Loveday Writing

Season 1 – The first season established the show’s premise, its characters, and the magical world and powers the characters would possess. In my review of the pilot, I compared it to the pilot of the original series pointing out many differences between the series, from the first name of the main characters starting with ‘M’ instead of ‘P’, Macy embodying both Prue and Paige, their mother dying in the pilot as opposed to when they were children, one of the sisters being part of the LGBTQ+ community, and Macy incorporating her scientific knowledge with witchcraft.

I wrote in my review of the pilot that the writing was sloppy and the acting was cheesy. I also wrote that I’d give the reboot a chance and hoped that it would improve over time, and thankfully it did.

This season would go on to have two story arcs, one revolving around a Harbinger demon and another revolving around the Source and an apocalypse. This season would also have many subplots, including but not limited to: the introduction of the Elders, two Elders and Harry’s charges going rogue, Macy’s demonic side and how helpful and hindering it can be, Maggie’s relationship with half-human half-demon, Parker, Parker’s father trying to become the Source, Mel considering joining a coven called Sarcana, and the reveal that Macy and Maggie are full sisters with Mel being the half-sister.

The first season ended with Macy becoming the Source (although she would later relinquish the power), and the sisters becoming the leaders of the magical community after the death of the Elders.

I wrote in my review of the finale that it was a strong finish to a first season that got off to a rocky start but eventually went from strength to strength. I also admitted to being sceptical and dismissive of the reboot, especially as I am a huge fan of the original series and the pilot certainly didn’t do the show any favours in convincing me. However, once I gave the show a chance with my reviews, it proved itself to be both a perfect balance of a spin-off and an original in its own right.

Season 2 – The second season gets off to an exciting start with a hooded magical assassin bursting through the front door of the Manor. While the sisters try to fight the assassin off, he destroys the Book of Shadows, which leads to a portal being opened for them to jump through, with Harry staying behind to fight the assassin off. The sisters land in a Command Centre established by the Elders, underneath SafeSpace, a communal workspace in Seattle. As they are now in witchness protection, their powers have been stripped. We are also introduced to two new characters, Jordan and Kat, who work at SafeSpace. The premiere ended with the reveal that the assassin looks exactly like Harry.

The second season progresses to establish two major threats: the Overlord and the human Faction. The Overlord story arc focused on demons uniting to go after witches, which leads to Parker’s return and the introduction of his half-sister, Abigael, another half-human, half-demon. The Overlord story arc progresses from Parker and Maggie almost getting married so Parker can become Overlord to end the demonic-witch war from the inside, only for Abigael to imprison him to take over, only for her right-hand man, Godric, trying to overthrow her.

The human Faction story arc focused on an organisation of mortals that know magic exists and were keeping magical creatures in captivity to steal their magic. It was eventually revealed that SafeSpace’s major investor and Macy’s love interest, Julian Shea, and his aunt, Vivienne Laurent, were leading the Faction. This story arc closed out the season although it wouldn’t come to a complete close until the start of the third season, due to the COVID-19 pandemic shutting down production.

Minor subplots included Jordan’s curse, how darklighters and whitelighters were connected to each other and how to deal with Harry’s darklighter, Jimmy, which led to the introduction of former Elder, Celeste, who created white and dark lighters.

I wrote in my review of the finale that I felt the season as a whole was a good one, I was specifically appreciative of the writers’ choice to have mortals, Ray and Jordan, helping the sisters with their magical battles as this is something the original series lacked. I was also happy to see the expansion of the sisters’ powers.

Season 3 – The third season kicks off with the closure of the Faction story arc with Julian working with the sisters to stop Vivienne. While Julian dies in the process, the sisters use the Power of Three to stop Vivienne, and they send Jimmy to the UK with an erased memory. Shortly after the Faction story arc comes to a close, the sisters develop a magical allergy after saving the Sacred Tree, which means they can’t physically contact each other or other magical creatures.

The allergy is revealed to be caused by triggering the security system of the Tomb of Chaos, a magical prison created to house beings deemed to be too chaotic for the world, by the Perfecti. The sisters have to deal with the Perfecti when they discover many magical beings have been imprisoned there, ancient creatures have been released from it, and when Abigael and Jordan are put there by the Perfecti. While the Perfecti initially offer to help the Charmed Ones with their allergy, it becomes clear that they were too good to be true and become a threat. The sisters eventually place the Perfect in the Tomb of Chaos, however when Jordan is freed he is unwittingly possessed by the Whispering Evil, a parasitic monster.

The sisters think that they’ve vanquished the Whispering Evil when they separate it from Jordan’s body, freeze it and smash it, however it eventually defrosts and escapes. In the season finale, as Macy is obtaining a toxin to vanquish the Whispering Evil, it ambushes and possesses her. Macy swallows the toxin and vanquishes it, however the damage from the toxin and being possessed by the Whispering Evil kills her.

The season ends with Macy’s soul being separated from her body and her becoming a Guardian, and the Guardian revealing that there is another Charmed One out there for Mel and Maggie to find.

