Third Time's the Charm

**Third Time's the Charm** is the fifteenth episode of the second season of *Charmed* and the thirty-seventh episode of the series overall. It premiered on March 27, 2020.

## Synopsis

DIE TRYING – The Charmed Ones (Melonie Diaz, Madeleine Mantock, Sarah Jeffery) must face their worst fears in order to reclaim the Power of Three. Also starring Rupert Evans, Poppy Drayton and Jordan Donica.

## Plot

This episode starts with the girls seeing the light on the map in Portland, Oregon. They go through a portal to Portland and find Bruce, the man that Maggie met before at the rave. He unleashes one of the monsters they created by putting the powers into resurrected bodies. Bruce can control the beast with a watch, but Maggie breaks the watch, and the monster kills Bruce. The girls find someone tied up in a car who turns out to be an elder named Celeste. After she is brought back to the command center, Harry recognizes her as one of the elders that turned him into a whitelighter and are angry at her and leaves. Celeste wants the girls to get the power of three back, but they say they don’t want it back. She says that if a human takes control of magic, it will be unlike anything they’ve ever faced, but I’m not sure why humans having magic is more dangerous than demons having magic. Celeste puts the girls under a spell that puts them to sleep and causes them to dream of helping them get over their fears. Macy has a dream that Harry and Abigael are married and have two daughters, and Abigael is now part of the power of three instead of Macy.

At the end of her dream, Macy is fighting Abigael and accidentally kills Maggie. In Maggie's dream, nobody takes her seriously or listens to her, and everybody sees her as a child. She tries to tell Jordan the monster is coming, but he talks down to her and builds a fort to mock her, and he leaves her. At the end of her dream, the monster that the girls met at the beginning kills Mel. Harry comes into the control room and tells Celeste to wake the girls up. Celeste says that if all of the girls die in each other’s dreams, they will never wake up. I was not sure why Celeste couldn't wake them up since she put them under the spell. Harry tells Celeste to put him in their dreams.

Mel dreams that she is locked up in a mental institution. She gets out of her room and finds Jordan, but he turns out to be his ancestor Lawrence Mortimer Chase, who was a witchfinder, and he leads Mel outside where Maggie and Macy are tied up and about to be set on fire. I wonder if this means that Mel does not trust Jordan. Harry finds them and says that Macy cannot die in the dream, or they all will die. Mel, Maggie, and Harry all offer to sacrifice themselves, and as Jordan is about to stab Harry, they all wake up, and Celeste is gone. They see the light on Portland again and go back there. They find the monster and want to run away but realize that they need to get over their fears. They do the power of three spells again, and it works, and they can fight and kill the monster.

## Cast

* Madeleine Mantock as Macy Vaughn
* Sarah Jeffery as Maggie Vera
* Poppy Drayton as Abigael Jameson-Caine (manifestation)
* Jordan Donica as Jordan Chase/Lawrence Mortimer Chase (manifestations)
* and Rupert Evans as Harry Greenwood

Guest Cast* Ben Cotton as Bruce
* Kate Burton as Celeste
* Derek Mears as Second Monster
* Jordana Zinger as Abigarry's Daughter #2 (manifestation)
* Aiyanna Miorin as young Maggie Vera (manifestation)
* Ariel Ladret as Dead Witch
* Dalias Blake as Orderly #1 (manifestation)
* Yurij Kis as Orderly #2 (manifestation)
* Jason Asuncion as Orderly #5 (manifestation)
* Matt Kennedy as Orderly #6 (manifestation)
* Denise A. Ryan as Patient #1 (manifestation)
* Annette Ducharme as Patient #2 (manifestation)
* Iman Nassan as Patient #3 (manifestation)
* Teal Fiddler as Patient #4 (manifestation)

## Magical Notes

### Spells

* *Demon-Spotting Mode Spell*
	+ Used by Celeste to switch the system at the Command Center to demon tracking mode.
* *Dream Casting Spell*
	+ Used by Celeste on the Charmed Ones to help them to face their fears and get back the Power of Three.
* *The Power of Three Spell*
	+ Used by Macy, Mel, and Maggie to successfully restore the Power of Three. They also used it to vanquish the magic infused monster.

