THE TRUTH IS OUT THERE...AND IT HURTS

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THE PLOT

Phoebe bumps into a warlock and has a premonition of a young woman being killed.  Following a police siren, the sisters see Dr Oliver Mitchell, who has been killed in exactly the same way.  Phoebe has seen the next victim.

Piper and Phoebe are still fighting over Leo.  Prue tells Phoebe that she's only interested in him because Piper is.  Later, Prue looks through the Book of Shadows, which opens on a truth spell.

Piper is getting hassle from her boss, Martin, but doesn't have the nerve to stand up to him.  Phoebe tells Prue that she's talked to Morris about the murder, but she only saw Andy, adding that he really cares about her.  She tells Prue that she should tell him their secret, but Prue is unwilling.

Thinking she's alone in the Manor, Prue decides to cast the truth spell, unaware that her sisters have returned home.  Piper and Phoebe are surprised to find themselves telling the truth to earth other.  Prue rings Andy and leaves a message that she needs to see him by 8pm the following day, as the spell only lasts for 24 hours.

The warlock kills again.  This time it's a lab technician, who's doing research - the warlock wants his future.

The following day at breakfast, things are progressing as they did the day before, except that this time everyone is telling the truth.  Phoebe admits that's she's only interested in Leo because Piper is before Prue confesses to casting the truth spell - not only do people have to tell them the truth, but so do they themselves.

Phoebe takes advantage of this by visiting Andy and getting details of the case, reminding him to call Prue.

Back at the Manor, Piper steels herself to ask Leo how he feels about her, backs down then goes for it anyway.  He seems interested...

After Hannah tells Prue that her mission in life is to destroy her before being led away by Rex, Prue nearly tells him that she's a witch, before Phoebe shuts her up, before her premonition shows that the next victim is Tanya, the sandwich girl.

Outside the auction house, the warlock tries to kill Tanya but Phoebe smashes a bottle over his head and the pair escape, returning to the Manor where the spell forces Phoebe to tell Tanya that's she the next victim.

Piper continues to flak at Quake and Martin admits that he's getting a bargain out of her, so she quits.

Prue demonstrates her power in front of Andy and tells her that she's a witch.  He's not prepared for this, especially since the Craft would be passed on down the female line.

Phoebe has a premonition that Tanya is pregnant and deduces that the warlock is after the baby, guessing that he can either see the future as she can or is from the future - hence the weird button found at one of the crime scenes.

The warlock turns up at Prue's office and admits that he's from the future, wants what's inside Tanya and that the victims are all tied up with a vaccine that protects against him and warlocks like him.

Prue manages to escape to the auction house's storage area where Piper arrives in time to freeze him and the pair vanquish him by thrusting a crowbar into his head.

Prue doorstops Andy, who tells her that he needs more time.  She doesn't have it - it's nearly 8pm and she forces the issue.  He's about to say that he can't accept it when the clock strikes eight and his memory of recent events is wiped.  A forceful Piper tells Martin to hire more staff or she'll quit and he agrees.  Leo tells her that he has a feeling that he needs to apologise but he doesn't while Prue tells Phoebe that she got her answer, even if it wasn't the one she wanted.

NOTES

The truth spell is "For those who want the truth revealed/Opened hearts and secrets unsealed/From now until it's now again/After which the memory ends/Those who now are in this house/Will hear the truth from others mouths."

Prue's favourite sandwich is turkey, no mayo.

"Gavin" is a rather unthreatening name for a warlock.

Hannah can light cigars by blowing on them.

THE POWER OF THREE

Prue moves the pyramid thing on her desk to demonstrate her power to Andy, throws her desk against the wall to trap the warlock, opens a locked door.

Piper freezes the kitchen when she knocks the cereal over and, more importantly, the warlock when he's throttling Prue. 

Phoebe has a premonition of the warlock killing a young female, and then again when she recognises the victim as Tanya.  She also sees Tanya (who doesn't know she's pregnant) holding a baby.

COMMENTS

A couple of totally unoriginal ideas - telling the truth and someone travelling back in time to prevent something happening in the present - combine to produce another highly enjoyable episode.

It's just as well that neither idea is forced to carry the episode alone as on the evidence here they probably wouldn't have succeeded.  However, in tandem they work, especially since the truth spell provides Prue with the necessary information when the Book of Shadows is unable to help.

Apart from another hint about Rex and Hannah, a couple of other ongoing plot strands are moved on as well - there's good news for Piper on the Leo front, but not so good news for Prue with Andy.

It's good to see Piper standing up for herself at Quake and Phoebe gets to do a bit of detective work.  Well, she asked Andy a couple of questions anyway.  But why do most of the revelations caused by Prue's spell have to be accompanied by a stupid sound effect?

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