Episode Report Card Demian: B+ | Grade It Now! YOU GRADE IT Black as the Bitter, Bitter Heart Of Brad Kern
By Demian | Season 4 | Episode 8 | Aired on 11.14.2001
"Stanley Arboretum," the following morning. The grass is a little too dry for a city park in the Bay Area, guys. Next time the ladies find themselves in a park-like setting, you might want to pick a location that isn't so patently southern Californian and sere. As the Ps plus Calf-Length Kathy wander along a dirt path, Calf-Length Kathy wonders why the Ps insist on heading toward danger rather than away from it. Piper lets her know that an "upper-level demon" can only be vanquished through a potion brewed with his own flesh. Raige wrinkles her nose. Have the original Ps done this before? "Once," Phoebe replies. "On my fiancé." No, Phoebe. Twice. Once for your fiancé, the second time for all of his frat buddies. There's nattering about Phoebe's use of the f-word before Raige tells her to back it up a little bit. They actually tried to vanquish Cole? "No, Belthazor" Phoebe corrects. "There's a difference." Raige makes a "whatever" face as Phoebe changes the subject to run through their plan of attack once more. Phoebe will act as a decoy to draw the Garthalike out of hiding. Piper will freeze him, and Raige has been assigned the task of slicing off a piece of his flesh. Kathy hands Phoebe her hideous hat and the Coat Of Many Colors in exchange for Phoebe's own jacket. Kathy's the only one of the four who hasn't changed clothes between scenes. Of the other three, Phoebe looks the best, despite the alarmingly aggressive Fun Bags protruding from her chest. Her hair is pulled up and rolled into that tendrilly chignon style that's really quite flattering and there are silk roses attached to a thin, braided cord choker wound at her throat. It looks better than it sounds. Really. Kathy looks a hell of a lot better herself, sans hat and jacket, but she really should do something about that shag cut. Piper calls for the Dolt, intending to have him accompany Calf-Length Kathy (a.k.a. "Susan") to the Manor for protection. Raige chimes in to opine that Kathy might be safer in Raige's former apartment, since the Manor is far more vulnerable to attack. In orbs the Dolt, and wow. What a dork. He's got the bionic brat strapped to his back in a little toddler backpack. "See?" he dolts at Piper. "We can make it work." Piper allows herself a smile but nevertheless orders the Dolt to drop the brat off at the Manor before heading over to Raige's. Kathy takes the Dolt's hand, and the two orb out.
The shot dissolves to Phoebe wandering cautiously through another section of the "Stanley Arboretum," clad in that awful hat and sweater. She's also borrowed the triple-crescent pendant, which now dangles from her neck to grace the cleavage between the Fun Bags. Piper and Raige peer through nearby bushes, awaiting the entrance of the demon. He kindly squiggles in at that moment and announces his presence: "Hello, wiiiiiitch." Phoebe turns with a "goodbye," but stammers to a halt when she gets a look at the Garthalike in demonic form. The Garthalike is basically Belthazor reversed. Rather than black markings on red skin, the Garthalike has red markings on black skin. Phoebe quickly regains her composure when the Garthalike charges her with his dagger raised. She grabs hold of his grey muscle tee and flips him over her shoulder onto the ground. Piper and Raige emerge from the shrubbery to make with the freezing and the slicing, but a curly-haired brunette pushes Piper into the dirt to fling a dagger of her own at the Garthalike's head. He squiggles out. The brunette's dagger smacks wetly into a tree. The tree, surprisingly, does not blaze its merry way to Hell. The brunette snits in frustration, "I had him!" The attendant "And you trashy whores let him get away!" is implied. Piper rolls onto her back to roar, "Who. The hell. Are you?" The bug-eyed goggles bounce from the brunette to Raige to Phoebe to the brunette again, then out to commercial.