Charmed (season 1)

Charmed (season 1)

DVD cover art
No. of episodes 22
Release
Original network The WB
Original release October 7, 1998 (1998-10-07) – May 26, 1999 (1999-05-26)

The first season of Charmed, an American supernatural drama television series created by Constance M. Burge, premiered on October 7, 1998 on The WB. Airing on Wednesdays at 9:00 pm, the season consisted of 22 episodes and concluded its airing on May 26, 1999. Paramount Home Entertainment released the complete first season in a six-disc box set on February 1, 2005.

Synopsis

The Halliwell sisters discover that they are descendants of a long line of witches when they inherit a house from their grandmother and find the family's Book of Shadows. They learn that they each have a unique power. The strong-willed Prue Halliwell (Shannen Doherty) can move objects with her mind, reserved Piper Halliwell (Holly Marie Combs) is able to freeze time, and the uninhibited Phoebe Halliwell (Alyssa Milano) has the power of premonition. Together they have the "Power of Three", which they must use to fight demons and warlocks, and protect the innocent.

Cast and characters

Main

Special Guest

Recurring

Guest

Episode list

No.
overall		No. in
season		TitleDirected byWritten byOriginal air dateProd.
code		U.S. viewers
(millions)
11"Something Wicca This Way Comes"John T. KretchmerConstance M. BurgeOctober 7, 1998 (1998-10-07)14987047.7[1]
The Halliwell sisters are reunited in the grand Victorian home of their childhood. Phoebe discovers The Book of Shadows in the attic and when she reads the spell on the first page, their powers are activated. The sisters must try to keep their powers secret, while Prue's ex-boyfriend, Inspector Andy Trudeau, is investigating a serial killer whose victims are all witches. Piper narrowly escapes death when she discovers that her boyfriend Jeremy, an evil warlock, is the killer. When the sisters try their first spell, Jeremy is vanquished, and they discover the Power of Three.
22"I've Got You Under My Skin"John T. KretchmerBrad KernOctober 14, 1998 (1998-10-14)43980017.4
Phoebe meets a photographer who turns out to be a demon who sucks the youth out of young women in order to remain young. While Phoebe is with him, Piper sees her friend Brittany Reynolds, who is now elderly and has a poor memory after being attacked by the photographer. Brittany recognizes the address of the photographer, allowing Prue and Piper to arrive in time to vanquish the demon and reverse the damage it had done.
33"Thank You for Not Morphing"Ellen PressmanChris Levinson & Zack EstrinOctober 21, 1998 (1998-10-21)43980036.8
The sisters' estranged father Victor returns, and is immediately at odds with Prue who cannot forgive him for being an absentee father. He confesses he is trying to save the girls from the risks of having their powers by removing the Book of Shadows from the manor. However, it appears he has teamed up with the new neighbors, who are shapeshifting demons trying to steal the book. The sisters vanquish the shape-shifters and their father accepts their destiny. Despite planning to meet up with them, he leaves town, but leaves a videotape of a happy Christmas the family had.
44"Dead Man Dating"Richard ComptonJavier Grillo-MarxuachOctober 28, 1998 (1998-10-28)43980056.4
Piper encounters and eventually develops feelings for the amiable ghost of a recently murdered Chinese-American man named Mark Chao (John Cho), who needs her help to be properly buried before an ancient Chinese spirit, Yama, can harvest his soul, and to settle the score with the Chinese gangster who had killed Mark in order to fake his own death to evade the police. Phoebe takes a job as a hotel psychic to pay for Prue's birthday present, and when foreseeing the death of a hotel guest, she has to try to keep him from being hit by a car. In the end, Piper exposes the criminal who is killed by Andy in self-defense. The being Yama appears and Mark throws the criminal's soul to him, sending him to Hell. Piper is able to convince Yama to leave Mark alone and after his burial, he moves on after saying a tearful goodbye. The encounter with Mark causes Prue to change her mind about celebrating her birthday and her sisters throw her a surprise party back at the Manor.
55"Dream Sorcerer"Nick MarckConstance M. BurgeNovember 4, 1998 (1998-11-04)43980025.8
Prue finds her sleep disturbed by strange dreams in which she is stalked and taunted by a wheelchair-bound man who is actually a sleep researcher named Whitaker Berman (Matt Schulze). He kills women who he feels scorned him by visiting them in their dreams where he has absolute power. While Prue is fatigued and driving home from work in her car he attacks again and successfully causes her to drive into a telephone pole. As Prue is unconscious, he unsuccessfully tries to kill her. With encouragement from her sisters, she uses her telekinesis in the dream world to throw him off a building, killing him.
66"The Wedding from Hell"Richard GintyGreg Elliot & Michael PerriconeNovember 11, 1998 (1998-11-11)43980046.2
