Charmed 5.03 'Happily Ever After'

You could just tell that this was the episode the WB and Kern couldn’t wait to do. Not because they wanted to show off creativity and clever writing, more because they thought it was what we wanted to see. Oh dear. Fairytales in a show about witches is something that was always going to be done eventually though, especially given how long the show ran for but unlike the incredibly fun ‘Once Upon A Time’, this hour is a little uninspiring.

In ‘Happily Ever After’ an evil witch, trapped in a mirror escapes and traps Piper, Phoebe and Paige in different fairytales in order to kill them, so she can become “the most powerful witch of them all”. Grams returns to help Piper prepare for her baby.

I think it’s fairly apparent that season 5 is trying very hard to rid itself of the drama of last season, and not take itself so seriously. I guess that’s a good thing, all things considered, but not when its ideas are totally dull and predictable. This used to be an episode I loved, but all these years later it became apparent strikingly how weak it is.

Grams returns fully bodied for the first time here. Despite how fun they can be her appearances became far too common as the show progressed. Here it felt more like filler to help give the episode a little more to do. Regardless, I did get a kick out of her role as the Grandmother/bad wolf in Red Riding Hood though, which was a small stroke of genius...

Phoebe’s Cinderella dress in any other place would be considered completely trampy; how she got away with wearing that to a fancy event like the one she attends to baffling! Her unjust treatment of Cole really starts to kick in here, blaming him for something that could have any number of evil creatures behind it. Even so, she persists on blaming Cole, along with half the Halliwells; whatever, Phoebe.

It was great to get Paige and Grams interacting, even if her re-emergence is a bit of a cop-out. Paige has essentially two families. I know the same can be said about all adopted children, but it’s quite different for her; her old family had to give her up for unavoidable reasons, but they loved her just as much so her initial reception of Grams was totally believable. It was a nice and subtle side story that I actually liked and seeing her slowly accept the wonderful woman that is Penny Halliwell is kind of touching. Piper was a lot of fun his hour too. Seeing her here really makes it so obvious that she’s become the most prominent sister, and a kick-ass one at that; Prue would be proud.

If only there was a darker edge to this idea, then maybe it could have worked magnificently. Some aspects are rather enjoyable but this is still a rather silly outing.

5/10