Charmed (TV Series) Dead Man Dating (1998) User Reviews

Piper's First Ghost

[seneuser · 9/10 · 5 October 2023]

This is the first truly great episode of Charmed. The writing and the acting is brilliant. Bravo to everyone involved. I was very tempted to give it a 10, but I just know even better episodes of Charmed are still out there.

John Cho, of all people, is absolutely perfect as the young man who is stunned when his life is suddenly taken. As time goes by, you can see the loss bloom on his face as he begins to realize everything that he has lost and everything that he took for granted. His chemistry with Holly is absolutely fantastic and their impossible love story pulls at the heartstrings as you know it can lead to nothing but pain for both of them.

If you didn't already know that Piper is the heart of this show, then you should know that now. Holly is fantastic in the emotional scenes, and the younger Piper is so lovable for her open-hearted tenderness. It is on Piper's heartstrings that we would all eventually become hooked, and the show would play them endlessly.

I dig the fact that the episode is named after a movie while being obviously inspired by a much different movie. Taking story-lines from movies would become a regular thing for Charmed, and my feeling on that is it is totally fine as long as you take from GOOD movies. This would be one of them.

Again, credit to the writers for pulling from Chinese lore. That's the hodgepodge of Season 1. A little bit of everything. Also this episode is kind of different in that the bad guy is a normal human and the sisters ultimately don't vanquish him.

There is a great message here. Live large, love large, and seize the day because you don't know how many of them you have.

Impossible Love

[claudio_carvalho · 10/10 · 9 January 2007]

In Chinatown, on the day of his birthday, Mark Chao (John Chao) is killed by the chief of a gang, Tony Wong (Joe Hoe), without any apparent motive. His body is burned in an alley, and the police wrongly identify the corpse as being the mobster Tony. The spirit of Mark contacts Piper and Phoebe asking for help, once if he is not buried in a short time, the gatekeeper of the gates of hell Yama would take his soul to hell. Piper helps Mark and they fall in love for each other. Meanwhile, Piper and Phoebe are organizing a surprise party for Prue's birthday and Phoebe works as a psychic in the lobby of a hotel to earn money and buy a gift for Prue. When Phoebe foresees the death of one guest, she tries to save his life. Prue meets Andy having lunch with his ex-wife and she feels betrayed.

"Dead Man Dating" is the best episode of "Charmed" so far. The impossible love of Piper and Mark is very beautiful. Phoebe wearing costumes of odalisque is very funny. The distrustful and insecure Prue has a great problem to trust on Andy. My vote is ten.

Title (Brazil): "Um Encontro com um Morto" ("A Dating With a Dead")

The One With The Ghost...

[taylorkingston · 10/10 · 28 October 2014]

I love this episode. I love that John Cho was in it. He just seems to make everything better. I like the aspect of Piper falling for a ghost. It adds to her list of people she liked or loved in the show. It was a demon, a ghost, a white lighter, a next door neighbor and that was pretty much it.

In this episode, we the sisters meet a ghost, Mark. He is in trouble and needs supernatural help. He was murdered so that people would think that a criminal was dead. They both looked alike. Now, he is in trouble for an ancient demon that steals dead peoples' souls. He needs to have a proper burial or the demon will take his soul. He goes to the sisters, as they are the only ones who can see him and the only ones who can help. They eventually find the man responsible, freeze him, take a photo of him with the newspaper article saying he was dead, and then they send it to Andy. The cops find him and shoot him after he tried to escape. His soul ends up being taken by the demon, let's face it, who cares? He was a thug and a murderer, he deserves to be punished and tortured for all eternity. Mark gets a funeral, so now he is safe. He says goodbye to Piper, who at this point, had a big crush, and then he goes to the afterlife with his deceased father.

Overall, I give this episode a 10 out of 10.

A fun and happy episode

[akiroshi · 10/10 · 8 December 2022]

I love how they portrait Mark in the series. A humorous guy with a kind heart. It's good to see a "good" supernatural being after having those warlocks here and there.

Phoebe working as a psychic and wearing that pink outfit is so cute. She grew a lot from the past and now truly appreciate how her powers can be so helpful in saving people's life.

Piper is sweet as always. It's good that she finally meet a crush that is not trying to kill her. The interaction between her and Mark was truly beautiful and heartwarming.

Prue has finally smiled to Andy at the birthday party. I was afraid they're going to be in cold for a long time. And she got a gift from Phoebe finally, it's funny to see them mentioning Phoebe only gift birthday card 3 days late in the past.

Not a bad episode but a racist line irked me

[deeeeekun · 6/10 · 11 April 2022]

When the police finds Mark's body and it makes the news, Prue comments that Mark and Tony look so much alike it could confuse the cops. They look nothing like each other.

Fall under their spell

[Realrockerhalloween · 8 September 2016]

Not my favorite since it deals with depressing issues and tries to be too sentimental. While I enjoy the folk lore involving different culture this seemed to be a little out there. Mark was a great guy, but the story was to focused on him and not on the sisters. The best stories are told when it deals with their lives and not the men. Also it has the same problem as my last review where the threats aren't menacing enough to keep your attention.

Yet a few things I liked where the music, the homely clothes the girls wear and exploring different parts of San Francisco. While I Love the house and opening credits it would be boring of it was the same set all the time. Piper really shows her good heart, her vulnerability and fearless nature you never knew she had until this came along.

Don't go in expecting a great story, but look for the good in any ep and How the sisters develop because of it. I would say for the effort it does deserve some recognition for all the positive traits the girls gain from this experience.