Top Five Favorite Episodes of "CHARMED" - Season Four (2001-2002)

 

Below is a list of my top five (5) favorite episodes from Season Four (2001-2002) of "CHARMED". Developed for television by Constance Burge and produced by Brad Kern, the series starred Alyssa Milano, Rose McGowan and Holly Marie Combs:

TOP FIVE FAVORITE EPISODES OF "CHARMED" - SEASON FOUR (2001-2002)



1. (4.15) "The Fifth Halliwell" - In this slightly perverse episode, new half-sister Paige Matthews feels like a fifth wheel among her happily married sisters and their husbands, but becomes firmly convinced that one brother-in-law, the demonically possessed Cole Turner, is still evil and a demon. Meanwhile new (temporary) Source and The Seer secretly plot to impregnate Phoebe using Cole's possessed body.

2. (4.03) "Hell Hath No Fury" - Piper, who remains angry over the death of oldest sister Prue and Paige's recent actions, becomes a member of a supernatural band of vigilantes known as the Furies. Meanwhile, Paige takes the Book of Shadows into her work to cast spells, which help her co-workers.

3. (4.10) "A Paige From the Past" - With whitelighter brother-in-law Leo Wyatt as her guide, Paige goes back in time to her teen years, in an attempt to resolve her feelings about the accident that killed her adoptive parents. Meanwhile, ghosts have taken possession of Phoebe and Cole's bodies and Piper must prevent them from fulfilling a mission.

4. (4.07) "Brain Drain" - The Source sends Piper into a deep coma, where she perceives an alternate reality. Phoebe, Paige, Leo and Cole must find a way to return her to reality and save her from giving up her powers, while she is delusional.

5. (4.13) "Charmed and Dangerous" - The Source breaks an age-old agreement between good and evil by stealing an ancient grimoire called The Hollow, which he uses to absorb Piper and Paige's powers. Meanwhile, Phoebe must allow Cole to help them, despite her having a premonition that involves Cole sacrificing his life to save her from evil.

Favorite Halloween Television Specials and Episodes

Below is a list of my favorite Halloween television specials, movies and episodes:

FAVORITE HALLOWEEN TELEVISION SPECIALS AND EPISODES

1.  “Star Trek Voyager (4.07) “Scientific Method” – The crew of the U.S.S. Voyager discovers that a group of cloaked aliens have been performing scientific experiments on them.

2.  “Legends of Tomorrow” (3.04) “Phone Home” – When Dr. Ray Palmer aka the Atom begins to disappear, his fellow time travelers aboard the Waverider travel to his hometown on Halloween 1988 to prevent his premature death.

3.  “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” (4.04) “Fear, Itself” – When a a demon with the ability to materialize terror, is accidentally conjured and wreaks havoc on a Halloween party, vampire slayer Buffy Summers and her friends are forced to confront their worst fears.

4.  “Hallowe’en Party” (2010) – David Suchet starred as Belgian detective Hercule Poirot in this adaptation of Agatha Christie’s 1969 novel.  Zoë Wanamaker co-starred.

5.  “Once Upon at Time” (2.05) “The Doctor” – When Regina Mills aka the Evil Queen sees her dead fiance from her past in the Enchanted Forest, she recalls an emotionally traumatic period during her training as a sorceress under Rumpelstiltskin.

6.  “Legends of Tomorrow” (2.04) “Abominations” – The Waverider time travelers learn of a time pirate stranded in the American Civil War. Upon arriving in Mississippi 1863, they encounter a black Union spy being chased by Confederate soldiers that have been turned into zombies by a virus carried by the pirate.

7.  “Charmed” (3.04) “All Halliwell’s Eve” – The Halliwell sisters aka the Charmed Ones travel back to the 1670s to protect a coven in danger of extinction and save their own future.

8.  “It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown” (1966) – The Peanuts gang celebrates Halloween while Linus waits for the Great Pumpkin in this classic holiday special, based upon the characters created by Charles M. Schulz.

9.  “How I Met Your Mother” (7.08) “The Slutty Pumpkin Returns” – Ted Mosby finally meets his long-lost crush from a Halloween party from 10 years ago and realizes that he has no romantic chemistry with her.

10.  “Charmed” (4.05) “Size Matters” – While investigating a creepy old house, the youngest Charmed One, Paige Matthews, involves her older sisters with a demon named Gamil and are all shrunk to a height of five inches.

