Charmed’s Third Episode “Sweet Tooth” was a Killer Halloween Episode

The episode opens with the sisters in a magically simulated demon hunting session brought to them by their friendly whitelighter Harry, which gave us very similar vibes to the original series episode “Blinded by the Whitelighter” where the original sisters where trained by more by-the-book Natalie. Also, it was used to highlight the issues each sister is struggling with — Maggie’s susceptibility to being impaled when distracted by her “normal” life, Macy’s overthinking and overanalyzing, and Mel’s overconfidence in casting the biggest spells and attempts at super-witchery too early.

All of these things come back to bite them and/or serve as big growth points later in the episode which features a hunt for the episode’s main demon the Harbinger. Macy notes a murder in the lab and starts the hunt, but the demon ends up possessing Maggie’s former sorority rush mate who was in a coma and then goes on the prowl around campus for virgin flesh. Speaking of Kappa, Maggie volunteers to host the sorority’s Halloween party at their house. This leads to her asking the Book of Shadow’s for a spell to help and it recommends glamours. It all snowballs to be a little campy when she not only glamours costumes and decorations, but also the food and drink? Seems like there was a little conjuration but regardless here’s a nice little look at the entry from the Book.

The other side plot has us more concerned is Mel and Niko’s strained romance. Niko is obviously hiding something and we -know- Mel is hiding a secret. We just want this romance to work so we hope Niko’s secret isn’t too horrible and that she quickly becomes an ally to the Charmed Ones.

The actual demon ends up crashing the party and they hilariously overlook her scary appearance assuming it is a costume. The inclusion was well done and at one point Harry has them attempt to seal the house from evil when the spell falters and they realize the demon has been lurking from inside the house! Macy decides to lure it out by using herself as bait by spilling a little of her own virgin blood. The plan works almost a little too well because when the demon first catches them, their spell fizzles out due to Maggie’s overused glamours draining her power/focus/whatever and Macy has to make a run for it.

Maggie learns from her mistakes and cancels out her personal gain spells and refocuses on the task at hand and ends up saving her sister from the Harbinger before it gets the jump on her by swinging on it. Mel attempts her super witch spell [think Rhineman Ultra from The Magicians] and she manages to cast it out, while accidentally shockwaving herself and her sisters. Harry has to intervene and heal Macy, which seems to teach Mel her lesson, but alls well that ends well, as they get the demon chained up in the attic and the party ends with no casualties, including Maggie’s saved reputation. What may be in jeopardy is Mel and Niko’s relationship…because that end scene text was extremely uncomfortable, but Macy and Galvin seem to be heating up so at least we have that on the horizon.