I Used To Love 'Charmed' Until I Rewatched It | The Odyssey Online
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I Used To Love 'Charmed' Until I Rewatched It

This series is actually extremely problematic...

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I Used To Love 'Charmed' Until I Rewatched It

I used to love "Charmed" as a child. My mother and I would watch it every week when a new episode came on. When the show was over, and I got older, I would still re-watch it in the mornings while I was getting ready for school or in the afternoons when I came back home. I thought the show was so inspiring and full of girl power. I had wanted to be like them. To be able to save the day and have these incredible superpowers that I would only use for good. I even remember thinking that the show was the best in its last few seasons.

Sometime during last summer, I heard that they were remaking the show. For a while, there was talk about it being revived with the same old characters.

However, now it seems like everything except the title and the plot is going to be different.

I also heard that the actresses who played in the original series were quite upset about the rebooting of the new show.

Some were mad about how the marketing of the new show implied that the old one was not "feminist" or that they were not involved with the remake or that it should have been a show inspired by the original, etc.

At first, I completely agreed with all their complaints. Charmed was amazing as it was! How dare anyone suggest otherwise?!

Then I read an interview that Rose McGowan (the actress who played Paige) did…

She basically talked about how much she hated Charmed, how much it physically made her sick to even act in all the episodes she was in, and all the problems the show had. She said so many things about the show that my mind could not make sense of. Then I noticed other people online agreeing with her! I did not want to accept anything that I read. Everyone had to be making all of it up.

There was only one thing I could do to make myself feel better and prove them all wrong: re-watch the entire series.

I binged watched all eight seasons.

The first three seasons before Prue died were beautiful. The show focused on sisterhood, the history of witches, monsters/demons, and superpowers. Everything was so new and exciting. The three main witches, Prue, Piper, and Phoebe tried dating and having a normal life but that was not the main concern for them. They just wanted to understand themselves (their powers), save lives, and be sisters to one another.

Season four was when things started to change, and I was okay with it because that's when Paige came into the picture. Her whole story was fascinating to me. A long-lost sister created out of forbidden love. Crazy!

Season four was mostly about Paige getting to know herself as a witch/white-lighter, everyone mourning the loss of Prue, and getting used to Paige as their new sister.

Around season five was when things became…weird.

From season five to eight, all the sisters did was complain about being witches/saving lives, how awful their lives were, how much they longed for a normal life (without warlocks and demons) and how they NEEDED a man.

I think I could understand the part about wishing for a normal life because they were constantly under attack and I can see how exhausting that could be, especially when you already have children in the house.

The part that bothered me the most was how much they acted like they needed a man. Sometimes they would flat out refuse to save someone until their husband/boyfriend would come back. There were even times when they said they could not do anything until one of the men on the show (most of the time Leo) said something to make them feel better. I almost lost it when they were talking about wanting to quit being a witch and their day jobs and just stay home and take care of their husband and children.

Now I'm not saying anything is wrong with wanting to do this. The problem I had is that they were supposed to be these strong and powerful women, but they were acting like whiny ass bitches. Towards the end, every episode felt the same. None of them wanted to be witches anymore but they very reluctantly would still save the day, something always happened to keep Leo and Piper apart, Phoebe always tried to find her soul mate (which she didn't find until the very end), and Paige was always just lost trying to find her way within the magical and non-magical community-also had many boy problems (never as much as Phoebe though- she had the most out of everyone).

The show had lost almost all focus on sisterhood, witchcraft, and feminism that it had in the earlier seasons.

At first, I was so upset by this realization but now I finally understand all the negative comments people have said about the show. I am extremely disappointed with my younger self's idea of girl power but now I know better.

I can only hope that the reboot can bring the rightful justice to this story-line that has so much potential…

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This article has not been reviewed by Odyssey HQ and solely reflects the ideas and opinions of the creator.
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