Charmed S01E01 "Pilot" Recap

Maggie and Mel Vera are sisters summoned home via a text from their mother Marisol. Unbeknownst to them, she is a witch practicing magic and performing a spell before she is murdered. The unknown threat that is coming after her leaves her when she says that she has three, a likely reference to the Power of Three. The sisters are distraught when they come home and find their mother murdered, seemingly thrown from the window of the attic.

Three months pass and the sisters are estranged. Mel blames Maggie for Marisol's death, as Maggie had decided to leave home in order to pledge to a sorority. The law enforcement have ruled the death as accidental, believing she was drunk and trying to fix a windows when she simply fell out of the window.

Macy Vaughn works as a molecular biologist working at Hilltowne University under a Professor Than, who has just been reinstated after being accused of sexual harassment from multiple students. Macy visits Maggie and Mel after seeing the news about Marisol's death and introduces herself as their older half-sister. She shows them a photo of herself as a baby being held by Marisol in front of the house.

Mel is suspicious of Macy, wondering what she could want after this personal tragedy. Macy leaves, insulted by the insinuation that she would be after money at a time like this. Mel had been lead to believe that her mother died when she was two. The three sisters had been frightened by a surge when they were first reunited that knocked out the electricity in the house. After Macy leaves she seems to have developed telekinetic powers, though she doesn't quite put together what has happened.

Maggie develops the power of telepathy and is frightened by hearing the thoughts of the other women pledging to the sorority. Mel develops the ability to freeze time and struggles to control it while out for a coffee date with her on-again, off-again girlfriend Niko.

The three sisters are brought back to the house and wake frightened, which is perfectly understandable since they've all been tied to some chairs. A man introduces himself as Harry Greenwood. He has been disguising himself at the university as a professor and the new chair of the women's studies department. He says that he is their Whitelighter and explains to them that they are witches. Their mother had been working to undo the binding spells she had cast to hide their powers before she was killed. Now the sisters have 48 hours to decide whether to embrace their powers or give them up and return to their regular, non-magical lives.

Maggie doesn't want to be a witch, afraid of the threats that will come with taking this responsibility. Mel wants to take on the challenge since it's what their mother wanted. Macy is skeptical that magic or witches are even real, as her strong scientific background makes her less inclined to believe in such fantastical things. But the sisters need to decide and come to a unanimous decision.

Maggie heads out to visit her sorority house but has to turn back around and return home when she is attacked by a demon dog. She has a sample of the demon slobber for Macy to examine. The sisters become suspicious of the people around them and Maggie's ex is revealed to be possessed by a demo nwho tries to attack her. But with the help of Macy's scientific know-how they're able to exorcise him using baking soda. Macy is no longer a skeptic about the world of magic being real.

Following this victory, Mel ends up lured into a trap by Thaine, who is actually the archdeacon Taydeus. He is an upper-level demon who has lived for centuries by feeding off the strength of strong women. The sisters need to accept their magic or else they won't be able to stop Taydeus or even remember meeting one another. They embrace their magic and use the Power of Three to kill Taydeus but also learn that he wasn't the demon who killed Marisol.

Later that night, Maggie discovers a ouija board that they are able to use together to contact Marisol's spirit in the afterlife. She offers up a warning that they need to not trust Harry.

Charmed airs on Sundays on the CW at 9/8c.