"THE CONTROVERSY OF PRUE HALLIWELL'S DEATH"
Many fans of the old "CHARMED" series had believed Phoebe Halliwell was to blame for the death of her oldest sister Prue Halliwell in the Season Three episode, (3.22) "All Hell Breaks Loose". It almost seemed as if many wanted to use her as some kind of scapegoat. I am sorry, but I had found this idea extremely difficult to accept. I still do. I wonder if any "CHARMED" fan had ever considered that Prue bore most of the responsibility for her own death? I wonder if many fans had forgotten how the whole mess in "All Hell Breaks Loose" had started in the first place?
It had all started because Prue had forgotten the very lesson the sisters had learned in the Season One episode, (1.16) "Which Prue Is it, Anyway?" - the best offense is defense. The episode "All Hell Breaks Loose" began with the sisters being attacked by a demonic assassin, Shax, while protecting a Dr. Griffiths from him. Although Shax managed to seriously wound both Prue and middle sister Piper Halliwell, Phoebe used a spell that vanquished Shax . . . temporarily. Their whitelighter and Piper Halliwell's husband, Leo Wyatt, healed his wife and Prue in time.
Unfortunately, the sisters had expressed uncertainty that Phoebe vanquished Shax. Even worse, Prue forgot the lesson of "Which Prue Is It, Anyway?" and insisted that she and Piper leave the manor to track down Shax. The sisters could have remained at the manor and prepared themselves for another attack by Shax. Instead, Prue dragged Piper out of the manor. When they encountered Shax again and vanquished him – well, Piper vanquished him with her second power - a television news crew videotaped their action. This turned out to be the very incident that set-in motion the events leading to Prue's death. Not Phoebe's decision to find and save her half-demonic love, Cole Turner aka Belthazor.
Following Prue and Piper's exposure, Phoebe had announced her intentions to rescue Cole from the Source's Realm. Prue and Piper's protests against the idea seemed to be more about her getting emotionally involved with Cole instead of any demands that she hangs around in case Shax was not dead. In fact, Piper seemed certain she had killed Shax. She seemed more concerned with Phoebe's feelings for Cole and that he might exploit them. Before the sisters could discuss Phoebe and Cole even further, Piper's killing of Shax had appeared on television. The Halliwells' friend in the San Francisco Police Department, Inspector Darryl Morris, had been ordered by his captain to question the sisters about Shax's "death". Although Prue believed that they had done the right thing by leaving the house to go after Shax, the two sisters finally realized they had made a mistake.
Prue and Piper went to Dr. Griffiths at the hospital to make certain that Shax had not resurrected and went after him . . . in case they had not vanquished him. Sure enough, Shax appeared outside of the hospital. And Prue and Piper "vanquished" him . . . in front of television cameras . . . again. Leo informed them that the Elders wanted them to contact the demon Tempus to set back time and erase the sisters' exposure by the media. Prue ordered Leo to contact Cole in the Source's Realm, so he could make a deal with the Source and Tempus. Following Leo's departure, news reporters, the police and a group of protesters had gathered outside of the Halliwells' manor. A Wiccan fanatic named Alice managed to get inside and declare her desire to join "their coven", but Prue threw her out. Not long afterward, Alice shot Piper. Prue tried to get the latter to a hospital, but the media and the police blocked her way, forcing her to use her telekinesis against them. Unfortunately, Dr. Griffiths was unable to save Piper at the hospital. A SWAT team had gathered outside the hospital to take down Prue. During all of this, Leo, Phoebe and Cole managed to make a deal with the Source, who ordered the time manipulating demon, Tempus, to reset time. Just as the SWAT team was about to kill Prue, Tempus reset the time to the Halliwells' first encounter with Shax. But with Phoebe trapped in the Source's Realm, the demonic assassin managed to kill both Dr. Griffith and Prue, and seriously wound Piper. Which is how Season Three ended.
Before Alice "the Crazy Wiccan Wannabe" had shot Piper in the first timeline, both she and Prue had realized they had made one mistake that led to their exposure. But the sisters - Phoebe included - and Leo's own complacency had led to the following:
• The Halliwells' erroneous belief that they had succeeded in killing Shax
• Exposure by the media
• Phoebe's decision to go after Cole after Piper had mistakenly expressed the belief that Shax had been "vanquished"
• Being exposed for the second time by the media
• Piper getting shot
• The deal with the Source and Tempus, which led to Phoebe being trapped in the Source's Realm
• Time being reset, which led to a second attack by Shax
• Dr. Griffith and Prue's deaths.
