Charmed series premiere recap: It doesn’t quite hit the mark yet

The Charmed series premiere started off okay, but doesn’t quite hit the mark. Yet. Give it time, because the pilot wasn’t written for you.

I’ll be the first to admit I was apprehensive about the Charmed reboot. However, I made a conscious decision to give it a chance. The Charmed series premiere certainly introduced our main characters, but something didn’t quite hit the mark.

It’s worth remembering that this is just a pilot. These episodes are never written for the intended audience. They’re written for the network executives to get them to give the show a chance. So, I’m trying not to make full judgments about it yet and waiting to see what next week brings.

Now I’ve got that out of the way, it’s time to look back at the episode. Here’s your Charmed series premiere recap.

This is where we head into the spoiler territory. Enter at your own risk.

Focus on the #MeToo

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Whatever you think of the #MeToo campaign, it’s everywhere, including on TV. The Charmed premiere opened with a focus on that. Marisol Vera is on the phone to a professor who is currently protesting the sexual harassment suspension against him. Marisol makes it clear that it “isn’t a witch hunt,” but “a reckoning.”

Moving on from that, we get the speech to Mel and Maggie about how their sisterhood is the strongest ever. While it’s sweet, it does seem a little cheesy and it’s clear the women have heard all of this before.

This is all done to make us feel something for Marisol and the siters before we get that scene of a crow breaking through the window. Marisol is now alone and is able to send her daughters a quick text before racing to the attic in the hope of performing a spell. Marisol also tells the smokey figure appearing that she “has three,” clearly about having three daughters.

Mel and Maggie get home too late. Their mother has seemingly falling out of the attic window.

What I will say is that I LOVED the way the glass became the title card. Adore that use of graphics to connect to the episode and I’m intrigued if this will be the thing with every episode (I hope so).

https://twitter.com/cw_charmed/status/1051685848742318080

Three months later

We jump to three months later, where Mel is still angry about her mother’s death. Honestly, three months isn’t that long to grieve, so this felt completely natural and reasonable. It’s also clear she’s a feminist. Not only is she a grad student at the women’s studies department, but she’s also hanging Times Up posters everywhere.

She also doesn’t like the new women’s studies professor, a male who has taken over from her mother’s position. To make matters worse, the professor who was suspended has now been reinstated.

Meanwhile, Maggie isn’t grieving the same way (again, a realistic approach) and Mel doesn’t like that. Mel is sure Professor Thaine (the one from the phone call) had something to do with Marisol’s death, but Maggie refuses to believe that. She wants to get back to a normal life (Piper Halliwell, anyone?).

Meeting the third sister

Finally, we get to meet Macy Vaughn, who is a molecular geneticist at the lab in the university, working under Professor Thaine (yes, here he is again). She also meets her new co-worker Galvin, who when walking past the Vera house shares what happened there.

Macy, realizing that this is her long-lost mom she believed to be dead for much longer, decides to introduce herself to her sisters. As you can probably tell, it goes completely wrong because Mel and Maggie had no idea there was a third sister.

It doesn’t take long from this point for the sisters’ powers to manifest. Macy is telekinetic, Mel can freeze time, and Maggie (the only change from the original series) is a telepath. After they discover their powers separately, they’re kidnapped by the new women’s studies professor–you know it was going to be Rupert Evans’ Harry, right?

In case you’re wondering, yes, he is a “whitelighter,” but he does give off a Buffy the Vampire Slayers‘ Giles vibe instead of Leo, which is a positive change for me. After explaining that they’re Charmed ones, that they have a Book of Shadows, and that their mother was definitely murdered, the sisters are left with figuring out the rest for themselves. After all, Harry only knows that it was a cold demon due to the ice found at the scene.

So, whitelighters are useless just like in the original series, then?

One of the biggest connections to the original series is that the Book of Shadows has a page for Melinda Warren. And another big nod? The sisters have 48 hours to decide if they’re going to accept their destinies as Charmed Ones.

Remember when Piper, Phoebe, and Paige got that offer at the end of Charmed Season 4? Just like that time, it’s all or nothing. Although unlike that time, if just one is out, all will lose their powers. It pretty much relies on Maggie.

The first demon

When on the way to the final sorority rush part, Maggie is attacked by a demon dog. This is where the Supernatural vibes came in. Demon dogs mean that a demon is nearby, usually possessing a person. A very different take to the original and one that makes sense for The CW’s shows.

Harry and the sisters immediately believe the sorority president is the demon and Macy uses her science brain to figure out sodium bicarbonate is the way to neutralize demons. Honestly, baking soda? Supernatural uses salt and the purifying element of salt makes more sense, but okay, we’ll run with baking soda for Charmed.

When Maggie is kidnapped, it turns out she’s just been officially accepted into Kappa Tau Kappa. Mel and Macy head off to the sorority house with their baking soda. When there, they throw the baking soda on Lucy, who certainly isn’t the demon. Oops!

It turns out the demon is Maggie’s ex-boyfriend Brian (again, a throwback to Charmed). Macy is able to use the baking soda to vanquish the demon and leave a poor confused Brian now possession-free.

Their second demon

It isn’t over yet. Brian wasn’t cold, which means there’s another demon out there. Sure enough, Mel is at the rally against professor Thaine’s reinstatement at this point and she starts to feel cold. Professor Thaine is the demon (we knew that, right?) and Macy realizes that the demon feeds off strong women to take their strength.

Sorry, this is where it lost me a little. It was just too in-your-face at this point. Grant, unapologetically so, but still just a little too over-the-top for me.

To save Mel, Harry shares that the sisters need to use the Power of Three. The only way to do that is to make their choice. Mel is happy to do so and Macy agrees. It’s all up to Maggie–see, I said so! Knowing that this was the guy who killed her mom and is going to hurt her sister, she reluctantly agrees. The Power of Three sets them free (I had to get that in) and the demon is gone.

However, the cold demon makes a point of saying he didn’t kill Marisol. Other dark forces are on their way. Now it’s a Buffy feel.

An ending with a warning

The final scene sees the three sisters embrace their future. Macy moves into the Vera house (I didn’t like how quickly Paige moved in the Halliwell house and I’m not sure about this yet) and Mel finds Marisol’s Ouija board.

They make contact with someone, presumably Marisol, although there’s always that question at the back of my mind. Marisol tells her daughters not to trust Harry.

Harry appears behind them and that’s where the episode ends. Why did I have the feeling the whitelighter was going to be the questionable character? This is the Chris storyline from Charmed Season 6.

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Overall, there’s enough in the Charmed series premiere to make me want to see the second episode, but it didn’t quite hit the mark fully. However, it’s just a pilot for the network execs. There’s plenty more to come to help it connect a little more.

What did you think of the Charmed series premiere? Did you feel the connection between the sisters? What do you think Harry is? Share your thoughts in the comments below.

Charmed airs Sundays at 9/8c on The CW.