A demonic bride-to-be, Jade D'Mon, suddenly replaces a human bride, Alison Michaels, a week before her wedding, by having a magical contractual 'hold' over the grooms' mother, Grace Spencer, as well as by casting a spell over the groom, Elliot Spencer. The Halliwell sisters gradually discover the strange events about the wedding, as Piper is catering the event. Alison and the sisters formulate a plan to stop the demonic wedding. Grace helps Alison and the Halliwell sisters, resulting in the defeat of Jade and the reconciliation of Alison and Elliot.
77"The Fourth Sister"Gilbert AdlerEdithe SwensenNovember 18, 1998 (1998-11-18)43980066.6
A troubled teenage witch, Aviva (Danielle Harris), befriends Phoebe with the hopes of joining the sisters, but is an unwitting pawn of an evil sorceress-priestess named Kali. The sisters investigate and identify the sorceress who possesses Aviva when she refuses to help anymore. Piper and Prue manage to trap Kali in a mirror and Phoebe shatters it, vanquishing her. Aviva drops her bad lifestyle and leaves to reunite with her aunt.
88"The Truth Is Out There… and It Hurts"James A. ContnerZack Estrin & Chris LevinsonNovember 25, 1998 (1998-11-25)43980074.6
Acting on Phoebe's premonition of a woman electrocuted magically through the center of her forehead, the sisters race to stop a mysterious warlock, who came from the future for killing those responsible for creating a vaccine against warlocks. Prue casts a truth spell to find out how Andy will react to her secret. Prue sadly finds out that Andy cannot handle the knowledge of her powers and the magical parallel reality she has to deal with. She breaks up with him while Prue and Piper vanquish the warlock before he can kill a pregnant woman whose baby is who he is truly after.
99"The Witch Is Back"Richard DenaultSheryl J. AndersonDecember 16, 1998 (1998-12-16)43980086.0
Matthew Tate, a warlock cursed by the sisters' ancestor, Melinda Warren, in the 17th century in colonial New England, is inadvertently released by Prue from a cursed locket which will open only to a Warren descendant. Aware of the situation, the sisters resurrect Melinda to combat him. Together they trap him back in the locket, but their secret is revealed to Prue's boss, Rex, and coworker, Hannah, who are warlocks.
1010"Wicca Envy"Mel DamskiBrad Kern & Sheryl J. AndersonJanuary 13, 1999 (1999-01-13)43980095.7
Rex uses astral projection to control Prue's mind, tricking her into stealing a tiara from a vault in the auction house. Prue ends up in jail. Rex blackmails the sisters into giving up their powers to him, but Leo, revealing himself as some kind of supernatural protector of the sisters, returns their powers to them. With their powers back, the sisters defeat Rex and Hannah who are vanquished by evil forces for their failure.
1111"Feats of Clay"Kevin InchMichael Perricone & Greg Elliot & Chris Levinson & Zack EstrinJanuary 20, 1999 (1999-01-20)43980105.7
Phoebe's ex-boyfriend from New York, Clay, comes to town with a mysterious Egyptian urn and asks if Prue could sell it for him on the auction block. Phoebe convinces Prue to try to sell Clay's urn, but Prue soon finds out that the urn is cursed.
1212"The Wendigo"James L. ConwayEdithe SwensenFebruary 3, 1999 (1999-02-03)43980115.7
When Piper's car breaks down, she is attacked by a vicious werewolf-like beast that they later find out is called a Wendigo. Piper is saved by a man named Billy, but she starts to turn into a Wendigo since she was scratched by the one that attacked her. The Wendigo turns out to be FBI agent Ashley Fallon, who had apparently been tracking the beast. Fallon kills Billy and tries to kill Andy, but Prue and Phoebe go after her with a flare gun as fire is the Wendigo's weakness. Piper shows up as well and they nearly accidentally vanquish her instead, but she freezes the flare and Prue sends it into Fallon, killing her and curing Piper.
1313"From Fear to Eternity"Les SheldonTony Blake & Paul JacksonFebruary 10, 1999 (1999-02-10)43980125.7
Barbas, the Demon of Fear, spends Friday the 13th scaring witches to death, literally. He tries to drown Prue in the shower, as her greatest fear is drowning. Barbas realizes that Phoebe's greatest fear is losing a sister, so he tries to drown Prue again with Phoebe watching. This time, Prue feels the presence of her mother and manages to release her fear and vanquish Barbas.
1414"Secrets and Guys"James A. ContnerConstance M. Burge & Sheryl J. AndersonFebruary 17, 1999 (1999-02-17)43980135.6
Prue gets a magical distress call from a young witch named Max who is forced into helping two thieves rob a bank and is captured and forced to take part in the robbery too. Max's father tries to intervene and is shot, and Prue and Max are forced to leave him behind. At the same time, Leo returns and while fixing a chandelier, Phoebe discovers him levitating and learns that he is a Whitelighter, a guardian angel of witches who is protecting Max by directing Prue to him. He truly loves Piper, but it is forbidden and he needs to figure out how to break up with her. Prue gets Max to short out the bomb that the thieves are using to force their co-operation and trap them in the vault. As Max's father lies dying, Leo arrives and heals his wound and convinces him to get over his wife's death and be a father to his son. Helping Max restores Prue's faith in having children.
1515"Is There a Woogy in the House?"John T. KretchmerZack Estrin & Chris LevinsonFebruary 24, 1999 (1999-02-24)43980144.8
