The Good Witch movies were marvelously magical, mysterious fun. The whole town of Middleton was infused in that magic and the characters were warm and interesting. And their interactions with each other were meaningful. Life was cozy and safe in these movies despite the dangers and problems that cropped up. The magic and the love seemed to fix everything at the conclusion of each one. The TV series is unsettling because so much, too much has changed and the magic spell has been broken. Jake's death is just too depressing for the series to recover from. The addition of Bailee Madison as Cassie's now-teen-aged daughter is just jarring. She and Cassie just lack chemistry. One of the things that made the first few movies so charming was that Brandon and his sister were little kids and Cassie has such a sweet rapport with children. Perhaps this all would have worked out better had they made Grace younger and more vulnerable in this series. As it is Grace's teen-aged life is just too clichéd and uninteresting. The young man that plays the doctor's son is dour and seems to lack personality. And so many of the young men in the show seem to look alike and I had trouble telling them apart. I was confused about the real estate agent being Cassie's best friend as prior to this we had not seen him in any of the movies. The doctor himself seems to be a boring and grim character, devoid of the sweet boy-next-door charisma that Jake had. And it was always so much fun to watch his comedic interactions with his deputy and the mayor. A lot of the humor left the series with Jake. And a lot of the heart. Why was Brandon's character replaced with a different actor? Where is George's wonderful wife Gwen? With all the town now so steadfastly behind Cassie what will the story lines revolve around? I found that the story in this episode was weak and lackluster. Cassie had very little opportunity to show off her magic. I am more than a little sad that they have potentially ruined a really wonderful thing that appealed to so many people. Moving 10 years ahead and removing Jake put everything off-kilter and out of focus. I continue to hope that the vague way in which they described Jake's demise means that he is not really dead after all, hence the candle that re lit itself at the memorial service. I will continue to watch but with a heavy heart.

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