Episode Report Card Demian: B | Grade It Now! YOU GRADE IT Wrestling with the Nielsens
By Demian | Season 3 | Episode 12 | Aired on 01.31.2001
Prue copies some information on Mama Peters out of the phone book onto a scrap of paper, which she hands to Darryl. Piper, watering the plant on the kitchen table, wonders if the Ps should really be concerning themselves with this matter. Prue snarks that Piper should ask Phoebe that question, as Phoebe's premonition led them to Tom in the first place. As she wonders "where on earth" The Dolt could be, The Dolt in question orbs in. Prue asks him what kept him as Piper moves over for a quick kiss. "I had, uh, have a situation," The Dolt allows by way of response. Piper asks him what sort of situation, jumps to the conclusion that it has to do with their engagement, and starts ripping The Powers That Be a new collective hole. Phoebe cuts her short with "Um -- babbling!" The Dolt reveals that he lost the wedding ring. Prue and Phoebe gawp in disbelief as Piper blows another gasket. Darryl tells them he's got "a ring guy downtown," but Piper's not having it. The ring was their mother's, and she gave it to The Dolt so "he could give it back to [her] at the perfect romantic moment." Would that be one of the moments when you freeze him in bed for…no. No, I'm not going there again. Ever. Phoebe: "Leo. You lost Mom's ring. It's a good thing you're dead already." Heh. The Dolt attempts to explain that he had the ring in one of his pockets, but with his orbing everywhere, he misplaced it. Piper informs The Dolt that his "orbs are grass" if he doesn't find it.
Prue shuts them all up, interrogating The Dolt about the matter at hand: is it possible for humans to go demon? The Dolt tells them there have been "rumors" about such transformations. They generally involve a human in need who is approached by a demonic recruiter. A "classic, Faustian deal" is struck, and the unlucky guy is sent to a "training camp" whose purpose is to scour all traces of humanity from the former innocent. The human "graduates" into full-fledged demonhood when he offs an innocent. Darryl notes that it resembles "a gang initiation," and Phoebe tells Darryl that he now has an explanation for the four unsolved murders that week. "It must be graduation time at the academy," she guesses. Prue asserts that Tom is one "human they won't demonize." Phoebe wonders if they might be too late to stop the transformation. Prue reminds her that they prevented Tom from offing Chang, so Tom still has a shot at redemption. Prue announces she's heading off for a visit with Mama Peters, and tells Piper and Phoebe to work on a spell to locate Tom while she's gone.