MORALITY BITES

PLOT

A furious Piper returns home, complaining about one of their neighbours.  "That man has turned our front walk into a puppy minefield," she moans.  "I cannot believe that guy still lets his dog do his business right in front of our house," replies Phoebe.  "Well I've had it.  The next I catch him in the act I'm gonna give him a piece of my mind."

A bark from the street alerts the sisters to his presence outside the Manor.  Using the logic that "if you can't teach the dog new tricks, how about the owner?" Phoebe suggests Prue use her powers, which she does.  Once Piper's freeze has worn off, the guy looks back to see the sisters standing at the window before he walks off.

Phoebe settles down to watch TV and has a premonition while watching a story about baseball player Cal Greene.  A TV programme on 26 February 2009 shows her being executed while Prue and Piper merely look on.  Piper wonders just what triggered the premonition, while Phoebe wants to know what she will do to deserve this fate.

Leo arrives, but Piper tells him she's going to have to bail out on him tonight.  It doesn't matter since he gets a message that he has to take care of something and orbs out.  He orbs into the attic and causes the pages in the Book of Shadows to do the "flipping thing" as Piper puts it, opening it on a page that tells how to move ahead in time before orbing out again.

The sisters read the entry and discover that they only get one shot at the spell, once it's used it will disappear from the Book.  Planning to arrive in the future a fortnight before Phoebe's execution, the girls cast the spell.

Piper orbs into the body of her sleeping self, who is woken by a girl running in and crying "mommy, mommy, mommy!"  Piper tells her that she's got the wrong house, and certainly the wrong mommy, but she hasn't - the girl is her daughter.  A TV report reveals that the execution is today.

Her neighbour shows up, and asks Piper if wants her to take her daughter to her ex's.  Before she leaves, the girl, whispers to Piper that she'll be good and promises not to use her powers.

A limo pulls up outside the Manor and Prue emerges, accompanied by two assistants.  She reveals she now owns Bucklands, plus branches in Paris, Tokyo and London and asks how Piper did.  Piper has to admit that she doesn't even know her daughter's name.  The pair realise that since they're in their future selves' bodies so is Phoebe.

There are eight hours to go before the execution.  On TV, the San Francisco DA Nathaniel Pratt promises that Phoebe will burn for her crime of murdering Cal Greene and warns all other witches.

Prue and Piper look for the Book of Shadows in the attic, but it's not there.  Prue accidentally demolishes half the attic with her powers, which have grown over the last decade.  They find the key to her wallsafe at Bucklands and assume that that's where the Book has been hidden.

In her cell at Hobart State Penitentiary, Phoebe asks for some food, but is dismayed by the "goo" that is shoved under the door.  She finds that her cells is electified before being told to "shut up, witch."

Heading to Bucklands, an agitated Piper freezes an entire square, nothing that "what a difference a decade makes."  Arriving on the scene, Leo castigates Piper for using her power.  Prue whispers to her that he thinks they are they're future selves.  Leo reminds Piper that they agreed "no magic for Melinda's sake."  A woman points at Prue and Piper screaming "witch!" and forcing the three to flee.

Phoebe is visited by Pratt, who notes that, "executions are a bitch to plan."  She says she's had a lot of time to think, but is shocked when she discovers she's committed murder.  Pratt thinks her claims that she doesn't know what she's done are an attempt to stay the execution, which isn't going to work.  There are five hours to go and since Phoebe killed a man with her power, she's going to die for it.

Leo takes Prue and Piper to an underground shelter for witches who are hiding from Pratt.  He doesn't believe that they're from the past until Piper kisses him.  He then explains that six months ago Phoebe killed Cal Greene, who had murdered someone she cared about but escaped on a technicality.

The sisters want to visit Phoebe, but Leo goes instead since he can orb in and out.  Meanwhile, Prue and Piper go to Bucklands to retrieve the Book of Shadows.  Shepherded into her office, Prue discovers from her assistant Anne, that she's not married and that her life ("a nightmare") revolves around work.  The Book of Shadows is in the safe, but the pages with the Return Spell on are blank - they have no way of getting home.

Leo orbs into Phoebe's cell.  He's not going to rescue her; her future self used witchcraft witchcraft for vengeance.  He hands her a newspaper clipping and Phoebe sees a vision of her killing Cal Greene.  Leo orbs out as Phoebe shouts "help me!"

At the Manor, Prue and Piper find that the corners of some of the pages in the Book of Shadows are turned down.  They appear to be part of an escape plan to rescue Phoebe, but there are also new spells which are purely for personal gain.

Leo returns without Phoebe and explains why.  He's trying to protect the greater good and Phoebe has to die.  Piper freezes him and she and Prue leave to rescue Phoebe.

On TV, Pratt claims that this "is a victory for us all" and promises that "tonight the witch will burn."

