Brilliant from one end to the other, packed with action and emotion and world-shaking moments. The episode picks up right after the previous one, as the sisters discover that an excess of Good in the world has changed it into a creepy ever-smiling place. I think that, of all the alternate realities the sisters have visited, this one may be the most frightening, because everything is outwardly so bright and shiny, while people are capable of the most horrendous violence "for the greater good". The exact illustration of Gidion's philosophy.
Once more, the coexistence of the two worlds offers some great scenes, both with the sisters and with Leo(s). And really, the main character in this episode is our favourite Whitelighter. He single-handedly manages to turn Phoebe and Paige back to normal, discover Gidion's accomplice, find Wyatt, destroy Gidion and restore balance to the universe. Barbas is put to good use here because his whispers tell us how terrified Leo is that he won't be able to save Wyatt... (Who, by the way, holds his own wonderfully, thank you very much. I particularly love Barbas's awed expression at tracking him through a maze of charred demons.) And yet in the end, it isn't Wyatt we lose.
Now, I know that Chris's continued presence alongside his alter ego would have been too much of a complication, but still, I'll miss him terribly, and his death is probably one of the most terrible scenes in the whole series. Leo's desperate attempts to save him while everybody grins on, Sheridan and Darryl barging into the manor and basically announcing the bad news while holding Leo at gunpoint, Paige crying in the background, Leo clinging to his son's body, Chris fading away and leaving the family nothing to mourn over... Yes, he will be back at the end of the episode (very beautiful embodiment of the circle of life here, if you ask me) but that isn't the same. Especially for Leo. In a way, he dies too at that moment. The fury he then unleashes at Gidion He won't ever be the same after that, and a large part of the next season will be devoted to showing how his terrible act of evil, meant as a personal retribution as much as to restore balance, will change him.
Once more, the coexistence of the two worlds offers some great scenes, both with the sisters and with Leo(s). And really, the main character in this episode is our favourite Whitelighter. He single-handedly manages to turn Phoebe and Paige back to normal, discover Gidion's accomplice, find Wyatt, destroy Gidion and restore balance to the universe. Barbas is put to good use here because his whispers tell us how terrified Leo is that he won't be able to save Wyatt... (Who, by the way, holds his own wonderfully, thank you very much. I particularly love Barbas's awed expression at tracking him through a maze of charred demons.) And yet in the end, it isn't Wyatt we lose.
Now, I know that Chris's continued presence alongside his alter ego would have been too much of a complication, but still, I'll miss him terribly, and his death is probably one of the most terrible scenes in the whole series. Leo's desperate attempts to save him while everybody grins on, Sheridan and Darryl barging into the manor and basically announcing the bad news while holding Leo at gunpoint, Paige crying in the background, Leo clinging to his son's body, Chris fading away and leaving the family nothing to mourn over... Yes, he will be back at the end of the episode (very beautiful embodiment of the circle of life here, if you ask me) but that isn't the same. Especially for Leo. In a way, he dies too at that moment. The fury he then unleashes at Gidion He won't ever be the same after that, and a large part of the next season will be devoted to showing how his terrible act of evil, meant as a personal retribution as much as to restore balance, will change him.