As well as these major story arcs, there were also smaller subplots which included the introduction of Josefina, the sister’s second cousin on Marisol’s side and fellow witch, Mel carrying her future baby, Harry becoming mortal to be with Macy (only to become a whitelighter again to try and prevent Macy from dying) and Jordan becoming a whitelighter.

Season 4 – This season was always going to be a difficult one, due to Mantock’s departure and Barrett’s arrival, any season for any show with a main cast and lead change would be difficult. I felt that this season was the weakest, but not because of Mantock’s departure and Barrett’s arrival, but because of the inconsistent quality and pacing of the writing.

The first two episodes dealt with the introduction of Kaela, as well as Kaela accepting the magical responsibility of being a Charmed One being thrust upon her, however how and why she was chosen as Macy’s replacement wasn’t made clear. The first big threat was established by the end of the premiere, the Tallyman. While I felt that the season premiere was solid, I found the fact that Kaela, a seemingly random person, and not Josefina, the sisters’ cousin, was chosen as Macy’s replacement to be an odd choice.

Even though the season premiere was solid, the second and third episodes of the season were weak due to predictability and disjointed pacing respectively. I felt that there was improvement in the fourth and fifth episodes due to overdue character development and a fun subplot respectively, although I did complain about the Tallyman story arc being too much of a slow burn in my review of the fifth episode.

In my review of the sixth episode, I declared that this season had been disappointing due to the slow burn story arc of the Tallyman and the episode itself was disappointing. I felt that the episode was disappointing due to the anti-climactic, self-inflicted vanquish of the Tallyman, and the reveal of Harry and Jordan experiencing major character development offscreen. I was less harsh in my criticism of the seventh episode, which I labelled as ‘sub-par’, due to the lack of development as Sunny and the Unseen as big threats, as well as the inconsistencies in the development and advancement of Mel’s and Maggie’s powers, and feeling that the subplots of Harry’s grief over Macy, and Kaela’s unknown origins had dragged on for long enough.

I did see some improvements in the eighth and ninth episodes. In my review of the eighth episode, I wrote that I found the subplots compelling, although it was at this point that I started to notice that the writers had barely developed and fleshed out Kaela as a character, especially when she met her biological parents. In my review of the ninth episode, I addressed the announcement of the show’s cancellation.

I wrote in my review that I wasn’t surprised by the cancellation due to Mantock’s recent departure and the decline in the quality of the writing this season. However, I also wrote that the cast and crew of the show should be proud of what they achieved considering the backlash they had to deal with at the beginning. This episode also revealed how and why Kaela was chosen as Macy’s replacement – she had received Macy’s stem cells as part of an experimental treatment for leukaemia, and therefore inherited her magic. I appreciated that the writers didn’t go with another ‘long-lost sister’ explanation, and I felt that the explanation was plausible and unique, but that this reveal should have happened earlier.

The tenth episode had the introduction of mysterious whitelighter, Diana, who is stuck in Infinite Home Video, a video store with tapes of the world’s history which was created by a witch from her world. I wrote in my review that I enjoyed this episode, due to the character development with Roxie and Sunny’s vanquish by Kaela. However the Unseen and the Lost One were still a threat.

I felt that the eleventh and twelfth episodes were the strongest episodes of the season. The eleventh episode revealed that the Lost One was Inara, one of the original Charmed Ones, who was buried alive by her sisters, Ishani and Ishta, to stop her from becoming the next Conqueror. I felt that this reveal was a satisfying outcome and twist. I felt that the twelfth episode topped it due to its twists and turns, culminating in Inara killing the main characters. While I enjoyed these episodes and they were the strongest of the season, I felt it was too little too late by this point.

While I felt that the season 4 & series finale was good, its final moments also generated controversy with the reveal that the original series’ Charmed Ones are part of a multiverse. One of the original series’ writers, Curtis Kheel, posted a sarcastic tweet about what he thought the outcome of the original series’ Charmed Ones finding the reboot series’ Charmed Ones in their home would be. He then posted another tweet stating that his problem with the reboot series was that “from day one, it pretended like the original Charmed didn’t exist, yet it borrowed a ton of ideas from it. We worked very hard on the OG series for many years and to disregard that is offensive and disrespectful to us (the original cast and crew) and our fans.” I personally felt that the multiverse reveal should have happened earlier, although on reflection, I do question the need for it at all.

As a fan of the original series, I wasn’t pleased to hear that there would be a reboot, especially as it hadn’t been all that long since the original series ended (12 years – the original series ended in 2006 and the reboot premiered in 2018). I wasn’t a fan of the pilot, but the show’s writing and acting improved over time, and it proved itself to be a perfect balance of a spin-off and an original in its own right, and I grew to like it to the point that I was sad to hear it was being cancelled. However, for me, personally, the original series will always be superior.

Behind the Reviews – Edition #6 will be released next week and will focus on Doctor Doctor.