Did Season Four ruin the Source's storyline?

[Esmeralda]

Saw this at another site and had to bring it over to see what you guys think.

The Original Poster (OP) wrote:

know they're a lot of fans who don't like certain things in Season 4-8.

Whether it be Paige replacing Prue, the Phoebe/Cole story being butchered, the show bringing in silly new magical beings like the Titans.

I personally have a problem with the sudden change of how they handled the Source.

In the first 2 seasons, the Source was this behind the scenes presence alluded to. Then in Season 3, they started to deal more directly with his higher level henchmen (Cole, The Triad, Shax).

Until the Source himself is finally revealed in the Season 3 Finale. Here, the Source comes across as this truly evil figure who is all powerful, but mysterious. They don't show his face, he's dressed in red robes, even the voice. Very menacing.

But all of that goes with Season 4. His voice sounds pathetic. He has the stereotypical black robe associated with an evil figure. Then they revealed his face, taking away the mystery and making him a generic madman, instead of the menacing calculated villain that everyone was so afraid of before.

Then he's vanquished in the middle of Season 4 instead of the end. The Cole/Source possession story line didn't just ruin Cole, it ruined the Source and 3 Seasons worth of build up to the showdown between the Charmed ones and the Source.

Replier #1 answered:

es it did ruin alot of plots. It destroyed a great villian, love story and any menance season 4 had. It was a great buildup that came to soon. Instead of taking on the Source two storylines could happen with new viewers getting to know Paige throughout and a new villian for a season saving the Source for five.

The source keeps his armour, raspy voice and when he's finally vanquished at the end get rid of the hollow, use the ancestor spell and have his powers transfer to the Oracle.

The vanquish should be a huge wave of flames that incinerated everything in site and requires the girls to orb, levitate and freeze it to stop its path towards them.

Replier #2 replied:

That would be epic. The Oracle could be the real Queen of the underworld without ruining Phoebe's character.

Later, Member #3 answered the OP a different way:

The reveal of both the source and the elders were both disappointing. I don't think the source is that bad, although I can agree that he was scarier and more menacing before they revealed him in S4 (and changed his apparance), but the Elders was the worse one. They became a way too important aspect of the show, and were so awful and annoying in every way. Liked it much better when The Source and The Elders were just mentioned and made theories about. It's just like The Others in Lost. So scary until we found out who they were, then it was just stupid and annoying

What do you guys think? Having never seen Lost I can't comment on that, but I agree that showing the faces of the Elders or the Source was definitely an extremely bad move that took away more than it added to the show.

[mavbay]

I didn't mind the not so scary appearence of the Source, because TBH Chamred never really produced any scary evil creatures. It wasn't their thing. However, despite me liking season 4, I agree with many things said about the actual storyline. Figthing/defeating the original Source was the Charmed Ones destiny (atleast that's my opnion), he was way too important to be defeated in the middle of the season. The first half should've been about getting to know Paige and about the new Po3 bonding and defeating Shax before fighting the source in the second half. Too bad Kern was so keen about finishing the Phoebe and Cole stroyline as well in case there would be no more seasons.

The Elders one the other hand, well I wish they never existed. Same goes for Whitelighters. They really felt like an annoying rip-off of the whole Council and Watcher thing on Buffy. I also agree that they were way too involved in the story, especially in the later seasons.

[Elle Em]

The Source storyline had so much potential and was far, far too rushed. They could have stretched out seasons 3 and 4 into two seasons each and not had it feel like things were taking up too much time. And because he is called the Source, shouldn't his vanquish end the show? What exactly does it mean that he is called the Source? With his death, do new demons not come into existence? Do they all exist because of him? And if there's a source of all evil, is there a source of all good, the death of which would mean that good ceases to exist? The name thing just doesn't make sense to me.

And yes, I agree totally about the reveal of characters like the Source and the Elders took a lot of mystery out of the show. I loved in the early days of Charmed when it was literally just three people who knew the secret, and it felt like them against the world. In the later seasons, we have the sisters, Leo and who knows how many other whitelighters, the Elders who are no longer mysterious, a whole world full of hundreds of types of magical creatures, a school full of magical teachers, an elf nanny, and a handful of kids. I would expect the cast of characters and the depth of the show to grow as time went on, but it got to be so crowded. It lost any intimacy the early seasons once had.

