TV Show Reveiw – Charmed (2018): 1×01 “Pilot”

In the first episode of the reboot of Charmed, sisters Maggie and Mel are faced with dealing with the loss of their mother when their lives are turned upside down with the introduction of a long lost sister named Macy and the revelation that these three sisters are witches.

[SPOILERS BELOW. YOU’VE BEEN WARNED.]

THOUGHTS WHILE WATCHING THE EPISODE

• Why the hell would you open the window and then leave it open?
• Not sure how I feel about the Latin, but I get why they’d use it instead of rhymes.
• Cool, I like the way the glass formed the title.
• So, was that electrical shock and the lights going out supposed to be like when the chandelier lights up in the original?
• Damn, her girlfriend dumped her after her mom died? That’s just rude.
• Wait, what? How does Mel’s power work? Does she just stop time at random or when she’s stressed? I’m so confused.
• So did Macy mean to toss the globe at that guy or was that just her accidentally using her magic without her meaning to?
• Why the hell did he kidnap them? Is this how Whitelighters introduce themselves to their charges nowadays?
• Yes, they’re still called Whitelighters!!
• Whoa, we’re already talking about the Source in episode 1?
• Hey Melinda Warren! How are they related to her? I wonder, which branch of the Warren line are they connected to?
• Is that supposed to be orbing? Don’t like it and it wasn’t orbing, that was apparating from Harry Potter.
• I don’t like how Harry feels more like Giles from Buffy the Vampire Slayer than his own character.
• Well the healing looks the same so that’s good.
• Wish they hadn’t given away in the trailer that the boyfriend is the demon.
• So did the creative team take lessons from demon possession from Supernatural.
• Yeah, I like Macy using science to help her figure out her magic.
• Why does the first demon of the series look like a White Walker from Game of Thrones?
• Why does Harry seem so uncaring about the welfare of Innocents? What kind of Whitelighter is he?
• Macy wants to be a witch so that she can study her witchcraft and earn a Nobel Prize. Love it! xD
• Yeah, I just don’t like the Latin, it feels too much like Supernatural. Wish the spells still rhymed.
• Also, how the hell are they supposed to all say the spells? Am I just supposed to believe that all the sister know Latin and can easily say the same thing as Macy after hearing her say it a couple times?
• Harry can’t be trusted? What the hell?

FINAL THOUGHTS

So, I went into this show with an open mind even though I knew that would be hard since I adore the original Charmed, it was one of my favorite shows growing up, but I was willing to give this new version a chance. Overall, there were things I liked and things I didn’t, which I feel is to be expected.
Firstly let me talk about the things I liked. The first and in my opinion, the most important, is the representation in this show. The fact that the Charmed Ones are three women of color and one is a lesbian is great to see. It gives little girls who look like them someone to identify with and look up to, like the original show did for me and so many other little girls who are now young women.
Next I really love how the show brings to the forefront some serious topics that women deal with nowadays and need to be addressed. Just in the first episode it talked about rape culture in college, consent, harassment, and other important topics. You can already see the feminist influence in the show and I think it’s important for shows to represent these kind of topics.
The next and final thing I loved were the the sisters. I think Macy’s character will be interesting to follow throughout this first season because she’s the daughter that was left behind and is a scientist. I think the mystery of why Marisol abandoned her and Macy’s curiosity over studying magic with science will be something fun and different. Mel, to me, is going to be the most Prue like of these three which I’m interested to see how that will progress in the season.
Mel seems strong willed, protective, and very outspoken. Also her being a lesbian is going to bring I think new and fresh stories to this show. Maggie is probably the cutest and most down to earth of the three. She’s just a freshman in college that wants to experience college and join a sorority. It’ll be fun to see how her new power of mind reading will affect her college experience and her relationship with her sisters. Now unfortunately, it’s time for me to address the things that I didn’t like.
So first off, the writing needs to improve, specifically if they’re going to continue to fuse these feminist storylines throughout the show. While I loved the topics they brought up, it felt like they were beating me over the head with these plots. I felt like I was watching an overbearing feminist show that also happens to have sisters who are witches. Before anyone comes after me, I am a feminist myself, but there’s a difference between shoving feminist stories in your audiences face and weaving it seamlessly through your plot. The pilot didn’t do that and I think that might ostracize a lot of their viewers. I’m not saying drop these plots, but write them in a way that makes people care and starts conversations. Don’t make them an annoying part of the story, make your viewers care about them.
The next thing I didn’t like was Mel unfortunately. While I’m still interested to see where her character goes and her hopeful development, she felt like such a stereotype in this pilot. Sure a lot of her anger is attributed to just losing her mother, but to me it’s not a good look to portray your, so far, only lesbian character as an angry, man-hating feminist. People already have that negative opinion on women who happen to be lesbians and/or feminists, so why perpetuate the stereotype? You can make Mel be a strong lesbian feminist without making her so damn unlikable. I will say by the end she got better, but you shouldn’t make me dislike one of your main characters so strongly that quickly into your premiere.
The next thing was the pacing. Everything happened way to fast. The mom was killed almost instantly, then Macy shows up and is almost instantly accepted by Maggie and Mel, then Harry shows up and tells them everything they need to know, and then they face and kill their first demon. The girls just seemed too accepting of Macy and that bothered me because they don’t this woman and sure maybe she is their sister, but how are you going to let this stranger move into your house so soon after meeting her? In the original show it took both Piper and Phoebe a couple of episodes to get used to the fact that Paige was their sister and it even took a couple episodes before Paige moved into the manor. It just seemed a little too fast for me.
The sisters powers also were a bit annoying because for me I didn’t like how quickly they seemed to understand how to use their powers or control them. I also didn’t like how their was no visual cue for Macy and Mel when they used their powers. I’m not saying they have to do the same thing as the original show, but something to indicate “hey I’m using my powers” would have been appreciated. I mean with Macy it’s a toss up on whether she needs that visual cue, but Mel definitely does. I was so confused on how she was using her powers every time she froze time. I’m hoping they fix that in future episodes.

Those were my thoughts over the premiere of the Charmed reboot. I did not hate this premiere and think it has a lot of potential and I think if the show can tweak the things that I felt were problems then it has a real chance of surviving and getting a second season.

So, I will be reviewing each episode every week along with my rewatch of the original show. Now since I can’t watch the show live, you’ll have to wait until later in the week for these reviews. Hopefully you all enjoyed my opinion on the pilot and I hope you check out my review of the next episode of the reboot and of the original when it’s posted.