Last time on Charmed: They ripped off Groundhog Day. Officer Andy "Dylan, Oops I Mean Darren" Trudeau bought the proverbial farm. Piper quit her job at Quake to realize her dream of opening her own restaurant.
High atop Not! Hill in San Francisco. Halliwell Manor at night. Phoebe "Not the Funny One Who Comes On At Eight" Halliwell enters the darkened foyer and exclaims, "Sister witches! Guess what?" She enters the living room where Piper "So I Want To Be A Ho" Halliwell is macking on the couch with Yuppie Stud. Phoebe and Stud greet each other. Piper freezes the tableau in a fit of pique and reads Phoebe's beads for the sister witch comment and abrupt entrance. Phoebe says she didn't know Piper would be there, because the last she heard, Piper was meeting a banker friend to see about getting a loan. Phoebe's synapses fire. She looks at Yuppie Stud and asks Piper, "Is this the credit check?" Heh. Piper says it's not what Phoebe thinks, they were just kissing. Phoebe assures Piper that she doesn't have to justify her actions, because she's "way overdue in the sex department." Piper reluctantly admits her sister's right, but adds that she'd "never sleep with a guy to get something, you know that," all appearances to the contrary. Phoebe goes all Basil Exposition about Piper "straining to buy the club," and she hasn't heard from Leo "Her Own Personal Jesus" Wyatt in a while. Prue "Finally a Reason to Wear Black" Halliwell enters the manor while talking on a cell phone. Piper tells Prue to go back outside, and she unfreezes Yuppie Stud. Stud asks Phoebe if she's Prue. Prue re-enters. Introductions are made. Piper asks Yuppie Stud, who we find out is named Rob, for a rain check because "it's getting crowded" in the house and tells him she'll see him at the club tomorrow at noon. Prue and Phoebe smirk at Piper. Prue asks Piper if she got the loan. Piper ignores her, and the two hard P's go on to do other things. Phoebe stops them and asks if they know what tomorrow is -- their "one year anniversary of becoming witches, hello!" -- and it falls on the autumnal equinox, "one of the most powerful Wiccan days." Phoebe knows this because she was talking to another witch at the bookstore. Prue and Piper ask Phoebe if she spilled the beans to her pseudo-witch friend. Phoebe says she's just doing research, because "forewarned is forearmed" and opens up a big book that says "WICCAN." Prue dismisses Phoebe with an admonishment to "leave well enough alone" because they've been "demon-free for over a month" and she wants to "keep it that way." Piper agrees, and follows Il Pruce out of the hall. Phoebe gapes. Owen's gaping too, because Phoebe is wearing a paisley bandanna as a halter top, Piper is wearing a midriff-baring purple sweater made out of what look like gum wrappers that's unraveling at the shoulder, and Prue is wearing an acid-green tube top sweater with exposed white bra straps. Perhaps the wardrober shouldn't purchase costumes from the clearance rack at the kinderwhore store?
The morning. Halliwell Manor. The Book of Shadows starts turning pages by itself. Phoebe somehow hears this and comes bounding in. She calls for the hard P's. They look a the exposed page, which reads "The Rite of Passage. Fight it with the Power of One or Else ..." Cheapo special effects appear on the wall of the attic. A demon, who looks like a mini-Tim Curry devil from the flick Legend, appears, steals the book, and disappears. Prue holds up her hand to throw attitude, but stops. Piper asks what the hell that was. Phoebe wonders where the BoS is. Prue is nonplused. Piper bitches, "So much for being demon-free."
Credits. Owen's had a year to get adjusted to Aaron Spelling appropriating a Smiths' song for one of his schlockfests, but it's still very chafing. From the credit montage we learn: Charmed is set in San Francisco, and each sister has a different passive aggressive power. Prue is telekinetic, and now uses her hands instead of the stink eye to move things around. Piper can cause temporal stasis, as if this show needed to move any slower. And Phoebe's psychic. Try the Powerpuff Girls if you want to watch females kick ass tonight.
