IS THERE A WOOGY IN THE HOUSE?

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THE PLOT

After an earthquake the sisters call out someone to repair a gas leak; while he's checking it out, Prue and Piper tease Phoebe for her fear of the basement.

In the basement, the gasman releases a black gas, which possesses him.  He asks it which sister it wants: "Phoebe" is the reply.

Claire has forced Prue into hosting a dinner party at the Manor, with Piper cooking and Phoebe waitressing.  One of the guests, Beth, seems interested in the house and is able to tell Prue some of its history.

Alone in the house, Phoebe hears the gasman calling for help.  Although she gets a premonition of Grams banishing her childhood monster, the Woogyman, she forces herself to go down into the basement, where she too is possessed.

Piper struggles into the house with her shopping for the evening.  Once she's in the kitchen, the gasman grabs her but Phoebe saves her by smacking him around the head with a baseball bat that just appeared in her hand, something she cannot explain.  The investigating Morris and Trudeau cannot find any reason for his attack and he hasn't got a previous record.

Phoebe starts acting weird with Prue and Piper, and then visits the Woogyman in the basement.  He tells her she must use her powers against her sisters and that she's not strong enough to fight him.  Phoebe's attempt to stab an unsuspecting Piper is only thwarted by the sudden arrival of one of the guests.

Phoebe gives Beth a grand tour of the Manor while Prue tells Claire she's cutting the evening short, sending everyone to Quake instead.  After Phoebe insists on showing her the basement, Beth too starts acting strangely.

Prue and Piper see off the guests, but find themselves unable to re-enter the house.  The following day, still unable to get in, they find that Beth has been arrested for trying to choke one of her students.  Following Beth's earlier comments, the two sisters find that the house has been built on a spiritual nexus and at the centre of a pentagram.

Morris and Trudeau return to the Manor only to find two neighbours arguing opposite.  Morris intervenes while Phoebe shows up and asks Andy to check out a gas leak.  As he leaves the house, Piper freezes it so she and Prue can get back inside, and they realise that Phoebe is also frozen, meaning she's no longer a good witch.  Once outside, Andy marches up to Morris and the feuding neighbours and pulls his gun, only to be disarmed by his partner.

Piper now believes in the Woogyman and that Grams' "story" is actually a spell, except neither she nor Prue can remember it.  After a run-in with Phoebe, the pair go into the basement and see the Woogyman.  Prue shuts out Phoebe, but after she breaks it down anyway, she tries to get through to her sister.

Phoebe doesn't seem to be responding until she has another premonition.  After she recites the spell, the Woogyman is banished and the rest of the damage repaired.  Once everything is all over, Prue decides that they should start adding to the Book of Shadows, and hands Phoebe a pen...

NOTES

Michael Mantell played Oliver in the Angel episodes City of and Eternity.

According to Beth, the original house on the site of the Manor was destroyed in 1906 and rebuilt.  Prue says this would be about the time their great-grandparents moved in.  A spiritual nexus is equi-distant to the five spiritual elements (earth, fire, wood, metal and water).  This makes it a source of great power, for either good or evil.

The chant from the Woogyman story is: "I am light/I am one too strong to fight/Return to dark where shadows dwell/You cannot have this Halliwell/Go away and leave my sight/And take away this endless night."

Phoebe was the only sister born in the house and hasn't been into the basement for eighteen years at the start of this episode.

Phoebe gives their address as 1329 Prescott Street, but in Fourth Sister the posters have it as 7571 Prescott Street.  (1329 is the house's real-life number - it's actually on Carroll Avenue, about a mile north east of downtown L.A.) 

THE POWER OF THREE

Prue straightens a painting at Bucklands.  She also throws Phoebe in the attic and busts the door open to let Piper in.  Her attempt at using her power against the Woogyman doesn't work.

Piper freezes the store when she's arguing with Josh over the bottle of wine.  She also freezes the house when Andy is about to leave so she and Prue can get back inside.  Normally her power only affects the room she's in so this is either a massive error or her powers have grown somewhat.  She tries to freeze the Woogyman but it doesn't work.

Phoebe twice has a premonition of Grams banishing the Woogyman.

COMMENTS

Not the best Charmed episode, but by no means the worst either.

Phoebe gets to spend half the episode loping around the Manor being evil, with a few neat scenes - the duck sans medallions and repeating (and bettering) Prue's trick of closing the front door from Something Wicca This Way Comes.

We also learn a bit more about the Manor and the Halliwell family history, although the destruction of the Woogyman relies on that old favourite of a simple chant to save the day.

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