REVIEWED: SEASON 1 (ALL EPISODES) | WHERE TO WATCH: ALL 4, APPLE, AMAZON PRIME VIDEO
The spell to conjuring a successful reboot is a complicated business. Take one part diverse casting, two parts relevance, add a clumsily worded press release declaring the revamped show to be ‘fierce and feminist’ to trigger original fans into an indignant tweet-storm, throw in the CW Network and voila, you have modern day Charmed in all its Wiccan and woke glory.
The original Charmed ran from 1998 to 2006 and starred Shannen Doherty, Holly Marie Combs, and Alyssa Milano as three sisters who discovered that they were witches. A hugely successful series (Doherty was replaced by Rose McGowan from its fourth season which did little to dent the show’s popularity), Charmed blended warlocks and demons with wit and humour that, alongside Buffy the Vampire Slayer, spearheaded a legitimate pop culture moment for female-driven action series within the fantasy genre.
The premise for Charmed 2.0 doesn’t stray too far from the original (forget the Power of 3, it’s the power of brand-recognition that’s truly at work here). Sisters Maggie and Melanie Vera live with their mother Marisol in the fictional Hilltowne. Marisol’s murder at the hands of a demonic force prompts her secretly adopted eldest daughter Macy to seek out her half-siblings and, once reunited, the trio develop magical powers and accept their destiny as The Charmed Ones.
Even as a standalone series, Charmed isn’t without its problems. The leads do their best with the material but the lack of chemistry is palpable for the first half dozen episodes before they eventually settle into a rhythm. The dialogue is forced and uneven; references to #metoo hang in the air without any substantial follow up, as though the writers are embarking on a box-ticking exercise to hit as many relevant hashtags as possible – and that’s before we get to the tired nods to social media. At one point Whitelighter Harry practically instructs his charges to slide into his DMs if they need to get in touch with him.
Macy – despite being armed with the most dominant power of telekinesis – is no Prue and her shy, careful stumbling becomes frustrating rather than endearing, though not as much as it could be in the hands of a lesser actress. Mel’s relationship with female cop Niko adds welcome dimensions of complexity and in a rare moment of self-awareness is artfully underplayed, even if the couple remain apart for most of the series. It is younger sister Maggie’s arc where you really feel like the writers have missed a trick. Her sorority storyline gets old quickly, and her star-crossed relationship with half-demon Parker falls flat at every turn. Parker, one of the few characters layered enough to potentially become compelling, is reduced to a lovesick sidepiece for most of the season. Whilst the writers could be commended for not simply following the blueprint of Phoebe and Cole, instead they have run so far in the other direction that any real conflict is diluted before tension has a chance to take hold.
The CGI is out of place, and the show fails to develop any real antagonists despite roping in The Source towards the latter episodes. The sisters use their newfound powers sparingly – Maggie is more focused on using her empathic ability to call her sisters out on their mundane love lives than actually prophesising any impending threats. Big plot reveals are dropped in almost every episode but are wasted due to a failure to sustain any momentum. One of the key criteria that struck a chord with fans of the original was the characters’ struggle to balance a normal life with their supernatural obligations, but there’s little of that here.
Charmed valiantly tussles with carving out its own contemporary identity and the show improves little by little with each episode. Season 2 already has the green light, so here’s hoping the series takes a few leaves from the Book of Shadows circa 1998 in order to secure its future in 2019.
