Power Outage

Cole somewhat hesitantly strides over, muttering to himself an off-hand "I'm sorry, but I have to stop seeing you. Why? Because I gotta kill you, that's why." Snerk. He apologizes to Phoebe, who forgives him, as Prue tells the other Ps that they will be "practicing the 'earthquake drill'" at three the afternoon. Piper complains that she has a doctor's appointment, Phoebe complains that she will have to borrow Prue's car as she has class immediately afterwards, and Prue complains that Phoebe had better return the SUV -- with the tank full -- by five, as she has a photo shoot at the club that evening. Cole initially looks like he'd rather be anywhere but there at the moment, but then starts formulating some sinister plan. More sniping, as Piper says that the photo shoot plans are news to her, and that they have a homeowners' meeting the evening anyway. Phoebe refuses to attend, whining that at the last meeting, they "took hours to figure out where to put the garden gnomes." Prue asks her how badly she wants the car. "I hate you," Phoebe grits out through clenched teeth, and Prue singsongs, "No you don't. You love me." Prue and Piper rise from the sofa, leaving Phoebe and Cole alone.

Phoebe apologizes to Cole for the "sister stuff" he just had to endure, noting that "there's a fine line between love and hate." Crafty Cole tells her he showed up at the club just to tell her he can't see her that evening, as he just had an "epiphany" on how to win a case he's working on. He kisses her quickly and darts off into the alley behind the club. Once outside, Shadow Cole turns to face Fleshy Cole. Fleshy Cole orders his shadow to tell the Triad he's figured out a way to destroy the sisters, and Shadow Cole slides down into the sewer. Cole smiles.

Halliwell manor, the afternoon. Piper slices open a bagel on the sun porch as Prue barks a couple of orders into her cordless. Speaking of less, Prue's evidently braless again, her boobs packed into a black one-shouldered tube. Phoebe enters, asking if Cole has called for her, which he has not. She plants herself in a chair and asks if Piper and Prue think Cole's pulling the old "blow a girl off after you have sex with her" trick. Piper doesn't think so, given Prue's reading of Cole's emotions through last week's empath power. Phoebe bitches some more about Cole's aloofness and pops some food into her mouth. Just as Prue starts in on the issue of Cole's secrets, Belthazor kicks in the door to the porch. I paused the tape on the reaction shot to Belthazor's entrance. Holly Marie Combs is warily rising to her feet, Shannen Doherty looks utterly unconcerned, leaning back on one leg as if she's modeling activewear in the Sears catalogue, and Alyssa Milano has an exaggerated pop-eyed look of terror on her face, the food in her gaping mouth threatening to dribble down her chin. It's really quite funny.

Anyway, as Belthazor strides towards the three, Phoebe rises into the air to kick him backwards into the dining room, and I note that if the camera adds ten pounds, the poorly-concealed harness adds about another fifteen. Phoebe's hips look huge. Belthazor flings a blue energy ball from the dining room, which Piper freezes. Prue astral-projects behind the demon and kicks him into the sun porch. Upon Prue's command, Piper grabs a knife from the table and slashes at Belthazor's neck. "Ow," he whines, and orbs into Leo. "You got skin," Leo mopes, and Phoebe asks him if he can make himself look like Brad Pitt the time. Prue offers a critique of the drill, and suggests they rehearse again. Piper declines, stating she'd like to keep her boyfriend in one piece. Phoebe asks for the keys to the SUV, and Prue reminds her to pick up some food for the homeowners' meeting. Phoebe can't get the car back by five and pick up food at the same time. Prue has to prep for her shoot. They turn to Piper. The Plinking Piano Of Unreasonable Demand sounds as Piper caves in, announcing she'll reschedule her appointment -- again -- to run out for some food.

Chez Belthazor. Cole places the dagger Patty gave him into his hidden cupboard of demonic accessories as he asks someone off-screen if he's ever taken on sisters. "Sisters?" comes the sharp, British-accented response, so we know Cole's talking to an evil demon, because all evil demons are British. "I pit nations against each other," the voice continues. "I start wars. Riots." This week's guest demon looks like one of those random quahog-grubbing New Englanders that litter movie adaptations of Stephen King's finer works. With unfortunate facial hair. "Andras," Cole notes, focuses on the anger of his victims, amping it up into a rage until the victim commits an act of violence. Cole wonders if Andras can use this power to destroy the Charmed Ones. Andras doesn't like the idea of going after witches, but Cole explains that he believes the Halliwells' sibling bond could be their undoing. If Andras can manage to destroy their bond as sisters, Cole guesses, their powers will cease to exist. Convinced by this logic, Andras asks which sister they will attack first, and Cole replies their first target will be the most vulnerable of the three: Phoebe.

