W.I.T.C.H. S2 E12

## Plot

As part of her next plan, Nerissa kidnaps Matt and Huggles. Taranee is still angry at her mom for stopping her from seeing Nigel. Hay Lin learns that the guy she likes is a freshman named Eric Lyndon. The cheerleaders like him too though. Irma, Martin, Uriah, and the Grumper twins sign up to be part of the school's new radio station, KSHIP. Sounds really boring, but it was the early to mid 2000s. Radio was a lot more popular back then. Or at least a little. Irma is put in charge and made station manager. Nerissa turns Huggles into a creature called Khor who feeds on anger. Irma accidentally admits that she loves Martin, platonically speaking, while on air. Nerissa orders Khor to kill Matt, but Khor is still Huggles, so he's still loyal to Matt, not her. So Nerissa turns Matt into Shagon, an evil creature that feeds on hate. She also creates Tridart out of ice. He feeds on fear and desperation. She creates Ember out of lava. Ember feeds on misery and pain. Meet Nerissa's new Knights of Destruction. After he embarrasses her on the air, Irma yells at Martin and calls him a loser. While still on the air. And she really hurt his feelings. The Knights attack the girls and feed on their negative emotions. Irma is miserable because of her situation with Martin, Hay Lin is desperate over Eric, and Taranee is mad at her mom. Shagon implies that he did something to Matt. I suppose technically speaking, he *did* take over his body. Will immediately hates him, which just makes him more powerful. The girls fold to the Silver Dragon basement, and Irma immediately runs off. Cornelia realizes that the Knights feed off of negative emotions, and that they need to keep themselves calm. Irma goes to apologize to Martin, but he says that she's only doing it to make herself feel better, not him, proving that she only cares about herself. Ouch. True, and she did need to hear that, but yikes. The Knights ambush the girls outside the restaurant. While flying, Will sees Irma, who evens the fight a little, since she now knows that what's really important is making it up to Martin. The Knights retreat, but Shagon can still feel Will's hate. Irma shows up at school the next morning and delivers a message to Martin over the air. "Hi, um, well, everybody knows about… yesterday. Martin, I was awful. I said some things I didn't mean, just to hurt you. I don't expect forgiveness, but I truly am sorry. And if you're not in my life, I'll be the real loser." She finds a note from him in her locker. "You'll never be a loser." Aw!

## Review

I *loved* this episode. My only problem is how none of the girls realize that Shagon is Matt. Granted, the two look almost nothing alike, plus Shagon is super buff and has wings and a tail, but his voice basically sounds like a filtered version of Matt's. I loved everything else though, especially the Knights' debut fight and the ending. Also, in hindsight, Martin not being able to take no for an answer and just leave Irma alone whenever she rejects his romantic advances is honestly pretty creepy and dangerous, and the only reason it's likely not presented as such is because this was made in the early 2000s, when most male nerds and geeks were portrayed as harmless and not very physically imposing, therefore they were supposedly not a threat to girls and women, when in reality, they have the potential to be just as much of a threat as any other type of guy is, especially if they feel a sense of entitlement, as if they're owed something because they're "nice". Obviously, the attitudes, values, and opinions of mainstream society have drastically changed in 20 years, thanks in large part to the Me Too and Time's Up movements, as well as controversies like Gamergate. Basically, cyber bullying and harassment is just as dangerous, mentally damaging, and difficult to recover from as the more physical kinds of harassment and other crimes that aren't always investigated or taken seriously by law enforcement, and they disproportionately affect women.