Switches & Stones

**Switches & Stones** is the fifteenth episode of the first season of *Charmed* and the fifteenth episode of the series overall. It is premiered on March 17, 2019.

## Synopsis

FREAKY FRIDAY — Maggie (Sarah Jeffery) shows Macy (Madeleine Mantock), Harry (Rupert Evans), and Charity (guest star Virginia Williams) the strange room under Vera Manor but they quickly learn just how dangerous it is when Mel (Melonie Diaz) and Maggie switch bodies and powers. Macy turns to the Elders for guidance about how to overcome her inner demon, which in turn leads her to have an eye-opening experience. Meanwhile, Maggie learns the secrets that Mel has been keeping from her sisters. Nick Hargrove also stars.

## Plot

The episode opens with Macy conferring with the Council of Elders about her death, revival, and the little demon problem. While most of the Elders are in shock, Elder Priyanka Bari, who introduces herself as an "expert in demon-witch interminglings" — and who also happens to be in charge of the investigation into Marisol's death — indicates she may be able to help Macy get to the bottom of it.

However, before they are able to get any further, Charity and Macy are summoned into the stone chamber under the Vera household by Harry and Maggie. Assessing the chamber, Charity and Harry deduce they're inside a Vortex Viribus, a hub of power that can essentially heighten a witch's power to reveal previously uncovered powers. Given the precarious nature of the room, the pair warn Macy and Maggie not to touch anything but too late…

Meanwhile, absent from the situation at home, Mel is off with Jada, trekking through the mythical Irish Isle of Hy-Breasal in search of a relic needed to help the Keeper, the weakened Sarcana sister rescued from Tartarus, regain her strength. After Mel peppers Jada with questions about the mission — and after being sworn to secrecy — she learns the mysterious sister is Fiona Callahan. Jada reveals Fiona is Keeper of a primordial power source known as the Sacred Flame. However, when Fiona fell in with the Sarcana, the Council tried to destroy her, but as the Keeper is immortal, they banished her to Tartarus instead — and not even Harry and Charity know she's still alive.

Upon their return home, Mel's phone is flooded with missed calls and texts from Maggie. While Mel is hesitant to lie to her sisters, Jada is quick to remind her of the vow she just made before departing. Maggie confronts Mel about where she’s been for the last day. Mel wants Maggie to give Jada a chance but Maggie just wants her older sister to understand her concerns. The two quickly sink into a very heated fight full of insults and accusations — which include Mel calling Maggie oversensitive, a baby, and chiding her decision to rush Kappa again as superficial.

Meanwhile, Macy has a very realistic dream involving her chasing a man around the quad before turning him into stone. Early the next morning while on a jog, she's stunned to see the event has actually transpired.

When they wake up, Maggie and Mel are panicked to find themselves in the other's body. Harry deduces the body swap was caused by Maggie touching a rune stone in the Vortex, which amplified her powers when she used them on Mel during their fight. The Book of Shadows' easy fix to their Freaky Friday situation is complicated by the sisters discovering their powers stayed in their bodies…meaning now they can’t swap back until Mel learns to control Maggie's empath powers.

As the three try to find an immediate solution to their problem, Macy races into the kitchen with a "freaky" problem of her own. Considering she also touched a rune in the Vortex, Macy thinks she may have accidentally amplified her demon powers.

The team heads to the quad to check out the stone statue, which is surrounded by people as its Banksy-esque sudden appearance has caught the attention of Hilltowne's pretentious art scene. Unable to use Mel's powers to freeze time, Maggie uses her gift of gossip to drive the crowd towards another nonexistent art piece on campus. Macy wants to report what happened to the Elders — namely Elder Bari — but Mel is very wary about the Elders and what they would do if they found Macy to be too dangerous.

Unable to find a temporary solution to their problem, Mel and Maggie resort to walking in the other's shoes for a day — literally — as Maggie-as-Mel is tasked with bartending at The Haunt and Mel-as-Maggie has Kappa rush duties to attend to. However, Maggie quickly capitalizes on the body swap situation after receiving a text from Jada and makes plans to see her. Meanwhile, Mel's worst nightmare comes true when she's ambushed by a pair of Phi Delta bros and is whisked off to a toga party with the other Kappa rushees.

As Elder Bari runs some tests on her, Macy wonders what will happen to her if her demon traits are deemed dangerous. Charity attempts to reassure her but Elder Bari looks very wary. When Charity takes Elder Bari into the hall, she reveals the Vortex awoke something within Macy and they may not want to cure her, even if they can.

