Things that are dark about Bewitched but seem to be ignored

[TMC]

1. Magic exists in the Bewitched universe - Basically there is no need to expend time and effort in that universe as there are beings who possess the ability to alter time, harness vast amounts of energy, and who can transmute matter. The myriad problems that this would create seem to be glossed over by the writers even when doing making it necessary to come up with deus ex machina solutions for some of the narratives.
2. There’s almost no way that Samantha wouldn’t have influenced Darrin’s career, even subtly - It’s shown that Samantha Stephens had few qualms about using magic and there was almost no way that she wouldn’t have done so to assist Darrin, even if she did so in subtle and barely perceptible manners. Darrin would have realized this at some point and that would have made him doubt his own abilities.
3. Serena almost certainly had sex with Darrin - The show has her imitate her cousin twice and she was so good at doing that she fooled Darrin into believing that she was indeed his wife. There’s no reason to believe that this wouldn’t have included intimacy at some point.
4. Endora, Samantha’s mother, could have killed Darrin at any point - She clearly did not like him, she enchanted him on several occasions, and she demonstrated few compunctions against using her powers when it suited her to do so. Darrin realized this and he probably lived in fear that at any time she could simply wipe him from existence at a whim.
5. Samantha and the other “witches and warlocks” seem to be a biologically different species than humanity - Besides the fact that they required a specialist Samantha’s magical abilities were somehow inherited by her daughter, Tabitha. This means that they are somehow biological different than “normal” human beings and that would have made Darrin’s relationship with her rather “odd” to say the least.

Are there any others?

[tcr1701]

Endora, Samantha’s mother, could have killed Darrin at any point

Well....Maurice actually did kill him seemingly (in season 1 when they first met) and Endora said she didn't want a mortal's death on her conscience and made him bring him back to life.

[KatieAnn]

Samantha did use magic to influence and assist Darrin in his career, but innocently denied it, or acted confused when Darrin questioned her about it, and sometimes she openly did so and they both knew it - Darrin accepted it in time, on the rare occasions when Sam did something to help him along, because usually it was her family who caused trouble for Darrin and she just wanted to straighten things out for Darrin.

Serena was a naughty women, a trickster, but she is shown to have her limits. Serena had an opportunity to have sex with Darrin when she was impersonating Samantha for the day so that Samantha could go to some witch meeting. Darrin took "Samantha" to a romantic inn where they had spent time before, but Serena freaked out and they ended up going back home. As time went by Serena seemed to grow to dislike Darrin more and more, she liked to play pranks, but she probably wouldn't want to betray her cousin in a way that was irreversable, and having sex with your cousin's husband would have been irreversable.

Endora may have wanted to be rid of Darrin, but as mentioned in this thread, she has said that she didn't want a mortal's death on her conscience. Also it would be the one thing that Samantha would never forgive. Darrin must have felt safe, ultimately, from Endora, because he knew that Samantha's feelings for him kept Endora from killing him. Plus the fact that witches live 100s or 1000s of years would mean that sooner rather than later, Darrin would be dead, Samantha and Endora would have barely aged at all, and Endora could have her daughter back the way she wanted her. What's 40-50 years to beings that are immortal? Endora was just impatient, but time was on her side.

[PracTz]

Obviously, they couldn't show it on 1960's network TV, but Endora seemed to have zero compunctions whatsoever to pop into the Stephenses' bedroom at any time of the day or night. Obviously, they couldn't have depicted on 1960's TV but there seemed virtually nothing that would have stopped her from popping in right in the middle of when things were hot and heavy between her daughter and son-in-law (and Samantha barely did more than do an occasional 'Oh, Mother'- when she WAS shown popping in). Yes, it can't have been easy to be married but having the knowledge that Endora could pop in at ANY moment (and didn't seem above to SPY on them regardless of how 'private' the moments were supposed to be).

Of course, one odd thing about the show's witches was that while they could zap themselves (and each other other) to be whatever they wanted at the moment, not only was Samantha able to get pregnant by a mortal but it seemed that all female witches had the same kind of pregnancies as female mortals.

[Dick York was Darrin]

I wouldn't say Serina tricked Darrin into having sex. It got to the point that Darrin could tell the difference, as evidenced in the episode where Serina tried to trick Darrin into kissing her, and Darrin smacked her on the butt, and said, "Don't you ever try that again Serina!" And walked away.

[Hazel Anyday]

Also weird is that if Sam is supposed to be over 500 years old, how is it she was never married or had any kids before Darrin came along? She could have populated the whole state by the time Darrin showed up and what happened to her many husbands before? Did she only marry mortals so they all kicked off just in time for Sam to marry another? The whole situation is odd, but that's why it's a comedy show and not a documentary.

[Dick York was Darrin]

Originally Posted by Hazel Anyday

Also weird is that if Sam is supposed to be over 500 years old, how is it she was never married or had any kids before Darrin came along? She could have populated the whole state by the time Darrin showed up and what happened to her many husbands before? Did she only marry mortals so they all kicked off just in time for Sam to marry another? The whole situation is odd, but that's why it's a comedy show and not a documentary.

Heck, what about Endora too? Would she have not learned not to be so meddlesome with some of Samantha's other husbands in the past? It all seems like it's the first time around for all of them. Strange.