I will not claim that Prue was solely responsible for her death. The other major characters also managed to add their two cents to the situation. The Source's determination to destroy the Charmed Ones and Dr. Griffiths led him to assign Shax to commit the deed. Shax eventually did kill both Prue and Dr. Griffiths. The media provided nothing but trouble for the Charmed Ones, after they had exposed the two older sisters. Phoebe's determination to find Cole at all costs, led her to be missing at a time when her presence could have saved Prue’s life. Their whitelighter and Piper's husband, Leo, did not help with his insistence that Piper had succeeded in killing Shax, when the media first caught her and Prue on tape. Cole's decision to cover his tracks with the Source and the Brotherhood of the Thorn at the end of (3.19) "The Demon Who Came in From the Cold" led to his eventual capture by his fellow demons and a brief estrangement from Phoebe. Piper certainly did not help matters. Granted, she had initially opposed both Phoebe's trip to the Source’s Realm, but also Prue’s decision to leave the manor to track down Shax. But instead of maintaining her opposition, Piper allowed herself to become a pushover by caving into her sisters' wishes and opinions.
However, in my opinion, Prue Halliwell bored most of the blame for her death. The episode, (3.18) "Sin Francisco" made it clear that one of her biggest flaws happened to be her pride. Her inability to overcome that pride forced Leo to rescue her from the demon featured in that episode. And in "All Hell Breaks Loose", Prue’s pride that led her to believe that no problem would arise in her and Piper leaving the manor – the one place that the Charmed Ones were at their strongest – to hunt down Shax. Unfortunately for Prue, the end of the episode proved her wrong.
Many fans of the old "CHARMED" series had believed Phoebe Halliwell was to blame for the death of her oldest sister Prue Halliwell in the Season Three episode, (3.22) "All Hell Breaks Loose". It almost seemed as if many wanted to use her as some kind of scapegoat. I am sorry, but I had found this idea extremely difficult to accept. I still do. I wonder if any "CHARMED" fan had ever considered that Prue bore most of the responsibility for her own death? I wonder if many fans had forgotten how the whole mess in "All Hell Breaks Loose" had started in the first place?
It had all started because Prue had forgotten the very lesson the sisters had learned in the Season One episode, (1.16) "Which Prue Is it, Anyway?" - the best offense is defense. The episode "All Hell Breaks Loose" began with the sisters being attacked by a demonic assassin, Shax, while protecting a Dr. Griffiths from him. Although Shax managed to seriously wound both Prue and middle sister Piper Halliwell, Phoebe used a spell that vanquished Shax . . . temporarily. Their whitelighter and Piper Halliwell's husband, Leo Wyatt, healed his wife and Prue in time.
Unfortunately, the sisters had expressed uncertainty that Phoebe vanquished Shax. Even worse, Prue forgot the lesson of "Which Prue Is It, Anyway?" and insisted that she and Piper leave the manor to track down Shax. The sisters could have remained at the manor and prepared themselves for another attack by Shax. Instead, Prue dragged Piper out of the manor. When they encountered Shax again and vanquished him – well, Piper vanquished him with her second power - a television news crew videotaped their action. This turned out to be the very incident that set-in motion the events leading to Prue's death. Not Phoebe's decision to find and save her half-demonic love, Cole Turner aka Belthazor.
Following Prue and Piper's exposure, Phoebe had announced her intentions to rescue Cole from the Source's Realm. Prue and Piper's protests against the idea seemed to be more about her getting emotionally involved with Cole instead of any demands that she hangs around in case Shax was not dead. In fact, Piper seemed certain she had killed Shax. She seemed more concerned with Phoebe's feelings for Cole and that he might exploit them. Before the sisters could discuss Phoebe and Cole even further, Piper's killing of Shax had appeared on television. The Halliwells' friend in the San Francisco Police Department, Inspector Darryl Morris, had been ordered by his captain to question the sisters about Shax's "death". Although Prue believed that they had done the right thing by leaving the house to go after Shax, the two sisters finally realized they had made a mistake.
