Episode Report Card Demian: B | Grade It Now! YOU GRADE IT You Lost Me
By Demian | Season 4 | Episode 12 | Aired on 01.30.2002
THE BLACK HOLE OF SOCIAL SERVICES. Raige answers her phone. Phoebe addresses her as "Serena" and identifies herself as "Sam." Whatever. In the background, Cole hurls his twelve o'clock through a door. Blah blah blah threat-cakes. Cole orders the slumlord to turn the heat back on or else. Cynthia Corren fires Cole. Raige gapes. Scene.
Manor. Piper and the Dolt watch Tywer fiddling with a Gameboy. Piper waxes nostalgic, with just a hint of regret. Had Grams not bound the Ps' powers when they were children, they might have been better prepared to function as witchy adults. The Late Lamented might still be alive, The Source might have been vanquished long ago, and Piper and the Dolt might actually be raising a family instead of arguing over the merits of having one. Raige and Cole barge in through the front door to interrupt this monologue. Piper gets them up to speed on recent events and future plans and prepares to orb out with the Dolt. Phoebe enters from the kitchen. While babbling about biscuits or something, she "flashe[s] black and white." The associated sound effect is that of a radio channel being switched open and closed. Piper rolls her eyes and announces she doesn't have time to deal with Phoebe's bullshit at the moment. She instructs Cole to "fix" his fiancée and have her compose a Power of Three vanquish should they need to lure Ludlow back to the Manor. Tywer wanders to Piper's side, asking if he can join them for the Ludlow hunt. Piper shakes her head, insisting that the situation is too dangerous for the brat. She and the Dolt begin to orb out. At the last moment, Tywer leaps onto the Dolt's back to join the orb.
The Ludlow Academy For Wayward Young Flamers. Piper, Tywer, and the Dolt orb in onto the driveway off to one side of a locked and forbidding gate. Tywer immediately drops from the Dolt's back and doubles over, looking like he's about to hurl into the azaleas. "He jumped the orb!" peeves the Dolt. Piper's furious and announces that Tywer is returning to the Manor right now, whether he likes it or not. Sorry, Piper. The three black-clad demonic henchboys squiggling in around you seem to have other plans for the dweeb. Commercial.
Back from the break, the head black-clad henchman confronts Piper and the Dolt, demanding to know who they are. The Dolt lames something about having simply lost their way. The henchman tells them that's not possible -- the Academy is protected by "charms." They had to have been looking for it to find it. The henchman orders his underlings to off them. As the henchboys toss a couple of FBODs, Piper freezes the scene. Tywer immediately bolts for the gate. Piper races after him and reiterates her desire to keep him back at the Manor and out of harm's way. Tywer argues that once the henchman learns he's a Firestarter, he'll grant Piper and the Dolt access to Ludlow. Piper needs him there, and besides, he might be able to use his powers to help her. She understands his point and reluctantly agrees. She unfreezes the scene behind her, and the FBODs hurl themselves ineffectively against the gate. Piper informs the henchman that she and the Dolt are bounty hunters, there to present Ludlow with a Firestarter. The henchman asks them for the password. The Dolt hems and haws. Piper rolls her eyes and blows the henchman up. "That was it," one of the henchboys tells her, and the party is led through the gate.