Charmed- Original Episode Air Date May 17, 2000

As many of you who read my reviews know, I am a "Charmed" fan from the first season. I like the show, I like the stories, I like the characters, and though there are some silly or below-average episodes, I believe the series, as a whole, is a good one, and not a bad portrayal of Witchcraft, at least in the "Hollywood" sense. This is why I was so disappointed by a feature of this most recent episode in the lives of the Halliwell sisters.

Overall the episode was pretty good, a devious Genie played by "Third Rock from the Sun" regular French Stewart agrees to help destroy the sisters in return for his permanent freedom from his bottle. He makes a pact with an evil warlock and a dark council of evil beings to deliver the Charmed Ones, or else he's toast (Literally; the warlock could breathe fire, neat trick, really)

It is in this scene that the show really took a turn to the anti-Wiccan. The "dark council" (they never do say who they are) are a group of large (8-9 foot tall) bearded men wearing red ritual robes. On the back of these robes were embroidered large, upright pentacles, shown several times in excruciating detail. It pains me to see a writing team capable of terrific, pro-Witch material (See my other review HERE) make such a harsh faux-pas connecting the upright Pentacle with a group of evildoers, especially since there have already been at least two episodes that cover the pentacle properly.

It's details like this that create confusion over what the modern Wiccan movement is all about. It may seem minor to some, but the unfortunate truth is that many people today believe what they see on TV, even on fictional shows. I have already had someone at work, who has seen my pentacle countless times without comment, ask about it in reference to this "Charmed" episode in the past week.

Overall I still liked the episode as a "Charmed" episode, but with those scenes in it, the episode certainly delivered a negative blow to true Witches and strengthened a negative stereotype we are all working hard to overcome.