I finally got around to it, had to rewatch the pilot to remember what happened.
Charmed Review 1x01 Pilot'This is not a witchhunt,' opening line foreshadowing what is to come or trying to convince the dedicated, emotionally invested fans that span over a decade to give the reboot a try. Maybe it's a little bit of both.
The night begins with an intimate scene between the mom and her two daughters, Mel and Maggie, laying on the OG Charmed theme pretty thick, which the show was based on, sisters that happen to be witches. Instead of the show creator telling us in a behind-the-scenes interview, the show starts with telling us. There is no stronger bond than sisterhood.
I guess it depends on who you are and your own experience. some people saying that the 'me too' movement and someone called it 'feminist propaganda' was too much in this show. For me, I say if you think that I suggest you do some soul searching. Why it is you believe that? I for one didn't see the show as being too politically challenged but setting the tone for the new environment we are living in. I laughed when Mel mentioned within the first 5 minutes of the pilot telling the girl on the couch that she can say no at any time because it had more with embarrassing her sister Maggie and getting her to leave than being a feminist. Or maybe a little bit of both.
It was unclear to me if the mom sent the text to the girls telling them to come home because I have a hard time believing that you want your children to come running into a place where they will potentially be killed. The girls don't even know they are witches. And on that point, phones do have a purpose. Why didn't they just call? This is where reality is sometimes sacrificed for the plotline. And the mom dies before all the opening credits are finished. There is no need for spoiler alerts; all the trailers told us this would happen.
The long lost sister, Macy, stumbles upon the Charmed home like a meet-cute of chance made me think, how long has she been living here. Why now, why this street, perhaps there was fate guiding her home. Her friend walking with her tells her about the accident, and she investigates to find out the mom has died. That would suck. I'm a fan of the show Long Lost Family and I feel so sorry for those family members who have been searching all their lives to connect to find out the person has died. The show seems to gloss over this pretty fast, but then again it might bring the show so emotionally down it won't have time to bring it back up to a place to continue the story, all this has happened within the first 10 minutes.
Mel the high-strung feminist, that's all I can describe it as is clearly not handling anything well. And lashing out at everyone and we see it especially with men, but we haven't really seen her interacting anyone else besides her mom and sister at this point. The new '
cis' male who has taken over her mother's women's studies chair position. I would be pissed about this too because if anything this person should at least be someone who identifies with being a woman. I see it all the time when non-indigenous people are teaching Indigenous classes. There is a level of authenticity when the person teaching the subject matter can identify with the material being taught. I wouldn't have treated him the way she did, but at this point, this has more to do with her not processing the loss of her mother, people who suffer trauma in their lives can have a hard time seeing past their own trauma to see what they are doing or even listening. Again the show tries to bring in a little humour as Harry, the new Women's Studies Chair tries to justify his qualifications by name dropping what I assume are people who are notable in Women's Studies. I hadn't heard of any of them. Went over my head.
Now Mel is hanging up 'Time's Up!' posters for the professor, who before her mother's death, was trying to get removed from the University for sexual harassment. Taking up the torch for her mom to carry on her work. She is upset because after a trial the professor is cleared and she's not happy about it. She is arguing with a man named Cam about the situation, and he says some stuff about her mom and she punches him. This is assault. Which is declared the next scene when she is talking to the police, one of whom is her girlfriend.
Mel acknowledges that she assaulted Cam when she is talking to the police when Cam is pressing charges. It's clear to me that she is 200% invested in the professor sexual assault case and it's more of a distraction for her than anything, she wants justice for her mom and the accuser who is in the mysterious coma. She is invested into proving her mother was right like it will somehow bring her back.
The conversation between the police officers and Mel, we finally hear what is on the report. They think her mother was drinking and fell out the window. STRANGE. How did the actress say that line without laughing? The police officers are pretty close to this family and want to help by trying to talk the man out of pressing charges, but because the words are coming from the man, Mel receives this judgement and contempt. Mel is shaping up to be one of those man-hating feminists we keep hearing about. I think this is her character flaw, I hope that she eventually grows past this stereotype and learns 'the real meaning of feminism'.
