Episode Report Card Demian: C | Grade It Now! YOU GRADE IT In the Arms of the Phoebeast
By Demian | Season 4 | Episode 19 | Aired on 04.24.2002
Casa Del Sole. The elevator opens, and gaah. Phoebe's topped off her look with a matching knit cloche that features a wad of sheer netting twisted into floral form. Phoebe glances around the empty apartment and cautiously approaches The Sole's discarded briefcase. She gingerly opens it to find nothing but contracts and depositions and whatnot. She crosses the room, warily eyeing the shattered coffee table, then hears ominous squeaking noises coming from the bedroom. She flings open the door to find The Sole securing clusters of congratulatory balloons to their four-poster. Large stuffed animals abound. The Sole retrieves a bundle of red roses from the bed and hands them to her, crooning, "I love you." The Foley editors are going apeshit with the sound of the crinkling tissue paper on the bouquet, like, dial it down, boys. The Sole kisses Phoebe on the lips, then...what? Ew! God! His head just ducked down past the bottom of the frame. Oh. Oh. He's kissing her stomach. Okay. Wow. That was...ew! Anyway, he rises to peck her once more on her cheek before pulling her into an embrace. Phoebe glances nervously over his shoulder into the commercial break.
"'Screw The Power of Three'?" Pippihontas quotes incredulously as Raige inches her way through the front door of the Manor. Raige confirms the quote. To Pippihontas, this seems like more than your garden-variety case of raging prenatal hormones, and Raige is forced to admit she might have maybe pissed Feebs off -- and she actually uses the word "pissed," which made me raise my eyebrows a bit. Pippihontas quickly realizes what Raige has done and starts in with the shrieking. She claims Phoebe will never speak to them again, and Raige "might as well crown the new Source [herself]." "Oh. God," Raige snorts. "I think you're slightly exaggerating." The tone amuses me. Pippihontas clomps kitchenward as she bitches about needing Phoebe for "the plan to work." "What plan?" Raige sniffs. "Follow me!" Pippihontas bellows as she slams open the kitchen door.
Kitchen. The gnome has replicated the coronation chamber, right down to the Travolta-esque open-necked black disco shirt The Sole sported in the pre-credits sequence. Unfortunately, the gnome didn't get a good look at The Sole's face, so his doppelganger's head remains blank. Couldn't see the face, but scoped out The Sole's clothes? Okay, then. Raige enters and remarks she liked their old kitchen better. The gnome "hope[s] she isn't the brains in the family." Just wait 'til you meet Feebs, monkey boy. Pippihontas drags Raige over to The Grimoire's pedestal and introduces the cast of characters. When asked how she intends to steal the book, Pippihontas replies that they will learn from the monkey boy's mistakes. The monkey boy takes umbrage at this characterization of his earlier efforts. Pippihontas enumerates: "You didn't have any back-up, your illusions didn't buy you enough time, and you got caught. I'd call those mistakes." The plan, such as it is, is for the monkey boy to lead the Glamorous Ladies into the chamber. Once there, he will create a distraction large enough to draw away a majority of the guards. Phoebe and Pippihontas will battle the remaining guards while Raige telekinetically orbs The Grimoire into an enchanted burlap sack. Raige must orb The Grimoire into the sack because, as the Book of Shadows protects itself from the touch of evil, so The Grimoire protects itself from the touch of good. I don't write it, folks. I just recap it.