Charmed 5.19 'Nymphs Just Wanna Have Fun'

Bordering on ridiculous, ‘Nymphs Just Wanna Have Fun’ continues ‘Charmed’s downward trajectory into pure cheese. Though it’s got a slight lead on ‘Lucky Charmed’, the utter mess of the script ensures it will forever retain a spot on ‘Charmed’s wall of shame.

In ‘Nymphs Just Wanna Have Fun’ the Charmed Ones protect wood Nymphs after their satyr is killed but when Paige becomes one herself, her sisters have to figure out a way to change her back. Phoebe has an emotional crisis when she sleeps with her new boss, Jason.

The Nymphs in this episode cross the overly cutesy line and straight into plain annoying. You’ve got to feel sorry for Rose, who is forced to join in with the writers strange ideas of comedy, which essentially fall short of the shenanigans of ‘Once Upon a Time’. While we’re on the subject of the nymphs, how would women in some silly get-up make prime time news? Who really cares? Honestly, if I saw that on a night out I’d barely give it a second look. It’s not just the magical creatures that play a role in this week’s disaster, though. Lacking any intimidation at all, Tull and Xavier were both such duds that they were completely laughable even without that sloppy script they try to work with. Ugh.

Let’s not leave the rant there, though. Phoebe’s increasingly tacky behaviour continues when she uses her not at all subtle outfit to sleep with her boss at a barely even finished work function. Classy lady, Phoebe. Not only that, but she spends the rest of the episode whining about what a slut she’s been, which is easy to explain; she is a slut.

What saves this whole thing for me is Paige and Piper’s struggle to return to their original spots within the Charmed coven. After taking over the role as “head witch”, Paige has become accustomed to taking charge over anything demonic, which is understandable. Piper has the club, she has Leo and Wyatt, what has Paige got? There’s a certain amount of frivolity to this part of the episode that meant it wasn’t as engrossing as it could have been, with both sisters acting like selfish ninnies, but the foundations of it were sound enough to let it do its job.

The over ambitious nature of ‘Charmed’s fairytale happy writers is starting to get in the way of making socially acceptable television, but this episode’s slightly more routine aspects held it together, but by the skin of its teeth.

4/10