‘Charmed’s Madeleine Mantock on Macy’s Feelings for Harry & Desperate Move
Q&A
[Warning: The below contains MAJOR spoilers for Season 2, Episode 12 of Charmed, “Needs to Know.”]
Macy (Madeleine Mantock) is willing to do whatever it takes to restore the Power of Three, but has she made a terrible mistake by the end of Friday’s episode of Charmed?
In “Needs to Know,” Macy suspects that her darker side is preventing her witch powers from returning and goes to Abigael (Poppy Drayton) to strip her of her demon powers. In the process, Macy learns Parker’s alive, but she keeps that fact from Maggie (Sarah Jeffery). And Abigael does do what Macy wants, but she steals that fire power for herself and the Power of Three still isn’t restored after Macy’s given up that part of herself.
As Macy’s losing hope, Harry (Rupert Evans) assures her that it’s not too late and they’ll figure it out … and the two share a kiss! But it’s only in Macy’s head.
Here, Mantock breaks down the big episode for her character and teases what’s next.
Poor Macy.
Madeleine Mantock: I know, right? I was so devastated. I remember I saw Liz Kruger in the production office one day. She came up to me all excited, “We’re going to strip your demon power,” and my jaw hit the floor. I was like, “What? Why are you doing that?” That’s a part of [Macy’s] reality that we spent the whole first season trying to teach her and the audience that it’s okay. We can accept it. We can use it for good. It’s how you use it in tandem with your moral compass.
(Colin Bentley/The CW)
For me as an actor, it was an interesting thing to get to play. I loved being able to try to infiltrate the demon world and it was useful in some of our trying to do good. Ultimately, Macy has to make that sacrifice and is willing to do so. She says to Abigael, “This is something you wouldn’t understand.” She’s making the sacrifice for the greater good. Wanting more to be a part of that sisterhood and reconnect with her sisters, she feels like that’s a part of herself she has to let go.
And it seems like she acts on that decision rather quickly, going to Abby, who’s probably the last person she’d want to put her life in her hands like that.
Exactly. And she proves why at the end of the episode when you see that she’s stolen her power. I was like, “Of all the people to choose to disempower you and then they take it for themselves.” … It’s difficult, but at the end of the day, it’s about the sisterhood and so you have to do what you have to do to be able to come together.
Macy’s getting more and more desperate to get the Power of Three back, especially since she feels like it’s her fault. Can you talk about the pressure she’s putting on herself?
You see that moment where they’re hoping [they’ll have it back], and when it doesn’t happen and it keeps not happening … You see there is a connection between Maggie and Mel, and when it gets to her, it fizzles, and so she realizes the problem must be her, which is something she’s felt a lot throughout her life and coming into this family and realizing she has these sisters. A lot of the time she’s felt like the outsider or the one who’s different or not as in tune with the sisterhood.
That’s why she opts to take that quite drastic step to strip her demon side because she’s trying to assimilate and trying to do whatever she feels she has to to make it work. It’s a very heavy burden to be told you’re a Charmed one and you’re the most powerful witches and you must save the world. To feel like you’re the person getting in the way of that is a big motivator.
(Colin Bentley/The CW)
Harry tries to assure her that they’ll figure it out together, but how worried should we be about what she might do next after her very drastic actions here didn’t work? What can she do next?
Obviously we keep trying [to get the Power of Three back]. It’s a difficult moment for her to be feeling so vulnerable and such a failure and a complete loss, that she gave up that part of herself seemingly for nothing because it didn’t work. It’s sad to be comforted by someone who used to be able to comfort you and now it’s different because of all of the feelings and all of the things that have happened. It is a confusing moment.
And when you see what happens in Macy’s daydream … I took [the kiss] as an exploration, almost like if it was in slow motion and she stands up and thinks, “Okay, so what if I did kiss him? What would that be like?” I was trying to explore that feeling because I was going, “Is she desperate? Is it because emotions are so high?”
Speaking of that kiss, does that further complicate Macy’s feelings for Harry?
Definitely. It’s almost like having an intrusive thought about somebody. You go, “Oh, what does that mean? Does that mean I want to do that? Does that mean these feelings are real? Should I be acting upon them in real life?” Macy’s a person who’s so ignored and talked herself out of her own feelings for whatever reason — her upbringing or the way she’s interacted with other people throughout her life up to now — she doesn’t know how to behave with other people, which sounds like a basic way to put it, but I think that’s what we’re exploring. Now she’s embarking on this relationship with Julian and she’s experiencing more feelings and learning how to communicate a little bit better.
Julian seems like a great guy, but he’s not Harry. Is there more to him than we’ve seen so far? Should we be worried about Macy being so close to him?
[Laughs] Yes. The thing with Julian, and with a lot of our characters, the fun thing is that there’s a level of ambiguity or duality. With Macy, the demon side, she was never entirely good necessarily. Everybody has the potential to do bad things. The interesting thing is the why. And Julian’s why is actually really cool. When we meet him and he and Macy go to Aspen, he shared a bit of his childhood and the trauma he experienced and his origin story is very much tied to that event.
(Michael Courtney/The CW)
Then Macy decides to not tell Maggie Parker’s alive. While Maggie talking about moving on and texting Jordan played a role, Macy didn’t want to tell her before that. How is this going to affect the sisters’ relationship?
It’s one of those things. Funnily enough, when it got to that scene, I was saying to the director, Jeff, “I think I’ve already decided I’m not going to share it with her because when she sees Parker in that cell and sees that he’s alive, it’s like, ‘Oh, no, he’s still here. Nothing good has ever come of you.'” You see the sadness and frustration he brings to Maggie’s life, and as her big sister, I don’t know if I ever would have considered giving her that letter. I know I have to pretend to in order to get him to give us the knife, but it’s that thing [where] you think you know better or you think you know what the other person needs, which is funny coming from a character like Macy because she often doesn’t really know what’s best for herself. To be making those decisions for her sister is irresponsible and not very considerate.
We do address that. We’ve actually got a really amazing episode coming up where we’re put in a situation where all of the stuff that we’ve kept secret, even to ourselves, has to come to light and under quite strict time constraints and it’s a really interesting couple of scenes where we have to spill it to each other, no holds barred.
Charmed, Fridays, 8/7c, The CW
