This was yet another solid episode of Charmed. It has the distinction of being the first episode where one of the sisters is transformed into a demon, Phoebe gets a job, and Andy finds himself a victim of a demon attack. All in all, there were many elements present which made for good television viewing.
Let us start with Phoebe’s new employment situation. In this episode she takes a job as Prue’s assistant at Buckland’s. From the standpoint of their already tense relationship, it seems like a not so great combination for the two of them to be working together, but they actually make a pretty good team. Of course, being around a bunch of valuable items inevitably means that Phoebe gets a premonition off of one of them, a bracelet with the initials TL on it. This results in the episodes subplot, in which Phoebe and Prue, though mostly Phoebe, reunite Terri with her mother. It was a sweet, just emotional enough scene that served to emphasize two things. First, the sisters can use their powers to help people even when no supernatural evil is involved. We have seen this before in some of the early episodes, but recently it seems like it has been all evil all the time. The second point is that whenever there is a situation which does not require more than one sister to help someone, Phoebe is always the one who does the leg work to actually help. My theory is that this has something to do with the fact that, being the one with the power of premonition, Phoebe is innately more connected to the problems she sees in her visions. While Piper and Prue might interpret something as not being a big deal, Phoebe is literally watching these things unfold and knows just how significant and important they actually are. Hence, she is more apt to put forth the effort on a seemingly simple case.
Now let us move on to the wendigo story. Agent Fallon was pretty much just straight up creepy throughout. It’s not terribly surprising that she ends up being the wendigo. Possibly the most underused part of this story was the fact that Prue decides to tell Andy the truth about the wendigo attack. I’d really like to know exactly what, and how much she told him about what actually happened. There are ways with that scenario of completely avoiding revealing any magical discussion points, so I’m curious as to how much she revealed. In terms of the vanquish, I thought it was really clever to have Piper’s freezing power be the distinguishing element between the two wendigos. I really felt for Phoebe, who had to make a split second decision as to which one to fire the flare at, knowing that there was a 50/50 chance that she would be shooting at her own sister, and she did. Thank goodness the wendigo thing didn’t affect Piper’s powers, or that could have been an ugly situation.
Overall, the episode is a fairly interesting one. I’m not sure that it is one of my favorites, but it does have a fun demon story. Obviously this episode and the one before are in some ways filler episodes since the “big bad” was already vanquished. I’m curious to see how they introduce the new one for the second half of the season, as I don’t remember specifically how it happens. On to the next episode.
Best Moment:
-Piper attempting to jack up the car with a wooden spoon
Best Sibling Moment:
-Piper finally has the opportunity to reciprocate the support she has received from Phoebe by encouraging her about her new job with Prue
Best Quote(s):
Phoebe: Piper, you’re stranded and you’re all alone and the only thing you have to protect yourself with is a wooden spoon that’s broken.
Piper: And I have the power to freeze. I’m fine, it’s better than mace.
Prue: Can you start tomorrow?
Phoebe: Yes. Hey, can you give me a ride?