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akinoameAt Ben’s suggestion, the team takes a trip to the beach for some R&R, but Kevin can’t enjoy himself out of frustration about his mutated form. The vacation is cut short anyway when a rock monster rises from the depths of the water and attacks, seeming oddly immune to Gwen’s powers. They manage to hold it off, but a dimensional vortex opens behind it and takes it back to its master, Charmcaster, who is very interested in some long-due revenge against her arch-nemesis, Gwen.
Kevin blows off the others to go repair his ID mask, leaving him prey for Charmcaster. Glamouring herself as a young woman named Caroline, she pretends to be everything he wants: hot, interested in cars, interested in him, and magical. They return to the beach in the night as “Caroline” confesses that she’s been learning magic all her life, but she’s nowhere near as good as she could be. Kevin lets slip that Gwen is “made” of magic, and Caroline then asks why she hasn’t fixed his mutation if she’s so powerful. Kevin falters a bit but remains faithful to Gwen when Caroline tries to kiss him. Unfortunately, even he isn’t completely immune to her charms, and Charmcaster manages to plant a mind-control kiss on him. She instructs him to take Gwen to the planetarium by ten, and to take out Ben if he gets in the way. Meanwhile, Ben is advising Gwen to let Kevin sort out his problems on his own. Kevin shows up and tries several ploys to get Gwen alone, but unfortunately for him, neither cousin is exactly going along with it. A fight breaks out, and Gwen realizes that the necklace Kevin’s wearing is the key to the mind control. Ben manages to get it off him, and they press Kevin for info and he reveals the planetarium trap. But Gwen’s a Tennyson and thus stubborn, dead-set on going and facing down Charmcaster once and for all.
They reach the planetarium, and Gwen has the boys fight off the golems when she realizes Charmcaster spelled them against her powers. Inside, she and Charmcaster face off, but Charmcaster’s got a plan in place. She opens the roof, allowing in the light of the full moon, and it reacts with an invisible spell on the floor that immobilizes Gwen as Charmcaster drains her dry. Having left her enemy powerless, Charmcaster leaves. Kevin later tracks her down and says that he does want to find a way to get back to normal, but Charmcaster left a tiny amount of power in Gwen. Gwen and Ben are at the Mr. Smoothy when Charmcaster and Kevin attack, but Charmcaster scans them and realizes there is no power left behind in Gwen—it was a trap the entire time. As Kevin fights off the golems, Ben is left to face an animated Mr. Smoothy mascot, proving that if he’d been in New York when Gozer attacked, he would have run in with graham crackers and chocolate. He manages to get the Omnitrix to agree with him for once and becomes Upchuck, drinking the smoothie from the monster for his easiest defeat ever. Well, there’s something you don’t see everyday.
Gwen challenges Charmcaster in the meantime to hand-to-hand, and Charmcaster’s not buying it, knowing that Gwen’s martial arts expertise would only win in the end. She attacks with magic, but falls straight for part two of Gwen’s trap—Gwen still has Charmcaster’s spellbook and read up on the spell, reabsorbing her powers and opening a vortex near Charmcaster and the golems. One manages to grab hold of a lamppost as Charmcaster clings to its leg, but it’s fed up with Charmcaster’s bitchy attitude and lets go, letting them both travel through the vortex for parts unknown. With the battle over, Upchuck vomits part of the smoothie on Kevin as part of his much-deserved humiliation. But as usual, Ben forgives Kevin pretty easily and heads with him to the beach to wash up fast before they go home. With Gwen absent, Kevin feels okay about admitting to Ben that Charmcaster had a point: Why hadn’t Gwen fixed him yet? Was it really because she was hoping that keeping him as a “monster” would mean she could keep him to herself? But a pissed off Ben explains it’s the exact opposite: Gwen has been poring over spellbooks ever since the accident, searching for the solution, and the only reason she didn’t tell him was because she didn’t think she’d have to.
This episode once again handles one of the hot-button issues in the Alien Force fandom: Gwen’s powers. And it comes to an easy solution: Mana and magic are essentially the same thing. Gwen’s powers appear slightly different from Charmcaster’s (as seen with Charmcaster’s having more flashy CGI), but there’s very little difference where it matters. Anodytes, as energy beings comprised of mana, are seen as essentially being comprised of magic as well. It kind of continues what Max said in “Inferno” about Earth mythology being influenced by aliens or cryptids.