### Powers

* **Acid Secretion:** Used by the magic infused monster to kill Bruce and later to attack the Charmed Ones.
* **Claw Extension:** Used by the magic infused monster to kill Mel in the dream.
* **Foresight:** Used by Maggie to see magic infused monster infiltrate SafeSpace in her dreams and later to see the monster attacking her and her sisters from behind.
* **Healing:** Used by an illusionary Harry in an attempt to heal an illusionary Maggie. However, his attempt is unsuccessful.
* **Immunity:** Used by the magic infused monster to counter Mel's Molecular Acceleration.
* **Limited Shapeshifting:** Used by an illusionary Abigael to show her demonic red eyes to Macy in the dream.
* **Molecular Manipulation:** Used by Mel to heat up Bruce's gun causing him to drop it and to attempt to attack the magic infused monster, however he's immune. Later, it is used by Mel to attempt to freeze the monster, encasing his head in ice before he breaks free.
* **Portal Creation:** Used by the Charmed Ones and Celeste through the Command Center.
* **Resistance:** Used by the magic infused monster to resist Mel's Molecular Inhibition.
* **Smoking:** Used by the magic infused monster to teleport.
* **Supernatural Agility:** Used by the magic infused monster to do a leap after Macy's attack.
* **Telekinesis:** Used by Macy to pull Bruce's heated gun to her and to send the monster flying backwards. Later, it is used by Macy to hurl an illusionary Abigael out of a room, and halt a thrown knife and redirect it to the illusion, accidentally stabbing an illusionary Maggie instead. It is also used by an illusionary Abigael to throw Macy against a wall and to throw the knife to try and kill Macy in the dream.
* **The Power of Three:** After the Power of Three was restored and was used to vanquish the Monster, the Charmed Ones managed to activate it by placing their hands together to take it for a "test drive".
* **Venom Secretion:** Used by the monster to kill with his claws.

### Artifacts

* **Celeste's Pocket Watch:** Celeste's personal item. Created to slow down a witch's aging process.

## Trivia

* Abigael Jameson-Caine and Jordan Chase only appear in this episode as manifestations in Macy and Maggie's dreams.
* Harry Greenwood's Darklighter was indirectly mentioned. He was last seen in *Breaking the Cycle*.
* Julian Shea was mentioned. He was last seen in *Sudden Death*.
* Ruby and The Guardian were mentioned. They were last seen in *Breaking the Cycle*.
* A manifestation of Lawrence Mortimer Chase pretends to be his descendant Jordan Chase and appears in this episode in the sisters' dreams. The real Lawrence Mortimer Chase was last seen in *Past is Present*.
* With the appearance of the Elder Celeste, there were three plot holes that contradict the first season:
	+ Since neither Hunter Caine nor Fiona Callahan killed Celeste, this means that the second point of the prophecy was not fulfilled and the Apocalypse was not supposed to happen.
	+ Since at least one of the Elders is still alive, Whitelighters were not supposed to start dying between *Red Rain* and *Safe Space*.
	+ Since Celeste was out of commission or possibly retired at this point, this could have had something to do with her not being a part of the prophecy. However, in that case, it becomes unclear why Charity Callahan was not stripped of her status of an Elder for a series of murders before being sent to Tartarus (although, it is possible that Alastor simply got her out before they could do that).
* Jordana Zinger would later go on to play Molly in *What to Expect When You're Expecting the Apocalypse*.

## Answered Questions from Previous Episode(s)

* How will the sisters restore the Power of Three?
	+ The sisters realized and accepted they would be prepared to sacrifice themselves for the greater good. By joining hands together after this resolution, the Power of Three was restored.

## References to the Original Charmed

* Elder Celeste putting the Charmed Ones into a magically induced slumber to help them realize their worst fears mirrors the original Charmed episode "The Jung and the Restless", where Billie Jenkins used a magical crystal to put the sisters to sleep and watch their dreams to see their true desires.
* Celeste mentioned the name "Leo", short for "Leonardo da Vinci". It was also a reference to "Leo Wyatt", the Charmed Ones' Whitelighter in the original series.
* The episode deals with the sisters facing their fears. In the original series, Barbas was a recurring demon, with the power of fear projection, and often targeted the Halliwell sisters.
* Macy accidentally kills an apparition of Maggie, whilst she is trapped in her fear. This is similar to Phoebe almost killing Paige, while under the influence of Barbas, in the episode "Sympathy for the Demon".
* Mel finds herself in a mental asylum, while under the influence of Elder Celeste's spell. In the original series episode "Brain Drain", when Piper is captured by the Source of All Evil, she too is placed in a mental asylum while trapped in her mind by the Source's power.

## Production Notes

* The episode was watched by 0.60 million U.S. viewers.

## Quotes

**Mel:** That's all that's left of Bruce. Rest in peace, asshat.

**Celeste:** Fear is a powerful north star.

**Macy (to illusionary Abigael):** You know what is funny? No matter what the reality, you are always the devil.

**Mel:** It's not about how we die, it's about how we live. This is our destiny.

## Gallery

* Promotional Images
* Screencaps
* Behind the Scenes

## Videos

* Videos

Charmed 2x15 Third Time’s the Charm PromoCharm Reboot - Powers (2x15)