Later, Harry informs Macy that two more statues have turned up on campus, meaning Macy isn't responsible for them. A relieved Macy reveals the sample of stone she had tested in the lab is from 800 B.C., and the two figure out that Medusa has been unleashed on campus. Macy is also deeply disturbed to learn from the Book of Shadows that Medusa was once a witch who, after being raped by Poseidon, was turned into a Gorgon by Athena as punishment. While Charity tries to convince Macy that Medusa must be destroyed, Macy feels a kinship with Medusa and tries to get the Elder to reconsider.

While initially deeply mistrustful of Jada and the Saracana, Maggie's sleuthing at Jada’s proves to be a transformative experience as she meets Fiona and learns about her decade in Tartarus as a result of the Elders. Speaking of her irrevocably broken relationship with Charity, the weakened witch warns Maggie against anyone trying to get between her sisters, especially the Elders.

At the toga party, Medusa has begun turning attendees into stone. Charity, Harry, the Charmed Ones, and Parker hash out a plan to stop Medusa. Having learned the truth about her, Macy is still not on board with Charity's plan to behead Medusa. The Charmed Ones learn that Daphne, one of the Kappa rushees, accidentally summoned Medusa after being slut-shamed by Phi Delta brothers — with many others in the Greek system actively complicit. Just then, Medusa unleashes her powers en masse, causing everyone at the party, save the Charmed Ones — who are protected under a magical shield — to turn to stone.

The sisters corner Medusa but Macy is unable to kill her. Realizing she just wants to be seen, Macy looks Medusa in the eyes and tells her that she's sorry she's been carrying so much blame for centuries, adding that what happened to her is not her fault. Having finally felt understood and heard, Medusa turns herself into stone and disappears, releasing everyone from their stone captivities.

Despite having little faith in Greek life, Mel confronts Lucy about Phi Delta brother slut-shaming women all over campus, including Daphne. To her surprise, Lucy agrees and vows to report it, while Parker kicks the offending brothers out of the fraternity.

Having spent the day living the other's life, Maggie and Mel are finally at an understanding. After having a heart-to-heart, Mel successfully switches them back into their rightful bodies.

Meanwhile, Macy and Charity have a conversation about demons. Macy wonders if the entire conversation surrounding demons and good and evil is misguided. Having used her demonic traits for good with Medusa, Macy thinks maybe there’s a way to channel her demon powers into something positive. It seems the Vera sisters have had quite an influence on Charity because, despite it being wildly against the Elder code, she seems to respond positively to Macy's arguments. Their conversation is interrupted by news of Macy's test results from Elder Bari.

Alone in the attic with Macy, the Elder reveals the Vortex awakened Macy's gift of Evil Sight, which allows her to see through the eyes of those doing evil deeds — in both the present and past. Elder Bari believes they may be able to use the power to learn who killed Marisol and the Elders. Using her magical hairpin to boost the power, Macy sees that Charity is the one who killed her mom. Just as Macy reveals what she saw to Elder Bari, Charity appears behind the Elder and kills her.

## Cast

* Madeleine Mantock as Macy Vaughn
* Sarah Jeffery as Maggie Vera/Mel Vera
* Nick Hargrove as Parker Caine
* and Rupert Evans as Harry Greenwood

Recurring Cast* Natalie Hall as Lucy
* Virginia Williams as Charity Callahan
* Leah Pipes as Fiona Callahan
* Aleyse Shannon as Jada Shields
* Raylene Harewood as Daphne
* Sohm Kapila as Priyanka Bari

Co-Starring* Dominic McDowell as Brett
* Eric Bempong as Chuck
* Devon Kenzo as Trevor
* Liam Howe as Frat Guy
* Fraser Corbett as Hulking Frat Guy
* Alexa Barajas as Girl

## Magical Notes

### Book of Shadows

* *Medusa*
	+ Macy and Harry viewed this entry.

### Spells

* *Deathbolts*
	+ Used by Charity to kill Priyanka Bari.
* *Decloaking Spell*
	+ Used by Priyanka Bari to turn off her cloaking spell.
* *Password Spell*
	+ Used by Mel to unlock someone else's phone.

