In a world reigned by superpowerful (and overpowering) streaming, everybody watches TV Shows and movies. Some might do it once a week, others several times a day, but most of us do it nonetheless… and by choice!

Take me, for example. I have this inner craving to consume content daily, episode after episode, and what’s more interesting to me is that I absolutely LOVE rewatches. I’m sure I’m not alone in this, but I have seen the complete series of Friends five times (according to my favorite tracking app, TV TIME), Desperate Housewives & Fringe three times, and so on… In total, I have spent more than 15 months watching stuff, not counting cartoons or Murder She Wrote reruns from my childhood years!

As I was thinking about something to blog about for a class I’m taking, I started to ask myself why. What about the original Charmed, for instance, makes me tick? What are the scenes from that show that touched my soul so deeply that I need to go back to them to find some comfort right before falling asleep when anxious thoughts are running wild?

So I decided to pick one of those moments and break it down. My therapist was very pleased about this, by the way; it’s apparently an excellent exercise for self-discovery and personal healing, so I hope this will inspire you, my reader, to do it too!

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Alrighty, then. Here’s one of my favorite Charmed scenes, a classic, the moment in the Pilot when Phoebe casts the spell that gives her and her sisters supernatural abilities.

For those of you who haven’t seen the show (do it!), Charmed is about three badass sisters who reunite after their Grandma’s death only to discover they descend from a long line of witches and that they’re destined to fight demons to keep evil from destroying humanity.

It was a chilly fall night in northern Italy. I was nine years old, cuddling with my mom under a thick, cozy blanket on a worn-out couch when we first watched this show as it aired in Italy in 1999. I remember my mom and I were so excited to start watching a show together! Those were the times of never-ending soap operas and continuous reruns, and she wanted to make Charmed our ongoing thing. Spoiler alert: it wasn’t. But that’s a different story.

Casting that spell infused Phoebe’s ordinary earthly existence with a bigger purpose, one she could achieve with the support of her family. So, of course, I relate to that quite a bit, especially given that I’ve finally found my “superpower“, but I need to dig deeper than that. In all honesty, to me, that moment represents my mom and I getting closer. With that enchantment, we started our magical journey alongside the Halliwell sisters. Considering that my mom now lives across the world from me, and I miss her a lot, it’s no wonder my 32-year-old self loves watching Charmed every night before sleep. It’s like a special lullaby, making me feel like I did in my mother’s arms as a little boy… safe and loved!

That was a pretty nice feeling. And who knows, maybe one day, my mom and I will get to watch one of my own magical stories on Television. Possibly on the brand new, fancy couch, I will have just bought her.

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What scene/moment/storyline from a movie or TV show from your past still affects your present?
I would love to know your story! Feel free to share in the (non-judgemental) comment section or on your social media. Remember to tag me!