Piper can't bring herself to cast the binding spell on Melinda.  Her freeze having worn off, Leo orbs in and fills in some of the story of their relationship.  He's not going to stop them rescuing Phoebe.  In the car, Prue realises that she has no one to say goodbye to.  The people at Bucklands didn't even know who Piper was and if she dies tonight her tombstone will read "here lies Prue, she worked hard."  Piper tries to rally her by saying that they'll rescue Phoebe, get home and create a new future.

Outside the prison, they cast a spell to create a door.  Inside, Piper freezes a guard, but they find Phoebe's cell empty.

She has already been taken to the execution chamber and locked to the stake.  Pratt gloats, "I love the smell of burnt witch in the morning."  "At least I'm paying for my crime," notes Phoebe.

Prue and Piper burst in and Piper freezes the scene and they release Phoebe who refuses to go with them.  She tells them that they have to let this happen, the wrong thing done for the right reason is still the wrong thing.  The scene unfreezes and Prue and Piper hug each other as Phoebe is burned.

Back at the Manor, Prue and Piper are still hugging.  Phoebe isn't dead but she tells them that she could feel the flames burning her.  The TV report about Cal Greene doesn't trigger a premonition and they assume this is because their trip to the future was successful.  They hear the dog bark outside the house and Prue and Piper are about to use their powers once more until Phoebe stops them.  This was the first time they used their magic for revenge and this is why they've been sent back.  The guy looks at them staring at him, and they realise it's Pratt.  Prue declares that she's not going to work.  They can still make the good things happen, they just have to make the right choices.

Leo arrives.  He was told they had something to learn and tells them that they wouldn't have been brought back if they hadn't learned it.

CAST

Pat Skipper who plays Nathaniel Pratt was recurring character Billy Scully Jr in The X Files fourth and fifth season.  Most of Jennifer Hale's roles are voice-overs, including Jessie Bannon in The Real Adventures of Jonny Quest.  Tina Thomas played an Aquarian Girl in the 1980 movie Flash Gordon.

CONTINUITY

In a possible future, Prue is blonde, owns Bucklands and is obsessive about work.  Piper has split with Leo but the pair have a daughter, Melinda (obviously named after Melinda Warren), but still lives at the Manor and drives the same car as she does in 1999.  Both their powers have grown extensively as have Phoebe's since her power is no longer passive. 

THE BOOK OF SHADOWS

To move ahead in time: "Hear these words, Hear the rhyme, We send to you this burning sign, Then our future selves will find, In another place and time."

Spells in the Book in 2009 include one to create a door ("When you find your path is blocked, All you have to do is knock" - it also requires a door to be drawn first) and a glamour to change one's appearance.  Spells for personal gain in the Book include one to create money, one to bend someone's will and one to erase a memory.  There's also a binding spell, which was presumably in there already since Grams bound the girls' power in the mid 1970s.

According to Piper, the spell to return home should be after the demon with the tusk and before the spell to discourage a lover.

THE POWER OF THREE

Prue moves something (fortunately we never see a close-up!) when Pratt and his dog are frozen in 1999.  In 2009 she accidentally demolishes half of the attic at the Manor. 

Piper freezes Pratt and his dog in the street at the start of the episode.  In the future, she freezes  "everything", freezes Leo in the Manor and a guard at the prison ("Freeze!"  Piper: "Good idea").  In an attempt to rescue Phoebe she freezes the execution but Phoebe refuses to be saved.

Phoebe has a premonition that on 26 February 2009 she's burned at the stake while Prue and Piper look on.  On that date she has one where she sees herself killing Cal Greene.  We don't know exactly how she did this but it's presumably some extension of her power of premonition - something telepathic perhaps?

NOTES

The incident with Pratt and the dog takes place before Phoebe sees the TV news the first time around and after it the second time.  When Prue and Piper are looking for the spell to get back home, the Return Spell looks like its one of those they flick past, despite them claiming that it's not in the Book.

Prue's realisation that she's destined for a lonely life that centres around her work seems reminiscent of A Christmas Carol.

The programme interrupted for the news in 2009 is MTV's Real World 18 - On The Moon.

COMMENTS

After a disappointing start to the season, Charmed moves up a couple of notches with a far more enjoyable episode, which again serves to teach the sisters an important lesson, which Prue and Phoebe in particular would be advised to heed.

After travelling back to the seventies in the first season, an episode set in the future was always on the cards, and Charmed does tend towards the obvious on occasions.

As with their last time travelling adventure, the sisters are surprised at the extent of their powers.  In That 70s Episode it was the fact that Prue and Piper had any, now it's how much they've developed over the decade.  Both Prue and Piper set off their powers in the same way that they did when they first got them - Prue when she's mad and Piper went she's panicked.

Without Phoebe's decision that she must die the episode would be a fairly entertaining roundabout that we've all seen in dozens of other shows - a race to rescue one member of the team by a certain deadline.  Her realisation that she must pay for her crime provides the reason for their trip to the future, which would otherwise have been little more than a chance for the regulars to play older versions of their usual characters.

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