Charmed 5.23 'Oh My Goddess!: Part 2'

Speaking as a long time fan of the show, and of Piper and Leo, this ending is a cold slap in the face. Like I’ve already discussed, this finale never felt right, just contrived and forced. This sort of behavior continues well into season 6, but its here where the writers made one of their biggest mistakes, and it'll cost the series a significant amount of respectability later on.

Piper, Phoebe and Paige try to use their newfound status as Goddesses to try and take down the Titans in the conclusion of 'Oh My Goddess!'. Chris helps Leo adjust to his new position. Piper and Leo face a massive decision.

Keeping this on a positive note for a while, I enjoyed the girls’ transformations, if only thanks to the clever spin it put on each of their traits. Piper becoming the Goddess of Earth made the most sense, if only in a cheesy, cringey kind of way. She’s always been the most grounded of the sisters, and even more so throughout a lot of the later seasons, so it fits. Phoebe as the Goddess of Love is a little bit of a push, but given her character’s proclivity for a romance centric plot it was an obvious direction. Though Paige’s role as the Goddess of War is a little tough to grasp, Rose seemed to have enough fun with it to make it work to a certain extent.

Unfortunately, these transformations were completely under-utilised, with all of their powers getting played out in some lame war game. Only Piper’s is used to the story’s advantage, but even that is a plain contrivance, which I’ll discuss shortly. The big battle this had been building too was more than a little disappointing, lasting no more than 60 seconds, but it’s the repercussion of this battle that becomes this finale’s biggest event.

Despite the work this season did to give the idea of a Piper/Leo split some clout by introducing some marital issues, the eventual decision here feels like a massive manipulation of not just the characters, but of the fans perceptions as well. We spent the greater part of three seasons watching them fight tooth and nail to stay together, even in the face of banishment, but Leo’s transformation is never even questioned, or made out to be something they could work around. Holly nails it here, transforming from ruthless goddess to broken woman effortlessly, subsequently turning a moment of desperate writing into some pretty compelling stuff, but even her tears can’t stop me from feeling completely screwed over, a feeling that lasts well into next season.

Even though it changed up the formula, and dismantled the dynamics somewhat, it all just felt messy and manipulative. The episode’s ending did leave the series on a darker note than usual, which could give viewers hope hope that next season might take things a little further. Ah, if only...

5.5/10