Episode Report Card Grade It Now! YOU GRADE IT Once Upon A Time
By Demian | Season 3 | Episode 3 | Aired on 10.18.2000
The Polish Princess helpfully informed me that one of the conceits of this show's credit sequence is that it features only those main characters who will make an appearance in the episode. So, no Darryl again tonight, but this doesn't necessarily mean Dorian Gregory is cooling his heels on an unemployment line. Yet.
Manor kitchen. Phoebe places a mug of some sort of hot liquid and a bowl of cookies in front of the sullen moppet sulking at the kitchen table. Sullen Moppet is still clutching the jewelry box as Piper and Prue enter, wondering what information Phoebe's been able to get from the child. "Name, rank, and serial number," Phoebe replies, and Piper notes that Sullen Moppet's parents are on their way to pick her up. Phoebe moves to grab the car keys to retrieve Sullen Moppet's torn jacket from the SUV, then stops when she notices they're missing. "The fairies probably hid them," the moppet sulks, then apologizes, as she's not supposed to talk to anyone about the fairies. This comment sparks the interest of the three Ps, and Phoebe tries to elicit more fairy-related information from Sullen Moppet, who clams up. The doorbell interrupts the interrogation. Prue goes to answer as Piper tells Sullen Moppet, "That's probably your mom and dad." "He's not my dad," she snits back. "He's just my mom's new husband." Child-of-divorce angst. Joy.
Prue greets the Sullen Moppet's parents, and they ask how "Kate" is. Prue reassures them she's fine as Kate runs into the hallway from the kitchen, yelling at her parents to get out of the doorway. "It's the In-Between," she shrieks. "Get out of the In-Between." Kate's parents move inside the house, attempting to get the kid to shut up before she reveals even more of her mental instability to a trio of strangers. Phoebe asks what an "In-Between" is, and Kate insists it's a place "where the trolls are." Kate's mother kneels and brushes Kate's hair out of her face as she tells her she's too old to believe in trolls and fairies. She rises and informs the Ps that Kate's had problems since the divorce. "She's regressed to the imaginary-friend stage." Bastard Stepdad steps in to cut off this unnecessary flow of personal information, thanks the sisters again for their help, and picks Kate up to carry her out the door. We get a Kate POV of the doorway, which reveals a grimacing little gremlin clinging to the jamb, muttering a strangled threat. I giggle, and start humming the Underpants Gnomes' song from South Park to myself. Phoebe senses Kate's distress, but sees nothing. More Kate POV as Bastard Stepdad eases her out of the house past the snarling little beast. Kate's mother thanks the Halliwells again, and follows them out the door. Prue shuts it, and we cut to a kettle being placed on the stove in the kitchen.