'Charmed' Season 2 Episode 9: Could Julian Shea be the Darklighter's master who is intent on collecting the sisters?
The winter premiere of 'Charmed' on The CW saw the introduction of 'Haven' and '24' star Eric Balfour as Julian Shea, a SafeSpace investor. Balfour was announced to play a recurring character in the show back in November 2019, and his character was said to form a special bond with one of the sisters.
This week's episode gave us an idea as to who that sister is -- Macy Vaughn (Madeleine Mantock) -- much to the displeasure of a certain Whitelighter. While Maggie Vera (Sarah Jeffrey), Mel Vera (Melonie Diaz), and Harry Greenwood (Rupert Evans) go to what they suspect might be the Darklighter, Macy chooses to stay behind.
Maggie then asks her sister to take over her duties as the assistant manager and on that day, Macy is to lead a tour for visitors though SafeSpace Seattle. During the tour, Balfour's character, Julian, keeps asking Macy questions -- and Macy, not knowing that Julian is an investor, snaps at him. Later, during Julian's speech to everyone at SafeSpace, he announces that he's planning to dig up beneath the community workspace to start subterranean farming. Macy, worried about the Elders' command center, asks Julian out to dinner so she can influence him through magic to abandon the subterranean farming idea.
But, Macy's suggestion of salamanders' migration through the aquifer nearby seems to be enough to change Julian's mind and from there on, the two just have what seems to be a normal date, that continues back at SafeSpace. Macy's association with Julian seems to flare up Harry's jealousy, although after what he pulled in the fall finale (kissing Abigael, which Macy saw), we are not sure he has the right to be concerned about who Macy may or may not be dating.
One thing that is interesting over the choice of name for the character -- something OG 'Charmed' fans may recall -- is that Phoebe Halliwell and Cole Turner's (the OG Maggie Vera and Parker Caine) son was called Julian.
Does that hint on the potentially unbecoming nature of Julian's character? Perhaps Julian could be the Darklighter's Master -- the one who set him free -- and knowing Dark Harry's interest in Macy, Julian is potentially sizing her up. He may just be an innocent SafeSpace investor, but again, knowing Balfour's acting credits, that seems quite unlikely. Julian could be much more nefarious and we hope Macy is not swept away by his charms.
'Charmed' airs on The CW on Friday nights.