User reviews

In San Francisco, the police is investigating the murder of many women, and one detective has the theory that they were witches and the killer is a warlock. Meanwhile, Prue Halliwell (Shannen Doherty) is informed by her sister Piper (Holly Marie Combs) that their other complicated sister Phoebe (Alyssa Milano) lost her job in New York and is coming back to live with them in their grandmother's house. Along the night, Phoebe finds a book of witchcraft in the attic called Book of Shadows, and she reads an incantation, giving powers to the three Halliwell sisters. Later, she explains her sisters that in accordance with the book, there are three essentials of magic: timing, feeling and phases of the moon. One of their ancestors called Melinda Warren had three powers: she could move objects with her mind, see the future and stop time. She was burned at stake, but her power was transmitted through generations, becoming stronger and stronger. While the three sisters find their new abilities, the evil warlock chases them to kill them and steals their powers.

This first episode of "Charmed" is a delightful story of witches and witchcraft. The charming trio of lead actresses make this show attractive, worthwhile and promising. My vote is eight.

Title (Brazil): "Algo Mágico Pode Acontecer" ("Something Magic May Happen")

The pilot to the eight-season run of three sisters who happen to be witches. The pilot episode is paced out nicely not too slow or to fast. We are introduced to the sisters as individuals and their dynamics early on. But it feels natural.

The the main leads Shannen, Holly and Alyssa chemistry with each other is on point. You could actually mistake them for being family.

The opening act of Charmed did everything you'd expect it to do. It established the time and place - San Fran in the 90's. It established the characters - Prue, eldest sister, dutiful, pragmatic and resentful; Piper, middle sister, meek, cautious, peacemaker, loving and lovable; and Phoebe, youngest sister, carefree, careless, and caring. When Gram's death and an incantation turns them into the "Charmed Ones", they must stand together against the evil that will seek to destroy them and take away their powers.

Like it will for much of the series, the relationship between the sisters is what carries most of this episode. The conflict between oldest and youngest sister with middle sister caught between might be cliche, but the actresses pull it off completely, possibly helped by the fact that Shannon and Alyssa bonafide didn't get along.

The sisters realistically don't have much control over their new-found powers, and thus are in real trouble when a warlock reveals himself about two thirds of the way into the episode.

Like other early episodes, the smaller budget means little reliance on special effects. That grounds the episode in reality. It feels like it could be real, and that is a great thing. It feels like the start of something.

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.

That show was being told as not being aired.

Well I am sorry to burst your bubble just because you did not see it aired in your location does not mean it was not aired ! I saw it. I even had it on VHS for back up.

The show had Lori riding a bike down the street when She got her first premonition.

She saw those boys going to be hit by a car and then she ran into a car and tumbled to the street.

You did not see this with A.Milano version though.

Too bad the 86'd Lori Rom.

The whole show might have taken on a different air and maybe Lori might have gotten along with Shannen eventually...