Charmed: An Introduction

Charmed always took things further than other shows, even too far at times. It was crazy, over the top, cringe-worthy and at times made a mockery of even itself. That’s part of why I love it so much. It was never afraid to be itself. I will defend it to the grave, and I don’t think TV would be the same without it, or at least my take on it. It was the backbone of what I based all other shows around for so long. So it’s about time I took an in depth look at it.

No matter what, I always loved Charmed. As strange as it sounds, it was always one of the best parts of my week, when I got to settle down with a new episode. That’s why, as you read, everything I say should be taken with a grain of salt. A lot of its flaws were not as apparent to me as they should have been. I grew up with it, and since it was the first hour long drama I followed properly, it was the show that started my TV craze so I will always be thankful for it. That being said, as I review the series again, I will try to be as objective as I can when it comes to its weak points, but remember I may not be as harsh as I should be.

The main thing that I, and so many others, love about the series is the bond between the three sisters. This bond is what the entire series is based on and always remained the heart of the show, even until the last 30 seconds of the series. Somehow it was always nice when we got a great sisterly bonding moment, it was these moments that kept the show going even when it was at its weakest. Even after Paige’s arrival, seeing it happen from the beginning naturally was a joy.

The show itself follows three sisters as they deal with the burden of not only being three of the most powerful witches the world has ever seen, but being young women. This, even when the show was at its worst, was always what the show came back to. Each sister was desperate, in their own way, not to let magic take over their lives. Inevitably, this was always going to be a major challenge for them. It got quite tiresome sometimes seeing them trying to fight who they are, but it must be said, it's something that makes the girls more human and relatable.

It was obvious the writers found it quite difficult to deal with its characters after a while, tending to favour some over others. A lot of the time they forgot that characters need to actually DO something to be part of a series (Darryl) and need to actually appear to grow as a show progresses.

The girls’ love lives were obviously given a lot of screen time. Fan favourites, Piper and Leo, as annoying a pairing they could be sometimes, were sweet and I always rooted for them. Phoebe and Cole were well depicted, and the story was believable. Sometimes they felt forced (Phoebe and Coop).

The actors were (usually) on point. That is to say, the main cast. The majority of the guest stars were quite unfortunate and lacked any real talent; sometimes making we wish I was dead... Every now and again though, there was a hidden gem.

Each season seemed to have a different tone and feel to the others. Season 1 was the intriguing introduction, Season 2 dealt more with real life drama and had a bit more fun, Season 3 went slightly darker and (surprisingly) more mature, dealing with many different metaphors (Phoebe & Cole-Good Girl, Bad Boy story) and Season 4 was even darker with Phoebe and Piper dealing with the loss of their big sister, and adjusting to the discovery of a new younger one. This was something that, despite being written for another reason, always felt very poignant, and writers dealt with it in the best way they possibly could, and I’ll always defend them for it. 

At times, during these darker seasons, it felt like it was trying to echo the success of other serialised shows of the same format (Buffy, Angel), but it worked and resulted in some of the best storytelling of the series, and it's something the show should have stuck with.

After the first 4 seasons, the show, obviously deciding to go for a lighter story, lost a lot of what made the show great. And while, yes I did enjoy it, the show kind of became less ‘Charmed’ and more ‘Charmed Light’. That’s not to say that the later seasons were without any redeemable traits though. They were quite fun at times, but the show never really could claim back its former glory. Some of the writing towards the end felt like more of an obligation to fill an episode order, instead of a desire to make entertaining television.

Despite all its flaws, and taking my bias into account, Charmed was, and still remains today, one of the greatest TV shows in its genre (even if that genre is ridiculous, over sexed fantasy). Along with other shows in its generation, it helped propel television into a more modern era, and got the message of female empowerment out there, which is always a good thing.