And there it is, little sister, dropping some truth bombs. Maggie tells Mel she is angry since their mom's death that even she can't stand to be around her. Ouch. Their sisterhood is being tested and then... knock knock knock. Who's at the door? Long lost sister, Macy, comes over to show them a picture of their mom holding her as a baby, so she must be their sister. Power goes out, Mel accuses her of wanting money, and Maggie sliding into middle sister role caught in the middle. Sisterhood is in trouble.
Was the power outage the sisters getting their powers? It's unclear. Or was it the spell the mom was casting at the beginning of the episode before she died? But now Macy is having drinks with her guy friend, defending her choice to walk her way over to the Charmed house to tell her sisters, who she has never met, in the middle of the night that she is their long lost sister. Her friend in the bar is trying to be the voice of reason when she, in homage to the OG series, telekinetically throws a bottle across the bar and into the wall. Strong-willed and stubborn, who cares that her sisters might be going through something themselves. I mean they lost their mother too. Sometimes it's not all about you Macy! I think I just found her character flaw, then again she was an only child and from the sounds of it both her parents have died. She only has herself to rely on, she has no real connections.
Maggie, the little sister, who is more like the middle sister is looking for sisterhood in a sorority. Out of all of them, she is taking her mother's death better. Kappa is WOKE. They kind of remind me of Stepfard wives. And her telepathic mind reading is awakened for sure. The scene reminded me of the movie What Women Want, except she's not into the judgmental frat life. Now it's Mel's turn, in a coffee shop with her apparent ex-girlfriend Niko, where she keeps freezing time. The 3 powers are revealed.
And then they are all abducted and told they are witches. A whole plot line is again told in a monologue. I know most people are comparing Harry to a Harry Potter universe, but I kept thinking of 1950s Bewitched. I half expected him to walk over and pat them on the head and say, "there, there." We're at the halfway mark of the episode. This could have been the end of the pilot and spent more time showing us the characters. Maybe have Macy moving into town. Mel before she becomes this man-hating feminist stereotype. Maggie before she became... Maggie. We don't know that much about her really other than she wants to join a sorority and is young enough to have a curfew the day their mother died. This push to get 'you are witches' speech out was a weird plot decision, but they needed it to happen in the plot or why would anyone watch the second episode?
Mom bound the girls' powers, yadda yadda yadda. Didn't die from drinking and hanging around the window in the attack. I know shocking right. I can only imagine the police report painting a picture of the mom sitting on the window sill, dangling her feet out the window like some cat longingly staring out at the sky when she clumsily falls our the window. It's hard to see, but I'm rolling my eyes while I type this.
Pro-choice enterprise? Does this mean that demons, whitelighters, etc. are also by choice? I always thought the girls were born as witches just like being born LGBTQ - its who you are it's not a choice, it's the decision to act on it that is the choice. Anyone can decide to be celibate or not be in a relationship but doesn't change who you are as a person. I found this pro-choice decision was contradicting because their choice is tied to a consensus from the sisters, which takes away the individual choice and therefore is not pro-choice. I think this annoyed me the most. It's like teaching people to be 'woke' when you barely understand what that means.
Macy science intellectual mind can't comprehend witches are a reality even though she has by now thrown three things with her mind. Denial is strong with this one. Mel is all for it, and that's not surprising, she has another distraction to focus on. Maggie is late for her party because sororities wait for no one. So of course, just like the set up at the beginning of the episode, she decides to walk through a park alone. I'm all for women empowerment. I think its horrible that women have to think of such things but why tempt fate?
