This is the episode that a lot of the fifth season had been building to. There are some fantastic ideas at work here, and a lot of it pays off, but with so much going on the episode loses some of its power half way through.
In 'The Day the Magic Died', Phoebe and Paige must figure out a way to save magic when it is inexplicably wiped out. Victor comes to visit, but brings his new fianceé Doris (Cheryl Ladd) with him.
‘The Day the Magic Died’ presents some pretty great ideas, but tries far too hard to fit them all into the one episode. Considering the big impact Piper’s new born will have on the series, there was insufficient time given to make the episode hold the right amount of power to work.
This episode presents a few ambitious plots, my favourite being the idea of leaving everyone completely vulnerable at a time when they’d need their magic most. It really gets going towards the end, but the way it all comes together feels like squeezing an over inflated chair through a small doorway. There’s just way too much going on to let it come out the other side intact.
The chaos that would have come about, and was hinted at by the sorcerer, wasn’t given ample time to be explored since most of the episode had to focus on Piper’s big birth. It does feature some great moments, and I really loved Cheryl Ladd’s ridiculous change to evil bitch, but the great foundations of the stories here aren’t fleshed out quite enough, Victor losing his fianceé for example.
Wyatt’s birth is one of ‘Charmed’s biggest moments, and while the episode is a bit messy in terms of it’s big stories, I think the event itself is given enough significance to work, and seeing everyone pull together for their sister gave it a lot of clout. It also led to the wonderful final minute that didn’t feel quite as wishy washy as the episode itself.
There’s still a great sense of excitement that builds throughout the episode that was dragged down by some strange humour, but ‘The Day the Magic Died’ isn’t one that let fans down, and it’s still a season highlight for me. It’s also twice finale ‘Oh My Godess!’ could ever dream of.
7.5/10
I agree with what you wrote about the messiness of the script. Individually, all the stories here could form their own episodes, but they get all smushed into one instead, and most of them become almost non-events.
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