Review of Charmed

Charmed (1998–2006)
6/10
could have been great
22 January 2019
Warning: Spoilers
Phoebe Halliwell (Alyssa Milano) returns to her San Francisco family home to join her sisters Piper Halliwell (Holly Marie Combs) and Prue Halliwell (Shannen Doherty). They rediscover the Book of Shadows and reclaim the witch family's Power of Three. Phoebe can see the future. Piper can freeze time. Prue has telekinesis. They are not allowed to use their powers for personal gains. Piper has a star-crossed relationship with white lighter Leo Wyatt (Brian Krause). The girls are helped by police detective Darryl Morris (Dorian Gregory). Phoebe falls in love with demonic ADA Cole Turner (Julian McMahon) in the third season. Prue is killed at the end of that season and Paige Matthews (Rose McGowan) joins them to re-establish the trio at the start of the fourth season. Paige was adopted and discovers that she's a long lost half-sister half-whitelighter. The eighth and last season has new witch Billie Jenkins (Kaley Cuoco) joining the trio after they fake their own deaths.

I really like the start with the three original sisters. With some better writing, it could have been the next Buffy but at last, the writing never rises to that level. The first bump in the road is P3. It's an obvious ploy to inject some cool music into the show but unlike The Bronze, the Halliwell are forced to deal with its mundane everyday affairs. Losing Doherty does more damage than it first appears. I don't know what kind of infighting led to that breakup but it really caused damage. The original trio has a very effective set of classic sibling characteristics. The oldest is the dictator. The middle child is the peacemaker. The youngest is the flighty one. They try to transition the original trio into the new trio but in the process, they had to rework Phoebe and Piper into different personalities. All in all, the writing is never that good. There are issues with character motivations. I get tired of the girls trying to have a normal life. It makes them all sound petty and silly boy-crazy girls which sadly makes this show less than what it could have been.
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