Phoebe is possessed by the "Woogyman", turning her against her siblings. Under the orders of the Woogy, she possesses humans as well. When Prue has people from the Auction House over for a work mixer, Phoebe possesses one of Prue's associates. Piper and Prue are about to get possessed but Phoebe chants the spell after having a premonition of Grams defeating the Woogy from a picture frame when she was younger.
1616"Which Prue Is It, Anyway?"John BehringJavier Grillo-MarxuachMarch 3, 1999 (1999-03-03)43980155.1
When Phoebe has a premonition of Prue being stabbed to death, it coincides with a War Lord named Gabriel coming to town in order to kill the eldest sibling witch as he did to the sisters' great-great-great-aunt. Prue casts a spell to triple her powers but ends up making two clones of herself. Her clones are killed off, but working with her sisters, she manages to vanquish Gabriel.
1717"That '70s Episode"Richard DenaultSheryl J. AndersonApril 7, 1999 (1999-04-07)43980166.5
A powerful warlock shows up claiming that he made a pact with the sisters' mother in which he spared her life in exchange for the girls' powers. Fleeing him, the three sisters go back in time to the 1970s when their mother was still alive and they try to prevent the pact. They manage to get Patty to break the pact and return to the future where he is no longer immune to their powers and vanquish him with a spell left for that purpose by their grandmother.
1818"When Bad Warlocks Turn Good"Kevin InchEdithe SwensenApril 28, 1999 (1999-04-28)[note 1]43980175.6
Led by Prue, the Charmed Ones help a young man named Brendan (Michael Weatherly) who wants to become a priest in order to avoid fulfilling his predicted destiny as a warlock along with his brothers. They begin attacking people who are close to Brendan in order to coerce him to give into his darker side. Eventually, his brothers kill each other and he becomes ordained as a priest and cleared of the attacks on innocents and a priest.
1919"Out of Sight"Craig ZiskTony Blake & Paul JacksonMay 5, 1999 (1999-05-05)43980185.7
When Prue tries to stop a kidnapping in the park, a reporter sees her using her powers. Phoebe and Piper attempt to learn more about the demons who stole the child, who turn out to be Grimlocks, demons which sense people's auras and steal children's eyesight. At the same time, they must try to stop the reporter from exposing Prue. The sisters are not exposed, but Andy does find out about their powers. The sisters vanquish the demons and a former victim of theirs who survived convinces the children they rescued not to tell the truth.
2020"The Power of Two"Elodie KeeneBrad KernMay 12, 1999 (1999-05-12)43980195.7
The evil spirit of a serial killer (Jeff Kober) escapes from Alcatraz Island seeking revenge on his judge and jury. Phoebe and Prue must figure out how to vanquish this evil spirit and stop him from killing again without Piper, who is in Hawaii. Eventually, Prue drinks a concoction that temporarily stops her heart and vanquishes the spirit with a spell that can only be cast on the Astral Plane by a ghost before Andy revives her.
2121"Love Hurts"James Whitmore, Jr.Chris Levinson & Zack Estrin & Javier Grillo-MarxuachMay 19, 1999 (1999-05-19)43980205.7
A wounded Leo appears at the manor, asking the Halliwell sisters to protect an innocent woman returning to San Francisco under his guidance. Daisy (Lisa Robin Kelly) is being stalked by a Darklighter who hunts and kills present and future Whitelighters with poisoned arrows. The Darklighter Alec (Michael Trucco) fell in love with her. Leo reveals that the Darklighter's poison is deadly, and Piper finds a power switching spell in the Book of Shadows so she can use Leo's healing power on him. Unfortunately, this has the side-effect of switching everyone's powers and they all have to try to learn to use them. While Prue and Phoebe manage to control each other's powers, Piper is unable to heal Leo and he dies. Afterwards, she admits her love for him and discovers that it is the trigger for his power and heals him. She uses his powers to track down Daisy and Prue vanquishes Alec with his own power.
2222"Déjà Vu All Over Again"Les SheldonBrad Kern & Constance M. BurgeMay 26, 1999 (1999-05-26)43980215.6[2]
Phoebe experiences a powerful and deadly premonition of death at Halliwell manor which shows Inspector Rodriguez unmasked in a demonic attack on the sisters, resulting in Andy being killed. Vowing to prevent Andy's death, Prue heads to the police department to warn Andy that Rodriguez is a demon working undercover. As the Rodriguez makes plans for his attempt to kill the Charmed Ones, he receives a visit from Tempus (David Carradine), a demon who can turn back time that was sent by The Source to help in case he fails. Tempus rewinds time each time Rodriguez fails to kill the Charmed Ones until the warlock succeeds in killing all the sisters. Andy is waiting in his car, after being told by Prue to stay away because it was dangerous. He sees Rodriguez entering the house and goes in to protect Prue. Andy bursts in before Rodriguez can harm the sisters and attempts to shoot him, but Rodriguez fires an energy ball at Andy, killing him. Piper freezes Rodriguez and she and Phoebe are shocked to find Andy dead. Prue receives a vision from Andy's spirit, which helps her to move on. The sisters vanquish Rodriguez and attend Andy's funeral.

