Episode Report Card Grade It Now! YOU GRADE IT I Have A Feeling We're Not In Toto Anymore, Kansas
By Demian | Season 3 | Episode 4 | Aired on 10.25.2000
Piper and Phoebe get into place for a group photo while Prue goes in search of her prop broomstick. The doorbell rings insistently, and Phoebe goes to answer, placing the caramel popcorn and taffy apples she'd been carrying on the sideboard in the hall. Surprise! Not! It's the Festers, the first of whom grins out, "Trick or treat." Phoebe smiles stupidly and notes the Festers look "just like the Grim --" somethings, realizes they are the GrimSomethings, and then, as is her wont in crisis situations, yodels and retreats down the hallway. The GrimSomethings move into the house and tweak a little strangling voodoo on Phoebe and Piper. At least, I think they're strangling the ladies. The special effects are an array of golden beams of light emanating from their necks, and they start gasping, so that's my best guess. Stunned into place where they stand, Piper and Phoebe turn their backs on the GrimSomethings while, in the kitchen, Leo senses something's amiss. Leo and Darryl rush into the front hall at the same time as Prue, who assesses the situation quickly and TKs the Festers into the parlor, where they destroy yet another piece of manor furniture. Piper and Phoebe rush up to the others, Phoebe noting they'd vanquished the GrimSomethings already and wondering why they've returned. Leo has no idea, as he actually got a message to warn the three of the shimmering blue-green portal that erupts in the doorway behind them. The Festers charge back into the hallway, to be frozen by Piper. Before she can ask Leo what the deal is, the three women are sucked squealing through the portal, leaving only their wigs behind. Leo screams at the Powers That Be that the sisters don't know what's happening, and Darryl, ever the sharp one, notes, "This isn't good, right?"
Credits. One of these days, I'm going to frame through the title bit to see if the scrambled letters spell out anything subliminally filthy before they settle on "Charmed." Because my life is that dull.
Halliwell squealing heard through a swirling vortex of clouds. It's a twister, Auntie Em! Get it? No, really, do you get it? Because it's not the last Wizard of Oz reference in this episode. Not by a long shot. The vortex shoots the sisters into a clearing next to a stone altar. I realize this is the WB and not the Playboy Channel, but the vortex stripped the sisters of their wigs, accessories, and makeup, but left them in their Halloween costumes. Uh…okay. The Ps wonder what the hell just happened to them, but their wondering is cut short by the appearance of a posse of historical types on horseback, brandishing scythes and muskets. The Halliwells dive for cover, as Piper notes they're "not in Kansas anymore." And you never were, moron. You were in California, so can it with the Dorothy Gale dialogue. The three crouch behind some underbrush as they realize they've most likely time traveled again. Piper snits that she hates time travel, Phoebe one-ups her by reminding her that the last time they did so, she was burned at the stake, and Prue shuts them up to fish around for some relevant information. Judging by the clothing of their pursuers, Prue guesses they've been thrown into the sixteen or seventeen hundreds, a time during which, as Phoebe notes, the average lifespan of a witch was "about fifteen minutes." A colonist ("Micah," we learn from the shouted query of the posse leader) sneaks up on them from behind, and Piper moves to freeze him, but Prue stops her after exchanging a soul-searching look with him. Micah lies about their presence in the underbrush, and the posse retreats. More why-are-we-here muttering, interrupted by individuals unseen bagging the sisters' heads with burlap sacks. They don't look that bad, guys. You should've seen them two weeks ago.