Prue and Piper went to Dr. Griffiths at the hospital to make certain that Shax had not resurrected and went after him . . . in case they had not vanquished him. Sure enough, Shax appeared outside of the hospital. And Prue and Piper "vanquished" him . . . in front of television cameras . . . again. Leo informed them that the Elders wanted them to contact the demon Tempus to set back time and erase the sisters' exposure by the media. Prue ordered Leo to contact Cole in the Source's Realm, so he could make a deal with the Source and Tempus. Following Leo's departure, news reporters, the police and a group of protesters had gathered outside of the Halliwells' manor. A Wiccan fanatic named Alice managed to get inside and declare her desire to join "their coven", but Prue threw her out. Not long afterward, Alice shot Piper. Prue tried to get the latter to a hospital, but the media and the police blocked her way, forcing her to use her telekinesis against them. Unfortunately, Dr. Griffiths was unable to save Piper at the hospital. A SWAT team had gathered outside the hospital to take down Prue. During all of this, Leo, Phoebe and Cole managed to make a deal with the Source, who ordered the time manipulating demon, Tempus, to reset time. Just as the SWAT team was about to kill Prue, Tempus reset the time to the Halliwells' first encounter with Shax. But with Phoebe trapped in the Source's Realm, the demonic assassin managed to kill both Dr. Griffith and Prue, and seriously wound Piper. Which is how Season Three ended.
Before Alice "the Crazy Wiccan Wannabe" had shot Piper in the first timeline, both she and Prue had realized they had made one mistake that led to their exposure. But the sisters - Phoebe included - and Leo's own complacency had led to the following:
• The Halliwells' erroneous belief that they had succeeded in killing Shax
• Exposure by the media
• Phoebe's decision to go after Cole after Piper had mistakenly expressed the belief that Shax had been "vanquished"
• Being exposed for the second time by the media
• Piper getting shot
• The deal with the Source and Tempus, which led to Phoebe being trapped in the Source's Realm
• Time being reset, which led to a second attack by Shax
• Dr. Griffith and Prue's deaths.
I will not claim that Prue was solely responsible for her death. The other major characters also managed to add their two cents to the situation. The Source's determination to destroy the Charmed Ones and Dr. Griffiths led him to assign Shax to commit the deed. Shax eventually did kill both Prue and Dr. Griffiths. The media provided nothing but trouble for the Charmed Ones, after they had exposed the two older sisters. Phoebe's determination to find Cole at all costs, led her to be missing at a time when her presence could have saved Prue’s life. Their whitelighter and Piper's husband, Leo, did not help with his insistence that Piper had succeeded in killing Shax, when the media first caught her and Prue on tape. Cole's decision to cover his tracks with the Source and the Brotherhood of the Thorn at the end of (3.19) "The Demon Who Came in From the Cold" led to his eventual capture by his fellow demons and a brief estrangement from Phoebe. Piper certainly did not help matters. Granted, she had initially opposed both Phoebe's trip to the Source’s Realm, but also Prue’s decision to leave the manor to track down Shax. But instead of maintaining her opposition, Piper allowed herself to become a pushover by caving into her sisters' wishes and opinions.
However, in my opinion, Prue Halliwell bored most of the blame for her death. The episode, (3.18) "Sin Francisco" made it clear that one of her biggest flaws happened to be her pride. Her inability to overcome that pride forced Leo to rescue her from the demon featured in that episode. And in "All Hell Breaks Loose", Prue’s pride that led her to believe that no problem would arise in her and Piper leaving the manor – the one place that the Charmed Ones were at their strongest – to hunt down Shax. Unfortunately for Prue, the end of the episode proved her wrong.
20 comments:
It never occured to me to blame it on any character. I can see why people would say that it was Phoebe's fault or Prue's own fault, but I was of the opinion that it was like one of those movies where somewone dies and you had a chance to relive the day and the other person dies and it's tragic. I kind of thought the message was "you can't control everything, just because you're witches. some things are out of your hands. etc" so i just accepted it. It was sad, but I accepted it. Great post. Love that you actually bother with bits of script and examples. I'm normally too lazy to put anything that researched in my blogposts.
Phoebe was selfish. She cared more about "saving" Cole than helping her sisters. She asked her sisters to send her to underworld where they wouldn't be able to contact her. It was essentially her selfishness that got Prue killed. Prue and Piper may have been reckless, but they weren't selfish. Phoebe is a selfish bitch. She hardly even cried when Prue died, again making things all about Cole.
Amen to what James Lenaghan said. Phoebe's proved a vast amount of times throughout all eight series that she's a selfish brat. I agree that Prue and Piper made one crucial mistake by going out to the street in broad light looking for Shax, but c'mon, when Phoebe went down to the underworld nobody was sure Shax had been vanquished; the smart and normal thing to do would've been to stay home with her sisters and deal with Cole after vanquishing Shax, not the other way around -which is how she did it-.