It seems now that Mel is a witch she realizes what both Maggie and ex-girlfriend Niko had been saying is true, her anger has pushed them away. Niko sees the changes, and they seem to have gotten back together. I would have been pissed to if my girlfriend/boyfriend dumped me because I'm struggling with my parent dying. Sometimes life just weeds out the week people, 'who couldn't handle you at your worst and don't deserve you at your best.' But that's just me... that would have been my choice.
Again in reboot fashion. The girls have now assembled the team to fight this demon who attacked Maggie in the park. I guess Mel has accepted she's a witch but has her science to fall back on to determine who the demon dog was. And like all witches, all you need is essential ingredients... baking soda. And who knew Maggie was on the way to the sorority to attend the rush event... must be the president of the house... because it's not like the sorority would assume she'd be coming. (I'm being sarcastic just in case it doesn't read through). Or that Maggie would be walking through the park along because it's the only way she takes from her house... I mean any person who is following her would know that and that she wouldn't think... my life just got dangerous - witches, demons, and whitelighters are real... I'll walk through this park along.
Maggie is kidnapped by KAPPA, looks like she just wasted her time trying to get there on time, she could have just waited for the kidnapping. Mel throws baking soda on the president and says be gone demon, the presidents is dressed as an angel. Is Maggie now alone with her boyfriend? This the same boy who warned her about walking alone in the park. And it looks like he is the demon they were looking for... do demons advise people not do something knowing they will do the opposite... that's evil. Lol. Here is the consent line... again. When he tries to kiss her, she touches him and reads his mind. He is the demon they were looking for, she says no. He tells her she already said yes, next line..."I can change my mind at any time." Cheesy yes. Still a vital message yes. Let's just hope those in the back of line hear it. Oh, he's not a bad boy he's just possessed with the baking soda to the rescue. It's so simple.
Demon vanquished. Now sisterhood restored. Melodic music is playing in the background. Girls decide to be witches. Wait it's not over yet. It was cold when the mom died...the demon dog is not the demon they were looking for... The sexual assault professor is the demon, he looks like a combination of a white walker and Mr. Freeze. The sisters need to decide on the spot whether or not to be witches. They vanquish the demon not before he tells them he didn't kill their mother. Dun duh duh.
Cam is caught in the crossfire, but luckily for him, Harry heals him. When the demon is gone, Harry tries to wipe his memory but the girls want him to know that no one will believe him, it's his word against theirs. A call back to something he said to Mel when she was hanging up the Time's Up! posters when he was defending the professor. If watching many shows has taught me... this must be a set up for later on. This is petty move dressed up a feminist women empowerment. And I'm sure Cam will be obsessed and set the sisters up to expose themselves so he will be vindicated. It will most likely be their first mistake, making enemies when they were already born with enemies. It's hard to see their strut walking away as nothing more than hypocritical when this could have been a stride of pride or taking the high road. But at least they are sisters.
Back at the house, Macy is moving in - that was fast. And Mel breaks out the spirit board to try to communicate with their mom. The spirit board tells them not to trust Harry. And he mysteriously walks out of the shadows. Creepy. I'm surprised that from what we've seen of Mel it seems as though since learning they were witches, they all seem to have accepted Harry as their guide.
Overall, They've changed enough of the show that it is something different. Even though the show is a reboot, the creators would have to do this because the original show ideas and creations belong to the original show and if they don't have the rights and they can't use the same ideas. It can be simple things such as orbing, spells, the book of shadows, and the spirit board. Even when the OG show called the house the Manor that was a Spelling addition because that is what he also called his own home. Using original ideas from the OG show can also cost money, it would be cheaper to create their own ideas and make enough changes to make something similar but not the same.
The pilot wasn't bad, but it wasn't good either. If any of you remember watching the first pilot episode of the OG Charmed, you would know that the eventual first episode was way better. They replaced Lori Rohm with Alyssa Milano, and this OG show had the backing of Aaron Spelling. This Reboot has been opposed by many OG fans including Holly Marie Combs. This is what we have, and it's up to you whether or not to watch the show. I'm not here to convince you, I just know that I'm going to watch the first season.
