Something Wicca This Way Comes

"Something Wicca This Way Comes"

Something Wicca This Way Comes is the first episode of The WB drama series, Charmed. This is the series premiere of Charmed and the second pilot for the series. The original pilot never aired. The unaired pilot was shot in the actual manor that is shown on the show. After replacing Lori Rom, the show moved to a sound studio. Lori Rom left Charmed because of personal reasons. Executive producer Aaron Spelling asked Alyssa Milano, whom he knew from Melrose Place, to replace Rom as "Phoebe" and she accepted. Alyssa Milano has played Phoebe ever since.

Synopsis

Phoebe Halliwell returns to the Manor of her childhood, where her two sisters Piper Halliwell and Prue Halliwell currently live. She ventures up to the attic sometime later after mysteriously receiving a message from the family spirit board. In the attic, she finds a huge book entitled "The Book of Shadows". She reads an incantation from it, giving her and her sisters their destined powers; Phoebe with premonitions, Piper can freeze particles and energy, and Prue has telekinesis. Later on, Prue quits her job due to the fact that Roger, her boss and ex-fiancé, is giving her a very hard time. Piper learns of her power when she gets frustrated and accidentally freezes time. Phoebe is riding her bike when she has her first premonition of two boys on skates getting hit by a car. She pushes them out of the way and is thrown off her bike by the car. While Phoebe is in the hospital, Prue meets up with her high school boyfriend, Andy, who is a detective. Piper goes out with her boyfriend, Jeremy, later on, only to discover he is a warlock who has been involved in the recent murders of three witches. Just before he stabs her with an athame, a ceremonial knife that is sometimes used by witches to channel their powers, she freezes time and runs home to Prue and Phoebe. They cast a spell on Jeremy, who is coming to the Manor, and he stops, screaming in agony due to the fact the spell caused thorns to shoot out of his body. Piper and Prue think the job is done until Phoebe has a premonition of Jeremy still running back to the Manor. He bursts into the house and comes up to the attic where Piper, Prue and Phoebe recite a spell that vanquishes him for good. The next day, the three sisters realize that they won't be able to get rid of their destiny, but have to embrace it.

Book of Shadows

Enemies

• Jeremy Burns: A low level warlock who romances female witches to get their powers and kill them. Jeremy posed as a reporter, tricking women into dating him. Jeremy was capable of changing the shape of his face, ignite flames from his fingers, telekinesis, disintegrate objects, and project energy bolts from an athame. He is also capable of adjusting. He is after the Charmed Ones' powers and knows that they will be released after Grams dies. He starts dating Piper Halliwell so he can keep an eye on the sisters. Once Grams dies and Phoebe returns, he makes his move and is vanquished by the Halliwell Sisters.

Spells

• To Lose a Love forever: Use a basket, poppet, nine candles anointed with oils and spices, and a rose given from the lover. Put basket and poppet on a table, encircled by the candles. To make it stronger, bind rose to poppet and press thorns into it. Place poppet in the basket and burn while saying the spell. Your love will wither and depart From my life and my heart Let me be, (name) And go away forever.

• How to vanquish your first warlock: The power of three will set us free. repeat this spell until the evil being is destroyed.

• Dominus Tritunus: Hear now the words of the witches. The secrets we hid in the night. The oldest of Gods are invoked here. The great work of magic is sought. In this night and in this hour. We call upon the Ancient Power. Bring your powers to us sisters three! We want the power! Give us the power.

Episode Stars

• Shannen Doherty as Prue Halliwell
• Holly Marie Combs as Piper Halliwell
• T.W. King as Andy Trudeau
• Dorian Gregory as Darryl Morris
• Alyssa Milano as Phoebe Halliwell

Co-Stars

• Lonnie Partridge as Woman
• Charmaine Cruz as Admitting Nurse
• Hugh Holub as Pharmacist
• Francesca Cappucci as News Reporter
• Eric Scott Woods as Jeremy Burns

Trivia

• When Jeremy attacks Piper in the elevator, Piper freezes him and the entire elevator stops moving (allowing her to get out). However, when Jeremy unfreezes, the elevator remains still. If time unfroze, the elevator should have continued going up and thus, Jeremy would have been unable to get to Piper.
• When Phoebe receives her first premonitoin, she doesn't touch the boys or the car. However, it is established later on in the show that her premonition powers are triggered by touching something that the premonition has something to do about. It is only later that Phoebe can receive premonitions without needing to touch something.
• The name of this episode is a play on words from Shakespeare's Macbeth. There are three witches, known as the Weird Sisters. The line is "By the pricking of my thumbs, something wicked this way comes." The title was also used by author Ray Bradbury in his book Something Wicked this Way Comes, and also by author Agatha Christie in her book By the Pricking of My Thumbs.
• At the beginning of the episode, when Piper is running up the steps outside the house, she has an umbrella over her head, but when she hangs it up inside, its a different umbrella.
• After Phoebe tries to open the Attic and then it opens by itself, you see that it seems like she is aiming the light inside the attic but when the camera is back to her she moves the light inside the attic
• When Piper comes running into the manor after Jeremy attacks her, she locks the front door. But after the sisters used the puppet and said the spell, Prue came running down the stairs and opened the front door without unlocking it.
• When Jeremy is frozen in the elevator, his mouth is open from the front view. When we look side on, his mouth is shut.
• This is the highest rated episode of Charmed in the entire series.
• Ironically, neither Alyssa, Holly, or Shannen have sisters in real life.
• Some think, erroneously, that Prue first used her hands to move an object in the episode Out of Sight, but she first used her hands in this episode when she made Rogger's tie strangle him.
• When Prue is talking to Andy at the end of the episode,at first she is holding the newspaper on her right and the word 'The' is facing toward the camera. Then,when the camera moves back to her after turning to Andy twice,she is holding it on her left and the letters,'zetter' are facing toward the camera.
• It is ironic that Phoebe receives the power of premonitions as Prue stated in this episode that "Phoebe has no sense of the future whatsoever"

• It is ironic also that Piper receives the power to freeze time as Prue also mentions that Piper is always late and freezing time "allows" Piper more time.
• When Piper and Prue read the inscription their mother wrote, it reads, " The light will leads to to fimd the Shadows, the power of three will set you free, love mom ." This means that when Phoebe went to the attic, she found the lighted chest. Hence the light from above led her to find the book of SHADOWS. Plus the rest of the insctption was used to vanquish Jeremy later in the episode.

International titles

• French: Le livre des ombres (The Book of Shadows)
• German: Das Buch der Schatten (The Book of Shadows)
• Italian: Il Libro delle Ombre (The Book of Shadows)
• Spanish: Por aquí llega algo mágico (Something Magical This Way Comes)
• Macedonia: Knigata na Senkite (The Book of Shadows)
• Polish: Księga cieni (The Book of Shadows)