I agree that many factors contributed to Prue's death -I don't agree on the pride thing though, that was completely demonic-, but let's not forget that before Prue died, Piper did. And yes, you'll tell me that was because of Prue and Piper's mistake, but once again,had Phoebe stayed in the manor, she and her sisters would've dealed with Shax and nobody would've died.
Phoebe is selfish. I don't deny it. But Prue and Piper should have refused to help send her to the Source's Realm until the situation with Shax was genuinely settled. Instead, Prue decided it was okay and Piper didn't put up much of a fight.
You can condemn Phoebe's character all you want. But her sisters contributed more to Prue's death than she did.
Its a tv show...they wanted Shannon Dougherty off the show so they wrote her out.
Shannen was leaving the show. They needed a way to get rid of Prue and thus they killed her off. Phoebe was not to blame at all. I liked it better without Prue anyways. The show seemed to be too much about her at times.
killing prue ruined the show. She could've been the strongest witch of all time. She was supposed to develop new and strong power. I was so sad that shannen had to leave because of their misunderstanding that they had to kill prue. the first born witch child was supposed to be the strongest.
killing prue ruined the show. She could've been the strongest witch of all time. She was supposed to develop new and strong power. I was so sad that shannen had to leave because of their misunderstanding that they had to kill prue. the first born witch child was supposed to be the strongest.
it clearly ruined the show, because of the bad blood between them shannen didn't even made a guest appearance on the show. I mean grams and patty always appeared, why can't she? clearly because they have some issue.
i hate how they killed prue, they didn't end it well. So many loopholes. Like how leo can't save prue, but he was saved by piper when he died before when they switched powers. The show didn't even bother to explain why they can't talk to prue just like grams and patty. They can call them whenever they want. So what happened to prue? how come she is totally out of the story? like she didn't even exist from the start. they left us with so many unanswered questions. they should've explained it better. viewers deserve it. they didn't keep a good show. It was ruined.
Shannon was overtaking the show - every episode was about Prue and how badass she is, instead if it been called Charmed it should of been called Prudence. As far as I know Prue wasnt meant to die, but Shannen was fired, that's why it was a strange ending to season 3. The reason why Prue doesn't appear again is because Shannen has shares in Charmed and forbidded the image of her, or even a likeness ever to be used in Charmed it she would sue. Prue died because Shannen was fired and because she was written out.....
^ Shannen Doherty was not fired. Please do proper research. Charmed was a great show when Prue was apart of it. Wish she would of stayed till the end.
Prue was and always will be my favorite charmed one. I only watch the reruns with her in it
I miss prue.😠😒😇😘 Please bring her back.👌👌
I agree the character Phoebe was a spoiled brat .They wasted too much time with the Cole character as well. Thing is, is that Shannen left cause her and Alyssa didnt get along irl, while her and Holly were bffs. I think Pipers emotions were sad and teary cause she was really feeling grief over Shannen leaving it was easy for her to cry. It wasnt easy for Phoebe cause she didnt like Shannen. She didnt care. Hollys crying was 100% real while Alyssas was so fake you could tell by just listening to it. I noticed that Piper and Phoebe never got as close to Paige as they were to Prue. Neither cried over any of her deaths .
I cant believe i forgot to say this in my last comment. I loved your blog, it gave me something else to consider, since i really didnt blame anyone else other than Shax and The Source for her death. And good lord is that fricken source scary lookin' scarier than he looked the episode they killed the source and released his essence into Cole .
Wow! You either have some issues or are a huge Prue fan. However I'm not sure it's cause to be all Phoebe is a bitch and so selfish that she caused Prue's death.. It's a show and yes it's sad when a major character is killed off but there's always room for other beloved character's to arrive. I understand it's not the same and that it can change the show dramatically but considering with this particular show we know there was definitely some behind the scenes drama with the cast this may have been the best way to continue on with the show.. I loved the Prue character and Shannon played the part so well that I'm glad they decided to kill off Prue's character rather than recast her. Just my thoughts.
I don't like Phoebe. I barely liked any of the other Charmed Ones in the end, if I must be honest. But . . . I don't blame Phoebe for Prue's death. Yes, her need to find Cole in the Underworld didn't help matters. But PHoebe was never able to teleport to the Source's Realm without her sisters' help. And instead of refusing to help send her there, both had agreed to do it. Why? Prue, rather arrogantly, thought they had killed Shax. Although Piper wasn't sure, she didn't put up much of a fuss and agreed to help. Leo didn't help matters by assuming that Shax was no longer a problem.
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