Note: This review contains spoilers for Charmed (2018) season one, episode one

In 2018, witches are having a moment. For the first time since the early 2000s, our interest in them has gained momentum, as evidenced in not only the Sabrina the Teenage Witch revamp The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, but even in the mainstream sale of spell-books and crystals, along with the general resurgence of conversations about spell-casting and witchy goings-on.

The excitement surrounding the new Charmed reboot, too, shows that for millennial-aged women at least that interest is far from over.

Charmed, airing from 1998 until 2006, followed a trio of sister-witches known as The Charmed Ones as they fought to protect innocent people from evil forces like demons and warlocks. Starring Shannen Doherty, Holly Marie Combs, Alyssa Milano and Rose McGowan, the show was hugely popular and part of a larger cultural moment that included Sabrina and Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Its comeback, now, then, feels like no coincidence.

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But how do you make something that's so of-its-time appealing to a new audience, while keeping the old one happy? How do you erase those problematic mistakes of the past? Well, if you're Charmed, you go in hard updating the story to be so on-the-nose "woke" that it's a giant punch to the face.

The Charmed reboot follows the same basic principles as the original – three sisters, Mel, Macy and Maggie (Madeleine Mantock, Melonie Diaz and Sarah Jeffery) have to unite to fight the powers of evil in the absence of their dead, magical mother. There are several healthy and necessary 2018 updates – the cast is more diverse, the middle sister is dating a woman. But the show shoehorns in so many extremely 2018 references that it starts to feel somehow anachronistic rather than sharply current.

The villain of episode one is – spoiler – a man working at the university who both killed the sisters' mother and assaulted a woman. The episode is centred around the controversies surrounding his case – the girls put up Time's Up posters and go to #MeToo protests, shouting against the professor's reinstatement while male students spout lines like, "It's a 'he said, she said situation'".

This analogy for the current climate (well, not even analogy – it's a straight depiction), with the women uniting to take down a cruel man, might have worked. There is nothing wrong with TV shaping narratives around current events to educate and entertain.

Related: Charmed boss wants original cast to appear in reboot – but not yet

But where Charmed fails to feel current is where its dialogue starts to sound as if it's making fun of current movements – a sorority sister says "Kappa is woke!" when they're planning to sit vigil for a victim. The man tasked with teaching them about witchcraft, their Whitelighter (Rupert Evans), says "being a witch is a fully pro-choice enterprise". A sister quips: "When it comes to consent I can change my mind anytime."

When a man says he's going to tell everyone about the sisters' takedown of the demon professor, they repeat the words "It's a 'he said, she said situation'" in a quippy, smug way before noting that they have "three shes".

Charmed takes an opportunity to tell these stories and update the show and turns it into a punchline, a cheap shot at a crucial cultural moment that feels more like it's laughing at the current situation than sitting alongside its female audience.

The CW

Aesthetically, the show feels hyper-shiny and refined, more Riverdale or Pretty Little Liars than the very '90s original. But away from #MeToo analogies, its dialogue still feels cheap in its attempts to prove just how current it is; a sorority sister says "we strive to be authentic" as she takes a selfie, the Whitelighter says the girls can "Snap or DM" him.

It is possible to include elements of modernity without feeling try-hard or outdated, but it's a line Charmed is struggling to toe.

Any reboot, always, will be fighting against the preconceived notions and disappointments of an already-present audience. A "feminist reboot" of a show already considered pretty feminist will have a lot to live up to, and sadly, Charmed's attempts feel more like they're making fun of consent, diversity, and other issues rather than a sharp commentary on the moment.

The evil assault perpetrator being an ancient demon who "drains women's strength" feels like a cop out, too – in life, rapists and abusive men are not demons, they are men. To say they are anything else, even as a metaphor, feels like an insult.

Hopefully the pilot of Charmed is just suffering with growing pains, struggling to live up to preexisting expectations while finding its own space as a show. Because it does have potential – providing it answers its calling and manages to drop the on-the-nose references and find just a little bit of nuance.

Charmed continues next Sunday at 9/8c on The CW in the US. The series will air on E4 in the UK, with a premiere date yet to be announced.

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