Charmed 4.11 'Trial By Magic'

‘Trial By Magic’ is one of the most tedious and boring episodes of Charmed, almost to the point that it’s a chore to have to watch it. I will admit it’s not ALL bad though.

Synopsis: Phoebe gets a premonition while on jury duty which proves the defendant is not guilty. Paige’s friend Glen returns to San Francisco, and she offers him a place to stay, despite Piper’s objections.

Ugh, I almost feel as annoyed as those jurors were while watching the incredibly dragged scenes during the trial. It’s such a wank stain right in the middle of such a great run of episodes. It seems to spend too much time on something that’s incredibly boring and not enough time on what we want to see. One thing I thought was cute though was saving Stan by using a simple spell like summoning a ghost to find out the truth. It’s a shame that the laboriousness of the trial ruined it somewhat.

The rat demons behind it all were probably what the episode was trying to focus on, but the incredibly tedious trial part of the episode over shadowed them far too much, this part of the episode could have easily been fleshed out a lot more, since there seemed to be a lot more going on behind the whole murder. Piper was pretty kick-ass during those scenes though.

Paige’s independence kick which we first experienced during ‘A Knight To Remember’ re-emerges here (and it’s certainly not the last time unfortunately). Bringing Glen, one of her oldest friends, into the manor is an almighty stupid idea. I know she’s only been a Charmed One for a fraction of the time Phoebe and Piper have, but allowing him to stay at a place where having your life in mortal danger is a weekly thing is idiotic, and she already knows this at this point which is even more frustrating. She learned her lesson in the end though, and it was nice to see him again, he dealt with her secret remarkably well, didn’t he?

I really love Piper this season. She was always the voice of reason, even when Prue was around. In some ways I feel like she makes a better older sibling than a middle one, in this episode in particular when she tries to talk some sense into a suddenly brainless Paige. It’s not that she changed from the Piper we met during the third season since she’s a lot similar, there’s just a whole lot more for her to do now with Prue out of the picture.

4/10