- Title: Charmed – Something Wicca This Way Comes
- wiki: link
Our Throwback Tuesday post takes us back to the city on the bay where the power of three will set you free. With the introduction of The CW’s new lackluster Charmed reboot it seemed like a good opportunity to return to the original. Airing 20 years ago, “Something Wicca This Way Comes” introduced fans to the three Halliwell sisters: the uptight Prue (Shannen Doherty), the worrisome Piper (Holly Marie Combs), and the free-spirit Phoebe (Alyssa Milano). The show’s initial episode sees the return of Phoebe to San Fransisco to live with Piper and Prue in their grandmother’s home. Phoebe’s discovery of the Book of Shadows in the attic, a mystical tome of family history and spells, activates the sisters’ powers to fight demons and devils over the show’s 178 episode run.
To help fight evil each sister is granted a magical power in Prue’s telekentic ability, Piper’s ability to freeze time, and Phoebe’s premonitions which will come in handy as a short-cut involving saving themselves and others from the demon of the week. Through their interactions early on in this episode we learn quite a bit about Prue, Phoebe, and Piper and the dynamics between the sisters. A section of the pilot is also centered around Inspector Andy Trudeau‘s (Ted King) investigation of the murder of young women in the area, all with Wicca beliefs. Although the department doesn’t believe in witchcraft, Trudeau believes something strange may be going on. His past relationship to Prue and their reunion will allow both his suspicions and her witchcraft to grow in the coming episodes.
Built primarily on the three leading women, the strength of the show are the characters and how well the three play off of each other (including an enjoyable scene of Phoebe getting under Prue’s skin at the drug store while the older sister still refuses to admit their lives have changed). The weakest aspect to the show is the episode’s villain, Piper’s annoying boyfriend (Eric Scott Woods), who has hung around just long enough for the sisters to come into their powers and now plans on murdering them all. Accepting their roles and vanquishing the demon, the Charmed Ones fight has just begun.
