Episode Report Card Owen: D | Grade It Now! YOU GRADE IT Give Me A Sign
By Owen | Season 2 | Episode 15 | Aired on 02.23.2000
Prue, looking hurt, walks over to this full-length mirror I had no idea was in the corner of the sunroom as the Piano Chord of Plaintive Contemplation tinkles. She holds the camera up to her naturally squinty eye and mimics taking her picture with it. Pay attention, kids (and adults) -- are you thinking about choosing a career? The best way to do it is to pose in the mirror with the appropriate prop, because according to Aaron Spelling, those who look the best do the best at their chosen professions. So if Prue was going to be a doctor, I guess she'd be posing with a stethoscope or internal shock paddles; or if she was going to be a judge she'd be holding a gavel; or if she decided to put in her lot as an MBTV recapper she'd be vogueing in front of the mirror with a VCR remote and a highball. Anyway, she looks at herself holding the camera, then takes a picture of herself taking a picture of herself, and moans in self-pity, "Portrait of a dreamer [sip]." Aw. And BWA HA HA!
Phoebe's locked herself in the upstairs bathroom. Piper bangs on the door, asking, "You're not writing a spell for me are you?" Phoebe, leaning over a pad of paper, LIES, and reasons, "Who writes spells in the bathroom?" She crumples up some herb leaves over the notebook page and Hallmarks, I beseech all powers above/ Send a sign [sip] to free my sister's heart/ One that will lead to her love. Piper rolls her eyes along with Owen. The chimes of mojo-activating music play.
Bane suddenly appears behind Prue's reflection in the mirror. He greets her and puts a cloth over her mouth. She struggles in his hold, then passes out.
Credits. I read the other day (don't ask me where) that the full working title of this show originally was Charmed, I'm Sure. I'm So Very, Very Sure.
I've shared many things with by best friend, but never zit prevention pads. And it wouldn't have occurred to me to record the moment in pictures. But that's just me.
As San Francisco is established, let's all sing along with the worst song Wilson Phillips never recorded. The lyrics:
Don't wanna be scared
Don't wanna be weak
Don't wanna be last to speak now
I'm gonna be brave
I'm gonna be strong
I'm ready to take it all on
Making it up as I go along
Making it up as I go along
Bartender, can I have two BC Powders with a boilermaker back? Thanks. After the caterwauling nobody, we cut to Phoebe and Piper in the sunroom of Halliwell Manor. Phoebe is fondling Prue's camera, trying to get a premonition from it to find out what happened to her sister. She feels guilty, as well she should, that her "crack about becoming a photographer" might be the last thing she said to Prue. The doorbell rings. Piper (natch) gets it. It's Darryl "Badge of Stupor" Morris. He has "bad news" and "worse news." Piper calls for Phoebe. Darryl gives them the big: Bane Jessup escaped from county jail. The docile Ps remember him from the "Ms. Hellfire" episode. Darryl says "a full-scale manhunt" is going on. That's fitting, because Antonio is definitely a full-scale man. Piper tells Daryl that Prue is missing, and probably kidnapped. She shows him the rag that Bane left, and Darryl smells chloroform. Darryl thinks the culprit is Bane. He's come over to show them the silver ray gun the police found at the scene of Bane's escape. Although it's in a plastic evidence bag, the Halliwells waste no time taking it out and getting their grubby fingerprints all over it. Phoebe looks at it -- it's silver with etching scratched all over it. She deems it "obviously demonic." Huh? Piper asks if they can keep it. Darryl tells them that he "can't exactly turn it into evidence inventory." Yeah, sure, okay. Whatever! Piper asks him to keep Prue's abduction quiet. He'll stay quiet for as long as he can. Phoebe thanks him. As Darryl opens the front door and leaves, a deliveryman appears and earns his SAG card by stating that he needs Piper's signature for a box. She signs for the package -- it's from "Leonardo's Boutique in Bodega Bay." Piper thinks that it's a "sign [sip]," because Leonardo = Leo and Bodega Bay = where Dan is from. Piper knocks the box against Phoebe's head and gives her grief about casting the spell. Phoebe tries to play stupid, er, stupider. Piper: "Don't act blonde." Hee. Phoebe apologizes. Piper, fuming, gives her the ray gun to research: "You. This. Book of Shadows. Go." I'm really liking the way they're scripting her character lately. Ruh roh! When Phoebe touches the ray gun, she has a vision of Bane putting a blindfold and gag on Prue. Don't ask me why, since Prue never touched this object and these events happened after Bane escaped from jail. We're talking Charmed logic, here. Phoebe fills Piper in on the sitch.
Unfinished, er, let's say Unconsummated Condo. It's a practically bare room with a seashore view. Bane walks over to Prue, who's bound and gagged in a chair. He takes the gag off her mouth and tells her not to scream, because the nearest other people are six miles away. Prue wants him to remove her blindfold also. Bane ask her if she's kidding -- he knows about her power. But since we're in the realm of Charmed logic here, in the next second he's removing the blindfold anyway, telling her not to "try anything." When the blindfold comes off, Prue gasps for air. Interesting acting choice, Shannen, but shouldn't you have done that when the gag came off? Just a suggestion. Prue asks Bane what he wants. Bane wants her help in saving his life. Prue wonders why he thinks she's going to help him. Bane tells her that without the help of the Halliwells, he doesn't stand a chance against the demon who's after him. Prue thinks this is "a good thing." Bane explains that he almost got killed that day, but he "got lucky and escaped." Just wait twenty minutes, Bane -- you're going to "get lucky" again. I've seen the promos. Prue, glaring at Bane, wonders why a demon would bother with an insignificant "mortal." Bane explains that the demon, named Litvac, wants to kill anyone who knows of his existence. Prue asks where they are. Bane: "My dream [sip] project." He would have finished it if it weren't for those meddling kids, er, Halliwells exposing his criminal activities to the police. Prue: "You don't strike me as a dreamer [sip]." Bane thinks there's a lot about him Prue doesn't know. Prue shows him a "few things" about herself. She give him the stink-eye and flings him across the room against the drywall. She declares that she "will never put [her] sisters in danger." The Halliwells won't help him. Bane puts the blindfold back on her, stating, "Sooner or later you're going to have to trust [sip] me."