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SOMETHING WICCA THIS WAY COMES |
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Written by CONSTANCE M. BURGE Directed by JOHN T. KRETCHMER REGULAR CAST SHANNEN DOHERTY Prue Halliwell HOLLY MARIE COMBS Piper Halliwell T.W. KING Andy Trudeau DORIAN GREGORY Darryl Morris and ALYSSA MILANO Phoebe Halliwell GUEST STARRING ERIC SCOTT WOOD Jeremy Burns MATTHEW ASHFORD Roger CHRIS FLANDERS Chef Moore CO-STARRING LONNIE PARTRIDGE Woman CHARMAINE CRUZ Admitting nurse HUGH HOLUB Pharmacist FRANCESCA CAPPUCIA News reporter US/UK TRANSMISSION DETAILS The WB - 7 October 1998 Living - 12 July 1999 Channel 5 - 1 April 2000 EPISODE RATING: 7/10 |
Someone in San Francisco is killing women, with the latest killing bringing the total to three in three weeks. All the victims have had the same tattoo and all have been killed by a double-edged knife. Inspector Andy Trudeau suspects a link to the occult as the knife is used by witches to direct energy. His partner Darryl Morris dismisses the theory. At the house that she and her sisters have inherited from their grandmother, Phoebe Halliwell returns from New York to a less than ecstatic welcome from her eldest sister Prue, and not just because middle sister Piper kept her arrival secret. During a storm, the girls' old spirit board, rediscovered by Prue while searching for a circuit tester spells out the word 'ATTIC', although Prue and Piper initially believe that Phoebe pushed the pointer herself. Phoebe tries to unlock the attic door which neither Prue nor Piper have been unable to open since they moved into the house. Just as she walks away, the door opens and in an old chest Phoebe finds 'The Book of Shadows', a book of witchcraft. After reading an incantation from the book, Phoebe tells her sister that the three are witches and that now is the time to receive their powers - telekinesis, the ability to stop time and premonition. Meanwhile, the hooded figure who murdered the most recent victim finishes his watch outside Halliwell Manor. The next day, Phoebe argues with her boss and ex-fiancee, Roger, the source of the friction between her and Phoebe. After she walks away, his pen leaks out and then squirts him in the face. At her chef's audition Piper is about to tell Chef Moore that she didn't have time to finish when everything freezes around her. After passing, she runs into her boyfriend Jeremy Burns, a journalist covering the murders for the San Francisco Chronicle. Phoebe has a premonition of a car hitting some teenage boys skating and crashes her bike to prevent it hitting them. At the hospital to pick up Phoebe, Prue runs into former boyfriend Andy, who is still investigating the murders. Phoebe persists with her witch theory, eventually convincing the sceptical Prue after further demonstrations of Prue's powers. Jeremy takes Piper to an abandoned building and pulls a knife on her, revealing that it he has known that Grams' death would release the sisters' power. After Jeremy sparks fingers from his hand, Piper freezes him and manages to escape, making it back to the Manor where she tells Prue and Phoebe that Jeremy is the killer. The girls try a spell from the Book of Shadows, but Phoebe has a premonition that it hasn't worked, despite thorns bursting through Jeremy's body. While Prue attempts to go for help, Jeremy shows up and forces his way into the Manor. Prue uses her power to fend him off while the sisters barricade themselves into the attic. As Jeremy moves their barricades out of the way, Prue remembers the inscription on the back of the spirit board and their chanting destroys Jeremy. The following day, Andy shows up to ask Prue out to dinner. She tells him to call her. As he leaves he notices that she's holding the Siamese cat that belonged to the last murder victim. Melinda Warren had three powers - she could move objects with her mind, see the future and stop time. Before she was burned at the stake, she vowed that each generation of Warren witches would grow stronger and stronger, culminating in three sisters - the most powerful witches of all. The inscription on the spirit board reads: "To my three beautiful girls/May this give you the light to find the shadows/The Power of Three will set you free/Love Mom." Until Phoebe's return, none of the sisters had any idea what it meant. The incantation that Phoebe reads aloud from the Book of Shadows is: "Hear now the words of the witches/The secrets we hid in the night/The oldest of gods are invoked here/The great work of magic is sought/In this night and in this hour/I call upon the Ancient Power/Bring your powers to we sisters three/We want the power/Give us the power". The witch murdered at the start in named as Serena Fredrick in the novelisation. Chris Flanders, who plays Chef Moore, guest starred as Matthew Winslow in the Angel episode, The Ring. Novelised as The Power of Three by Eliza Willard. Unsurprisingly for the first episode there is plenty of power usage on display in this episode: Prue causes Roger's pen to link and his tie to strangle him, transfers cream into coffee and causes the stock in the pharmacist's to fly off the shelves. She also gets to slam Jeremy into the wall at Halliwell Manor. Piper freezes Chef Moore during her audition and then Jeremy in the lift. Phoebe has a premonition of a car accident and that Jeremy is still alive. A pretty good start to the series which manages to release the sisters' power and introduce both the regular characters and the basic set-up. On the downside, Jeremy must be either supremely confident or totally stupid as he and Piper take a taxi to the building where he plans to kill her. It also seems a bit unbelievable that she can knock him out by wielding a piece of wood one-handed. Plus, as a warlock who's killed at least three witches and taken their powers, Jeremy is destroyed rather too easily, with the cop-out chanting of "The Power of Three will set us free". Overall though, a thoroughly enjoyable episode and an good opener.
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