Episode Report Card Grade It Now! YOU GRADE IT Once Upon A Time
By Demian | Season 3 | Episode 3 | Aired on 10.18.2000
The sisters discuss the situation. Piper can't believe Phoebe accepts the moppet's story at face value. "Do you think it's time we told her about Santa?" she asks Prue. Snicker. Piper and Phoebe snipe at each other, Piper attempting to find a rational explanation for the scratches on Kate's arm and Phoebe insisting they were claw marks inflicted by some supernatural force. Prue steps between them before the argument escalates into a full-scale hair-pulling catfight, and suggests they discuss it in the morning. Piper allows that perhaps fairies and trolls do exist, but reminds Phoebe of the analysis offered by Kate's mother herself: the problem started with the divorce, and is therefore "psychological, not magic." Phoebe pouts that she's going to check the Book of Shadows anyway, as the Scorpio in her refuses to be "out-stubborned" by Piper's Gemini. Shut up, Phoebe.
Cut to the Supernatural Home of Family Dysfunction, where Kate is being tucked into bed by her preternaturally patient mother. MammaMoppet moves to flick off the light switch, to Kate's panicked resistance. "The tweens!" Kate shouts. "They come out of the shadows." MammaMoppet isn't buying it, of course; she switches off the lights, and closes the door. As if this girl isn't going to run up enough therapy bills in her future with the divorce, she's now got this additional bit of parental neglect to add to her neuroses. As the door creaks ominously closed, the eerie soundtrack kicks in. Kate nervously eyes her menacing Garfield wall clock as the garbled threats of the trolls circle around her from the shadows of her bedroom. I'm with you on this one, Kate. Garfield scares the crap out of me. "Please," she begs, "leave us alone," and she clutches the jewelry box tighter against her stomach. The invisible trolls flit around her darkened room, knocking her toys about. When they ease open the closet door, Kate lets out a scream.
Cut to Halliwell Manor the next morning. Phoebe's in the attic, sitting on the floor, wearing a satin pink paisley kerchief over her braided hair with a patterned pink top and burgundy slacks. This terrifies me more than the gnome hanging on the doorframe the previous evening. Or the Garfield clock. "Check this out," she says to the entering Prue, and hands over a sheaf of papers. They're the sisters' childhood crayoned drawings of a fairy named Lily. Prue waxes nostalgic as she perches on a trunk, noting she had completely forgotten about their imaginary friend. Phoebe explains that the reason for this: as they grew up, they could no longer see fairies and trolls. Phoebe reads from a book entitled The Enchanted Realm: "Fairies, elves, and trolls are mystical creatures that live in a realm parallel to ours, but separated by a thin veil -- a thin veil that lifts only in Tween Places." Prue's a bit skeptical as Phoebe continues to explain. Tween Places are the points in between two separate realms -- doorways, windows, and shadows, for example -- and Phoebe notes that that was what Kate meant when she warned against the In-Between. Prue astutely notes Kate was not in an In-Between when Phoebe found her, which leads Phoebe to explain Kate was actually in the largest In-Between of them all: the midnight hour, when the entire world becomes a Tween. Prue then wonders why the BoS has no information on all of this, and Phoebe says that the BoS was written by adults. As fairies and the like are visible to children only, the Ps' foremothers would not be able as adults to place relevant information in the book. Prue wonders why the trolls would be after Kate, Phoebe states they'll need to question the sullen moppet more on the matter, Prue suggests the two of them deal with this without the help of the lovelorn Piper, and Phoebe insists that this little adventure is the best thing for Piper, as it will take her mind off of Leo. Prue doesn't seem comfortable with this plan of attack, as Phoebe bounds off downstairs with the Lily drawings to answer the phone.