"CHARMED" RETROSPECT: (1.22) "Déjà Vu All Over Again"

"CHARMED" RETROSPECT: (1.22) "Déjà Vu All Over Again"

When I first saw (1.22) "Déjà Vu All Over Again", the Season One finale for "CHARMED", I promised myself that I would never watch another episode of the series again. Never. Yet four months later, I broke my promise and resumed watching the series for another three-and-a-half seasons. 

One would assume that I harbor some very negative feelings about "Déjà Vu All Over Again". And that person would be wrong. From an artistic point-of-view, the episode was first-rate. Not only do I consider "Déjà Vu All Over Again" to be one of the best Season One episodes, I believe it is one of the best episodes of the series. And yet . . . after watching it, I was ready to give up the series. The ending upset me very much.

Directed by Les Sheldon and written by Constance Burge and Brad Kern, "Déjà Vu All Over Again" began with Phoebe Halliwell experiencing a premonition of the most deadly kind. She saw a demonic attack result in the death of her oldest sister's former boyfriend, Andy Trudeau of the San Francisco Police Department. And the demon in question happened to be one Inspector Rodriguez, who was established as a member of the police department's Internal Affairs in previous episodes investigating Andy's connection to the Halliwell sisters. Determined to prevent Andy's death, Prue warns Andy that Rodriguez is a demon who has plans to kill her and her sisters - the Charmed Ones. As Rodriguez makes plans to kill the Charmed Ones, he receives a visit from a high-level demon named Tempus. The latter reveals he has the ability to turn back time and was sent by The Source to help Rodriguez kill the Halliwells. 

Mind you, "Déjà Vu All Over Again" had its flaws. In one conversation between Rodriguez and Tempus, the latter instructed the younger demon to make sure that all three Halliwells were gathered in the same place before killing them. Frankly, this sounds rather stupid to me. Surely, anyone with intelligence would know that the Halliwells were at their strongest when they were together. For me, it made better sense to kill the Halliwells one by one. After all, the sisters cannot stay in each other's company, 24/7, unless they want to forgo a life. And why did Rodriguez even bother to appear at the Halliwells' front door in the first place? He could have simply teleported inside the manor and kill the sisters a lot faster. According to(1.03) "Thank You For Not Morphing, Piper was born three years before Phoebe. And according to (1.17) "That 70s Episode", Phoebe was born in late 1975, making Piper's birth year 1972. Phoebe remembered that Piper's old classmate, Joanne Hertz, had graduated from their high school in 1992, making her birth year at least 1974. Why would Piper recall someone who graduated two years after her?

Aside from Tempus' suggestion that Rodriguez gather all three Halliwell sisters in one place before killing them, the flaws in "Déjà Vu All Over Again" seemed minor to me. In other words, the virtues outweighed the flaws. Burge and Kern nearly outdid themselves in an episode that served as the end of the first stage in the Halliwells' lives as the Charmed Ones. The episode also marked the end of what I consider to be the best romance featured in the entire series - that between Prue Halliwell and Andy Trudeau. Another interesting aspect about this episode is that it marked one of the rare occasions in which the sisters tragically failed to avert one of Phoebe's premonitions. Rodriguez made three attempts to kill the Charmed Ones, thanks to Tempus' time changing ability. If it had not been for Tempus, Rodriguez would have been dead after his first try. And so would Phoebe. After his second try, Rodriguez ended up dead again, thanks to Prue's telekinesis. But he ended up killing both Phoebe and Piper before his death. On his third try . . . Phoebe's premonition came true, when Rodriguez killed Andy. Is it any wonder that this episode depressed me? By this time, the sisters had figured out that someone was rewinding time and they cast a spell to break Tempus' time loop. Unfortunately, this act left Andy permanently dead. I supposed I should have foreseen this when I first saw "Déjà Vu All Over Again" all those years ago due to the scenes that featured Prue meeting Andy in a park to warn him about Rodriguez. Although their first meeting came off as slightly businesslike, their second and third scenes grew increasingly poignant and romantic. Both Shannen Doherty and T.W. King were excellent in these scenes.

