WARNING: The following contains major spoilers for Charmed Season 3, Episode 12, "Spectral Healing," which aired Friday on The CW.
Charmed's latest episode featured another unlucky attempt by The Charmed Ones to cure their magic allergy. "Spectral Healing" opens with Macy using her scientific background to reverse-engineer a cure. Unfortunately, Macy's experiments fail, leading her to frustratingly magic-throw books across the attic. However, that act does reveal a hidden keepsake box owned by their mother, Marisol, containing hand-written letters from her to her children.
One of these letters gives Macy the idea to summon the ghost of their mother for help, but she only solicits the help of Maggie. That means their half-sister Mel is nowhere to be found during the seance spell, which follows the show's ongoing trend to avoid any time on-screen with Mel and Macy.
Season 3, Episode 12 misses the chance for The Charmed Ones to act as the powerful trinity they are and give each sister their moment to reconnect with their dead mother. Instead, Maggie and Macy conduct the seance -- without thinking about how Mel might also want a chance to speak to her mother again -- while she's on a side quest with Whitelighter Harry.
Initially, Macy gains the idea to summon her mother based on the letter Marisol wrote titled "For When It's Too Painful to Be Near Each Other." Both Macy and Maggie take the title literally, thinking that Marisol had a premonition of The Charmed One's future magic allergy. However, it's later revealed that Marisol had no premonition of the sort and was actually speaking figuratively, given the knowledge that all siblings tend to fight. By the end of the episode, the contents of the letter have yet to be revealed to the audience, and the words on-screen are too faded to be able to tell if The Charmed Ones were able to read it at all.
"Spectral Healing" isn't the first time that Charmed chose to pair up Maggie and Macy in action while leaving Mel out of the fold as she helps someone else. In Season 3, Episode 8, Mel is largely spending time with Harry to find a cure for their magic allergy and confronting Abby. In Season 3, Episode 7, the closest fans get to Mel and Macy having a conversation is when they're disagreeing over how the other should leave their life. In fact, their time in the Tomb of Chaos only unveiled that there is a rift there between the pair that hasn't been addressed.
Maybe this is what Marisol's letter is hinting at -- that the show is currently not tackling head-on -- that ever since Mel has learned that she is the half-sister, her place in the family hasn't felt the same. While Maggie still confides in her, she also now has Macy, which leaves Mel seemingly trying to help everyone else to fill that void -- Abby, Harry and most recently, Joséfina. Mel's role as the surprise middle child wasn't expected. She's bonded more with Joséfina than her half-sister Macy, and maybe it's because she too isn't sure of her place in the home anymore and is trying to give Macy and Maggie space to develop their bond. But now, it's beyond time for Mel to bond with Macy, too.
Charmed stars Sarah Jeffery, Madeleine Mantock, Melonie Diaz, Rupert Evans, Jordan Donica, Poppy Drayton, Mareya Salazar and JJ Hawkins. New episodes air Fridays at 8 p.m. ET/PT on The CW.