The Book of Shadows is open once again. 20 years after fans met Prue (Shannen Doherty), Piper (Holly Marie Combs) and Phoebe (Alyssa Milano), Charmed is back. Read on for highlights of the Sunday, October 14, series premiere of Charmed.
Mel (Melonie Diaz) and Maggie (Sarah Jeffrey) are shocked to learn they have an older sister — Macy (Madeleine Mantock) — and even more shocked to learn they are all witches.
Better Together
Hopeful sorority girl Maggie and social activist Mel returned home to find a broken window and their mother, Marisol (Valerie Cruz), dead after a night out. While viewers saw her doing a spell before the incident, the girls simply found their mom’s body on the sidewalk. Maggie was quick to accept that her mother’s death was an accident (she was “always trying to fix that window”), but Mel was convinced there was more to the story.
Following the incident, Macy, a geneticist who is new in town, walked past the house, and felt a connection to the home. After doing some research, she discovered a photo of herself and Marisol in front of the house when she was a baby. When the three women were reconnected, the house’s power went out and their own powers were activated.
The Power of Three
Not long after their brief reunion (Mel sent Marisol away and accused her of wanting money), Maggie learned she could hear other people’s thoughts, Macy has telekinetic powers and Mel can freeze time. Not long after, the ladies found out the truth about themselves — they were witches who are “destined to save the world” from impending doom. They also learned Harry (Rupert Evans), who they thought took over for their mother in the women’s studies department at their college, is actually their “Whitelighter” a.k.a a witch’s advisor. Finally, the sisters discovered their mother, who was also a witch, was murdered while she was trying to unbind her daughter’s powers.
Mel, Maggie and Macy now had a decision to make. Do they want to want to accept their destiny as the Charmed ones and protect humankind from demons, including the one who killed their mother, or not? After Maggie was attacked by a demon dog, however, they felt like they had no choice but to find the demon dog’s owner. At first, they thought the demon must be the president of Kappa, the sorority Maggie was desperate to rush, because she heard her say she wanted to “get rid” of her. The real demon, however, was actually Maggie’s ex-boyfriend Brian (Charlie Gillespie). Once they got the demon spirit out of his body, Maggie kissed Brian, who was hoping for a reconciliation between the pair.
Macy later discovered the demon who killed their mother must still be out there because the demon who was in Brian’s body had different powers than the evidence pointed to at the scene of the crime. Accepting their destiny as witches and sisters, Macy, Maggie and Mel used the power of three to defeat the real demon, who was posing as a professor.
The Big Changes
Fans may remember in the original Charmed pilot, Prue and Piper knew about their third sister, but she moved to New York after their mother’s death. She then returned to San Francisco and discovered the Book of Shadows in the Halliwell Manor’s attic in the pilot. While Prue, also the oldest, has the same power as Macy and Piper, the middle sister in the original series, can also freeze people and objects like Mel, Maggie’s power was different from Phoebe, who had premonitions of the past and future in the original Charmed. Another change? Mel is a lesbian, whose girlfriend dumped her right after their mother’s death (way harsh, but they got back together by the end of the episode). Naturally, the pop culture references are also up-to-date (did you catch that Time’s Up poster?)
Tell Us: Did you give the new Charmed a chance? If so, will you tune into the second episode?
Charmed airs on The CW Sundays at 9 p.m. ET.
