THE WITCH IS BACK

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THE PLOT

Salem, Massachusetts, 1692.  Matthew Tate visits condemned witch Melinda Warren, whose powers he has already copied before betraying her.  However, she takes them back before confining him in a pewter locket.

Rex Buckland gives Prue the same locket to examine and by opening it, she releases Matthew from his imprisonment.  Then he tricks her into using her power on him in order to copy it.  He sees a photo on her desk and realises that she has two sisters whose power he must also copy.

Matthews jumps from the 12th floor and walks away unscathed, causing the SFPD to investigate.  Naturally the investigating officers are Morris and Trudeau and Rex and Hannah tell them that they heard a struggle in Prue's office, followed by Prue leaving the auction house in an agitated state.

Prue returns home and tells her sister that they're in trouble.  Phoebe has a premonition from the locket of their ancestor Melinda Warren trapping Matthew inside it.  Andy turns up at the Manor but Phoebe claims that Prue isn't there refusing to let him in without a search warrant.

The sisters bring Melinda Warren back, telling Leo she's their cousin.  Melinda tells them that Matthew's power is the ability to copy the power of good witches when it's used against him.  Their only hope is to curse him back into the locket before he steal's Piper and Phoebe's powers.

Rex and Hannah are feeling quite pleased with themselves having proven the legend of the locket and also that Prue is one of the Charmed Ones.  Matthew is trying to track down the sisters and murders a lawyer and a hardware store owner, both named Halliwell.  Rex and Hannah follow him to the store and tell him they have the means to find the Halliwells, and that they know he has the means to take their powers. 

The sisters and Melinda are short of some ingredients for the spell so Piper and Phoebe pick some herbs up from Quake while Prue returns to the museum for a feather from a stuffed spotted owl.

Piper and Phoebe are confident that Matthew doesn't know about Quake, but Hannah's already driven him there and he steals Phoebe's power.  He also knows from her premonition that Melinda has also returned.

Matthew breaks down the door to the Manor and threatens Melinda.  He has a premonition of them casting the spell and realises why they brought her back.  Melinda tells him that Prue is at the zoo and he tells her that he's going to kill Prue before coming back for Piper and Phoebe.

At Bucklands, Matthew tells Rex and Hannah that he's going after Prue, but Rex realises that they'll need to cast the spell at the Manor.

Andy picks Prue up outside the museum and asks her about the feather.  She claims that she already had it but he tells her that he can't look the other way any longer.  She sets off the airbag and manages to run back to her car.

Matthew shows up at the Manor while Piper, Phoebe and Melinda are preparing the spell.  He threatens to shoot Piper with the gun that Rex gave him at Bucklands.  He wants her to freeze him so he can copy her powers, then turns the gun on Phoebe instead.

Prue arrives with the feather and uses her power to whip the gun out of his hand and then to throw a chair at him.  Piper freezes the room while Melinda casts the spell to banish him back into the locket.

NOTES

Melinda Warren had a daughter named Prudence.  Matthew Tate betrayed her, but she refused to use her powers to save herself because this would condemn her daughter as well.  Unfortunately, in an all-too-typical Pocket Books move, the Power of Three novelisation and Whispers From The Past contradict this.

Melinda casts Matthew into the locket with a spell involving some herbs, a feather from a spotted owl and "Outside of time, outside of gain/Know only sorrow, know only pain."  The legend of the locket tells that he must never be freed or he'll destroy the Warren line.

The sisters call Melinda back by squeezing some of their blood into the locket and chanting "Melinda Warren, blood of our blood/Our great great great great great great great grandmother/We summon thee."  To send her back they simply chant "Melinda Warren, blood of our blood/We release you."

Matthew's ability to appear and reappear is known as "blinking."

Matthew shatters the window in Prue's office, but there is a distinct lack of broken glass on the street below.  He also seems to be using a page from a phone book to track down all the Halliwells, although how he knows what a phone book is is a bit of a mystery.

THE POWER OF THREE

Prue throws Matthew in her office, which allows him to copy her powers.  After Andy picks her up outside the museum, she sets off the driver's airbag so he can escape from his car.  When confronting Matthew at the Manor, she whips the gun out of his hand and throws a chair at him.

Piper freezes the kitchen (including Leo) when Phoebe knocks over the iced tea.  She freezes it again so that Melinda can vanquish Matthew back into the locket.

Phoebe sees Melinda Warren casting Matthew into the locket.  She also sees him threatening Melinda, allowing him to copy her power. 

COMMENTS

After the evil visitor from the future in the previous episode, this time we have a good visitor from the past just to balance things out.

The ongoing storylines - Rex and Hannah, Piper and Leo and Andy's suspicions over Prue in particular - are kept ticking over, by the main attention here is on the Melinda and Matthew one.

To be honest, it's nothing special.  We know that Melinda's going to beat him, and it's also pretty obvious how she's going to do it.

The Book of Shadows provides a convenient solution for the series, and it's a shame to see it using it so often and so obviously when, as usual, a bit more thought could produce something more.  It's enjoyable enough, but it would be nice to see the series trying a bit harder.

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