Endless establishing shots of San Francisco, trying to convince us that the series isn't really filmed on a backlot in L.A. Halliwell Manor. The sisters are straightening up the attic while still wearing their bedclothes. Phoebe is knocking on the wall the demon came from, and bemoans that the demon "came out of nowhere, and went back into nowhere," as do all guest stars on this show. Piper the brain surgeon adds that whatever it was took the BoS with it. Yes, Piper, we know, we were there. The sisters wonder why such a powerful demon didn't kill them. Phoebe thinks he just didn't want to take on Prue. Prue gets her back up and asks what she means. Phoebe thinks the Power of One means Prue's power, because it's the strongest. Prue: "Says who?" Phoebe: "Says every demon or warlock we've come across." Piper agrees, and wonders how they can find the demon. Phoebe the Rhodes scholar declares that they need to do something fast, because he has the BoS (We know! We know!) and without it, they're "not the Charmed Ones anymore." Care faces all around. The doorbell rings. Prue still nonplusing.
Phoebe runs downstairs and answers the door. Little Waif Girl is there, asking, "Can I use your phone please?" Phoebe holds her off with, "Actually ..." Waif Girl pleads, "Please? Please? It's an emergency!" Phoebe lets her in, and the girl makes a beeline for the phone, doing a dead-on impression of the woman Molly Shannon played on Seinfeld who walked without swinging her arms. The hard P's enter and Piper asks Phoebe if she's out of her mind. Phoebe protests. Greasy Bohunk from Malibu Shores enters the foyer, calling, "Jenny? Jenny? Talk to me!" The Halliwells in unison: "Wow." Heh. Waif Girl asks for the international operator to connect her with Saudi Arabia.
Prue expresses alarm. Greasy Bohunk apologizes for the brat and explains that they've just moved in door and their phone's not hooked up yet. Phoebe the nuclear physicist inquires, "So you're our new neighbors?" Greasy Bohunk's name is "Dan, Dan Gordon." Waif Girl screams, "I don't care if it's busy! I have to talk to my mom!" Owen's heart goes out to the International Operator, who's probably wishing she could spray some Pubescent-Girl-B-Gone into her headset. Dan says that the brat is his niece Jenny, "who's obviously not speaking to me." Jenny slams the phone down and stomps out of the manor. Dan apologizes for her and follows. Piper closes the door. Phoebe declares that she saw him first. Piper: "Demons now, drooling later." Heh. Prue turns to get dressed to go the auction house. Phoebe as usual complains about Prue going to work while "the scariest demon they've ever come across" has the BoS. Prue just walks away. Phoebe asks Piper what's the big. Piper thinks it's because of the "first demon Prue's faced since Andy's death." Care faces times two.
Backlit demon with the BoS, surrounded by dry ice. Whoa, scary. Not. He turns the pages backwards, while speaking backwards. Words disappear.
Overhead shot of womyn gathering in a wooded clearing. Piper is there, wearing a nice summer dress. Phoebe, despite her worries about the BoS-stealing demon, still found the time to half-assedly braid her hair like Bo Derek and put on an electric blue tube top ensemble. Note to Phoebe: 10 came out twenty years ago, and Halloween's in four weeks. Do the math. Phoebe: "Can you feel the energy in this place? It's a convergence!" Piper: "It's a crock!" Zing! Not. They're supposed to meet Phoebe's witch friend, and Piper's nervous. Phoebe tells her sister to relax. 180 degree turn much, Pheebs? Stevie the pseudo-witch shows up and blah blah introductions blah blah the other women aren't witches too but believers blah blah this is a special place blah blah the sisters' anniversary is powerful because it's on the equinox blah blah "all you have to do is connect." Piper protests, but Phoebe convinces her to join the circle of chanting women. The Flute of Whimsical Comic Relief begins playing. The believer women drop their dresses to their feet. Phoebe grabs Piper, reasoning "when in Rome," and takes off her dress and convinces Piper to do the same. Another ungainly clothes-falling-to-feet shot, revealing that Piper's wearing white shoes after Labor Day. We can't see any nekkidness because Alyssa Milano, ever fearful of Internet exploitation, is hiding with Holly Marie Combs behind a stone wall. P & P bicker. Phoebe hears a woman moan, "The Power of Three," and is sure it's their grandmother.
Buckland's Auction House. Prue greets a woman who's put her dead husband's estate up for sale. The ratty chaos bun holding her hair back mitigates Prue's elegant appearance in a chic black suit. The women bond over talk of grieving. Widow seems to think the whole world is her grief counselor, and bemoans not saving her husband from his fatal accident. Prue looks at Widow with absolutely no emotion on her face whatsoever, prompting Owen to yell "Cut!" and wonder if there's an eighth stage that Kubler-Ross missed: stupefaction.
