Thoughts after watching Coyote Piper -- JJ Mindset's Charmed Message Board

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Date Posted: 06:04:16 01/13/01 Sat
Author: JJ Mindset
Subject: Thoughts after watching Coyote Piper

Several things that happened with this episode grabbed my attention. First of all, it is a new episode after almost a month of repeats. That's the obvious. Second, more important than the first, is that this episode was laden with plenty of subtext that you have to wonder if the writers were very bright that morning when they penned the whole thing or they must have had help from the writing gods(i.e. lifted some ideas from somewhere else--Hehe) of past glory.

Before I get to discussing the main plot, I want to discuss the subplots of the episode and what implication they might have for the future. Phoebe tries to piece together what she had with Cole Turner. She goes inside the mausoleum and stops towards the burned out spot where she made the fake vanquish. Others have said that they weren't interested in that, but I disagree. Phoebe is still engaged in her own personal battle against giving in to the notion of her love for Cole not mattering much in the whole scheme of things. It's the thought that she's having these conflicts why I find it fascinating. Is it dawning on her that she may be experiencing what Piper went through with Jeremy? Is Cole really bad in the end? Is there more to Cole's past than what was givin to us? Then, the premonition starts. It can only be a sign of things to come because how else can you explain a premonition. Here, we see what appears to be Cole's mother killing Cole's dad in 1888. Someone has brought up a theory that Cole's mom could have a connection to the Source and that Cole was recruited by the Source or Triad as a favor for them killing his mother. That would be an interesting scenario. Then there's that scene right at the end of the episode, where Leo confronts Pheebs about her feelings for Cole. I don't know about you, but I got the impression that Leo now knows that Phoebe is hiding something about Cole but he's pretending he knows nothing in order to plan properly for confronting her later. After all, he got the idea that Phoebe is still bitten by her relationship with Cole from observing how she's acted lately. It wouldn't make sense for him to not figure out something's up with Pheebs. Well...that was the thing that jumped at me more than the hyped-up scenes at P3.

I also believe that Pheebs' struggles to find a solution for her Cole problems may prove to be a conduit for maturation and greater strengthening, as long as she doesn't allow them to kill her slowly. The writers will have a tough time figuring out how to plan out a good exposition on that possibility. For one, there's the issue of her on-again, off-again state of affairs with Prue, who will fight her all the way on Cole/Belthazor. We may see another sibling fight like Power Outage in the near future, but this time have even more tremendous implications on the Power of Three.

Speaking of the Power of Three, we see now the whole issue of Piper and the weak link in the chain being played out again. The new wrinkle is, of course, the body possession by an evil witch or sorceress. What I liked about it is that the writers avoided some obvious cliches that would happen in a similar event. For example, I looked at the scene is the evil witch knew something about the Charmed Ones but didn't know exactly what they're capable of. She, after coming to possess Piper's body, had to proceed cautiously and try to force Piper to fill in important details of her life. Perhaps her long-range plan was to get Piper and then kill Prue. But since it was better for her to get Prue and Pheebs to help her get back at the alchemist who trapped, therefore she had to assume Piper's real personality. It was only after Prue encouraged "Piper" to stand up to Missy, who had previously belittled the real Piper and told her to take out the garbage at P3, that she told the "Hey bitch, why don't you move those trays yourself?" line. Now, being comfortable in Piper's body, she has to now fill in Piper's details pretty quickly. Piper knew what was happening and so she tried to warn Leo with her "Tom" comment. I would have wondered if the sorceress would've accepted being part of Charmed Ones if they haven't found out about her. But that's not her nor there. Still, it was an example of clever exposition on the production staff's part.

Then there was the conflict between Prue and Leo over what was happening with Piper. It's a continuation of something that happened in Primrose Empath. That's the episode where Prue figured out through her emphatic powers that Leo was feeling inferior towards Piper because Piper took out her checkbook and paid for the lunch instead of allowing Leo to do that. Now its aftereffects are being felt as Leo gets a little shove on the back from Prue over a little sarcastic joke to Piper. It's interesting to see where that goes next. The shadow of Cole loomed so large that it almost competed against the main plot of the episode. At least it prevented the episode from becoming "All about Piper and her old school buddies." It would be also interesting if we see Piper more in tuned with herself and Phoebe's worries about Cole start to drag her down so much that she loses the spunk she always had. Certainly, Leo's line about Piper being possessed vs. Phoebe allowing herself to be seduced would be seen in another light.

Back to Holly. I saw that when she did to perform the scene where she looks into the kettle that there was that look that told you that she knows how to connect to the audience. In the scene with Missy, I was surprised that her new possessed character didn't change right away. Only when Prue encouraged her that she started acting differently. That was more good exposition.

Other thoughts:
- I'm surprised more people haven't talked about the scene where the sorceress, having possessed a body of a computer exec in the opening scene, started to fiddle around with the gonads of the guy. Hee hee!

- I'm thinking, since they like to introduce things in all three of them: New powers, boyfriends, "deaths", will we see an "evil Prue" in the near future? Some would say we've seen that with Ms. Hellfire, but Prue was conscious during that. It would have to be a circumstance beyond the character's control, from history.

- I loved that scene where Pheebs watches possessed-Piper walk towards the Jeep. "She just left w/o Leo." Prue then goes to explain her theory about Piper. Pheebs responds, "I'm trying to jump on your thought train here Prue, but your going alittle too fast." :)

- So...Do you think Leo knows that Phoebe is hiding something about Cole from him?

- My theory on the possession thing is that the wear-and-tear due to her problems with her relationship with Leo, coupled with the usual wear-and-tear of being a Halliwell made her soul that much weaker. Therefore, Piper was that much more vulnerable to being overtaken. Prue would've been a much tougher cookie to crumble.

- You know, I remember the first time when that EMF song was first-run. I hated that song back then and it just brings back bad radio memories now. That was the song Piper was table-dancing to. It's that song where they sampled Andrew Dice Clay's voice. The "Ohh!!!" part. Ugghh!!

Best Lines:

Prue: You rated a 4 on my list.
Justin: And you rated a 5 on mine. So...
Prue: OK. So I got an F but...dude...you're worse. You got an F-.

Overall, it was a pretty good episode. I liked the subtext throughout the whole episode. Phoebe has already gone and checked out more about Cole's past against Prue's wishes. That's going to be great source for tension later on. Unfortunately, I dread what we may see for the next few weeks just from reading the titles of the next few episodes. Can anyone truly believe that with titles like "We Scream For Ice Cream", "Wrestling With Demons" and "Blinded By The Whitelighter", the next few episodes may foreshadow plots that may not be somewhat juvenile in nature?? I sure hope that it doesn't come out that way.

~Mindset~

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Replies:

Slight spoiler. In This response. -- Fan_#1, 16:14:12 01/14/01 Sun