Notes

  1. ↑ The episode "When Bad Warlocks Turn Good" was originally scheduled for April 21, 1999, but after the Columbine High School Tragedy the episode was rescheduled for April 28, 1999 to pay respect to those who died.

Reception

In 2016, Gavin Hetherington of SpoilerTV ran a series of Charmed articles in the run-up to the 10th anniversary of the series finale. The first was a complete season review of season one, in which Gavin comments that he has "fond memories" of the season, despite it not being his favourite.[3] He further says that "even the bad episodes served their purpose, and the best episodes remained a favourite of mine until the very end." Of the character development, he wrote: "I couldn't think of a better way to introduce these three amazing, beautiful sister witches to the world, and they underwent a huge transformation from the pilot to the season finale."

Notes

  1. ↑ Milano was originally credited last but starting with the sixth episode, she is credited between Combs and King.
  2. ↑ Only credited for the episodes he appears in.

References

  1. ↑ "Charmed Reboot: Alyssa Milano Not Happy About Remake, Fans Hesitant". Inquisitr. October 25, 2013. Archived from the original on March 29, 2014.
  2. ↑ "TV Listings for – May 26, 1999". TV Tango. Archived from the original on March 29, 2014.
  3. ↑ Hetherington, Gavin (April 2, 2016). "Charmed – 10th Anniversary Special – Season 1 Review: "Something Wicca This Way Comes"". SpoilerTV. Retrieved April 9, 2016.
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