Episode Report Card Demian: B+ | Grade It Now! YOU GRADE IT Phoeby! Phoebi! Phoebé!
By Demian | Season 4 | Episode 14 | Aired on 02.13.2002
Manor sun porch. Cole blazes back in and senses the presence of someone else in the room. He turns to spy Phrances waiting patiently for his return. "I've been expecting you," she says, the steel of her resolve apparent in the tone of her voice. Cole gazes warily at her as we cut to commercial.
Back from the break, Frances Bay and Julian McMahon share a scene that ends up being far sweeter than I would ever like to admit, especially because it comes frighteningly close to promoting the fallacy of "soul mates" by name. As it is, the scene does make Phoebe and Cole's relationship seem dangerously co-dependent, but then again, we're talking about a witch and a freaking demon here, after all. It begins with Phrances and Cole sniping at each other. Phrances knows he's infected with The Source, though 2002 Phoebe is and will remain ignorant of this fact for quite some time. Phrances reveals that she called off the wedding all those many years ago not knowing of Cole's infection, but she, Piper, and Raige realized soon enough that they had to vanquish him. And so they did. Phrances was left with a lifetime of regrets, mainly because she never knew if Cole succumbed to TAFKATS because she gave up on him, or if the destruction of Cole by TAFKATS would have occurred anyway. Cole melts a bit at this confession, admitting that he wants desperately to rid himself of TAFKATS, but doesn't know if that's possible. Phrances decides it's worth a try, and announces she intends to tell Phoebe the truth. "Magic happens for a reason, Cole," she tells him gently. "I have to trust that I'm meant to change this." She strokes his cheek with her hand and adds that Phoebe reminded her what it was like to have hope in the future. Phrances's eyes glisten a bit and she shrugs as if to say, "What the hell. It's worth a try." I'm loving the fact that eighty-four-year-old Frances Bay got to have a love scene with the thirty-three-year-old slice of gorgeous that is Julian McMahon. Atta girl. Kurzon squiggles in to ruin all the fun. "I'm not intruding, am I?" Phrances and Cole look like they're about to pummel him to death with their bare hands.
Over near the waterfront, the gals hop out of the SUV as Piper bitches about having lost Kurzon's trail. Raige flips the map open on the hood of the car and waves the crystal over it. The crystal dive-bombs onto the Manor's coordinates. "We'll never make it back in time," Phoebe moans. Piper's face lights up as she gets an idea. Raige immediately knows what Piper's up to and begs off. Sure, Raige orbed from one level of the Manor to the other that morning, but going from that to orbing "across town with two passengers"? Is Piper crazy? Not so much crazy as overconfident. Piper and Phoebe latch onto Raige's arms. Raige presently orbs out with Phoebe alone. The orb cloud rises about ten feet above the street before Raige realizes she's missing a sister. An orby arm reaches down to yank Piper into the air.