The Industrial Zone nightclub façade. Piper pulls up in her SUV, and puts on a black jacket over her sundress. She enters and apologizes to Rob, the cute Yuppie Stud, for being late and asks if she "totally screwed up the loan" now. Rob says he was just looking around. Piper says blah blah the club needs a lot of work blah blah marketing studies blah blah running a nightclub is very similar to running a restaurant blah blah. Rob interrupts her, because he's already heard it. Note: Owen likes Rob. Rob says he understands everything, except why Piper wants to put herself in a position to fail like this. Uh-oh. An unsupportive male -- color Rob gone. Piper is nonplused. Rob says that clubs are very high risk, and Piper could lose her shirt. Piper mutters that "it wouldn't be the first time today." Zing! Bah-dum-bum. Piper adds that she knows the risks, and proceeds to explain her motivation: Nightclubs are a lot less risk, and are less expensive than opening her own restaurant, which is what she really wants to do. Forgive Owen, but he doesn't think Piper should be admitting to her loan officer how half-hearted she is about the business she hopes to open, even if she's macking with him. Rob tells her that, at the risk of Piper "not wanting to go out with him again" she has the loan, which makes Owen think that Rob thinks that Piper's a ho. Rob and Piper hug, then kiss, then tongues get involved, and however awkward the transition, Piper is now Valerie Malone.
Mini Devil conjures up Jeremy, Piper's demon lover from the series premiere last year. Jeremy's carrying a big knife and is wearing a torn and bloody Mrs. Voorhees sweater. Mini Devil asks Jeremy if he was vanquished by the Charmed Ones. We have a yes, and Jeremy is given "a second chance."
Piper necking with Rob. She hears Grams moan, "The Power of Three." Jeremy appears and knocks Rob out. Piper screams and freezes him, exclaiming, "Oh my God. Jeremy?" Piper calls Prue at the auction house and tells her the sitch. Prue tells her that Jeremy's appearance is impossible, but Piper tells her it is possible because of the loss of the BoS. Prue tells Piper that all the sisters will have to repeat the vanquishing spell together. Piper, quite unbelievably, conferences Phoebe on another line. Phoebe, a little too brightly considering the circumstances, answers the phone: "AT&T Power of Three!" Jeremy becomes unfrozen. Phoebe tells Piper to put the speakerphone on. They say their insipid incantation. Jeremy disappears. Piper tells her sisters she's okay.
All respect to Levi's, but sex with paint would seem to be both messy and potentially toxic. And Owen's a big hypocrite for slamming Piper for opening a nightclub when she really wants to open a restaurant, because he'd much rather be watching the series premiere of Buffy than this show.
The Industrial Zone. An ambulance has arrived. Rob is on a stretcher, all bandaged up, asking Piper, "How could you NOT have seen who attacked me?" Piper doesn't know. Rob is "starting to understand why this place keeps going under." Word. Piper exclaims, "This is not a high crime area! Not at all!" Rob will be checking into it. Piper sighs. Rob is taken out of the club on a gurney as Prue enters. Prue glances at him. Rob: "Yeah. Hey. How you doing?" BWA HA HA. More Rob, please. Prue asks if Piper is okay. Piper is all right "physically," but her "loan is on shaky ground." Prue says she thinks it would be a shame if the club didn't work out because it "has potential." Potential to be Quake After Dark, in Owen's opinion. The hard P's continue to bemoan the loss of the BoS, and Piper tells Prue about the warning from Grams. Both hope that Phoebe, who's doing research, will find a solution.