Dammit. Short pre-credits sequences apparently translate into never-ending first acts. I need an ad for Levi's corduroy pants. Now. ["Vvt, vvt, vvt." -- Sars]

Cut to Phoebe, hustling out of the campus library while babbling into a cell phone. She's talking to Prue, apparently, assuring her she'll have the car back in time. She storms over to the SUV to find Cole leaning against it, and abruptly cuts off the call. Cole proceeds to play Phoebe for the demon-loving fool she is. He tells her he made early dinner reservations for them, hoping to get her alone so they can discuss where they stand in light of their recent foray into fornication. She protests weakly that she promised she'd attend the homeowners' meeting, and apologizes for not being able to join Cole at the restaurant. He blithely reassures her it's okay, that he understands her obligation to Prue and Piper, then leans in for the kill. He kisses her, tells her he'll talk to her later, and walks over to his own car. In an instant, Phoebe decides to bail on the meeting, and tells Cole she's certain she can get Piper to cover for her. "Won't that make her mad?" he asks. "She'll be furious," Phoebe allows, "but she'll just sublimate it and take it out on me later." Not bloody likely this time around, Phoebe. He arranges to pick her up at the manor in an hour, and she hops into the SUV. Cole wiggles his fingers a bit, causing the SUV's fuel line to buckle. Gasoline starts dripping out of the line as Phoebe speeds off, and Cole smirks to himself.

Attic. Rampaging SpiritCam thunders up to the Book of Shadows. The Triquatra on the cover glows red, the three elements that are joined in the circle spread apart, and the circle disappears. Ruh roh!

I do not like the Sex and the City Midol ad. You know, the one where the racially balanced group of businesswomen start pulling personal pharmacies out of their handbags in the middle of a restaurant. I think it's because, were I sitting near them, the last thing I would want to hear about while I tuck into the steak tartare is their collective struggle with bloating and cramps. Just sayin'.

Manor parlor. Piper and Prue, a bit chastised by what just transpired, help each other clean up after the fight. In Leo orbs, and he stares at them silently. Piper, guilty: "What is it? What's wrong?" Leo tells them that the fight they just had was of such monumental proportions, TPTB felt it, so they sent him back down to find out what the deal is. He also let the two know that, whatever they did, it broke the familial bond that forms the basis of their powers, leading to the "outage" from which this episode takes its name. To prove this, he challenges Piper to freeze a crystal bowl he drops to the floor. She can't, and the bowl shatters. Prue tries to TK the shards, and fails as well. Piper and Prue admit to Leo that they used their powers on each other in the heat of the argument, and Leo guesses that this is why the powers have disappeared. They also discuss the possible source of their heightened anger, deciding that, while Belthazor is probably involved, he doesn't have the power himself to influence the sisters' emotions. Leo announces that the three must mend whatever it was they did to each other, and asks where Phoebe is. Piper and Prue glance uneasily at each other.

Chez Belthazor. The red-skinned demon is chanting something in front of his little demon shrine, holding the dagger Patty gave him all those many scenes ago. Avon calling, and he could use a little facial scrub. Okay, it's Phoebe, and I suppose I should note she wasn't just wearing a diaphanous skirt in the earlier scenes. She actually has black capri pants on beneath it. She still, improbably, looks pretty damn good. Belthazor turns from his shrine menacingly, and approaches the door. He decides at the last moment to answer as Cole, despite his knowledge of Phoebe's vulnerability at the moment. Cole answers clad in a white beater, to find the emotionally frayed Phoebe begging to be let in. She dissolves into tears, telling him of the fight, and as he comforts her, assuring her she's found safety in his apartment, the demon shrine glows.

