Charmed 4.18 'Bite Me'

Bringing vampires into the Charmed ‘verse was a strange idea given all the obvious comparisons being made at the time it originally aired. Charmed’s take on ‘vamps managed to change things up enough make it work though, and served the season’s story very well.

Synopsis: A vampire queen turns Paige in an attempt to take on Cole and return to the underworld after being banished by the last Source.

To this day, Charmed and Buffy are still being put in the same boat and are constantly being compared to the other. The fact is they are both completely different shows, but to the casual viewer, this differentiation isn’t as obvious. Bringing in vampires to the series was a very dangerous thing to do, but somehow it worked and made its take on vampires look a lot different to any bleach blonde ones we’re used to and a lot more Charmed-ish to fit right in with all the other demons flying around this week.

Even though she’s gone evil twice now (three times if you want to include the enchantress) this is the first time Paige has made a complete transformation. Firstly, Rose looked amazing as a vampire. With her dark hair and pale porcelain skin, she was begging to be made into a vampire. She also pulled off a brilliant performance. Seeing how great she is here makes me sad to think of how careless she becomes in a couple of seasons.

The sisters dealing with one leaving is given a decent chunk of time during this episode, with Piper and Paige attempting to fight demons without Phoebe in yelling distance. Piper has it the hardest this episode with everyone she grew up with suddenly gone from her life then to thinking she’s pregnant. It’s hard not to feel so much for her despite what’s happening with the other sisters during this hour.

Phoebe’s pregnancy is the biggest revelation this episode, even if we know it was coming two episodes ago. The moment when she found out was fantastically disturbing and acted as a great way to move the story on to its next phase.

8.5/10