Episode Report Card Demian: A | 1 USERS: A+ YOU GRADE IT All Hell Breaks Loose
By Demian | Season 3 | Episode 22 | Aired on 05.16.2001
Cavern of the Bi Kraps. A slow pan from the candlelit demonic altar down to the floor reveals the Colethazor, snoozing on a bed of straw. Cole, honey, if such accommodations are the best the demonic realm has to offer, you really need to look into another line of work. The camera tilts up a bit, and Phoebe swirls into view in a cloud of glowing golf balls. She lowers herself to the floor and prods the Colethazor to wake him. He opens his eyes, takes a moment to figure out what’s going on, and asks her what she’s doing down there in the Cavern. “I’ve come to take you back,” she tells him. He shoots his hand out, grabbing her by the neck and pushing her against the wall. “You just made a huge mistake,” he menaces.
KCSF Headquarters. The managing editor, whose name is presently revealed to be “Dave,” tells his crew to “pipe down” as the cameraman from the pre-credits sequence enters with a three-quarter-inch reel. Jimmy Olsen hands the tape over to Elana as Dave warns, “What we talk about in this room stays in this room until I say otherwise.” The assembled staff agrees to this. Elana pops the tape into the VCR and hits play. She’d apparently been in the Halliwells’ neighborhood to do a minor story on a newly-discovered fault line beneath the area when Fruma-Shax attacked Piper and Prue on the sidewalk. The news team lets out a collective gasp when Piper blows up the demon. Elana punches the stop button and spins around to face the room, a smile of triumph on her lips. Dave wonders if the footage has “hit the network feed yet.” A brittle newswoman -- let’s call her “Hildy Johnson” -- notes, “No, but if we don’t send it, some idiot out there who taped it will.” One of her colleagues runs with this, adding that should that happen, KCSF would lose “control of the revenue stream.” Dave tells them all to shut up. He’s not going to compromise the station’s journalistic integrity by releasing the tape before they “get authentication.” Like releasing something so sensationalistic -- authenticated or otherwise -- is in the best interests of journalistic integrity. Try again, Dave. A debate erupts about what they’ve just seen. Elana’s convinced that it’s “supernatural” in nature. Others suggest possible military involvement. Hildy shuts them all down, smugly insisting that the whole thing’s a “hoax.” Elana smells a Peabody Award, and won’t let any of the others rain on that little parade. “We can’t put the genie back in the bottle,” she insists. “Two hundred thousand viewers saw it live. What do you want to do?” Two hundred thousand, huh? I just bet math wasn’t one of your better subjects in high school, was it, Elana? Dave takes a moment, then approaches Elana and Jimmy. “Go find out who these women are,” he instructs them. “But be careful. They might not want to be found.” With these words, Dave successfully chums the waters for the Latina piranha. The bottom feeder gleefully darts out of the conference room with her trusty cameraman.
Cut to Prue, kneeling on the sidewalk outside of the manor, fiddling with some dead leaves. Still uneasy with that morning’s events, she’s searching for any “demonic residue” Fruma-Shax might have left behind as proof the demon is indeed gone for good. She’s not finding anything. Piper stands off to the side, furrowing her brow over Phoebe’s little jaunt down to Hell. Prue reminds Piper that Phoebe can “take care of herself.” Prue straightens herself up and strides down the street with Piper trailing behind her. “I’ve had a bad feeling about all this all day,” Prue insists, “and if there’s one thing I’ve learned, it’s to trust those feelings.” Piper passes a preadolescent blonde who’s holding a jump rope. Piper perks out a “Hi!” to the kid, but the girl just stares dumbly at her. The girl’s mother snatches her away from the wicked Halliwell presence, telling her child to “stay away from those people.” Piper looks a bit puzzled at that, but quickens her pace to catch up with Prue down the street.