Season 1 General Discussion

[The Matriarch]

Life was anything but dull for the Halliwell sisters during the first season of WB's Charmed. No sooner had they been reunited in their ostentatious family home in San Francisco than the three ladies -- Prue (Shannen Doherty), Phoebe (Alyssa Milano), and Piper (Holly Marie Combs) -- discovered that they were the "Charmed Ones," good witches whose unique powers were ordained to benefit humankind and to vanquish evil. Using the ancient "Book of Shadows," the sisters quickly learned the ritual that would bring forth those powers: holding hands and chanting in unison, "The power of three will set us free." Unfortunately, the ladies' benevolent witchery wreaked a great deal of havoc on their private lives. Habitually unemployed, Phoebe (who had the gift of prophecy) was unable to hold a job due to the ofttimes terrible things that kept happening around her. Prue (who was telekinetic) did manage to find employment at the Buckland Auction House, only to discover that her boss, Rex Buckland (Neil Roberts), was a malevolent warlock. As for Piper (who had the ability to make time stand still), she was forever falling in love with the wrong guy -- and when the right guy, namely handyman Leo Wyatt (Brian Krause), finally came along, he turned out to be a "Whitelighter," a guardian angel assigned to protect the Halliwells and all other good witches...and thus "off limits" for poor Piper. Prue likewise had problems with her love life, especially after informing her off-and-on boyfriend, police inspector Andy Trudeau (T.W. King), that she was not your normal, average girl. By the end of season one, the management of the Buckland Auction House had passed into the hands of no-nonsense Clair Price (Cristine Rose), who may not have been the most pleasant person on earth, but at least wasn't a warlock; Piper had found work as a caterer, which brought her into contact with such nasty characters as the Demon goddess Hecate (Sarah Peterson); and Andy Trudeau had been suspended because he refused to investigate the paranormal activities that seemed to dog the Halliwell sisters wherever they went. Far worse was in store for Andy as the season drew to a close, but there was good news for the fans of Charmed, which, though not exactly a world-beater in the ratings, was one of WB's most-watched (and most talked about) series.

Here you can discuss everything season 1.

[Criminally Vulgar]

A couple of weeks ago, I decided to go back and watch Charmed from the very beginning, of course starting with the first season. Now to be completely honest, the first season was never my favorite. I was introduced to the show during season three (when I was 8 or 9), which is also when I fell in love with it, after there had already been the major changes to the show. However, this time around (the first time I watched [WATCHED, not looked through for clips] the season as a whole), I completely fell in love with it all over again.

Even though I never saw it when it originally aired (when I was around 6 or 7), the first time I watched episodes from the first season was when it came out on DVD, and even then, I was still only 11 or 12. Watching it now, as a 17 (going on 18 in just over a month :s) year old, I understand so much more, lol. Not just the naughty jokes, but the logic and reasoning behind each character's actions, dialog, etc. In fact, I don't know how I was able to appreciate this show when I was still 8 or 9, since I didn't understand anything, really.

But anyway, although I still wouldn't call it my favorite season, it is pretty good. The continuity was still very fresh, and it actually felt like a series, rather than "a show with main characters and their weekly shenanigans", which it unfortunately ended up becoming at times. :/

When watching the episodes back-to-back though, I noticed that they totally overused the whole "real-life logic" joke. In almost every episode, one sister would ask the other, "did you call [an authority, usually the police]?" and the other would always wittily respond, "and tell them what? [recap of the episode so far]??" I could count one in at least every other episode. lol But it's nothing too important. Just something I noticed. lol

I actually just finished Deja Vu this afternoon, and I can't believe this had never occurred to me before. So Rodriguez attacks the sisters three times. The third time, instead of ringing the doorbell and giving them warning, he bursts in and immediately hurls an energyball at Prue. Piper, who all-of-a-sudden has incredibly fast reflexes, leans over Phoebe, and pushes Prue to the ground, saving her from the energyball, but knocking her out cold. Phoebe leans to the left as the energyball just misses her face. Before Rodriguez can attack again, Andy bursts in from behind, and Rodriguez attacks him, instead. By the time Piper stands up and freezes the scene, Andy is already dead.

So let's fast forward a little: because Prue was unconscious, she was able to talk to Andy one last time (which gave him the best closure possible, IMO. Thinking about it now, they could've done something like this with Piper and Prue for All Hell Breaks Loose... :/). Now rewind again. Remember how Piper leaned over Phoebe to save Prue? Why did she do that? Wouldn't it make more sense to have just flicked her wrist and freeze Rodriguez?

Had she done this:
1) Prue wouldn't have been unconscious, and could have TK'd Rodriguez's energyball back at him
2) Rodriguez would've been vanquished (or would have been exploding) by the time Andy burst in, and Andy wouldn't have died
3) ...yeah, that's the main thing- Andy wouldn't have died.

I understand that they had to write it like that, for convenience sake, if anything. But watching his character development, I really fell in love with Andy. There'd been more stability with his character in the mere 22(-) episodes he was in than in the 100(+) episodes Paige had. Even with his proper closure, I still wish they hadn't killed him off. :/

Anyway, my favorite of the season is, was, and probably always will be, That 70's Episode. Something about it was just so... (and I HATE using this word, but it's so fitting in this case)... EPIC. All the events leading up to it, all the information we learned, it all played out PERFECTLY in this episode. I wish there had been a lot more moments like this on the show. :/ But yeah, an overall wonderful first season.

[thomstarr]

I've never seen this season on TV, just like CV i also started in the middle of Season 3.
But i must say that when i saw this on telvision in repeats ( dunno how it's called sorry )
I felt in love with it.

Offcourse the Special Effects were way off, but the story line were pretty cool.
and i must say that the story lines used in the first two seasons were more about being witches instead of being witches with a personal live.

My most favourite episode of this season is Deja Vu All Over Again, this episode i love so much. This was the first big bad they had to face. and i liked Andy but it was his time.