Episode Report Card Grade It Now! YOU GRADE IT Ms. Hellfire
By Owen | Season 2 | Episode 9 | Aired on 01.12.2000
Buckland’s Auction House. The new Vice President paces around a conference room full of executives, trying to instill fear in his new subordinates, thinking he’s Claire but he’s NOT. Come back, Claire! Prue sneaks into her seat right next to Jack "Sonny to Prue’s" Sheridan. Jack tells her that "[she’s] late, partner." Prue hisses that they’re not partners. This gets the VP to single Prue out by calling her "you -- dark hair," although it’s really the low-cut purple bustier she’s wearing as a blouse that sets her apart from the other conservatively attired executives in the room. Prue glances around, pretending he’s not talking to her. The VP asks her name. She stutters it out. Hmm. Sneaking into your chair, getting called on by an authority figure -- it all seems so high school. Except if this were a high school, the principal would definitely make Prue go home and change, if not suspend her. The VP "partners" Prue up with Jack in a project: all of the execs will team up and each raise one hundred thousand dollars in auction material that day. Prue and Jack glare at him in disbelief. Piper stands out in the open doorway and gestures angrily for Prue to join her and leave. Jack accosts Prue about the project. Prue, torn, hesitates. Piper makes a stink-face and stamps her feet. Prue closes her eyes and an apparition of herself appears beside Piper in the hallway. The second Prue looks over at the first Prue, still slumped over in the chair next to Jack. The apparition disappears and Prue comes out of her trance, her pie hole gaping open. Jack bitches that Prue wasn’t listening to him. Prue: "No. I’m feeling a little -- weird" although "beside herself" would have been a funnier expression and in keeping with her Roger Moore material. Prue makes a "woo!" noise and walks away from Jack without any further explanation and joins Piper in the hallway. Piper asks, "What the?" Prue thinks she can now "astral Prue-ject" whenever she feels the need to be in two places at once. Piper suggests that they leave before it happens again. Word. I’ve had enough of Shannen Doherty and her unfettered "projections" this season.
Speeding police car (!?!). Woo hoo! A car chase through the hilly streets of San Francisco! I was weaned on this stuff. Oh. Unfortunately, it’s just Phoebe and Darryl speeding along, trying to get to the address of the planned explosion. Phoebe jabberjaws about the Halliwells’ powers and their Book of Shadows while Darryl dismisses her with "too much information." Word. Darryl then explains that he "stares down death" every day in his police work of this world, and he doesn’t want to be dragged into another "world." Phoebe doesn’t comfort him much by saying that "it’s too late" for that, but the Ps will protect him. Big whoop. They pull up to a building where a sprightly young woman in a hippie skirt and shawl is opening a door with a key. An interior shot shows a bomb attached to the doorway. As the woman starts to turn the knob, Darryl rushes toward her and pushes her out of the way. Kaboom! Phoebe comes forward and asks if they’re okay. The woman, M. Steadwell, blathers about the protection spell she cast and how it worked. Darryl bitches about her being a "witch," too. I can remember scenes from The New Zoo Revue that contained more suspense.