Not only did this episode featured first-rate performances from Doherty and King, I was also impressed by the rest of the cast. All of them gave solid performances. Although I found him a tad over-the-top at times, 
Carlos Gomez was appropriately intimidating as the demonic assassin out to kill the Charmed Ones. But it was David Carradine who gave the best performance as the time manipulator, Tempus. He was witty, elegant and menacing. It seemed a pity that he never made a second or third appearance on the show. Even worse, his character was mentioned before being killed off-screen in the Season Three finale, (3.22) "All Hell Breaks Loose".

I am certain that my brief apathy toward "CHARMED" must have been figured out by now. This episode marked the last appearance of T.W. King as Andy Trudeau and it took me a long time to recover from this - over a year, to be exact. I had first became a fan of King, when I saw him in the short-lived series, "TIME COP". His portrayal of the sharp and no-nonsense Andy only solidify my admiration of him. Unlike Julian McMahon, of whom I also became a great fan, King's last episode proved to be first-rate and probably one of the best in the series. It seems a pity that it also proved to be one of the saddest for me.

"CHARMED" RETROSPECT: (6.11) "Witchstock"

"CHARMED" RETROSPECT: (6.11) "Witchstock"

During its eight season run, the fantasy-drama "CHARMED" has occasionally featured an episode dealing with the topic of time travel. These time travel episodes usually prove to be well-written or exceptional. However, there comes a time when the series produced a time travel episode that end up being a dud. The series' Season Six episode, (6.11) "Witchstock" proved to be the latter. 

Directed by James A. Contner and written by Daniel Cerone, "Witchstock" begins at least a month or two following the first-rate (6.10) "Chris-Crossed". At the end of the previous episode, oldest sister Piper Halliwell had suggested that younger sister Phoebe and even younger half-sister Paige Matthews leave the family's manor to pursue their romantic desires. Phoebe left San Francisco to live with her boyfriend, the very wealthy Jason Dean, in Hong Kong. And Paige left the manor to live with her own wealthy boyfriend, a male witch named Richard Montana. However, the sisters' separation proves to be a little problematic, since they have to deal with a magic-sucking slime found inside a local warehouse. Their new whitelighter from the future Chris Perry (in reality Halliwell) manages to bring Phoebe back from Hong Kong to vanquish the slime, but was not able to find Paige. Piper and Phoebe achieve their mission . . . somewhat. A piece of the slime manages to attach itself to Chris, and the latter inadvertently transport it back to the Manor.

When Paige shows up, she explains that she tried to leave Richard's manor without teleporting, due to his addiction to magic. During this conversation, Piper finds a pair of red go-go boots that once belonged to their grandmother, Penelope Johnson Halliwell. She gives them to Paige, who tries them on. Seconds later, Paige finds herself transported back to January 1967, due to the spell her grandmother had put on the boots. She also discovers that both her grandmother and grandfather (Jack or Allen Halliwell) were peace-loving hippies on a crusade to rid the world of evil through the magical power of love. They had also transformed the manor into a "magical be-in", unaware that one of their guests is a warlock. Meanwhile, Piper and Phoebe summon the ghost of their now dead grandmother to explain what happened. Grams informs them about her past as a hippie and the tragic circumstances that led to her first husband's death at the hands of a warlock. Piper and Phoebe realize they have to travel back to 1967 and prevent Paige from inadvertently changing the past. Meanwhile, Grams helps Chris and Piper's ex, former whitelighter-turned-Elder Leo Wyatt deal with the demonic slime that threatens to take over the manor.

Sounds exciting, right? I wish I could say that "Witchstock" was exciting. In the end, the episode proved to be a piece of crap. First of all, screenwriter Daniel Cerone failed to make any real connection between the demonic slime first introduced in the pre-titled sequence and Paige's initial trip back to the Age of Aquarius. The main villains of the episode - two warlocks portrayed by Jake Busey and Kam Heskin - proved to be rather lame. The demonic sponge featured in the early 21st century scenes proved to be even more lame. In fact, the demonic sponge reminded me of the lame electrical demon that the sisters had vanquished in Season Four's (4.07) "A Knight to Remember". Talk about lack of originality. 