The camera, checking out Phoebe at the computer from feet to braids, like a roué. She looks out the window and sees Jenny sitting on the stoop with Kit "Mrs. Bigglesworth" Halliwell. Phoebe joins them, and re-introduces herself. Phoebe tells Jenny that the cat's name is "Kit, Kit the Cat, get it? A little play on words?" Jenny looks at Phoebe as if to join Owen in replying, "Infinitesimal." Jenny says she's not in school this week blah blah moving in blah blah her dad's with the State Department blah blah didn't get hold of her mother blah blah. Phoebe asks Jenny what she's upset about, and Jenny admits that "it's almost that time of the month, and she needs some... Phoebe: "Tampons." Owen: "A-ha." ("Oh, brother." -- Sars) Jenny's pissed because she told Uncle Dan about her needs and he bought sanitary napkins by mistake -- "as if THAT'S going to work." Phoebe shudders and makes an "ugh" face. Jenny adds, "It's SO embarrassing." Word. Jenny asks Pheebs if she can get some tampons for her. Phoebe's too busy having an epiphany from looking at the symbol on Kit's collar. Piper drives up. Phoebe says she has to go. Jenny, all snotty and fresh as paint, says, "Fine." Aren't we all glad that Jenny's going to be a recurring character this season? Doesn't she get more lovable with every scene? Phoebe takes her cat back, and tells Jenny that she'd love to help her out, but Jenny really needs to talk to her uncle, and "if he still screws up, we're open twenty-four hours, seven days a week." Well handled, Pheebs. She walks up to Piper and tells her that she had an idea. Phoebe thinks the BoS is still around, and they'll have to use the triquatra symbol to call for it. She thinks that Grams has been trying to point them toward the triquatra, because it symbolizes the Power of Three. Piper: "You're rambling." Heh.
Sunroom of Halliwell Manor. Piper and Phoebe use the "spirit board" to try to find the BoS. The actresses need to learn how to pronounce "ouija." Grams moans "The Power of Three." The sprit board spells out "BRAXAS." Phoebe the Mensa chapter president repeats, "The Braxas."
The Braxas, still reading backwards.
Processing summit in the living room. Phoebe's looked up "braxas" in a book - it's "a demon of the astral plane who destroys witches by demonizing their powers." Phoebe and Piper figure that the Braxas is making the BoS evil somehow, and that explains why Jeremy was unvanquished. Piper adds, "And the Woogeyman." Phoebe: "When did he become unvanquished?" Piper: "A few seconds ago." At this point, Scooby Doo and Shaggy shriek. P&P stand up and freak out as a sooty black cloud starts to engulf them. Phoebe tells Piper to freeze it, but Piper remembers that it doesn't freeze. They try to remember the spell to vanquish it, coming up with: "I am the light. I am one too strong to fight. Return to the dark where shadows dwell. You will not take this Halliwell. Go away and leave my sight and take away this endless night." Owen wonders if, considering the quality of these verses, another Book of Shadows might easily be purchased at the local Hallmark store. The Cloud O' Woogeyman vanishes. Phoebe pulls up her tube top dress, because her boobs almost freed themselves during the attack. Piper figures out that the Braxas must be reading the book from back to front, taking into account the order of unvanquished demons. They agree that they need to warn Prue. Phoebe touches a picture of the sisters in the hallway, and has a psychic vision of Prue getting killed by a well-dressed demon they call "the Warlock Nicholas."
Buckland's Auction House. Prue, in a black (natch) evening gown, wandering around in a crowd. A menial comes up and tells her that Phoebe's on the phone, and said it's important. Prue tells the menial that Phoebe "always says it's important" and she'll call her back later, thanks. Prue goes up to Widow. Blah blah grief bonding blah blah. The Warlock Nicholas appears and chases Prue. Prue enters her office while looking at her hand. Nicholas points his ring at Prue and it begins to glow. Prue collapses and starts to mumble the incantation to vanquish him. Nicholas, in a gruff amplified voice, declares, "You're overheating! Your brain cells are frying." Owen's in touch with that. Nicholas spins around in cheesy light show FX and disappears. Prue falls unconscious.
Haven't we gotten quite enough of the Gap's "Everybody in lethargy" ad? As for the Angel promo, David Boreanas is still bringing pain and suffering to the living, in Owen's opinion.
