Episode Report Card Demian: C+ | Grade It Now! YOU GRADE IT PreBitched
By Demian | Season 3 | Episode 17 | Aired on 03.21.2001
Manor kitchen. The three Ps process through the death of the random woman in the café. They do not, however, offer any explanation of how they talked their way out of that situation. Piper stands at the stove, randomly tossing ingredients into a simmering pot. Prue wonders if she's working on a potion. Piper admits that she "wouldn't know where to begin." "I'm just keeping my hands busy," she says. "It's something Grams taught me. How to improvise." And Prue and Phoebe would not have known about this habit earlier because…? No answer. Piper's improvised potion is a porridgy sludge. Phoebe and Prue try to come up with a strategy to vanquish the Blob for good as Piper lifts a white rose above the pot.
She releases the rose, which falls into a flashback of Grams dropping a similar rose into a similar pot. Bad Bangs Piper, still wearing the hideous knit set and the accompanying big-ass pants, enters the kitchen, determined to "finish the brownies." Mmmm. Brownies. Grams tells her she's too late for that, but proposes that they "whip up [Piper's] favorite double-chocolate decadence cake." Mmmm. Cake. Phoebe silently clomps through the kitchen and retrieves a set of car keys. Grams invites Phoebe to join them. Phoebe glares. Grams brushes this off and asks Phoebe where she's going. "Out" is the monosyllabic response, and Phoebe eyerolls her way out the back door. Piper and Grams sigh, and Piper turns to offer Grams her assistance. She begins to sprinkle seemingly random ingredients to the pot. "How do you know what to add?" Grams asks with a proud, yet somewhat sly, smile on her face. Piper natters out an explanation, but cuts herself short when she notes Grams's expression. Grams tells Piper she was "born for this -- literally." "This" being drudgery over a hot stove, I suppose. Grams doesn't understand why Piper is wasting her life pushing paper at the bank. Piper reminds Grams that they need the health insurance she receives from her job as a teller. Otherwise, they might have to sell the manor to cover Grams's medical expenses. Sad, but true. The only reason I took my first corporate job was for the insurance, and a crappy job it was. Damn American medical system. Piper apologizes for being such a disappointment. Grams pulls her into an embrace and reassures her that she couldn't be a disappointment if she tried. St. Piper of Martyrdom Manor tells Grams she's "just doing what [she has] to," and leaves. Grams sighs to herself, "So am I." She pulls out a turkey baster and fills the brown glass jar from the earlier attic scene with the potion she and Piper created. She raises the jar and says, "My sweet girls, you're just not ready. I've got to stop you from becoming…"