And in a much-anticipated event, this focuses on the return of Charmcaster, who had always been Gwen’s enemy in the original. She’s just as bitchy as ever, but with a touch of an aspiring evil overlord in her. She bosses around her golems, failing to realize that putting them down means they will be more willing to turn on her, and she’s obsessed with her revenge against Gwen. In vengeance for Gwen stealing her prized spellbook, she plans to take what Gwen treasures most—her boyfriend—in addition to her powers. She resents Gwen especially for being a natural at the art she’s had to practice hard at her whole life—the difference between being “born lucky” and having to work for your achievements. It offers her a bit of humanity and sympathy (particularly if you remember Zuko’s complaints in late season one of Avatar regarding Azula), making her a little less of a clichéd villain. However, there may also be another shred of decency in her—she automatically rescued a child about to be hit by a car. Granted, it may have been to avoid blowing her cover, but it does offer some hope for her, however small. In addition, we also see that apparently, she draws her power from the moon or at least requires it for high-level spells, as she needed the full moon at its peak at a certain hour to take Gwen’s power, though Gwen’s natural talent—with or without power—got her through turning the tables later in the night.
This episode also continues the rocky relationship between Gwen and Kevin. While things had mostly appeared to smooth out by “Fool’s Gold,” Kevin still felt the underlying tensions. He wanted to go back to his normal form and subconsciously began blaming Gwen for it—a conflict Charmcaster rooted out and brought to the surface. Kevin’s admission that he was attracted to Charmcaster only compounded the relationship issues, but the main conflict of blame was the worst of it, even getting Ben involved and pointing out what an idiot he’d been.
Despite the darker elements of this episode, there is definitely some humor. Kevin is utterly hilarious under mind control, very quickly driving Charmcaster up the wall because he needs specific instructions not to reveal that he’s supposed to be bringing Gwen into a trap. He excuses it on the fact that his “mind is a blank,” which means Charmcaster probably should have lightened up on the brainwashing a little bit. But Kevin’s not the only one who’s mindless: while he’s trying to come up with various excuses for why he needs Gwen to come with him, Ben completely misses the fact that Kevin’s obviously brainwashed or at the very least wants some alone time with Gwen and keeps asking if he can come along. Furthermore, he’s hyperactively running around the yard, making sound effects. Apparently, that “brain tumor” I theorized from “Vengeance of Vilgax” hasn’t completely gone away, but at least it’s funny this time.
“In Charm’s Way” was written by Peter David.
Kevin blows off the others to go repair his ID mask, leaving him prey for Charmcaster. Glamouring herself as a young woman named Caroline, she pretends to be everything he wants: hot, interested in cars, interested in him, and magical. They return to the beach in the night as “Caroline” confesses that she’s been learning magic all her life, but she’s nowhere near as good as she could be. Kevin lets slip that Gwen is “made” of magic, and Caroline then asks why she hasn’t fixed his mutation if she’s so powerful. Kevin falters a bit but remains faithful to Gwen when Caroline tries to kiss him. Unfortunately, even he isn’t completely immune to her charms, and Charmcaster manages to plant a mind-control kiss on him. She instructs him to take Gwen to the planetarium by ten, and to take out Ben if he gets in the way. Meanwhile, Ben is advising Gwen to let Kevin sort out his problems on his own. Kevin shows up and tries several ploys to get Gwen alone, but unfortunately for him, neither cousin is exactly going along with it. A fight breaks out, and Gwen realizes that the necklace Kevin’s wearing is the key to the mind control. Ben manages to get it off him, and they press Kevin for info and he reveals the planetarium trap. But Gwen’s a Tennyson and thus stubborn, dead-set on going and facing down Charmcaster once and for all.
They reach the planetarium, and Gwen has the boys fight off the golems when she realizes Charmcaster spelled them against her powers. Inside, she and Charmcaster face off, but Charmcaster’s got a plan in place. She opens the roof, allowing in the light of the full moon, and it reacts with an invisible spell on the floor that immobilizes Gwen as Charmcaster drains her dry. Having left her enemy powerless, Charmcaster leaves. Kevin later tracks her down and says that he does want to find a way to get back to normal, but Charmcaster left a tiny amount of power in Gwen. Gwen and Ben are at the Mr. Smoothy when Charmcaster and Kevin attack, but Charmcaster scans them and realizes there is no power left behind in Gwen—it was a trap the entire time. As Kevin fights off the golems, Ben is left to face an animated Mr. Smoothy mascot, proving that if he’d been in New York when Gozer attacked, he would have run in with graham crackers and chocolate. He manages to get the Omnitrix to agree with him for once and becomes Upchuck, drinking the smoothie from the monster for his easiest defeat ever. Well, there’s something you don’t see everyday.