Bay General Hospital. Prue getting checked out by a doctor; Piper and Phoebe have joined her. Her blood pressure's back to normal, as are her temperature and electrolytes. But the doc wants to keep her there to run more tests to find out what made her body temp rise so suddenly like that. He asks her if it's ever happened before. Phoebe, sporting an ugly hard denim jacket and an inappropriate grin: "It's happened to us all before!" Prue gives her a withering glare, then turns to the doctor and says she's okay. He discharges her. Piper says, "That was close." Prue: "Too close." Piper isn't talking about Phoebe's big mouth, but Prue's brush with death. Phoebe gets on task and tells the sisters that they still need to find a way to get the BoS back, or they're all dead. Piper whines that they don't know where the astral plane is. Phoebe tells her that it coexists with their own plane, and believes that the BoS is still in the house, but in the demon's dimension. She says they just need to find a doorway or portal to get to the Braxas before the equinox ends at sunrise the day. Once the portal is open, "Prue can kick some astral ass with the Power of One!" Prue just looks at Pheebs and stomps away. Piper and Phoebe follow her into the hallway and they argue some more about stopping the demon. Prue doesn't think it's a bad thing if the Braxas gets to the end of the book and they lose their powers. She's pretty much over being a witch, and she wants them to stop risking their lives all the time, "which means we stop watching the people we love lose theirs." Subtext: more grief over Andy. Phoebe doesn't believe that Prue truly wants to give up her powers. Prue stomps away again. Phoebe wants to go after her. Piper says to let her be. Owen really likes Shannen Dougherty's hair that length.
Halliwell Manor at night. Phoebe in the kitchen, still bitching to Piper: "We're screwed, you know." Phoebe has taken off the blue bath towel dress and put on some brown stretch pants and a hideous rust brown peasant blouse with exposed black bra straps. Piper, who has spent more time in Prue's regime than Phoebe, reminds her sister how Prue can get when she makes up her mind: "THAT'S IT." Phoebe, again: "We're screwed." Piper: "And we're out of wine." Owen sees enough whine and cheese to go around on this ep, but whatever. The doorbell rings. Phoebe gets it. It's Dan "The Man Who Is Comfortable With Menstruation (tm The Kids in the Hall)" Gordon. He's just stopping by to say thanks to Phoebe for her talk with Jenny, and for getting Jenny to talk to him. He gives her a bottle of wine. Phoebe says his gift is very sweet and timely. Dan says he actually wanted to get something out of it. Phoebe gives him a lascivious look. He just means that he'd like Phoebe to be available in case Jenny needs a woman to talk to again. Although this would be a perfect time to ask Dan if he's gay or has a girlfriend, Pheebs doesn't.
Phoebe, unfortunately, says sure, and adds that Jenny's a great kid. (If she means greatly annoying, then that's accurate.) Dan and Phoebe then titter over Jenny's tampon problem. Dan asks what size he should get her. Phoebe tells him to try "Junior." Please god, don't let Jenny come over to ask, "Have you ever felt not-so-fresh?" in the episode. The phone rings. Dan leaves. The Muted Sax of Potential Romantic Entanglement warbles.
Piper hanging up the phone. Rob's assistant called (at night?) and she didn't get the loan. Phoebe comforts her. Piper is now really glad that she didn't sleep with Rob, which continues to feed into Owen's "ho" thesis. Piper, to the writers more than anyone else: "What was I thinking?" Phoebe: "About Leo, maybe?" The sisters hug, and Phoebe suddenly thrusts Dan's bottle at Piper, saying "Wine!" Owen hopes the characters will start boozing it up this season like the folks on Bewitched used to.
Police station. We know this because a sign in front says "POLICE." And there's a police car with a siren parked in front. And two policemen on motorcycles go speeding by. Okay, we're convinced. Daryl "Please Give Me Something To Do" Morris and Prue in an interminable grief bonding scene, underscored by Delicate Emotion-Disclosing Piano Music. Blah blah Andy's death isn't Prue's fault blah blah Daryl doesn't know the sisters' secret blah blah. What's in the fridge? Are the clothes ready to come out of the dryer? How many days until Buffy again?
Halliwell Manor. Attic. Piper has drawn a triquatra on the wall in chalk. She thinks this could be made into a portal, or she's "screwed up this wall for no reason." Phoebe bitches that if Prue doesn't show up to help it won't matter. Prue struts into the room, saying, "She'll show." Prue apologizes for not being herself, and for needing to "work through" some "things," but she doesn't want to let them down. Prue's startling admission: "Right now, it's not about me, it's about us." Phoebe, in another 180: "That's a girl! I knew you'd come around!" Piper: "Excuse me?" Phoebe: "Well, I did -- deep down." Heh. Piper asks Prue if she's up for the demon. Prue gives the stink eye to a chair and moves it. Whoa. Not. Phoebe explains, for the benefit of the slower viewers, that they'll open the portal while Prue holds off the demon and the other sisters grab the BoS and find a spell to vanquish the Braxas. They walk up to the chalk triquatra and hold hands while touching the wall. The Braxas appears and wind blows around. Phoebe shouts for Prue to go to work. Prue looks frightened. The Braxas says, "First the book. Then you." Piper yells at Prue to use her power. The Braxas throws the girls across the room and the portal closes. Piper and Phoebe give Prue "What the?" looks, while the Piano Of Unresolved Fear And Grief resumes playing.
