Finale to the "Tabitha's a Witch" trilogy with Tabitha's powers being tested (despite her "unfortunate lineage") by a "designated coven:" Clara, Endora, Hagatha, Enchantra. All relatives to the testing tyke. Seems like a pretty biased coven until the latter three show nasty sides by suggesting to take the little witchlet away to a boarding school.
This is another unusual example of when Endora not only turns against Darrin but Samantha as well, calling them both "incompetent." Maurice Evans lights up the screen (literally) and shows some softness while also showing that he is more powerful than anyone and it's fun to see Endora
get her much-deserved comeuppance. Marion Lorne is especially charming in this.
"Bewitched" is sometimes at its most fun when it really explores the "witch" side of life (as opposed to the usual Darrin-in-a-jam-with-client scenario) and the crew goes all out to play with shadows & lighting & interesting camera angles -- all creating a weird atmosphere. Check out the bouncing ball at the opening -- it sets the witchly mood perfectly!
LOOK FOR: After Maurice arrives and Sam says, "Daddy!", Marion Lorne accidentally bops Erin on the head in her playpen and apologizes! The "charm" that Maurice gives Sam to call him is actually an inverted TRUMPET piece.
GUEST STARS: Reta Shaw played the cook in "Mary Poppins" and the Housekeeper in "Ghost & Mrs. Muir." Estelle Winwood, a very famous British stage actress was 83 when she filmed this (!) and was featured in the Marilyn Monroe flick, "The Misfits."
DIANE WATCH: That's Diane being tested by the coven.
OOPS!: As the fruit basket flies upstairs, look at the upper left corner to see very briefly the shadow of the rod that it's attached to!
© Review Copyright 1997 by SCOTT VIETS