Gwen challenges Charmcaster in the meantime to hand-to-hand, and Charmcaster’s not buying it, knowing that Gwen’s martial arts expertise would only win in the end. She attacks with magic, but falls straight for part two of Gwen’s trap—Gwen still has Charmcaster’s spellbook and read up on the spell, reabsorbing her powers and opening a vortex near Charmcaster and the golems. One manages to grab hold of a lamppost as Charmcaster clings to its leg, but it’s fed up with Charmcaster’s bitchy attitude and lets go, letting them both travel through the vortex for parts unknown. With the battle over, Upchuck vomits part of the smoothie on Kevin as part of his much-deserved humiliation. But as usual, Ben forgives Kevin pretty easily and heads with him to the beach to wash up fast before they go home. With Gwen absent, Kevin feels okay about admitting to Ben that Charmcaster had a point: Why hadn’t Gwen fixed him yet? Was it really because she was hoping that keeping him as a “monster” would mean she could keep him to herself? But a pissed off Ben explains it’s the exact opposite: Gwen has been poring over spellbooks ever since the accident, searching for the solution, and the only reason she didn’t tell him was because she didn’t think she’d have to.
This episode once again handles one of the hot-button issues in the Alien Force fandom: Gwen’s powers. And it comes to an easy solution: Mana and magic are essentially the same thing. Gwen’s powers appear slightly different from Charmcaster’s (as seen with Charmcaster’s having more flashy CGI), but there’s very little difference where it matters. Anodytes, as energy beings comprised of mana, are seen as essentially being comprised of magic as well. It kind of continues what Max said in “Inferno” about Earth mythology being influenced by aliens or cryptids.
And in a much-anticipated event, this focuses on the return of Charmcaster, who had always been Gwen’s enemy in the original. She’s just as bitchy as ever, but with a touch of an aspiring evil overlord in her. She bosses around her golems, failing to realize that putting them down means they will be more willing to turn on her, and she’s obsessed with her revenge against Gwen. In vengeance for Gwen stealing her prized spellbook, she plans to take what Gwen treasures most—her boyfriend—in addition to her powers. She resents Gwen especially for being a natural at the art she’s had to practice hard at her whole life—the difference between being “born lucky” and having to work for your achievements. It offers her a bit of humanity and sympathy (particularly if you remember Zuko’s complaints in late season one of Avatar regarding Azula), making her a little less of a clichéd villain. However, there may also be another shred of decency in her—she automatically rescued a child about to be hit by a car. Granted, it may have been to avoid blowing her cover, but it does offer some hope for her, however small. In addition, we also see that apparently, she draws her power from the moon or at least requires it for high-level spells, as she needed the full moon at its peak at a certain hour to take Gwen’s power, though Gwen’s natural talent—with or without power—got her through turning the tables later in the night.
This episode also continues the rocky relationship between Gwen and Kevin. While things had mostly appeared to smooth out by “Fool’s Gold,” Kevin still felt the underlying tensions. He wanted to go back to his normal form and subconsciously began blaming Gwen for it—a conflict Charmcaster rooted out and brought to the surface. Kevin’s admission that he was attracted to Charmcaster only compounded the relationship issues, but the main conflict of blame was the worst of it, even getting Ben involved and pointing out what an idiot he’d been.
Despite the darker elements of this episode, there is definitely some humor. Kevin is utterly hilarious under mind control, very quickly driving Charmcaster up the wall because he needs specific instructions not to reveal that he’s supposed to be bringing Gwen into a trap. He excuses it on the fact that his “mind is a blank,” which means Charmcaster probably should have lightened up on the brainwashing a little bit. But Kevin’s not the only one who’s mindless: while he’s trying to come up with various excuses for why he needs Gwen to come with him, Ben completely misses the fact that Kevin’s obviously brainwashed or at the very least wants some alone time with Gwen and keeps asking if he can come along. Furthermore, he’s hyperactively running around the yard, making sound effects. Apparently, that “brain tumor” I theorized from “Vengeance of Vilgax” hasn’t completely gone away, but at least it’s funny this time.
“In Charm’s Way” was written by Peter David.