Cerone also failed to create any real emotional connection between the sisters - especially newbie Paige - and their grandparents. The sisters seemed flabbergasted by Penny Halliwell's hippie persona, which was a far cry from the militant demon hunter who raised Piper, Phoebe and the now dead Prue. The episode had a chance for Paige to really get to know her grandparents - especially her grandmother - and it failed on all counts. Piper turned out to be the only sister who witnessed their grandfather's death. Yet, she reacted with very little or hardly any emotion. I realize that she had never met her grandfather during her lifetime. But the man was blood. The family carried his surname. Holly Marie Combs could have expressed some emotion . . . some sadness over the passing of her character's flesh-and-blood. Unfortunately, that never happened. Cerone's script was too busy treating the hippie personas of Penny, husband Allen (or Jack), and whitelighter Leo as jokes. Watching 1967 Leo act high and hit on Paige was embarrassing to watch. I felt sorry for Brian Krause in these scenes. I also felt sorry for Dorian Gregory, who was forced to portray Black Panther Luther Morris, who not only found himself in the same jail cell as Piper and Phoebe in a very cringe worthy scene; but also turned out to be the father of the Halliwells' police detective friend, Darryl Morris. 

The worst aspect of "Witchstock" proved to be the mistakes that heavily tainted this episode. In one early scene; Phoebe, who had become fascinated with Chinese astrology, informed younger sister Paige that the latter was born in the year of the Ox. WRONG! Paige was born in early August 1977, which meant she was born in the year of the Snake. The screenwriter could have easily looked this up . . . or else he failed to remember that Paige was born in 1977, not 1973. Also, Grams should have been portrayed by an actress old enough to pass for a woman in her mid-30s. This episode was set in January 1967. Which meant that Grams should have been 35 or 36 at the time. After all, her daughter Patty was born in 1950. And the episode was set three to four years before the birth of the latter's oldest daughter, Prue. Actress Kara Zediker, who portrayed the younger Grams, barely looked 30 years old. And I find the idea of a mid-30s Grams and her slightly older husband as hippies. Perhaps there were hippies from their generation. But their fellow witches all seemed to be five to fifteen years younger. Worse, you can hear Rare Earth's version of "Get Ready" being played in the background in one of the earlier 1967 scenes. This should be difficult, considering that Rare Earth's version of the song was released in 1969 . . . over two years after the setting of this episode. The latter should have featured the Temptations' 1966 version . . . or another song from 1966/67.

Was there anything about "Witchstock" that I liked? Well . . . thanks to Rose McGowan, I found Paige's initial reaction to the "Manor of Love" rather amusing and managed to chuckle at her handling of a womanizing Leo. Despite my dislike of the Penelope Halliwell character, Jennifer Rhodes injected a breath of fresh air into the episode. She also managed to create a nice chemistry with both Brian Krause and Drew Fuller; as Grams, Leo and Chris dealt with the demonic sponge. Although saddled with a lame character like the warlock Nicholas, I have to give credit to Jake Busey for attempting to infuse as much energy as possible into his performance. And Holly Marie Combs had a nice moment of personal angst for Piper, who silently lamented over her sisters' departure and her new-founded loneliness.  And Patrick Cassidy did the best he could with a thankless role as the Halliwell sisters' grandfather.


But despite these positive little moments, "Witchstock" was a disaster to me. Was it the worse "CHARMED" episode I have ever seen? Fortunately for director James A. Contner and screenwriter Daniel Cerone, my answer is no. I have seen worse from earlier seasons. And all I have to do is watch the series' Season Eight. There were plenty of horrors from that season to form a list of the series' worst episodes. But "Witchstock" was not a pleasure to watch. Not by a long shot.

Top Five Favorite Episodes of "CHARMED" Season Three (2000-2001)

Below is a list of my top five (5) favorite episodes from Season Three (2000-2001) of "CHARMED". Developed for television by Constance Burge, the series starred Shannen Doherty, Holly Marie Combs and Alyssa Milano:


TOP FIVE FAVORITE EPISODES OF "CHARMED" Season Three (2000-2001) 



1. (3.06) "Primrose Empath" - As payback for the trap he had encountered in the last episode, "Sight Unseen", Cole Turner aka Belthazor leads Prue Halliwell to a shut-in that turns out to be a demon cursed with a strong empath ability. Stuck with the ability, Prue is unable to deal with the load of emotions from others.





2. (3.16) "Death Takes a Halliwell" - An encounter with the Angel of Death forces Prue to deal with the loss of her loves ones and others she was unable to save. Meanwhile, her sisters Piper and Phoebe help Cole deal with demonic bounty hunters.





