Blu-Ray/TV Series Review: Charmed (2018)

 

This is the complete series of the Charmed reboot that aired for four seasons from 2018 to 2022. It was created by the original series' showrunner, Constance M. Burge, and starred Melonie Diaz, Madeleine Mantock, and Sarah Jeffery as the three sister witches known as the "Charmed Ones." Rupert Evans also starred as Harry, the whitelighter guardian of the sisters. The supporting cast included Ser'Darius Blain, Ellen Tamaki, Nick Hargrove, Jordan Donica, Poppy Drayton, Valerie Cruz, Natalie Hall, Craig Parker, Eric Balfour, Peyton List, and Lucy Barrett. 

The reboot series shared some similarities with the original series, but was also very different. While some similar storylines were used, the reboot series used much more serial storytelling where the episodes built on each other and did not have as many monster-of-the-week storylines. It also included real-world issues in the storylines, and definitely took a more "woke" stance (to the extent that is really a thing) on social issues. The series did get flack for not tying more closely to the original series or including any of the actors from the original series, although the showrunners indicated that was by design saying that they wanted to tell the story from a different standpoint. They came up with a clever explanation for why the Halliwell sisters are not mentioned in the series, however, if the show had continued, the writers were clearly setting up a tie-in to the original series.

The blu-ray set is a 16-disc set. Each season has its own case, holding anywhere from two to four discs, that is packaged in a decorative outer box. At least in the US, the blu-rays are only available in the complete series release, the individual seasons were only released on DVD. Most of the seasons have bonus content, including behind-the-scenes material featuring interviews with the cast members and showrunners, and gag reels. 

The series pays homage to, but is not a carbon copy of the original series. Some aspects of the reboot series were much better than the original series. For example, the special effects in this series are light-years beyond those in the original series. This version has much more diversity in the cast and in general the storylines are a bit less cheesy than in the original series. Although, this one  definitely has some of the same kind of soap opera-ish elements to the storylines that the original series had. Ultimately, this series was good, but if you really loved the original series this one might be too different for you. That said, I do think it is worth the time to check out.