Charmed (TV Series) Secrets and Guys (1999) User Reviews

How Many Witches does it Take to Rob a Bank?

[seneuser · 7/10 · 14 October 2023]

This episode is full of foolishness, and the only reason it gets a 7 is because Leo's secrets are revealed.

Not unusual for Charmed, there is a subplot for all three sisters.

Piper has trouble at work including a new chef who is beyond obnoxious. The only point of this subplot is to keep Piper out of the rest of the story, and away from Leo, and for some minor comedy.

Phoebe while home catches Leo levitating while changing a lightbulb. She at first thinks he's a demon or warlock until he explains that he is actually a whitelighter, which is essentially a guardian angel for witches. He has been watching over the sisters and was not supposed to fall in love with Piper. Oops. Now he has to leave again and isn't sure how to tell Piper. I love Phoebe's translation of the explanation Leo plans on giving for leaving. In the end, it is much ado about nothing as Piper seems fine with Leo leaving. Oh, and Leo is the one who has been messaging Prue about the young male witch in trouble.

The third subplot is where all the idiocy comes in. It involves two thieves who somehow hatched the idea of robbing a bank with help from a young male witch with psychonesis, or the ability to move things he can not see. How that translates to being able to turn off alarms, I don't know. I get that the younger brother of the more reasonable thief told them about the male witch, but it is pretty hard to imagine that they'd believe that story.

Anyway, Prue joins the male witch in danger when she finds him and ends up a hostage as well. This subplot involves these issues and or questions.

1. The thieves test the kid on some random business with an alarm. The boy successfully turns off the alarm. The bad thief walks out of the building, is approached by a security guard, and shoots the guard dead even though he was in no trouble at all after exiting an unlocked building. Shooting the guard, on the otherhand, likely just made robbing a bank and escaping that much harder. Now the cops will be out looking for you even before you have robbed anything.

2. Prue disables the thieves and then starts a conversation with the boy rather than getting him out of there first and asking questions later.

3. Why doesn't Prue simply use her power to knock the detonator out of the scumbag's hand? Or simply knock the guy out?

4. Why does the scumbag thief who just gunned down a guy for no good reason leave Prue alive? As long as they had the boy, they had no use for Prue. Why bring her along? Crazy.

5. Why doesn't Prue stop the boy's father from getting gunned down? What kind of protecting the innocent is that?

6. Why doesn't the boy use his power to disable the bad guy's gun? Seems that would be easier than turning off alarms.

Anyway, all's well that ends well, I guess.

The Whitelighter – The Guardian of the Good Witches

[claudio_carvalho · 9/10 · 21 January 2007]

When the young witch Max is kidnapped by two thieves to use his power to heist a bank, he communicates with Prue through a Ouija Board, and she helps the boy. Meanwhile, Piper is having trouble with the new chef of Quake, and the handyman Leo returns to help the Halliwell sisters to fix the chandelier. When Phoebe sees him floating in the air, he discloses that he is a Whitelighter, the guardian of good witches assigned to protect the Halliweel sisters, and he was not allowed to fall in love for a witch as he did for Piper. He asks Phoebe to keep the secret, while he tries to find the best way to end his relationship with Piper.

"Secrets and Guys" is an underrated episode of "Charmed" with two good stories. The lead one, about the boy Max, is flawed, since Prue discloses her ability to the criminals, and they do not die in the end, therefore jeopardizing Max and Prue's secrets. The parallel one, also very entertaining, about the powers of Leo and his impossible love for Piper. My vote is nine.

Title (Brazil): "Segredos e Homens" ("Secrets and Men")

Secrets palazzo

[Realrockerhalloween · 8 September 2016]

Secrets and guys is very underrated for a multiple load of reasons. You get to see the girls talking growing up together. The maternal instinct front and center. Leo finally reveals two big secrets clearing up his intentions. Very touching without going over board and explains how Witches learn.

The special effects are wonderful, the budget seems to increase and used to perfection adding to the mystic as we learn new revelations along with the Halliwells.

Still I find the ending very unsatisfying. The criminals motives aren't very strong and keeping their mouths shut is a big concern. Still the style, camera actions and acting were very impressing and emotional. I recommend any new viewers to watch this ep if season one hasn't gripped you by now.

The One Where Leo Is A Whitelighter...

[taylorkingston · 9/10 · 11 June 2015]

I really enjoy this episode. It's not one of my favorites, but it is still very good and I have a good time watching it.

In this episode, Prue gets a message from a young boy who was kidnapped. She must find him and save him from the kidnappers, before they get him to use his power to break into a bank. Meanwhile, Phoebe discovers that Leo is actually a whitelighter, which is a guardian angel. Leo convinces Phoebe not to tell Prue or Piper, but will the secret actually stay between them.