Whatever. Prue, Piper, and Phoebe process through the issues they fought about in the earlier scene. It's a nicely played scene by the three, I must admit, but the whole discussion is a bit clichd. Piper and Phoebe appreciate Prue's maturity, Prue and Phoebe appreciate Piper's giving nature, and neither Prue nor Piper really believes Phoebe's a fuck-up. They smile at each other, and Phoebe wonders if they have their powers back. Andrahhhzor kicks in the door at that moment, and they quickly realize the various powers have not been restored, as first Prue, then Piper try and fail to stop the demon. Leo whacks Andrahhhzor from behind with a chair, and Andrahhhzor responds by throwing Leo into the living room. Phoebe pouts at TPTB to no avail, and Prue tells her sisters to scram, as she'll figure out a way to take care of the demon. Do you see where this is going? Good. Phoebe insists the three are "in this together," and she and Piper refuse to budge from Prue's side. As Andrahhhzor advances with the dagger, Phoebe catches sight of the three elements on the cover of the BoS as they flare up and merge back into the Triquatra. Prue quickly TKs the dagger from Andrahhhzor's hand, and Andrahhhzor instead flings a blue energy ball at the Ps. Prue TKs this right back at him, and it hits its mark, knocking Andras out of Belthazor. Prue: "Okay, that's new." Phoebe: "Demonwith demon filling." Okay, you got me. Heh.

Belthazor turns to Andras on the floor, tells Andras he does not appreciate being betrayed, and sends Andras flaming merrily down to Hell. Finally. Thank you, Belthazor. Belthazor retrieves the dagger as the Ps move into their battle positions. Phoebe levitates and kicks him in the head, but this seems to do more damage to her than to him. She's flung against the wall. Belthazor then shoots the dagger at Piper, who freezes it as Prue APs her way behind him. AP Prue kicks Belthazor into a cupboard, Piper grabs hold of the dagger, and Belthazor charges her. Piper slices off a pepperoni-sized piece of demon flesh from Belthazor's side, ruining the carpet in the process. AP Prue reconnects with Special Ed Prue, who then TKs Belthazor backwards through the stained-glass bay window into the yard outside. The sisters help each other up as Belthazor morphs back into Cole on the lawn. Cole makes with the whimpering noises, then squiggles out, presumably to Hell. Piper picks up the slice of Belthazor pepperoni, and Prue cracks wise about "the other white meat." Piper notes they need use the pepperoni slice to brew up a vanquishing potion quickly before Belthazor makes his appearance. So, they all change their clothes and head to the club.

P3AD. You thought I was kidding, right? Wrong. The Whitss sing something along the lines of "You may be from Venus, but I'm definitely not from Mars." "Ocean." "Commotion." "Emotion." I think I'm going to go back to fast-forwarding through all appearances by The Whitss on this show in the future. The Ps arrange themselves on a sofa, and sum up the week's events. Prue's photo shoot went well, but not as well as it might have gone had she used the P3. Piper's doctor's appointment revealed elevated stress levels, but nothing else of concern. Phoebe notes that AFWG and SBW ironed out their differences with OOL, and suggests Piper run all homeowners' meetings from now on. Piper tells her to can it. They agree to be more honest with each other in the future. Whatever. Phoebe scans the crowd fruitlessly for Cole, but he's not there.

Because he's being squiggled down into Hell. Patty, Maxene, and LaVerne stand on the Judgmental Pedestals as Cole, bleeding from the wound inflicted by Piper, materializes in the center. Patty reminds Cole that he warned him about his involvement with Phoebe and what would happen to Cole if he failed. Maxene notes that Cole's done more than fail, he's "betrayed" them, and, by extension, the Source. Bearded LaVerne chimes in, noting that Cole squandered the best opportunity any demon has had thus far against the Charmed Ones. LaVerne then conjures a ball of flame, telling Cole he's allowed to make a statement before they dust his ass. Cole has nothing to say, but he sure as hell has something to do. What is that, you ask? Demon ass-kicking, that's what. Yeah, baby. Cole flings the dagger at LaVerne's chest, and LaVerne gasps and disappears. Patty prepares to fling another ball of flame at Cole, but Cole squiggles on over behind Maxene, twists Maxene's head around to break his neck, then shoots a blue energy ball at Patty, who disappears, screaming, into a wall of fire. Go, Cole. An extended overhead swirling shot of Cole screaming at the heavens, and we fade to black.

Thanksgiving evening on Charmed: reruns. Also known as: something to be thankful for. Enjoy your turkey, kids.