Episode Report Card Demian: B | 2 USERS: A+ YOU GRADE IT Hell hath no fury like a Piper bitching.
By Demian | Season 4 | Episode 3 | Aired on 10.10.2001
Piper finally whirls on her heel, abandoning the doors of the crypt to approach Rose. Her face twists in rage as she shouts, "How. DARE. YOU?" She then spins around and physically attacks Prue's plate on the wall. "How dare you leave me?" she screams, pounding with her fists. "How could you go and die and leave me here all alone?" The screams are rapidly diminishing into keening wails. "I need you," she continues, bursting into tears. "Please come back." The words emerge through shuddering sobs. Piper drops to the ground, shrieking one last time. A quick cloud of smoke rises up around her to dissipate over her head, taking with it the scraps of fabric, the liquid mascara, and the Press-On nails. Piper, restored to her usual sensibly-clad self, continues to weep on the floor. The Dolt moves to comfort her, but she remains inconsolable. There's more of her sobbing tirade as Rose moistens in the background. I won't transcribe it -- I think you have a sense of what she's saying, especially as she said many of the same things last week. I will note that, all the flawed psychology aside, Holly Marie Combs is acting the hell out of this. Then again, doesn't she always?
Manor. Night shimmers into day across the facade. In the kitchen, Piper pours herself some coffee. Phoebe enters, and ow! My eyes! Her hair's crimped all the way to Jesus, and the Fun Bags have been slung into a one-sleeved red-and-white t-shirt that came off the rack of a Godspell revival in Terre Haute. Phoebe collects a cup of her own and asks, "Did you sleep?" Piper allows that she did. Better than she has in a while, in fact. The reminisce about the late, great Prue Halliwell, then turn the topic to Rose. Phoebe notes that Rose did, after all, save Piper's life. Piper recognizes she hasn't been "the most welcoming" as of late. It's partly because of her continuing grief, but it also has to do with the unsettled nature of their lives. After everything they've been through, she explains, she finds it nearly impossible to open herself up to yet another person. "Love just feels like an invitation for more pain." Phoebe gazes silently at her sister as Piper tears up a little bit. "Sweetie," Phoebe says after a moment, stroking Piper's hand. "Maybe you don't start with love. Maybe you start with thanks."
THE BLACK HOLE OF SOCIAL SERVICES. Piper enters with a cloth-covered basket, spots Rose at her desk, and crosses to place the basket in front of her. Rose is surprised by Piper's visit, but gamely peeks beneath the cloth. "Muffins," she notes, smiling warily. "Thanks." Piper modestly dismisses the gesture as "busywork." The kitchen has always been her place of refuge, she tells Rose, adding that "Prue was the one who liked to chase demons." There's an awkward pause; then Rose notes the Bastard is no longer a bastard. He's not even wearing his toupee anymore. "What did [the Dolt] say to him?" As Bastard-No-More sheepishly sidles past them, Piper admits she hasn't a clue. "He's a miracle worker, that husband of mine." They bond over grief -- Piper's for Prue, Rose's for her parents. Piper notices a couple of Fury-inflicted scrapes on Rose's neck. "You know, [the Dolt] can fix those for you," she offers. Rose chuckles and pleasantly shrugs off the offer. "It's my first war wound." "Unfortunately, in this family, it won't be your last." Rose doesn't seem to mind that possibility. "A couple of demon battles in exchange for the power to clear up [her] friend's skin," she claims, is a pretty even exchange. Piper looks puzzled. Rose wags her head to indicate Billy the Clear flirting with the Grunge Queen. "Cute, isn't he?" Rose asks. "You should have seen him yesterday."