CHRISTY INNOCENT?

[vandergraafk]

A recurring theme, among some Charmed fans, is the notion that Christy was truly and completely an innocent victim in the whole Ultimate Battle drama. One line of thought sees this as just another distortion of Charmed foisted onto a truly beautiful series by the insidious Brad Kern who wrecked whatever grand vision Constance Burge had for the Charmed Ones. Another, more prevalent line of thought suggests that Christy needs to be saved. This, of course, leads to life beyond Forever Charmed as the Charmed Ones and Billie set about rescuing Christy, an innocent victim of the ghostly Triad and evil incarnate's majordomo Dumain.

[vandergraafk]

While a piece together the scattered thoughts of those advocates of Christy as innocent, let me first set down the terms of such an assessment, as I laid these out in the Charmed Cafe. Vandergraafk wrote:

"Actually, innocence is not black and white, as it is being indirectly portrayed here. To what degree is Christy culpable? Was she capable of knowing the difference between right and wrong? How you answer these questions goes a lot towards assessing her degree of moral responsiblity and determining her innocence or the extent to which she is lacking in innocence.

For starters: Christy was captured as a child. As best as can be surmised, this traumatic event occurred when Christy was 6 or 7. For 15 years, she was either kept in isolation in a cave, subjected to brainwashing a la Manchurian Candidate or experienced a combination of both. Before her kidnapping, Christy probably had begun to develop a sense of morality. Though operating at a crude level, we can probably surmise that she had an elemental sense of right and wrong. Nothing in the description provided to us by Mr. and Mrs. Jenkins indicates otherwise. True, Christy tested limits and tried to enlist Billie in her escapades, but none of these was above and beyond what one might expect of young children.

During captivity, Christy's moral development essentially froze. Through brainwashing, her entire moral structure may have been turned upside down. Let's imagine that one method used to accomplish this was to in effect persuade Christy that her family was lost to her forever. Hence, she would have had no choice but to adapt to the morees of her new "family".

Had Christy been used to accomplish some demonic purpose as a hitwoman or something equally nefarious, we would have no hesitation in calling her truly innocent. She would not be deemed responsible for any of her actions, even if she were an adult! Of course, she would not be free to go. Any court would sentence her to psychiatric care in order to being the arduous process of de-programming.

As far as we know, however, Christy was not used in this capacity at all. Rather, the Triad held her back as their trump card in the battle against the Charmed Ones, a threat they must have anticipated as a result of counsel from the Seer, an Oracle or whomever.

Instead, Christy is rescued by her sister. At this point, all sorts of dissonances must have erupted within Christy. Learning that her sister was not only alive and well but was all a powerful witch surely had to create some dissonance between what she had been brainwashed into believing and the new reality that she is experiencing. Given time and the deepening of the relationship between Christy and Billie, this dissonance would have become ever more powerful a force and would have threatened to unravel all that the Triad had set in motion. This is precisely why the Triad were so worried and appeared to warn Christy against becoming too close to her sister and family and why ultimately the Jenkins' parents were killed. Indeed, they had to be murdered if the Triad were to have any chance of using their ace in the hole.

That Billie swallowed all of this ultimate threat nonsense is problematic, of course. There is nothing compelling in the final story arc that makes any critical fan even likely to accept the ultimate battle scenario. Billie has seen too many instances where the Charmed Ones have risked their own well-being to save others, including Billie: Re-Witched; Desperate Housewitches; Hulkus Pokus, etc.

Had Billie acted as any normal person might have and truly questioned the line of bull that Christy was peddling, then we might have had a chance at understanding just how innocent Christy was. For, given an alternative perspective (Billie's critical skepsis based on her own experience with the Halliwells), Christy would have been compelled to justify her own doubts and so reveal the extent to which she was just an innocent who had been duped.

Instead, the only opportunity we have for assessing Christy's innocence can be found only after love travel has begun and Billie is able to project herself back into the past before the Ultimate Battle Mark I has been fought. When she does, Billie finally challenges Christy and reveals the true villains in this hideous and diabolical plot. Yes, the Charmed Ones may act selfishly from time to time - who doesn't? - but the Triad are pulling the strings and Dumain is their majordomo. And, their purpose is clearly demonic. It is not a distortion of good dictated by self-conscious navel gazing (the charge directed at the Charmed Ones). With this knowledge, Christy can either opt out or simply follow a plan that is now doomed to failure since Billie will not be her ally any longer. The fact that Christy chose to throw her fate to the Triad after this confrontation with a fully informed Billie suggests that she is not an innocent, but a willing and witting participant in a demonic power play."

What if, as some have suggested, that Forever Charmed never really happened, at least not in the way seen in the final episode. What if this episode truly was a figment of Piper's imagination?

