THE POWER OF TWO

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THE PLOT

Phoebe is trying to develop her powers so that she can call up a premonition on demand when she sees Piper - who is off to Hawaii on a business trip - missing her plane.  Both Prue and Piper leave Phoebe a list of jobs to do while she's at home, which she abandons for a trip to Alcatraz.

At the prison, the ghost of murderer Jackson Ward is visited by a Soul Collector, who reminds him that he's been trapped between life and death for 36 years.  As the tour approaches, the Collector senses Phoebe.  As the guide hams it up for the visitors, he collapses as the Collector takes his soul.  Jackson, who only Phoebe can see, steps into his body.

Claire tells Prue that Bucklands is to be sold, and that she needs to create a good impression - there are to be no more family emergencies.  Phoebe phones to tell Prue about the ghost, although she claims she wasn't actually at the prison and her friend Marianne has told her the story.  She claims that some evil spirits need a dead body to transport themselves across water, only for Prue to shut her up.

Morris and Trudeau are investigating the murder of the son of a DA who was stabbed 13 times in the chest.  The DA was the prosecutor at Ward's trial and  ultraviolet testing reveals Ward's prints on the weapon.

That evening, Prue returns home to find that Phoebe has done nothing but research the ghost.  Before she can take out too much of her frustration, Andy arrives at the Manor and tells them of the murder.

Ward walks through the door of Judge Renault's office.  Renault was the judge who sentenced him, and Ward stabs him with a letter opener.  He's just about to continue his mutilations when the Soul Collector demands his help to get a witch.

Morris and Trudeau find that the Judge has also been stabbed 13 times, which was Jackson Ward's MO, although it was never released to the public.  Andy tells his partner to get a list of potential victims.

Prue shows up late to meet Bucklands' potential buyers, before Andy shows up and drags her away.  The pair find Phoebe looking through the Book of Shadows in the attic.  It appears that an evil spirit can only be vanquished on the astral plane, so one of them would have to die.

The Book flies open to the Truth Spell and Prue confesses to Andy that she cast it to see his reaction to her being a witch.  He is less than impressed, especially when she admits she only gave him about to minutes to react.

Andy signs out the murder weapon.  Once he's left, the officer phones to say that he's taken it.  Andy then gets the list so far from Morris, but after he's left, Inspectors Rodriguez and Anderson from Internal Affairs show up to speak to Morris about his partner.

Andy gives the letter opener to Phoebe who manages to get a premonition.  It is Ward murdering the foreperson on the jury.  They manage to prevent him killing her, but Ward - who recognises Phoebe - warns that they can't keep saving her or the others forever.

Prue is angry that Phoebe didn't tell her about her trip to Alcatraz.  Phoebe tells her that she didn't say anything because Prue would just accuse her of slacking off and that her sisters take it for granted that she can do things for them while they're at work.  Prue has to admit that Phoebe does have a point, and that they have issues that can't be solved overnight but they need to stop Jackson Ward first.

Prue and Phoebe prepare the potion to lure Jackson Ward to them.  He's about to attack his latest victim when the spell takes effect and the Soul Collector tells him to visit his grave because Phoebe has deliberately left their address there.

Andy takes the files about his unsolved cases but is stopped by Rodriguez, who goes through them all.  Anderson shows a photo of him checking out the murder weapon and Rodriguez asks if he's covering for someone.  Andy challenges him to charge him or drop dead.

Prue prepares a potion to stop her heart, although she can be revived within four minutes and avoid brain damage.  Phoebe forces her to toss a coin for it, which Prue wins.  Jackson Ward walks through the wall, and lunges for the pair with a broken vase.  While he fights with Phoebe, Prue drinks the potion, only for Ward to knock Phoebe unconscious as Prue collapses.

Prue's spirit leaves her body and she chants the spell to vanquish him.  Ward drops the knife and starts to 'dissolve'.  Andy finds the pair unconscious and tries to resuscitate Prue.  This causes Prue's spirit to return to her body and Ward recovers, attacking Andy.  Prue's spirit shouts a warning and Andy manages to disarm him.  As Prue continues the spell, the Soul Collector shows up to collector Ward's - Prue's is safe, for now.

Prue begs Claire to give her her job back.  Andy arrives and thanks Claire for letting them borrow Prue to help set up a sting.  He tells Prue that he's been thinking about the Truth Spell - someday he wants to come home to a normal life.  Prue says she does as well, only she can't avoid it.

NOTES

Accorded Special Guest Star status, Brenda Bakke was Selena Coombs in American Gothic.  Jeff Kober, played Zackary Kralik in the Buffy episode Helpless.

When Prue and Phoebe are heading towards Jackson Ward's grave they have this exchange:

Phoebe: "What was that?"

Prue: "Probably a zombie or a vampire."

Phoebe: "Where's Buffy when you need her."

According to the Book of Shadows to lure an evil spirit: mix equal parts of mercury and acid with the blood of one of the spirit's victims and pour it over his grave.

Prue's spell that enables her spirit to leave her body is "Ashes to ashes, spirit to spirit/Take his soul, banish this evil."

The address of the Manor is again given as 1329 Prescott Street (according to the photo Phoebe leaves at Jackson Ward's grave) - see Is There A Woogy in the House? for further discussion about the house's numbering. 

Nice to hear Beth Orton's Stolen Car (from her Central Reservation album) just after the opening credits.

THE POWER OF THREE

Prue moves Ward's knife towards Andy when he's trying to kill Iris Beiderman.  She also appears to smack Ward around the head at the Manor.

Phoebe's attempts at calling up premonitions to order seem to work when she sees Piper missing her flight and later when she sees Ward trying to kill an old woman.

COMMENTS

The lack of Piper doesn't augur well for this episode, but it's not too bad.

It's just a shame that it's Piper who's out of town because she hasn't really had much to do in recent episodes.  Prue's had rather a lot to do recently, but leaving Piper and Phoebe alone wouldn't have caused the sort of tension that having Piper away causes.

Prue juggles trying not to avoid the sack, arguing with Phoebe and trying to destroy Jackson Ward, while Phoebe gets to do her detective act again.  Andy plays a bigger part than usual, and the storyline with the Internal Affairs investigating is obviously building up to something for the remaining two episodes.   Just a shame that there's the usual Charmed problem of uninteresting bad guys, despite the Soul Collector showing a lot of leg in most of her scenes.

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