Witches of East End (Lifetime, Sundays 10/9 Central) Review

Witches of East End

Lifetime, Sundays 10/9 Central

Oct 06, 2013 By Lily Moayeri Web Exclusive

The Beauchamps are a witching family. Freya (Mrs. Channing Tatum, Jenna Dewan) and Ingrid (Rachel Boston) are daughters to Joanna (Julia Ormond) and nieces to her sister, Wendy (Twin Peaks' Mädchen Amick), all of whom are witches. The girls don't know they are witches. Instead, they are perpetually confused about premonitions, abilities, and unexplained things that keep happening around them. In the middle of her engagement party, Freya, whose hair flower changes color according to her mood, ditches her fiancé, Dash (Eric Winter) to make out with his brother, Killian (Daniel DiTomasso), whom she didn't know existed until that evening. Aunt Wendy, apparently on her umpteenth life, shows up out of nowhere with outrageous tales of her adventures, including dying by being eaten by an alligator while living in New Orleans and running a voodoo shop. It comes to the surface that Joanna has been hiding the fact that they're witches from her daughters so they can escape their inevitable fate of demise. Turns out Joanna has been pregnant with an Ingrid and Freya numerous times throughout countless lives, has taught them magic, and they have died. This time, she's determined to keep magic—and, in the process, death—away from them. That doesn't work, as someone from the past shows up and tries to kill Freya by shoving her into one of her previous lives in a painting, so Joanna has to come clean about them being witches.

Witch-themed shows work better when both the witches and the target audience are teenagers. The grown-up witches on Witches of East End are just a little too ridiculous—even more so than the witch sister trio of Charmed. Is Wendy named so because of the comic book witch? She even shape-shifts as a black cat. The clichés are too silly and obvious. Plus, the witches—both generations—are so vampy and sexy, kind of like a less carved and waxy Elvira. A touch of The Vampire Diaries, a touch of True Blood, with a good dollop of ABC Family teen soaps, Witches of East End has the potential to become a guilty pleasure, but not for long. (www.mylifetime.com/shows/witches-of-east-end)

Author rating: 4/10