Charmed Series Premiere Review: Pilot (Season 1 Episode 1)
On Charmed Season 1 Episode 1, “Pilot,” Jennie Snyder Urman brings us another promising show on The CW.
Based on the cult-classic series that originally ran from 1998-2006 on The WB, this reboot does a good job of situating itself in the current world, one where you feel the reverberations of #MeToo and the rejection of gender norms.
The story is as follows: After the mysterious death of their mother, Mel and Maggie Vera meet their long-lost sister, Macy, thus triggering their powers as witches. They’re the ‘Charmed Ones,’ and are destined to save the world.
On this episode, they come to terms with the new revelation and are met with a choice — complete their activation as witches, or continue to live as humans.
Full disclosure: I’m a reviewer who has never watched an episode of the original series, so my approach to the show is based on this series alone. (In case you wonder why I’m not making any comparisons to the other show).
Who knows, maybe me coming into this without knowing the show’s predecessor will make for a more interesting post-viewing and reading experience?
However, there are some obvious differences worth mentioning, like the fact that the sisters are Latina and Afro-Latina, and that one of them is gay. The three actresses – made up of Melonie Diaz, Madeleine Mantock, and Sarah Jeffrey — all have a nice shared chemistry.
Apart from their traits, the sisters all have their own special abilities as well.
Mel, the strong-willed, gutsy sister has the power to freeze time, while Maggie, the sweet and sensitive youngest sister can read minds. Macy, the oldest, arrives with an energy that gives the trio a nice balance. She’s a scientist and the pragmatic one by default. She also has telekinesis.
It’s to the show’s advantage that the sisters are older and out of high school, a departure from your usual CW teen scene. This will hopefully allow for more mature storylines.
Rounding up the cast is Harry, played by Rupert Evans. He’s the witch that reveals to the girls who they truly are, and asserts himself as their advisor. We later learn, through a message from their dead mother, that Harry isn’t to be trusted.
By the end, the sisters agree that they want to explore their witchcraft and investigate how their mother died. Let the adventures begin!
Overall, it’s not a perfect pilot, but its a solid start to a show that initially received some backlash before it even aired its first episode. How it will set itself apart from other narratives about witches remains to be seen.
But, given that Urman is behind the show and she has given us one of the best shows on television right now – Jane the Virgin – Charmed has a lot of potential in becoming something special and not the ordinary CW show.
What did you think of this episode of Charmed? Share your thoughts in the comments below!
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Charmed airs Sundays at 9/8c on The CW.
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Shabnaj Chowdhury
Shabnaj is a pop-culture enthusiast who spends much of her time enabling her coffee addiction and thinking about Jon Snow's hair. Some of her favorite shows include Friday Night Lights, The Leftovers, and Game of Thrones. Shabnaj also loves to write creative non-fiction.