COLE BECOMES THE SOURCE

[vandergraafk]

One of the weakest transitions in Charmed can be found in mid season 4 when the Source is vanquished and takes up residence inside a briefly human Cole. This transition is inadequately explained and later exposition tries to recycle unsuccessfully the duality present in Cole/Belthazor. Charmed and Dangerous is one of my favorite episodes. Although quite exciting and full of wonderful dialgoue, I must confess that the ending to Charmed and Dangeous is quite bizarre and sets the scene for much confusion regarding Cole as the new source.

As Ljones noted, the Source heaps disdain upon Phoebe's powers as he hardly considers them worth taking. Yet, he claims that he must recruit a demon to take her powers as well. This sounds inconsistent, though I would take issue with the disdain towards Phoebe's powers. The power of precognition is surely quite impressive and would have been very important with respect to the Ultimate Battle had the writers dared to consider allowing Phoebe to have a premonition or two during Season 8. Precognition is also the power that the Source, once he occupies Cole's body and is reborn, must cloak in order that Phoebe not become aware of what is going on with Cole. In The Three Faces of Phoebe, Phoebe is aware that something is amiss, but cannot put her finger on it. Piper tries to persuade Phoebe that it's only because she has cold feet with respect to marriage. Phoebe does not quite buy it. Of course, why she forgets her own doubts when Paige raises suspicions about Cole becoming a demon again is beyond me.

Looking at the plot as it unfolds, we should note the following. First, the Source did not need to leave his lair to recruit a demon when he summoned a darklighter to kill Leo and steal Paige's powers. Second, in order to make plausible the Seer's actions, the Source must vacate the lair and allow the Seer to summon Cole so that she can make him an offer he won't refuse. From the perspective of the Source, however, none of this makes sense. There was no need to leave the lair. There was no need to entrust the Seer with the Hollow.

In the attic, of course, things get even worse. The Hollow, now in the body of Cole, absorbs the Source's powers when the Source launches a fireball towards the sisters that Cole intercepts. The Hollow/Cole absorbs all of the Source's powers, including Paige's and Piper's powers that have been appropriated by the Source after extracting them from the Hollow and corrupting his own essence by driving him insane.

Once the Hollow is banished, all powers will return to their rightful owners, presumably as they are drawn to the aura with which they are most familiar. Thus, Paige's and Piper's powers are returned. The Source's? Well, the Seer suggests that they have returned to the void, but she knows all too well that this is not true.

The sloppiness and lack of necessary exposition become all too apparent when one examines how the Source is "vanquished". Losing his powers to the Hollow/Cole, the Source ought to have been defenseless. Contrary to my prior assertion, the Source was not even trapped in the crystal cage since he had used Paige's power to orb one of the crystals to his hand. Thus, the first fireball that Cole/Hollow launches at the Source should do the trick. There is no need for an enhanced power of three spell to vanquish the Source. He is a sitting duck.

There is a need however for the Seer to maintain the illusion of a vanquish in order for her plan to proceed. Somehow she will cast a spell to separate the Source's aura from his corporeal presence and implant this inside Cole during the illusion of vanquish ceremony. Presumably the Source's aura has not been corrupted by the Hollow while his reasoning faculties have been. Thus, the Source's powers are released and returned to his aura, now located inside Cole.

Cole is at first overwhelmed by this sudden takeover. In the manor at the close of Charmed and Dangerous, the Source is in complete control. There is no hint that Cole still exists, as evident by the smugness with which Cole enters the room where the sisters, Leo and the Seer are gathered.

In The Three Faces of Phoebe, we see a Cole gradually aware that something is wrong. He tries to fight back only to realize that the enemy lies within. The Source is in control, but not completely. Cole's love for Phoebe is something the Source cannot squelch. As long as Cole has this feeling, the Source can never completely dominate Cole unless of course Cole gives in.

Presumably, this is what has happened by We're Off to See the Wizard, for Cole and the Source seem one and the same. Even though Cole mentions his human half, this is clearly an error, for the duality that characterized Cole/Belthazor cannot be reprised in Cole as the Source. In large measure because of his own dissatisfaction with his inadequacies as a human and his confidence that he can bring Phoebe along, Cole embraces his fate as the Source. Of course, this comes at the end of We're Off to See the Wizard when Phoebe condemns the two of them (Cole and Phoebe) to lives together in the demonic underworld since she has destroyed Cole's last opportunity to rid himself of the Source's aura.

[Scott]

In the Charmed Cafe, laiste made this illuminating comment:


always thought the void she was refering to was the void in Cole- the part of him that had been missing since his demonic half was vanquished. It was a deliberatly misleading statement on the Seer's part, I thought. The seer must have realised the Cole was no longer a "whole" person. There was a part of his spirit or psyche or whatever that was missing and the sources powers filled it. We see something similar in season 7 when the Nexus takes over Leo, recognicing him as an place where powerful magic could reside.

My only problem with everything you have said vandergraafk, is that we never see any of those actions on the Seer's part. So, really it is all theory. I don't nessecarily disagree with your theory, its just that the episodes themselves left out to much to make them truly satisfying. We can talk about the whys and hows till the cows come home- it still doesn't make watching that arc of episodes any more satisfying.

Vandergraafk replied as follows:

Well, in one respect this story arc is one of my favorites. And, yes, I do agree that the gaps or arcs within the story arc are especially problematic. I have had to try to fill it in with a theory that highlights what I suspect is the true role of the Seer. When I write my book on this, I will try to make sense of all of this.

In the event, it is quite correct that when the Seer hauls Cole down to the Source's lair (or is it the Seer's?), she does state that she sees a void within Cole, the part of his essence that is empty because of the vanquish of Belthazor. Nevertheless, void may also be a codeword for Wasteland, a concept that I am certain the writers had yet to work out by the time Charmed and Dangerous. In retrospect, then, we can appreciate the dual nature of her comment and the duplicitous nature of her comment since Cole surely knows of the Wasteland's existence, while the sisters are clueless.

Still, I prefer not to interpret the void as you have suggested, laiste. First, it suggests an empty vessel that the Source's aura might seek to fill. According to this line of reasoning, then, the Source would replicate the duality between Cole and Belthazor. And, although this duality is mistakenly referenced by Cole in We're Off to See the Wizards.

Duality is clearly not what is happening inside Cole. We are told over and over that the only thing preventing the Source from completely taking over Cole's body is Cole's love for Phoebe. As long as he can hold on to that, the Source will never quite repress Cole's human essence. With the discovery that Phoebe was expecting, Cole's essence enjoyed a resurgence. Perhaps it was a male pregnancy hormone kicking in. Whatever: it did cause the Source assimilation problems.

I agree, though, that the fact that Cole had been a magical entity provided the Source an entry point. I just disagree that this is a replication of the Cole/Belthazor duality.