Fun Fact: This is the first episode where no demons appear, although they are mentioned.

Best part of the episode: When Phoebe discovers Leo's true identity.

Worst part of the episode: When Max's Dad gets shot by the kidnappers.

Overall, I give this episode a 9 out of 10, which in my ratings book is: Amazing.

This episode was rushed through without any development.

[clinton-31 · 4/10 · 21 December 2014]

So many times in this episode Prue could've saved Max over and over and over and over again. What especially is so stupid in this episode in the beginning it shows Prue is using her powers to clean the attic so she can manipulate items to do whatever she wants those items to do, if it's a broom sweeping or if it's a cloth being used on the window to clean it. So when they were in the mechanic shop being held by those two guys she could've easily taken one of the spare tires and put it around those guys one by one by one constricting their hands from being used, she could've taken the guys and thrown them across the room and had items fall on top of their heads so they would be knocked out. She could've used her powers in so many different ways but she did not she just stood there looking like an idiot.

This episode made no sense in development. The writers and producers should've come up with the reason why Prue couldn't use her powers to her full extent maybe because she was in such an emotional state and being so emotional it constricted her from using her powers that would make so much more sense because she is also learning how to use her newly given powers but they didn't go that route they just made her look absolutely stupid just standing there and doing nothing.

The writers and producers should've put a lot more time into developing this episode it looks like they just rushed through this episode just because they needed an episode to fill their 22 - 24 episodes needed to fulfill an entire season. This was an upset even though it was a good story line and it was really cool that there are other witches out there and they are also learning how to use their powers, however they should've used Prue in a better way to fulfill her role in this episode.

An interesting premise with comical execution.

[darkstarlm · 5/10 · 17 May 2016]

I write this for anyone that watched this episode with stunned disbelief. The episode introduces 2 new elements to the show. Male witches and whitelighters. Leo being a whitelighter is the subplot of the episode, and is handled well.

The main plot of the episode follows the kidnapping of a boy with "psycho-kinesis", the ability to move things he can't see, mainly technological components. This is an epic ability, combined with Prue's power the 2 could be nearly unstoppable. However, the entire drama and progression of the story is driven by Max, and then Prue, not using their powers to escape. Not a little, but to a comical degree. Max's father nearly dies in front of the 2, when either could have easily saved him.

The idiocy of the witches is matched by the idiocy of the criminals. Max is kept in the office of an autoshop with only his hands tied AND THE DOORS OPEN (no explanation why he doesn't run, call the cops on the phone in the room, etc. fear... I guess). The main criminal threatens Max by attaching C-4 to his belt and threatening to push the button on the trigger remote. This would blow up the kid IN the autoshop, guaranteeing not only serious injury to himself, his fellow criminal, and the autoshop; but also his arrest and life in prison. This is supposed to stop Prue from using her powers, when she could: steal the remote, move the c-4 off of Max's belt, kill the criminals. Prue and the kid are left alone in the office with only their hands tied, again, and there is no escape attempt.

I know every episode is riddled with internal inconsistency and poor decisions, but this is on another level. Every character involved in the main plot could have easily resolved the story much sooner. The bar for logic is pretty low, but come on. Even an average kid would easily escape these incompetent criminals, let alone one with powers he can control. The kid's dad is an idiot that almost orphans his kid completely unnecessarily. It crosses the line from "that's ridiculous, but that's Charmed" to "these are the dumbest people I've ever seen, what is happening!?"

A kid with awesome powers, guardian angels, character conflicts, so much potential wasted because the writers were apparently half asleep and trying to get home asap, and needed to fill the time. The bar isn't high, but they went FAAAAR beneath it.

Leo's subplot is one of the better subplots of the season, especially in this episode. The main plot is an unmitigated trainwreck that defies logic and makes Prue, the strongest and smartest, look like a comical idiot that waits way too long to use her and the kid's powers.

Formulaic 90s series filler episode.

[m-47826 · 5/10 · 19 March 2021]

First half of the season was struggling a lot. Apart from the pilot episode, dead man dating, wedding from hell, fourth sister and the witch is back. It lacked structure and pace. Thankfully, every episodes after winter break don't. And even bad ones aren't so bad after all. In this episode, you have the usual « help kid in distress » plot. Only with a supernatural twist, that can look like a pretext to fit Prue's storyline. But it's done nicely. The most important thing about this episode though, and why it's worth mentioning, is the fact that we finally learn more about the Leo character. And his interactions with Phoebe are the best and funniest parts.

In case anybody was wondering, the song replacing « baby got going » during the scene at the attic, is « bend » by Shelby Lynne.