[unakite]

Until the Source himself is finally revealed in the Season 3 Finale. Here, the Source comes across as this truly evil figure who is all powerful, but mysterious. They don't show his face, he's dressed in red robes, even the voice. Very menacing.

I would prefer if the Source kept his mistery
It is trivial to identify evil with ugliness, the red cap could hide a man of angelic beauty, why not?

[Charmed by Piper]

Aug 30, 2016 4:06:02 GMT -5 unakite said:

Until the Source himself is finally revealed in the Season 3 Finale. Here, the Source comes across as this truly evil figure who is all powerful, but mysterious. They don't show his face, he's dressed in red robes, even the voice. Very menacing.

I would prefer if the Source kept his mistery
It is trivial to identify evil with ugliness, the red cap could hide a man of angelic beauty, why not?

Oh man! Now I keep thinking of the TV Series Lucifer. I actually agree - why should the so called Devil in the Charmed world be ugly. But for me - Keep him hooded and never show the face. No? Can't the Source just not reveal his demonic appearance but shapeshift with a human form to blend into our real world in San Francisco. Oh wait! He did do this during Charmed Again. Man did the writers change those rules each week.

I have to ask why was he called the Source of all Evil? If I am not mistaken you can't kill something that represents ALL EVIL. Doesn't this mean a shift in balance back to the side of good with the Source of ALL GOOD. Now I have seen other shows handle this mythology much better in that regard. Oh man! Why did Charmed have to ruin a good thing when they had it. Why didn't they build up this 4 season storyline better. *sigh*

[Granny Charmed]

Oh dear! The writers really needed to just keep things consistently when it came to the Source. I know my Granddaughter picked up on how often the appearance of him changed. One episode his hands were red and the next they turn flesh color and human like. They truly did not have a clear idea of what they wanted him to look like. 

If it were me dears - I would *keep* him a mystery and continue to have him appear as a human whenever he faces the Charmed Ones. Because I can actually buy him always appearing as someone else whenever he shows up in San Francisco. That way our girls will always be left wondering if the Source is around. Oh and his voice in Charmed and Dangerous was just laughable dears. What happened to the fantastic voice we got in the early episodes - *sigh*.

Now if I was a fan who just tuned into Charmed and Dangerous half way through the episode and only caught the odd episodes - I would think he was a demon of the week. If I was told he was suppose to be the devil of Charmed. I would laugh my head off dears.

Now the elders dears - they were even worse. *sigh*

[lordumbrex]

I liked him. I'd only change the way Season 4 went as I've previously specified, but outside of that, I have no complaints with him. If you think of the Source as an essence that assimilates a demon that takes the title of the Source, then he or she is a fine villain.

The series was broken since season 2 when it came to magic, and at that point, it was what it was when it came to the Source.

[erikamarie]

I'ld like better a mysterious Source, hidden to our eye
I believe that Source of All Evil was a only title, as king or president, only more evocative
Title won from the next to last Source with a big battle and the stakes was acquiring particular and strong powers
Also the Elders, at the time of promotion, acquire special powers that are handed down from Elder to Elder - not inheritable, so I guess that "Source" meant the strongest powers of evil, not the person who originates them
That person'ld be very strong but not so smart

[Darkhorse Christian]

Whether we're talking about the Source as a mysterious "Satan of Charmed" entity as originally thought, or within the context of what the show confirmed as being a demon king (or queen) with an assimilating essence of power as his (or her) crown and the current ruler being in place for over 1000 years, we're still talking about an ancient foreboding being of ultimate evil with calculated extended rule over a dog-eat-dog demonic hierarchy. Keeping the Source's "All Hell Breaks Loose" red-cloaked hidden-faced appearance and frightening red lair set which differentiated him from everyone else would've been the best move for sure, along with extending the storyline of season 4 into both 4 and 5 as well as getting rid of 90% of what they did in 5 (especially the Cole stuff; his story as part of the Charmed Ones' lives was complete after Source!Cole and if he had to come back somehow it would need to be an occasional thing to set up a different direction in life…death…undeath…whatever his state of existence was).

[imdb lives on]

I prefered the source as staying cloaked. I didn't care how they changed him. Season four really should've focused only on one source

[Aaeiyn]

I, personally, don't think it did. S8 did, though LOL