Under this scenario, we would never have a way of judging Christy's innocence. All of the time travel events are a figment of Piper's imagination. Thus, Billie never confronts Christy. All we would see is what Piper imagines Billie doing or wishes what Billie had done before the Ultimate Battle Mark I was fought. Here we would be forced to conclude that evidence is insufficient in determing Christy's innocence or guilt!

[vandergraafk]

In the Charmed Cafe, whitelightertony sought clarification on one particular point expressed above. He noted:

"Vandergraafk, I'm going to focus on one particular excerpt from your well thought out argument:


The fact that Christy chose to throw her fate to the Triad after this confrontation with a fully informed Billie suggests that she is not an innocent, but a willing and witting participant in a demonic power play."

Whitelightertony suggested:


"Isn't it possible that Christy was still so indoctrinated by her prolonged brainwashing that she felt Billie was the one who had been brainwashed, and thus she needed to stick with The Triad in order to "save" Billie?"

[vandergraafk]

In response, vandergraafk offered the following:

"Yes, that's a possibility. The problem I have with this scenario is that we don't know enough about the tactics used to brainwash Christy. One common technique is "persuade" the target that he or she is better off going along with the program. If you point out repeatedly that no one will rescue you because they are all dead and no one else cares, I imagine that, at some point, the will to resist erodes. Given the youth of Christy, I don't believe that was hard to accomplish.

Using that strategy, however, is risky if you attempt to place the trained assassin in a situation where he or she is confronted with "facts" that contradict one of the methods used in the brainwashing. (Again, this is pure speculation, as I noted above.) Certain dissonances will arise. We know that the Triad were worried enough about these dissonances to warn Christy about hopping on to Billie's bandwagon (she, after all, had been "brainwashed" by the Charmed Ones, as it were) and saw to it that Christy's parents were murdered.

Indeed, recall an early scene in Kill Billie Volume 2 when Coop expresses his concern about Phoebe to both Billie and Christy and notes that she (Phoebe) had been under a spell the previous night. When Billie attempts to use this bit of information to highlight her own unease at Dumain's plan, Christy is quick to choke this off by dismissing his statement as utterly predictable. Paraphrasing Christy, I recall her asking: what do you expect him (Coop) to say about his girl-friend? He would say anything to protect Phoebe, even if that meant lying about a so-called spell that Phoebe was under.

Indirectly, we have evidence here that Christy's indoctrination was so thorough that she rejected any dissonant voices emanating from the Charmed Ones or their associates quite promptly and without much hesitation, if any. That said, if the Triad and its henchmen accomplished this brainwashing by employing the method I suggested, then the fact that Billie is not only alive, but a powerful witch who is not in bed with the TRIAD is one bit of dissonance that cannot so easily be dismissed.

If there had been no Forever Charmed: the Saccharine Solution, that is, Piper's dream, we would never have witnessed the ultimate confrontation between Christy and Billie when Billie, fully informed of the true role of Dumain and the intentions of the Triad, breaks her sisterly pact with Christy. Christy might very well have continued to believe Billie had been brainwashed. Yet, the cognitive dissonance would have a stronger basis. Billie's arguments rest on evidence that Christy knows to be correct. She knows who Dumain is and Christy knows the role of the TRIAD in all of this. At this point, Christy would have a choice, though it may be quite a constrained one. She could pause, reflect and possibly question Dumain further. Or, she could dismiss Billie's arguments as irrelevant and plunge ahead with the plan. The latter, of course, is what she does as we see it portrayed on the screen.

You have a point that choosing the latter may not make her a legitimate co-conspirator or an "active" participant in a diabolical plot who has chosen the path she wishes to pursue. I'll grant you that the previous "brainwashing" is a powerful mitigating factor in her defense. Still, she is not a "total" innocent who cries out for rescue, i.e., going back in time to save her from the fate that awaits in the Ultimate Battle Mark II. At best, she is someone who is in deepest need of de-programming enabled and assisted by a supportive sibling. Alas, the "choice" she made doomed her to destruction during the Ultimate Battle Mark II.

Unless, of course, this is all a figment of Piper's imagination. Then, Christy's fate will rest on the ability of Billie to eat away gradually at the brainwashing by consciously or unconsciously adding to the cognitive dissonance that Christy must surely face each day as she remains attached to her sister and Billie continues to resist buying into the need to stop the Charmed Ones.

Alas, I have never been persuaded that the "conversion" of Billie makes much sense. The evidence cited is woefully inadequate to prepare me to accept Billie's realization that the Charmed Ones are the problem. To pull this off, Mr. Kern would have needed a few more episodes wherein the split between Billie and the Charmed Ones would become plainly visible, say, protecting one of Piper's children at the expense of one or several innocents. Christy might also have enticed Billie to project herself into the future to see what awaits the world when Wyatt and Chris mature. Or, Christy and the TRIAD could have sent Billie to an alternative future - a sort of IMMORALITY SUCKS - that convinces Billie of the grave danger posed by the Halliwell clan."