3. (3.07) "Power Outage" - Cole finds a way to break the Power of Three, by utilizing Andras, a demon who creates petty anger within others, against the sisters.





4. (3.01) "The Honeymoon's Over" - In the Season 3 premiere, the sisters help police Inspector Darryl Morris deal with a series of demons known as guardians, who help mortal murderers go free in exchange for the souls of their victims. Meanwhile, they first become acquainted with ADA Cole Turner; and their whitelighter, Leo Wyatt, proposes marriage to middle sister Piper.





5. (3.18) "Sin Francisco" - This hilarious episode features the problems the Halliwells and Leo encounter when they are infected with the seven deadly sins by a demon, in order to release their personality flaws.

"LEO WYATT: Morality and Free Will"

"LEO WYATT: MORALITY AND FREE WILL"

In the Season Two episode - (2.21) "Apocalypse Not", Leo said a few things that either struck a "what the hell" note within me, or really pissed me off.

In that particular episode, a vanquishing spell goes awry when the Halliwells try to destroy the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. Prue and one of the Horsemen become trapped in a vortex. Piper and Phoebe enlist the help of the three remaining Horsemen to free Prue and the fourth Horseman before the vortex closes - something that Leo argued against:

Phoebe: Wonderful. So where's the meeting?

Leo: You're gonna do it?

Phoebe: I'm sorry, Leo, did you show up to the party late? Of course we're gonna do it.

Leo: Phoebe, you can never get into bed with evil, you know that. It could be a trap.

This is rather a contradictory thing to say, considering that Leo had earlier informed Phoebe and Piper that the Elders had met with some evil leaders to deal with Prue and one of the Apocalypse horsemen’s disappearances. Leo and Phoebe's conversation continued with:

Phoebe: But we're not gonna go up against them, we're gonna work with them, right?

Leo: But they'll betray you. Alright, this is how evil works. This is why evil loves free will so much. Because humans use it to follow their heart. And evil takes advantage of that.


Evil loves free will? What in the hell?? What exactly is Leo saying here? That to have free will is a bad thing? Was he really too stupid and narrow-minded to consider that free will could also work against evil’s advantage? After all, look at Cole who had exercised his free will to turn against the Source when he fell in love with Phoebe. And there were Drake (Billy Zane) and the seer Kira (Charisma Carpenter), who both ended up exorcising their free wills to turn their backs against the demonic world in Season Seven.

Or is it possible that Leo was simply one of those types who prefer that everyone – witches especially – blindly follow the dictates of whitelighters? If so, then I find his attitude not only distasteful, but also hypocritcal. Especially when one considers that his own free will ended up being muted by the Elders over his desire to marry Piper in early Season Three.

Top Five Favorite Episodes of "CHARMED" Season Two (1999-2000)

Below is a list of my top five (5) favorite episodes from Season Two (1999-2000) of "CHARMED". Developed for television by Constance Burge, the series starred Shannen Doherty, Holly Marie Combs and Alyssa Milano: 


TOP FIVE FAVORITE EPISODES OF "CHARMED" Season Two (1999-2000)



1. (2.12)"Awakened" - After purchasing illegal fruit from South America, Piper is infected with a deadly and rare disease called "Arroyo Fever". Prue and Phoebe use an "Awakening" spell to cure her, but the spell backfires with deadly results. 





2. (2.18) "Chick Flick" - After the Charmed Ones find the "Demon of Illusion", who cast spells on mortals to make them violent;Prue and Phoebe find the demon of illusion, who spreads violence to mortals by casting spells on them to make them angry and violent; he pulls Phoebe's long time movie hero (from a horror movie) into the real world. 





3. (2.02) "Morality Bites" - After using their powers for personal gain, the Halliwells are sent ten years into the future, where Phoebe is facing execution for murder and witches are being hunted or prosecuted by the law.





4. (2.21) "Apocalypse, Not" - The Charmed Ones go against the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, who had been recruited by the Source to bring about the end of the world before the "real" millennium began.





5. (2.15) "Give Me a Sign" - A high-level demon orders his henchmen to kill Bane Jessup, the gangster whom Prue helped put behind bars after he tried to have the Halliwells killed in an earlier episode. Bane kidnaps Prue, hoping that she would help him. Also, Phoebe casts a spell that will give Piper a sign to help the latter choose her true love.