Before the kerfuffle, Abigael attempts to make a deal with another female demon to take over the newly vacant seat at the table. This is the first time this season Abigael has even hinted at using her newfound power as the Overlord to pull other demonesses up with her. This is despite her entire motive, let her tell it, is to end the demon patriarchy. Okay, sis. Only helping other women when it benefits you is not feminist, and I’m not sure if Abigael is suppose to be fake-woke or if the writers dropped the ball with this part of her characterization.
As the title of this episode states, the enemy of my enemy is my frenemy, an adage that could be the tagline for this entire season. The Charmed Ones are short on friends, but when things get complicated, frenemies will do. And Abigael never misses a chance to— actually she only ever helps.
Abigael’s intentions for the Charmed Ones remain unclear. They are in her way, yet she throws away every opportunity to gain the upperhand. If she wanted them dead, she could’ve killed them when they were powerless. If she wants them as allies, she can just choose to stop antagonizing them. I’m not sure if this is a flaw in her character, or a flaw in the writing, but her lack of consistency is disorienting. If you’re a Bad Guy, be that.
On the topic of Bad Guys, the insidious organization I’ve been lovingly referring to as such have an official name now, The Faction (same energy, tbh). The sisters finally know who they are and what they’re doing, and they recognize the threat to the magical world, even if they don’t yet know the Faction’s endgame is to destroy magic.
After months of giving us tiny morsels of information about the then-unnamed Faction, Charmed finally gives us a whole slice. This episode feels focused, and sure of itself, in a way past episodes haven’t been. Where previous episodes felt meandering, this one has a sense of direction towards what I imagine, is a finally locked-down conclusion. I don’t believe the writers had a clearly defined end goal, in the beginning, and the episodes suffered from that vagueness of purpose.