Episode Report Card Grade It Now! YOU GRADE IT Once Upon A Time
By Demian | Season 3 | Episode 3 | Aired on 10.18.2000
Supernatural Home of Family Dysfunction. Kate, alone, calls urgently for Prue through the walkie-talkie as the second hand on the satanic Garfield inches closer to midnight. Garbled troll threats increase in volume until we hit the Tween hour, and three of the little bastards appear in a circle around Kate. They swirl around her, wrestling for control of the jewelry box as the three Ps burst through the bedroom door. Despite the spell, the sisters cannot see the demons, who push them backwards into the hallway and slam the door on them. Left alone, Kate loses her grip on the box, which the trolls bat beneath the bed. Brief P huddle in the hallway; then Prue TKs the bedroom door open just in time for the sisters to see Kate being dragged, screaming, underneath the bed. One of the trolls hurls magic dust at Kate, who shrinks to fairy form as the Ps struggle past an overturned set of shelves. Just as they reach the bed, a troll whisks Fairy Kate away. "Where'd she go?" Phoebe pants, as we pan to Piper's startled face, then fade to commercial.
Back from the break, the Ps overturn Kate's bed to find nothing more than some scattered fairy dust and the empty jewelry box. Phoebe surmises the trolls turned Kate into a fairy as punishment for helping Thistle, then picks up the box, attempting to force a vision so the sisters can pinpoint Kate's current location. Prue again wonders why the spell failed, and Piper admits it's her fault. Her heart wasn't in it, she explains, and she beats herself up a bit for endangering a little girl. Phoebe interrupts the relationship angst by cursing her inability to summon her powers at will. The snippy back-and-forth between Phoebe and Prue is cut short by Piper, who realizes that the spell is working and directs their attention to the little fairy flitting in the window. He's clad in Dockers, a white button-down shirt, an orange vest, and work boots. I'm guessing he's a recent transplant to the Bay Area from Nebraska. He flits away, and the Ps follow. Marty, Fairy Prince of the Flyover, leads the sisters through a moonlit glade, then flitters away after guiding them to the entrance to a cave, which resembles the one from Kate's drawing.
The Ps enter, creeping slowly up behind a gaggle of trolls who are busying themselves constructing a bonfire. Suspended above it are Fairy Kate and Thistle, locked in a cage. As the Ps size up the situation, two trolls, one of whom looks suspiciously like a Latino migrant farm worker, lurk up behind them. Just as the bonfire bursts into flames that lick at the caged fairies, the lurking trolls attack, flushing the Ps from their hiding place. Beset by whirling trolls, Prue orders Piper to freeze them, a task Piper finds difficult because of the trolls' speed. She manages to suspend a particularly nasty-looking one in mid-air, and Prue quickly TKs it backwards into the fire. One troll down, half a dozen or so to go, but trolls apparently have a side use as accelerants, as the bonfire rages higher, threatening to turn the caged fairies into diminutive grilled fairy treats. Phoebe concentrates real hard, managing to get airborne through her recently-acquired power. Or through the visible harness attached to Alyssa Milano. Prue TKs her over the bonfire to snatch the cage from its mooring. While Phoebe and the fairies are safe on the far side of the wall of flame, the remaining trolls confront Piper and Prue. Prue commands Piper to run, and Piper freezes the flames, allowing the two to leap safely to the other side. Piper unfreezes the fire just as the trolls scurry to follow them, and the result is five or six little troll flambés.