Reflecting back on this episode, it definitely was tamer than the vast majority of other episodes, and the conflict didn't really take off until the last quarter of the episode. However, that's what I like about this pilot episode. The show doesn't just rush the viewer into something and expect them to immediately be able to connect the dots. Instead, this episode was meant to not only serve as a means for communicating how the three Halliwell sisters came to be the most powerful witches ever known, but as a buffer to ease the audience into the series. The writers did a fantastic job at moving along the story at a pace slow enough to enable the exposition to adequately establish various aspects of each of the three sisters and other important characters without but not so excruciatingly slow that the viewer has to constantly fight against the urge to sleep. I would also like to point out is that this episode established various aspects of the three protagonists without overwhelming the viewer with extraneous details. I believe that it is important for a series to not establish too much regarding characters, their history, significant events, past relationships, in the first episode, in order to prevent the series from feeling forced and to allow for these characteristics and details to be revealed and be built upon as the characters progress further into the overarching story.
I must commend each of the three actresses for their portrayal of their respective characters for not only elevating their characters in terms of depth, but being able to bounce off each other and match each other's energies, thus giving for a really organic sisterly feel to the episode and to the series.
One last thing I would like to address is their powers in that while each sister feels powerful, they aren't overwhelmingly powerful, which is something I don't see in very many supernatural and fantasy movies and television shows. Moreover, their powers grow as their character grows, which is something that always resonated with me as I watched this series. I bring this up because this helps to keep the series grounded and realistic, even though it is a show about three witches with supernatural powers.
Overall, for the reasons listed above, I give this episode 10/10 stars.
