A Real-Life Witch Reviews The CW's 'Charmed' Reboot
Halloween isn’t just a holiday-it’s our entire October mood. So celebrate the best time of year with a month’s worth of stories that will keep you up all night long. (Binge-watching and eating candy, probably. Same, tbh.) Cheers, witches!
This post contains spoilers for the season premiere on The CW's Charmed.
I have a confession to make: I am a witch who has never watched Charmed-I know, I know! Friends and acquaintances have been making Charmed references to me for the last, oh, two decades. And each time, I found myself awkwardly avoiding having to admit that I’d never seen it. I couldn’t deal with the disappointment, the faces of disbelief, the ”but it’s a cult classic!”
Just a few weeks ago, after my appearance on ITV's This Morning, demonstrating to viewers how to blend a couple of spells, a distant family member contacted me out of the blue to say “how happy” she was that we had a witch in the family and, how she’d always loved Charmed.
Well, now the CW’s Charmed reboot is here and I’m ready to ride the hype wave, finally! And while yes, I have nothing to compare the show to, giving Charmed 2.0 a huge advantage over the original, still:
I loved every second of it. I soaked it up. Hell, I even felt pangs of guilt that I missed out on eight seasons of this stuff.
I was *literally* rubbing my hands together, delighted, waiting to see which super power each of these witches would be granted-and spent a considerable amount of time thinking about which of these powers I would like the most. Do I want premonitions, to be able to stop time, or telekinesis? I haven’t decided, although right now, as I write this between about a million deadlines, a therapy appointment, and a dinner party, I’d take what’s behind door number two.
Related: I have also decided my own Book Of Shadows, which is a humble A4 sized Moleskin, needs an upgrade. Where do I buy a book that size?
So how realistic is Charmed? The “what my friends think I do vs. what I really do” Instagram meme comes to mind. I can’t help having a little LOL thinking, Is this what all the Charmed fans I‘ve known think my life is actually like? Sorry, there’s no killing demons in the real world.
That said, when Macy (Madeleine Mantock) cleverly discovers that baking soda is the antidote to banish Maggie’s ex-boyfriend, who is in fact a demon, I can actually, totally relate: I also use baking soda in banishing spells.
Here’s a witch-tested pro tip: baking soda mixed with a little lavender, rosemary, and water in a spray bottle works as a powerful potion for clearing any negative energy in your house or workspace.
Realistic or not, you’ll fall for this trio of half-sisters who, like in the original, discover their powers when their mother passes away. A scientist witch (Macy, played by Mantock) who can work out spells and antidotes in a scientific way? YAS! (That’s a theme in witchcraft that I am always attracted to myself, in fact.) A witch who is studying women’s studies and is a feminist activist (Mel, played by Melonie Diaz)? DOUBLE YAS! And a wannabe sorority witch (Maggie, played by Sarah Jeffery)…hmm, OK, not so sure about this one, but she’s the youngest sister so I’m sure she’s just finding her way!
This is my kind of TV. The kind in which girls are looking out for other girls, not backstabbing or fighting each other but empowering each other and connecting.
Watching these three witches unite with their super powers, and then at the end of a hard day’s work fighting demons, snuggled up in bed together watching home movies at the end of the episode gave me a nice, warm feeling. It was magic.
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