A show that started off kind of rocky, found it's footing, and then completely lost it
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After reading some reviews, I seem to be in disagreement with most people. Well first off, the basic premise is that three sister, two of which are the best of friends while the youngest is estranged, come together again shortly after the death of their grandmother. There is obvious tension between the oldest sister, Prue, and the youngest, Phoebe, but the middle, Piper, is always playing mediator. Eventually the sisters find out that they are descended from a long and distinguished line of powerful witches and they each have inherited the family magic, but it remained dormant due to some spell-work of their grandmother. Phoebe does some reading after she discovers the old, leather-bound Book of Shadows and awakens their powers as well as finding out they are now destined to fight and destroy demons. The beginning of the series really captured the essence of the storyline. The sisters were indeed fighting demons but that was all secondary to the more pressing theme sisterhood and the importance of family. At the end of each episode the three would come together and you really got a sense that they were sisters. They are back living together in the house they all grew up in, after several years of being apart (and possibly out of contact). Prue and Phoebe start off always being at odds with one another, but as time progresses they tolerate each other more and eventually become friends again. It feels very natural. Moreover, we got a sense of the struggle the three sisters had to go through while attempting to balance their duties as 'The Charmed Ones' with their normal, everyday lives. It had all of the aspects of a good show: drama, action, romance, emotion conflict, but also had the added element of magic and witchcraft which just made it unique from other dramas.
I think the first indication that the show was going down a less than favorable path was when they started removing the aspect of a normal life. First, the sisters stop having friends. Then, Prue has a career change from the Auction House to photography, which is completely fine except then she stops being a photographer and is all about magic and witchcraft all the time. However, they finally give Phoebe something to do when she goes to college and meets Cole. The next indication was when they killed off one of the central characters. Yes, it created a good dose of sadness and drama, but then it totally just ruined the premise of the show, because the sisters aren't the Charmed Ones anymore. But WAIT! There is actually an unknown, long lost half sister from their mother's side (meaning she is a witch)and can reconstitute the Charmed Ones. Now that is a little too convenient for my taste, but it was something I got over relatively quickly. Now Paige is taking over for Prue. The one problem is, they never completely integrated her as a sister. At the beginning, Paige didn't really know Piper and Phoebe so it was understandable that they wouldn't feel like family. But then Paige moved in with the other two and we still don't get the same feelings of sisterhood we got with Prue. She always seemed more like a friend or even an acquaintance than a sister. What also contributed to this excluded feeling was that around this time, the show really did veer away from sisterhood and focused more on each individual sister doing their own thing. I think this was a mistake, because although siblings do grow apart to start their lives, when it is clearly established that the three will always be together (since they are witches) there still needs to be that aspect. It was a rare occasion for an episode to end with the three of them together talking. One of my favorite parts of the show was that it wasn't a show for kids (more or less). The sisters battled and killed demons, malevolent spirits, warlocks, monsters, etc. At least that is what they did in the beginning. The next biggest mistake was when they started incorporating fairy tales into the story. Fairies, leprechauns, and nymphs just don't go along with the primary basis of the show. It was too sparkly and reminiscent of Sabrina the Teenage Witch. And worse, the demons went from looking like actual demons to people wearing leather... it was pitiful. Things also started getting far too convenient for the sister; at least too convenient to be interesting. First Piper gets her exploding power, which is very cool. But then all of a sudden she can just kill pretty much any demon with it; no need for a spell or a potion or any effort, just flick your hands and the demon is dead. Then they give Paige orbing... now the sisters can travel anywhere they want in a matter of seconds. I think that just takes all the effort out of demon-fighting. The biggest and most convenient aspect that was added to the show was Magic School. It all of a sudden appeared when it was convenient and is an endless source of any knowledge the sisters would want. Not to mention it brought about a childish aspect, like I mentioned before, that was far too reminiscent of Harry Potter and Sabrina. Lastly, they gave Phoebe her empathic abilities, which were just stupid. She could all of a sudden summon demons with her mind and control demons' powers and send them flying back... it was just ridiculous. But I think my biggest pet-peeve about the show was the sisters' constant complaining. They would constantly complain how being witches was completely ruining their lives. However, whenever they were given the opportunity to release their magic and become completely normal humans without any interference from demons, which has been offered several times, they turn it down every single time, just to start whining about it again. If you don't want to be witches anymore, fine! But don't pass up every opportunity you are given to lead a normal life, then complain about your choice.
I was also quite annoying with the pointless story-archs. They lasted several episodes and then led to nothing. First it is with the Avatars. The sisters spend all this time trying to find out who they are and try to destroy them but find out they are good and they start working together to create a Utopia. Then they finally create the perfect world, but then the very next episode they decide to just reverse it all and go back to normal. Then, at the end of season 7, they decide to fake their own deaths and disguise themselves as the sisters' cousins. But that lasts only a few episodes before they reveal they were alive... It was just a pointless waste of time.
It was a good show that overstayed its welcome and ended much later than it should have. I think the season 4 finale would have been a great ending, and honestly I could look past the complete crap-pile that was Season 5-7, if the Season 7 finale was the end. But they thought it would be a good idea to keep going for another year. And I really want to meet the person who thought it would be a good idea to replace Daryl and Leo (Leo only for part of the season) with Billie and Chrissy, the two WORST additions to the show.
Kristhetvgirl2
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