### Powers

* **Electrokinetic Orbing:** Used by Jada to bring both her and Mel back home from Ireland.
* **Empathic Telepathy:** Maggie's primary power. Used by Maggie to hear Mel's thoughts. Used by Mel in Maggie's body when Maggie touches her. Used by Mel in Maggie's body to hear Daphne's and another sorority member's thoughts inside the van. Used by Mel in Maggie's body to hear Parker's thoughts.
* **Evil Sight:** Macy's latent demonic power. Used by Macy to see visions of evil after the power is awakened by the Vortex Viribus.
* **Petrification:** Used by Medusa to petrify students.
* **Portal Creation:** Used by Charity to bring both Macy and herself to the Vortex Viribus underneath the house.
* **Soul Transference:** Used accidentally by Maggie to trade bodies with Mel after her power is temporarily amplified by the Vortex Viribus, allowing both to understand each other better. Used by Mel in Maggie's body to return them back into their respective bodies.
* **Telekinesis:** Macy's primary power. Used to levitate and throw a shield at Medusa.
* **Temporal Stasis:** Mel's primary power. Tried to freeze the living vines at Isle of Hy-Breasal but failed due to its resistance. Used by Maggie in Mel's body to freeze Medusa.

### Artifacts

* **Book of Shadows:** the Charmed Ones' tome of magic.
* **Priyanka Bari's Needle:** Used by Bari to examine Macy's demonic essence.
* **Sirona-Stone:** Jada gave it to Fiona to heal her.
* **Spell Blocking Shield:** Used by Macy to protect her and her sisters from Medusa's petrification.
* **Vortex Viribus:** Accidentally used by Macy and Maggie to temporarily enhance their powers.
* **Magically Extended Purse:** Charity used it to store the sword she wanted to use to kill Medusa.

## Trivia

* Mel and Maggie's subplot of this episode is similar to the film, *Freaky Friday,* where two characters learn what it's like to be the other by accidentally switching bodies.
* Macy's latent demonic power of The Evil Sight is awakened in this episode.
* Mel as Maggie meets a Kappa pledge named Daphne in this episode. Coincidentally, Sarah Jeffery portrayed *Daphne Blake* in the *Scooby-Doo* spin-off movie, *Daphne & Velma*

## Answered Questions from Previous Episode(s)

* Who or what killed Marisol?
	+ Marisol was killed by Charity Callahan.
* What kind of room is under the Vera Manor?
	+ A Vortex Viribus, a location with a source of immense power that can be used to amplify an aspect of a witch or magical being.

## Unanswered Questions

* What happened between Charity and Fiona?
* What will the Sarcana do now that Fiona is back?
* Why did Charity kill Marisol?

## References to the Original Charmed

* The Vortex Viribus is similar to the Nexus in the original show: a location of concentrated power that amplifies anyone's magical abilities. And like in the original, the chamber is located under the Vera Manor.
* Medusa is featured in the episode. She appeared in the canon novel, *Let Gorgons Be Gorgons*. More similarities were her being a powerful witch of her era and had two older sisters who were also powerful. However, in the original series, Medusa turned out to be good; she was merely used by her evil sisters, who took advantage of the fact she was unfamiliar with the modern world, so the Halliwell sisters allowed her to live.
* After touching a rune in the Vortex Viribus, Macy's Evil Sight made her witness a man's transformation into a statue, in her sleep, through the eyes of Medusa, which made her believe it was herself who did it. Phoebe had a series of premonitions of four men being murdered, in her nightmares, thinking it was herself who was the murderer, later to discover she had accidentally made a psychic connection to a Succubus, the demon responsible for their deaths.

## Production Notes

* The episode was watched by 0.65 million U.S. viewers.
* More than likely, this episode title can be a play on words of a children's rhyme *"Sticks and Stones"* that persuades the child victim of name-calling to ignore the taunt, to refrain from physical retaliation, and to remain calm and good-living.
* Lucy returns in this episode. She was last seen in *You're Dead to Me*.
* Charity Callahan returns in this episode. She was last seen in *Witch Perfect*.

## Quotes

**Mel (as Maggie):** *"I just did more shots than I thought physically possible and I am barely buzzed. I really have to talk to Maggie about her underage body's high tolerance for alcohol.*
## Gallery

* Promotional Images
* Screencaps
* Behind the Scenes

## Videos

* Videos
 **Videos**

Charmed 1x15 Promo "Switches & Stones" (HD)Charmed 1x15 Promo "Switches & Stones"Charmed 1x15 Sneak Peek "Switches & Stones"Charm Reboot - Powers (1x15)