‘Charmed’ recap: Saving Magic at Any Cost in Ep 3×03, “Triage”
Charmed, Ep 3×03, “Triage” aired on Feb 21, 2021
Last week’s episode, “Triage” was in truth the season 2 finale and it was well worth waiting months to see. The stakes were higher than ever. Thanks to Viv laying hands on the amber, the entire magic world was at risk, witches and demons alike. The sisters find themselves taking steps back into the past and an unexpected future.
Power & Sacrifice
The ailing Guardian (Kandyse McClure) offers a final bit of guidance on a possible way to save magic. It will take the greatest power and the greatest sacrifice. The latter the sisters had been worrying about for months already after finding the tree and discovering other Charmed Ones who had come before. The destruction of the sisterhood loomed large throughout season 2. The re-introduction of the Source was an unexpected twist that paid off.
In season 1, Macy drank in the power from the Source and it overwhelmed her. She and her sisters contained that power in a necklace and then hid the pieces in three different locations. Of course, they also had Harry wipe their memories so enter Abby with her Demon Mind Meld powers to help figuring out where to start searching. Abby initially isn’t interested in helping, but then she learns that it’s a matter of her own life and death. Clearly, that makes all the difference for Abigail.
Back to the Future
Thanks to Abby tapping into their memories, Mel figures out that she use her old timey-wimey powers to hide her part of the pendant at the cemetery where Marisol is buried. This invites instant mockery from Abby. The half-demon is impressed though when Mel reveals that yes she did leave the pendant in this obvious location, but 49 years in the future. With an assist from Celeste, Mel and Abby are able to travel to 2070. Hilltowne looks very different in the future. Mel is happy to see that the town looks to be more than thriving.
She finds the pendant, but gets some bad news before they head back to 2021. Abby finds Mel’s headstone next to Marisol’s. She clues the Charmed One into the fact that Mel is fated to die on February 14, 2021. That very day. Mel is fearless and ready to sacrifice herself if that’s what it takes to save magic and her sisters. Throughout the episode, it’s clear how much Abby envies the bond between Mel and her sisters. This fact is even more so highlighted later in the episode. Once the threat is over and Abby no longer looks like death warmed over, she finally opens the package that Jordan picked up from her own sister.
This sibling isn’t a Caine. She’s a witch on their mother’s side and they want nothing to do with Abby. I guess they were less than enthused about Abby’s plan to become the new Overlord of the Underworld. Then again it could be that clearly funky looking totem that she’d asked her sister hand over. Another familial tie severed and fugly totem thing in hand, Abby’s eyes flash and she becomes something different. No more half measures. Is Abigail set to become the villain for season 3?
Sister Stars
Maggie grew as a character almost more than anyone else in season 2, She started off very much as the baby of the family. Carefree and not all too worried about the cost for using magic for personal gain. In season 2, Maggie matured beyond measure. It tracks that having an assassin on your tail and shouldering the responsibilities of the Command Center would have that result. In “Triage”, Maggie spent a lot of time regretting the person she’d been. Initially, her clue leads her back to Hilltowne and the Kappa House. Of course there’s a party. Maggie tries to use a glamour potion so that she and Jordan can blend in. Jamaican is faltering and they end up having to do things the old fashion way. They bribe a drunk couple for the use of their pirate gear.
While Maggie is filled with regrets that she hasn’t left more of a mark in the world, Jordan is trying to get to know this person who he has truly come to care for. They both find out that the Kappas have not forgotten their “lost” soror. She has her own wall of honor and photos from a party in her honor showing her sorority sisters doing “The Maggie”. It’s not a dance, but a one handed keg stand. The two are spotted by one of the other girls. It’s not Lucy which is unfortunate, but maybe she would’ve been too clearheaded to think that Maggie was some spirit.
Maggie tries the usual Kappa hiding spot, but the pendant isn’t there. She and Jordan search everywhere they can think of. All the while, they’re dodging the drunk sorority sister that spotted them. The two end up on the roof and stargazing. Maggie starts dropping knowledge about an array of stars doubled the Jewel Box and Kappa Crucis Cluster. It hits her then that Kappa was referring not to her old sorority, but the Sister Stars.
With that knowledge, they end up back in Seattle at the home. She’s had the pendant piece hidden at home under her music box. The journey to Kappa House wasn’t needed, but it was necessary. Maggie needed to make peace with who she was before. Jordan tells her that they’ve all had dumb fun in the past and there are pictures to prove his own history. He wants her to be proud of who she’s become.
Willing Sacrifice
How far Macy Vaughn has come from the uncertain young woman who showed up on her sisters’ doorstep back in Hilltowne. She’s formed an unbreakable bonds with those sisters and she’s found her person in Harry Greenwood. A man who looks on her adoringly when she breaks out her microscope and math equations. She figures out that she hid her fragment of the pendant near the Desolation Islands.
You banished the Source to literally and mathematically the furthest place from Hilltowne. Only you.
These two fit each other perfectly. With magic faltering, Macy and Harry are barely able to orb to the Island. They arrive and Macy figures out that the pendant is hidden in the sea caves. They can’t get to it just yet thanks to the high tide. This gives Macy a chance to step away from the mission and appreciate the life and seashells around them. She wants to take it all in. It becomes apparent that Macy has resigned herself to the fact that as eldest, she’ll need to sacrifice herself to save magic. Taking in the Source last time did nearly destroy her. She has no regrets about falling in love with Harry.
Harry hates that it has come to this. He apparently has made a lot of plans for them. This includes taking her to Paris. The show has been renewed for a fourth season so…yes. This trip needs to happen. In the meantime, Harry and Macy take the moment they have together. They dance together under the moonlight with only the sound of the waves crashing nearby. This was such a perfect, romantic choice for that moment. It feels like goodbye, though both are determined that they would find each other again no matter what.
Destruction of the Sisterhood
Back at the Command Center, the ladies reunite the fragments from the pendant. Then they argue over who gets to sacrifice themselves for the rest. Harry even wants in, but it has to be one of the sisters. Mel is certain that it must be her since she saw her own headstone hours earlier. Mid-argument, Mel snags the pendant and heads to the tree room on her own. She drops the newly restored Source into the Amber. It’s working. The Source is restoring the tree and magic. Maggie and Macy are not about to let their sister just die. The Charmed Ones come together to join their strength.
Maggie believes that they make their own fate and they do. Magic has survived for another day. The sisters all survive, but what about that ending. After Harry’s defeated his darker half (bye Jimmy), each of the sister’s comes trudging away from the tree room. They look like they’ve been through a battle. They all have and some together to hug it out, but zing. No dice. Any time they get close, electricity sparks.
Uh-oh. Is it just the Charmed Ones effected in this way? This was definitely a cool way to address Covid. Granted we don’t know all the details, but with tonight’s all-new episode, we should know more. Ep 3×04, “You Can’t Touch This” will (story-wise) kick off Season 3 officially for the Vera-Vaughn sisters. “Triage” clearly sets up Abby in the role of our new Big Bad, right?
What did you think of “Triage”? Were you sad to see Jimmy and Harry battle it out? James had carved out quite the niche for himself. He was a good man and found his place as a world class florist. Macy is a busy woman and they can’t exactly hire a housekeeper, so can one of her sisters get her one of those Roomba things to address the massive dust bunnies under her bed? Who had your favorite line of the night? This episode had quite a few good ones. One of my faves was Abigail’s disgust that the sisters “misplaced the Source like a set of car keys”. Do you think after their dance, Macy maybe has a new found of sand and beaches? Hit the comments and let us know.
New episodes of Charmed air each week at 9/8c on The CW
