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THE PLOT

Piper and Phoebe drag their sister to a party hosted by their new neighbours, Fritz, Marshall and Cynda.  Their motives are all too apparent when they run into Andy at the party.  Anxious to leave, Prue returns to the Manor only to find the front door open and a fierce dog inside.

At Bucklands, Prue is given a ring to appraise by a man who she realises is the sisters' father, Victor Halliwell.  She orders him out, but he invites the three of them to dinner the following day.

Prue is suspicious of the timing - they've only just discovered their powers and now Victor shows up.  Grams always said he was a threat, and this proves it.  Piper and Phoebe, however, are determined to go - Prue knew him, they never had that opportunity.

Phoebe pays a surprise visit to Victor's hotel.  He has no idea which of the two younger sisters she is, and guesses that she's Piper.  Phoebe tries to hide her disappointment.  As the pair hug, she has a premonition of Victor stealing the Book of Shadows, and makes a quick exit.

At the Manor, a delivery guy morphs his finger into a key and unlocks the door, heading upstairs to the attic.  It's locked, so he kicks it in and steals the Book of Shadows, which somehow prevents him from taking it outside the house.  Seeing Prue pull up outside, he morphs into Andy, claiming that he was checking if things were okay and saw that the door was open.  Prue notices the Book lying and moves it out of sight just as Cynda arrives, also checking if things are okay.

Discovering the damage, Prue suspects Victor is behind it, while Phoebe points the finger at Andy.

Piper and Phoebe have dinner with Victor, but Prue refuses to go, until Andy persuades her to go.  She arrives and rails against Victor, ignoring Piper's attempts at small-talk.  Victor trips a waiter, causing Piper to panic and freeze the whole room, but after her sudden catching of the flambé, Victor correctly guesses which sister has which power.

Piper and Phoebe are lounging around at the Manor when the delivery guy shows up.  The three morph into Cynda, Marshall and Fritz, before Cynda reveals their true forms.  The real sisters and Victor arrive to find three birds in the house and an open window.

Phoebe is immediately talkative, despite Prue's attempts to get her to shut up.  At the shapeshifters' house, Fritz suggests killing two sisters and forcing the other one to give up the Book of Shadows.  Marshall dismisses his idea and says that they've still got Victor.

Prue starts laying into Victor.  He admits he does want the Book, but only wants to protect them from themselves.  Even Phoebe's trust evaporates and Prue throws him against a door frame.

The shapeshifters confront Victor in his hotel room.  Cynda suggests she morph into Victor and get the girls to hand the book over, but Victor has already guessed Phoebe's premonition.  Phoebe confesses her premonition to Prue and Piper.

Outside the Manor, Victor confronts Phoebe, who has the same premonition, except this time Victor morphs into Marshall after he steals the Book of Shadows.  As the other shapeshifters arrive, Phoebe runs to the attic where the Book of Shadows opens itself to the relevant page.

Downstairs, another Victor arrives and the pair try to convince the sisters that they're both the original article.  Prue realises which one is the real one and moves the protection ring so that only the three shapeshifters are destroyed.

Victor skips town but Phoebe is left with a more realistic view of her father.  She's also very taken with the handyman who turns up to fix the broken attic door.

NOTES

Piper confirms that "the craft is a chick thing.  It's passed on down through the female line."

Victor last saw his daughters twenty years ago when Piper was four and Phoebe was one.  But Phoebe's comments about him in 'Something Wicca This Way Comes' seemed to imply that she'd at least been in touch with him.

He never wanted them to receive their power and fought with Grams, but she was too strong for him. 

This week's chant is "When in the circle that is home/Safety's gone and evils roam/Rid all beings from these walls/Save sisters three, now head our call."

How does one of the shapeshifters manage to be outside Halliwell Manor as a dog and then make it back to their house in about two seconds?  How can all three be in their house when Prue leaves and the dog be in the Manor when she returns home?  And why doesn't the flame freeze when Piper freezes the restaurant? 

Two of the actors playing the shapeshifters have had roles on Buffy - Eric Matheny was Colm in Beer Bad and Mariah O'Brien was Nancy in The Wish.

THE POWER OF THREE

Prue moves the Book of Shadows out of sight when talking to 'Andy', throws Victor against a door frame and moves the protection ring so he can put it on when Phoebe reads the spell.

Piper freezes the entire restaurant after Victor trips the waiter.

Phoebe sees Victor stealing the Book of Shadows, then later sees him morphing into Marshall after stealing the book.

COMMENTS

The worst episode so far.  The shapeshifters aren't particularly interesting and just why is Victor involved with them?  The timeframe at the start doesn't appear to make much sense either.

The simple solution of running up to the attic, finding the correct spell and chanting it also provides a rather lightweight ending, especially since this is the only the third episode and they've done it every week so far!

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