[Charley Knox]

Beside the fact witches and warlocks worship the devil, I dunno?

[merlinjones]

Comic artist Bernie Wrightson did a very funny (and racy) parody of Bewitched for National Lampoon (in the 70s I think) - in which Samantha and Endora were satanic witches calling upon demons to clean up a mess of poisonous toads before Darrin gets home.

[TheLittleFaerie]

Samantha could have cured cancer, fed all the starving people in the world, and ended world poverty but for some reason didn't. That seems immoral to me, to be able to better the world but just not do it, when it wouldn't cost you anything.

Samantha could have answered the age-old question, "Does a God exist", Just ZAP the answer on a piece of paper, "Yes" or "No", either answer would be telling. Any "fuzzy" answer would seem to indicate that some God was interfering with the answer.

As far as Endora killing Darrin, I wanna think the Witches were under some sort of "ethics code". If a witch killed someone, I wanna think they would face some sort of punishment from the Witches' Counsel. If I recall rightly that happened sometimes when a witch would do something unethical.

I also wanna think the were under some type of code to like not fool someone's spouse into having sex with them....not to "pop" in on ppl in the bathroom, having sex, or doing private activities like this.

[80sTrivia]

Was the fact that both Tabitha and Adam were part mortal and would potentially live for eternity ever discussed? This would require a great deal of counseling for the children. If Samantha was 500-years-old and could still procreate, when did a witch reach "menopause"? Presumably, Endora was past the giving-birth stage in her life, and wasn't she over a thousand-years old? But as a witch, couldn't she just cast a spell to create a baby? Why bother going through the painful mess of childbirth?

I do remember a Witches Counsel on Bewitched. I suppose they had to have some formal committee to keep their members from turning Earth into a complete three-ring circus, like it is now! If Sam was the first witch to ever marry and have children with a mortal, wouldn't she have been brought up on charges by the counsel?

American Horror Story: Coven borrowed the concept of the witches counsel for their series!

[80sTrivia]

Endora, Samantha’s mother, could have killed Darrin at any point - She clearly did not like him, she enchanted him on several occasions, and she demonstrated few compunctions against using her powers when it suited her to do so. Darrin realized this and he probably lived in fear that at any time she could simply wipe him from existence at a whim.

This apparently didn't bother Darrin too much, as he was constantly antagonizing Endora with as she put it "empty, pointless threats". He was always railing against Endora about her butting into his life with Samantha, angering her into doing all kinds of nasty things to him. He never seemed to learn a lesson from it!

[TheLittleFaerie]

Originally Posted by 80sTrivia

Was the fact that both Tabitha and Adam were part mortal and would potentially live for eternity ever discussed? This would require a great deal of counseling for the children. If Samantha was 500-years-old and could still procreate, when did a witch reach "menopause"? Presumably, Endora was past the giving-birth stage in her life, and wasn't she over a thousand-years old? But as a witch, couldn't she just cast a spell to create a baby? Why bother going through the painful mess of childbirth?

I do remember a Witches Counsel on Bewitched. I suppose they had to have some formal committee to keep their members from turning Earth into a complete three-ring circus, like it is now! If Sam was the first witch to ever marry and have children with a mortal, wouldn't she have been brought up on charges by the counsel?

American Horror Story: Coven borrowed the concept of the witches counsel for their series!

If someone told me I gotto live indefinitly, I would be like "YAY!!!" No getting sick, no alzeimers, no dementia, no heart disease, no cancer. I've always feared death and the process of dying so that would be great relief to me!

[tcr1701]

Originally Posted by TheLittleFaerie

Samantha could have cured cancer, fed all the starving people in the world, and ended world poverty but for some reason didn't. That seems immoral to me, to be able to better the world but just not do it, when it wouldn't cost you anything.

Oddly, I Dream of Jeannie did address some of this in a way. Tony got Jeannie's power for a day and said he could stop wars in the world. Jeannie warned him to be careful because stopping one war could start five others. So at least in terms of that kind of power (in another show) there was real world implications in changing too much.

And Bewitched kind of answered the question on disease cures with "There's Gold in Them Pills" in which Dr Bombay was needed to cure a cold (instead of Samantha zapping it away). And witch medicine didn't work on humans. But (again in another show) Jeannie did have the power to cure disease or injuries in people.

[TheLittleFaerie]

Originally Posted by tcr1701

Oddly, I Dream of Jeannie did address some of this in a way. Tony got Jeannie's power for a day and said he could stop wars in the world. Jeannie warned him to be careful because stopping one war could start five others. So at least in terms of that kind of power (in another show) there was real world implications in changing too much.

And Bewitched kind of answered the question on disease cures with "There's Gold in Them Pills" in which Dr Bombay was needed to cure a cold (instead of Samantha zapping it away). And witch medicine didn't work on humans. But (again in another show) Jeannie did have the power to cure disease or injuries in people.

Yeah I remember that I Dream of Jeannie episode, I did think it was sorta strange that Tony let the power go to his head that fast, I mean he had a Jeannie that could have done this all along, or he could have gotten her to give him magic to do it also.... it was just funny how it IN THAT MOMENT dawned on him that he could improve the world. lol

I mean I would necessarily advocate for making a utopia out of the world ~maybe ~ But if I had Samantha or Jeannie powers, I would definitely eleminate the things that make the world HORRIBLE