Broken Families: Charmed Season 6, An Overview

And so begins the great downfall of Charmed. Season 6 is a year that’s filled with lame plot twists, character contrivances and just a general sense of “who gives a fuck” on behalf of Kern and his team of 10 year old writers. Most of this year’s awfulness was on behalf of Chris, but all of the inconsistencies and general stupidity he brought with him rubbed off on almost every other character and storyline. OK, that’s a tiny bit of an exaggeration, but this season really was when things fell apart, and it’s sad that nothing was done to stop it. It’s a year of major change in the Charmed universe: Piper and Leo are separated; Phoebe battles to balance her secret life with her budding romance with Jason; and Paige fills up the void with a few random jobs and a good whine every now and again.

Just to get it out of the way, I’m gonna start with this season’s biggest issue, and I’ve talked about it briefly already; Chris. The way he started out the season was surprisingly interesting. Despite Drew Fuller's lacklustre performances, I sort of bought into him as this morally gray guy, trying to save the future. As the season wore on though, and his story faced a number of re-writes, it all grew to be a bit too much, and as a result, the season fell apart. Maybe Holly’s pregnancy was to blame, I dunno, but the end result was just this sloppy, inconsistent fumble of plot threats, lacking any form of coherency. I liked the way it wrapped up, and this season did end on a high, but it was one that didn’t satisfy as much as it could have, had this season been written by people who had a clue.

There were a few shining moments, mostly in the form of standalone episodes, that showcased the writers still breathing talent for creating some great light hearted fun, and more heavy family drama. ‘The Power of Three Blondes’ and ‘Love’s a Witch’ being the prime examples of both of those types. Unfortunately, the season had its fair share of doozies (‘Prince Charmed’) that out weighted a lot of this season’s positive attributes. The season’s major stories, as discussed, were riddled with contrivances and inconsistencies, but the writers’ attempts at a more serial narrative didn’t go unnoticed. Despite Gideon's irritability, I liked the presence of a major antagonist, even if his reasoning was flimsy as hell.

All of the girls were strangely unlikable this season. Phoebe spends the majority of her on-screen time whining over Jason, being an annoying busy body thanks to her new power, trying to steal random guys’ sperm, and just being a general idiot. You know, typical Phoebe stuff. I didn’t care too much for Paige either but some of her temp jobs, despite being filler material of the highest order, led to some interesting conflicts between her and her sisters, and also produced a number of decent stand alone plots. The less said about the dog walking the better. Thanks to her contrived break-up with Leo, Piper spends a lot of this season being a cranky whinge, but she’s easily the most likable (not a difficult feat this year, don’t let it get to your head, Piper). Leo’s constant presence didn’t make a lot of sense, especially since his new position was what drove them apart in the first place, but you’ve got to feel for this woman, giving up a lot to let her husband fulfill his destiny. I enjoyed her single mother troubles, when she wasn't acting like a total rhymes with witch.

It had it’s moments, but on the whole Season 6 is one of Charmed’s worst years. The fact that it’s not the bottom of the heap is even more depressing. Dealing with this downfall would be so much easier if I didn’t love this show so much. God help me.

Best Episode(s): ‘Forget Me...Not’, ‘Love’s a Witch’ and ‘It’s a Bad, Bad, Bad, Bad World’.

Worst Episode(s): ‘Prince Charmed’, ‘The Sword and the City’ and ‘The Legend of Sleepy Halliwell’ to name but a few.

Best Character(s): Piper. But let the record show I bestowed this title begrudgingly.

Worst Character(s): Chris. You'd be hard pressed to find someone who disagrees.