Portia de Rossi has managed to find a way to deliver L'Oreal's "And I'm worth it" line in a non-snotty way, and Owen really digs her.
Halliwell Manor. The three sisters bound down the stairs, with Prue in the lead. Piper asks Prue what the big is. Prue: "Nothing!" Phoebe: "Yeah, nothing is exactly the problem." Prue says that she never said she had the power to go up against the Braxas, they did. Phoebe says no, the BoS did. Prue says maybe it was wrong. Blah blah the sisters wonder why Prue hesitated blah blah did not blah blah did so blah blah we saw you. Phoebe to Prue: "You can defeat the Braxas, you just won't. Something's holding you back big time. Instead of facing it, you're running from it. You have to figure out what your problem is or we're all dead." Prue gets glycerin all over her face, and bemoans the fact that she's the oldest and always has to take the responsibility and figure things out. She can't figure out how Andy died if she's supposed to be so powerful. She thinks Andy's death was her fault, and doesn't see the good in being a witch if people still get killed. The sisters hug. Phoebe and Piper assure Prue that Andy's death was his own sweet fault. They hug some more, and the Guitar Of Tender Reconciliation slowly strums. Grams moans, within earshot of all of the sisters, "The Power of Three!" The sisters process even more. Piper: "Maybe it means...we're connected?" Phoebe: "To be as one. Maybe that's what the Book of Shadows meant by the Power of One?" Piper: "Three working as one." Prue: "Which is what the triquatra represents." Owen kind of enjoys this part of the show, because it reminds him of the hokey, brain-addled way Batman used to solve crimes on the campy TV series. Phoebe looks at her watch and says it's almost sunrise. She asks Prue if she's ready to try the window again. Prue says she is, but since the Braxas will expect them to call from the house, they have to go somewhere to take him by surprise, a place where they're the most powerful and connected.
Establishing shot of the sun rising on the SF skyline, from Alcatraz Island. Oh no! They're too late. Oops, Owen's wrong. The producers just didn't want to do any night shooting. Cut to an overhead shot of the sisters holding hands in a circle in the wooded clearing at Nekkid Rock. The camera spins around them in full daylight as the sisters chant, and the director shamelessly uses storyboards from The Craft. The Braxas appears in a cheesy F/X window above them. Braxas: "What are you doing? Why did you bring me here?" Halliwells: "In this night, and in this hour, we call upon this ancient power." The book falls upon the rock in front of Phoebe. The Braxas spins around and gets sucked away. Phoebe grabs the book and adds: "And we didn't even have to get naked!" Cue the laugh track.
Halliwell Manor. Day. Prue returns the book to its stand in the attic. Piper walks over to erase the chalk drawing from the wall. Blah blah denouement blah blah. Phoebe looks at the "Rite of Passage" page again, and sees that it warned them of far greater danger than they thought. Phoebe thinks that had she known, she might have wanted to lose her powers, too. Prue says that Phoebe helped remind her how much they both like being witches. Piper adds, "Hey! Me three! Too bad it doesn't pay the bills." Phoebe and Prue surprise Piper with a check for sixty grand to open up her nightclub. They took out a second mortgage on the manor, and will be Piper's partners. And just when our hearts couldn't get any warmer, the ghost of Grams appears in front of the BoS, saying, "The Power of Three." It turns out that not only has Grams been the one looking out for the sisters and turning the pages of the Book of Shadows for them, but the writer of this episode has seen the The Sixth Sense and is trying to rip off the devastating emotional scene at the end where the mom finds out the grandmother's been visiting the grandson and that's why he has the bumblebee brooch. And just when we've gotten that bad taste into our mouths, Grams disappears and the girls look at what's written in calligraphy on the open page of the BoS: "Happy Anniversary! My darlings." The scene ends before the sisters flip the book over to make sure it's a Hallmark.