Charmed recap: How far will Mel go to protect Nico?

Charmed Season 1, Episode 5 forces the Vera-Vaughn sisters to make a heartbreaking decision. Will they turn back time to keep an innocent safe?

After a quick catch up on the living situation (like Harry is currently sleeping in the attic to keep the sisters safe and the Elders have the Book of Shadows to see if there are any more mysteries from Marisol), Charmed, Season 1, Episode 5, “Other Women” gets into the episode. Mel continues to feel guilty for Trip’s death and is there for Nico, who still can’t (rightfully) believe her partner killed people.

When Mel and Nico leave the graveside, a man (Hunter) shows up. Demon smoke transfers into Trip’s grave. We’ll have to find out what that means throughout the episode.

Macy and Maggie go social media stalking

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Macy meets Alastair King at work and she’s smitten by his work (and maybe him?). That’s all forgotten when Calvin turns up with a women wearing sunglasses. He’s clearly hungover.

Macy isn’t the only one with boy problems. Maggie learns that Parker broke up with Lucy, who knows that there’s another woman. Lucy turns to Maggie to figure out who the other woman is — she just knows that it was another woman. If only she knew who the other woman was!

Both sisters start digging into the social media of Galvin and Parker. Well, Maggie doesn’t bother digging into Parker’s social media, so decides to help Macy to dig into Galvin’s. Maggie finds out that Galvin’s new woman, Summer, is smart, beautiful, and flawless. Of course, that must mean this woman is a demon.

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Maggie decides to get Harry to back her up. He does suggest that it could be a succubus and Macy should look out for strange birthmarks or tattoos (and symbols on Galvin). And if she is a succubus, Galvin could be under her spell. Are we really going to demonize a beautiful woman? Is that not going against everything this show is supposed to stand for?

When the two run into Galvin and Summer at a bar. Galvin shares that after being blown off a couple of times, he got the message and moved on. When Macy sees them kissing, she sees a strange symbol on Galvin’s side. Macy and Maggie also see a tattoo of wings and a tale on Summer’s back, which is hiding her features in plain sight.

The sisters head to Summer’s apartment to get rid of the succubus. The vanquishing spell doesn’t work. Could she really just be human with wings and a tale tattoo?

Macy realizes that she has pushed Galvin away and viewing Summer as a demon was the way to deal with that. Meanwhile, Maggie realizes that on some level she wanted to kiss Parker and breaking him and Lucy up is partially her fault.

Nico searches for answers

When Nico is put on leave (which is standard for the situation), she decides to tell Mel a secret. Trip had found a link between Marisol’s death and the deaths of two other women around the country. When Mel doesn’t want to delve deeper into this, Nico is angry. Didn’t Mel want the truth about Marisol’s death?

Well, of course, Mel does, but Mel also knows that it could put Nico in danger. Outside, Hunter is sitting in a car. We get more about Alastair in the episode. After getting Charity to switch paint cans to get the Harbinger goo last week, he is now working with Hunter this week. They know that Nico has information they need and Hunter makes a point of saying he’s defiled Trip’s grave and can now take his form.

The next day, Mel offers to go away on a vacation with Nico. When she mentions fishing, Nico gets an idea to solve Marisol’s murder and clear Trip’s name at the same time. She heads to Trip’s cabin, where there’s plenty of information about Marisol, Angela Wu, and the two other women.

Hunter shows up in Trip’s form. After knocking Nico out, he throws a green hell-fire-like substance down and leaves. Fortunately, Mel gets there but finds that the fire won’t freeze. She does get Nico out of the cabin.

Nico’s life is in danger

When Mel tells Harry about Nico seeing Trip, Harry suggests that they’re dealing with a shapeshifter. Fortunately, Nico took the photos of everything in the cabin and Mel can forward them all to herself. However, Harry worries that Nico has been targeted and he’s not sure how to deal with the situation.

At the hospital, a nurse comes in to give Nico an injection, but Mel realizes that the nurse is the shapeshifting demon. The demon fights through Mel’s freezes so she calls for Harry’s help to control the demon and stab it with the injection. The demon isn’t killed but it does retreat. That’s another time Nico’s life has been saved but how much longer can Mel do this?

Mel blames herself that Nico is in danger. After all, Nico wouldn’t be in Hilltowne if she hadn’t met Mel. Nico moved to the area for Mel, and now Mel wants to make it so she and Nico never met. Rightfully, Mel also puts some of the blame on the Elders. Had they not framed Trip, Nico wouldn’t have started this investigation that got her on the demon’s radar.

It all works. The Elders give the Book of Shadows back with a powerful history rewriting spell. Harry makes a point that there will be other ripple effect but it won’t affect death, so Marisol will still be dead. The only people who will remember the current timeline are the three sisters and Harry.

Harry also points out that he doesn’t remember anything about his old life. He died doing an act of great good and the Elders offered him a new life for that. He had to sacrifice the memories of the life when he was away. How does he remember he was born in 1920 and died in 1956 then? Finding out that Harry doesn’t remember his family leads to the sisters offering him a chance to be part of their family. He’s like the big brother they’ve likely never wanted.

Turning back time

Mel decides that giving up that life with Nico and everyone else losing their memories is worth saving Nico’s life. While Macy and Maggie finish up with the spell, Mel says goodbye to Nico.

On a side note: those who loved the rhyming couplets will be happy to know that the rhyming spell was back for this week.

With the spell cast, Nico is removed from Mel’s life. Of course, Mel checks up on Nico’s social media profile to find out how she is. The good thing about the three sisters and Harry remembering the previous history is that Mel has all the information about Marisol’s and the other women’s deaths.

Harry also remembers the mark on Galvin and points out that it could still be dangerous. Macy manages to get a copy of the symbol to figure things out.

As for Maggie, she decides to tell Lucy the truth. Angrily, Lucy kicks Maggie out of the sorority.

The unintended consequences

In the end, the unintended consequences are made clear immediately. Mel slept through her alarm on the day of her interview because Nico never woke her up. She never got the teaching job at the university.

Hunter and Alastair know that there was a temporal shift, but don’t know the full details. However, they no longer have the witch DNA that they originally had after attacking Nico. Alastair decides Macy is the way to get it.

What did you think of Mel’s decision to turn back time? Can the Charmed Ones stop Alastair? What did you think of Harry’s story? Share your thoughts in the comments below.

Charmed airs Sundays at 9/8c on The CW.