the wasteland where they could be conjured anew.
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Post by Xenith on Oct 20, 2006 14:33:40 GMT -5
Yeah I'm not that big a fan of DH either, I think I've watched about 3 episodes early in it's first season. The one with play just happened to be one of them.
The ripped off plot was the one with Piper arguing with Mandi over making the costumes. That was a whole subplot on Desperate Housewives with Lynette making the costumes, and some other mother named Maisy (*sighs*) giving her heck over them, and calls into question about how good a mother she is and really that whole crappy B subplot...
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Post by vandergraafk on Oct 23, 2006 10:39:53 GMT -5
Interesting. I probably would never have made the connection since Piper's obsession with perfection clearly would have resulted in a run-in with a (demonically) possessed pre-school mom. Still, it's nice to know that the borrowers gave creative credit (indirectly) to Desperate Housewives. I'm certain, too, that with all of the backstabbing that goes on in Desperate Housewives the bit with Phoebe proclaiming her sister to be a crazy witch is heavily borrowed as well.
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Post by vandergraafk on Nov 17, 2006 18:42:21 GMT -5
After viewing this episode for the first time since seeing Forever Charmed, I was quite impressed by the ending, an ending that both musically and substantively, foreshadowed the final episode. I still think this is a fabulous episode. I believe it merits a rating higher than 7.5 however. To me, it was a 9. Go Source, Go!
I, too, was much bothered by Paige's comment regarding the Source. Duh, she was there both in the Seer's vision, as well as in the end when Cole absorbs the Hollow and becomes the Source. Hey, didn't Paige ask: what about the Source's powers? If we got our powers back, where did the Source's go?
Bad, writers, bad!
As for the Source, it was great to see him. However, he is clearly a Source with no powers, except maybe to sniff out non-evil. The more interesting question is why vanquishing the conjurer should vanquish the conjured, especially if Charmed power was required to conjure the Source. Since Wyatt was not vanquished, the Source should not have been similarly vanquished. And, Piper, for eternity? Wasn't the point of this episode that vanquished demons don't stay vanquished forever!
Of course, this elicited a comment that claimed that it was only the demon who incanted the return of the Source whose vanquish should have spelled doom to the return of the Source. My only comment was as follows:
Well, she DID do the incantation, an incantation that needed Charmed power to be successful. Perhaps if the incantor is vanquished, then, too, the conjured. Could be! But, for eternity. NEVER! Go Source Go!
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