Charmed (TV Series) Witch Trial (1999) User Reviews

The First Anniversary of the Charmed Ones

[claudio_carvalho · 7/10 · 3 February 2007]

Phoebe suggests her sisters to celebrate their first anniversary as witches on the next day, but Prue misses Andy and blames herself for his death, and Piper is trying to raise a loan of US$ 60,000.00 to buy a club. Suddenly, an Abraxas demon steals the Book of Shadows and reads the spells backwards, undoing them and bringing Jeremy, Nicholas and the Woogy-Man back. The Halliwell sisters have to use the Power of Three to retrieve their book and vanquish Abraxas.

"Witch Trial" is an only reasonable episode of "Charmed". The gorgeous Alyssa Milano is tanned and Phoebe is smarter in this episode. Prue is resolving her guilty complex and Piper is chasing her dream of having her own business. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "Provação" ("Probation")

Great start to one of the best seasons.

[m-47826 · 8/10 · 21 March 2021]

It was the perfect season premiere, to one of the most iconic Charmed seasons. It has everything that was so good about season 1, and translated it into a single one episode, which happened to be the premiere. As well as glimpses at future storylines for the rest of the show's run, and a great acting performance, by one of the main actresses. Year 1999/2000 was the best WB had to offer. Granted the show's second year didn't have seasons 3 to 5 gripping storylines, but each episodes became cult classics over the years. Witch Trial, has that reset, fresh out of Summer break feel, and I love it.

Season 2 episode 1: Witch Trial

[jrobkal · 8/10 · 4 November 2015]

Phoebe's persistence and attitude were the only reason I gave this episode 8 stars. I found it distracting, and while it did encourage Prue to tackle the demon, and help overcome her anguish over Andy, I still felt it too much. However the addition of Dan and the little girl are an interesting mix in the bag, I'm eager to see how they will make ripples in the story. I am also interested to see how Darryl will come more into play in the show now that Andy is gone. Other than all of that, I loved how the demon was bringing back all the vanquished demons and warlocks of the past. It was all done in great fashion and am anticipating the season.

The One With Abraxas...

[taylorkingston · 10/10 · 3 October 2014]

I love this episode. It doesn't start right where Season 1's Finale left off, but we find out everything that we need to know.

In this episode, we find out that the sisters haven't been attacked in three months. Wow, that sounds nice, a little down time. And when they finally are attacked, this demon-monster-thing steals the Book Of Shadows. But how? The Book Of Shadows can't leave the Manor unless one of the girls takes it out. How did he do this? And how are they going to figure out who he is without the Book. They go through all of their books on demons and warlocks and find out that it's a demon called Abraxas, who lives on the Astral Plane. That's how he took the Book. He's in the house, but on the Astral Plane. One by one, demons and warlocks that they've faced and defeated, start coming back. Abraxas was reading the Book backwards, which somehow brought them all to life. Some demons and warlocks that we see again, are Jeremy, The Woogyman and Nicolas, even though he's played by a different actor. We find out that if Abraxas gets to the first page of the Book and reads it backwards, then they will lose their powers. Prue is quite happy for this to happen. Since Andy, she hasn't been herself. Eventually, they destroy Abraxas and all the evil foes that came back, they keep their powers, and everything is alright again. There's even a new hot neighbor to occupy on of the sisters times.

Overall, I give this episode a 10 out of 10.

The Dyslexic Demon

[seneuser · 8/10 · 8 November 2023]

Charmed, great as it is, is not known for its season openers, with only the openers in Season 1 and Season 4 really worthy of special status. That being said, the opener for Season 2 certainly starts with a shock as a demon opens a portal in the attic and steals the Book of Shadows, which was otherwise thought to be impossible. This, of course, presents a unique challenge for the sisters.

As it turns out, the demon, Abraxas, is sort of doing a reverse Leo. He is reading the book backwards, which causes the words to disappear as he goes. As spells are unwritten, the demons that were vanquished by those spells reappear. This is also a smart idea by the writers, as any viewer who might have missed Season 1, or for people who simply needed a reminder, adversaries overcome in Season 1 are brought back to be dealt with once again. Unfortunately, this doesn't amount to a lot of difficulty as the sisters just remember the original spells and vanquish them all over again. The real threat is the race to get to Abraxas before he gets to the front of the book and unwrites the entire thing.

For this, the sisters get some direct help from Grams along with some smart thinking by Phoebe. In the end, they catch Abraxas just as he's reading the first page, and vanquish him with a Power of 3 spell.

This episode also does a good job of continuing from the end of Season 1, as Prue struggles with the death of Andy, even losing her powers for awhile. Great acting by Shannen here and some excellent dialog with Morris.

This episode also sets up some plotlines for the remainder of the season as it introduces a new next door neighbor Dan and his niece who won't be around long. It also introduces what will become P3s, the club that Piper owns.

And with that, we are off and running.

The witches are back

[Realrockerhalloween · 13 September 2016]

Witch trial picks up a month later where season one left off where Prue grieves the loss of Andy and her sisters try to comfort her. Meanwhile a demon steals the book and recites spells backwards sending past demons after them and undo the magic that made them charmed. Shannon really shows her acting chops through dramatic scenes where she comforts a client and Darryl who all lost someone special. Her breakdown was raw and heartbreaking bringing the tears to my eyes. It was elegantly done and very moving to see it intertwined with the main story so her reluctant to act ties in with wanting to be a normal person again instead of losing all their lives ones to evil.

Abraxus had great makeup design, adding creepy vibes to the premiere and his plan was brilliant since he almost succeeds. While it was nice to see Jeremy and the Woogy again I felt having a crazed Hans or even Rodrigous returning added more of a punch since it deals with an evil lover or a demon who took Andy way for a nice wrap around. The humor is back in full forced from the sisters embracing their roots in the nude to the jerk accountant being taken out on a stretcher from a bruised nose. Charmed always had brilliantly layer humor that sets up a great teaser, delivers the punch line and the aftermath to keep the giggles rolling.