S5-8 A WITCH IN TIME

[Scott]

As much as I love this episode, I feel compelled to make the following comment regarding the vanquish of Paige after the Baccara boys cast the spell "How To Disempower a Witch".

After many viewings of this beloved episode, I am disturbed that Paige claims "I can't orb" when the Baccara boys (present and future) use the spell to disempower a witch to vanquish the Charmed Ones. Piper, correctly, loses her power to manipulate particles. Paige should have lost her power to teleport. And, Phoebe should have lost her abilities to levitate and have preomonitions. Unfortunately, the spell to disempower a witch should not have cost Paige her power to orb. This stems from her whitelighter heritage. It is not the power of a witch!

A minor point, true, but one that lessons the dramatic effect of seeing two sisters vanquished. Had it been correctly done, Paige, not Leo, could have orbed Piper to safety. It would not have had to affect the ending. Paige and Leo could have held off Baccara while Piper went back into the time ripple!

To which a fan replied:

Oh, but when they say the spell, the spell clearly says "Before the passing of this hour, take away ALL their powers".

All their powers probably means cleaning house, whitelighter and witch powers, everything goes.

That led vandergraafk to retort:

I don't think so. If the Baccara boys used the spell in the Book of Shadows, I don't believe this includes whitelighter powers. It is clearly aimed at witches, i.e., how to disempower a witch! Of course, the boys could have modified the spell to disempower witches and whitelighters, but I see no reason to make this assumption!

[vandergraafk]

Further commentary, from two different sources, ensued:

Considering one Bacarra was from the future, he probably had that knowledge and made sure that they had lost all their powers as opposed to the witch ones. I can believe this explanation because it makes the episode a lot clearer and I don't want to find faults on such an awesome episode.

And, "Yeah if the three bimbos could figure out how to block Paige's whitelighter powers, then I'm sure an intelligent warlock from the future could too... "

To which vandergraafk replied:

I'll leave it vague at best. Certainly, the three blondes figure out a way to neutralize Paige's abilities as a whitelighter. Depending on the time sequence, it may or may not have been known to future Baccara that the three blondes had found a way. If he was aware of this, then this could have been used, I suppose. If not, perhaps he found his own way.

My point, however, remains. We are led to believe that the Baccara boys are using the spell on "how to disempower a witch". The witch's live heart is used to make this spell potent. No other incantation, we are led to believe, is used. As a result, Paige should not have lost her orbing power, not from this spell alone. There is, indeed, something missing!

My contention, however, should not be construed as an attack on this outstanding episode! All that would have been required is a) for a modification of that spell to be invoked or b) for Paige to orb Piper to safety. Yes, the latter lessens the dramatic effect. Whether that lessening is substantial or slight, I cannot judge. Two piles of ash versus one! The point is: unless Phoebe fails to "save" Miles, she will die! And, only future Piper can persuade past Piper that Miles must be allowed to die! After all, she is the one accompanying Phoebe to "save" Miles!

As I indicated, this is a minor complaint. Yet, I believe it is thoroughly valid nevertheless!

[kat29]

I hadn't thought about that before. I love this episode, it has a lot of emotion in it mainly because both Phoebe and Paige died, but you are correct the spell should not have affected Paige's whitelighter powers. Have you ever wondered whether Paige would have whitelighter powers had her mother not been a witch, maybe the two are tied together?

[Scott]

Well, this raises the question about the inheritability of powers. Several sources can be called upon to analyze this issue. First, in Mr. and Mrs. Witch, Mrs. Jenkins reveals to Billie that her grandmother had been a witch, but alas Mrs. Jenkins had not been so blessed. On the other hand, in Inherit the Witch, a novel, the female offspring of a witch is about to inherit her powers on her thirteenth birthday. She doesn't immediately receive her powers, despite an incantation designed to call forth her powers. Unbeknownst to the young girl and her mother, the child's friend, Drew, does receive these powers. She retains them despite the request by the Charmed Ones for ancestor intervention from the line of witches of which the young child is the latest. Perhaps the Charmed Ones are in a special category. Or, perhaps each line of witches has a different method of passing along powers.

This question truly becomes interesting when one ponders the offspring to Henry and Paige, as well as Phoebe and Coop. Will Paige's offspring be magical or only partially magical? Will they be witches and diminished whitelighters or just like Paige? Will Phoebe's three girls be witches only? Or, will they combine cupid-like powers with witch powers?

Another twist concerns the offspring of Piper and Leo. Wyatt, rumored to have vast powers in the future, is born on the Wiccan
Sabbat (The Day The Magic Died). As a result, he apparently has gained extraordinary powers from that fact alone. But, remember that even in the womb, Wyatt had the power to self-heal (Piper) and remain practically invincible both inside the womb and afterwards when he could conjure a protective bubble. Chris, however, does not seem to have these powers at all. And, on balance, his powers seem less compared to Wyatt, even though Chris is the offspring of an Elder and a witch while Wyatt was the first-born son of a whitelighter and a witch! And, what about Prudence Melinda, the rumored third child of Piper and a now mortal Leo? Will she merely be a witch, as if there were anything to merely being a Warren witch?

I invite everyone's thoughts!

[kat29]

Chris had the power to orb as a baby, he orbed Wyatt to safety in 'Forever Charmed', so I presume he is pretty powerful although he doesn't seem to be aware of it. I think living in Wyatt's shadow has affected Chris's confidence in his own abilities. As for Prudence Melinda, she would only have basic witch powers like Patty or Penny had, they both had mortal fathers too.

Paige's children should be witches, they are part of the Warren line and every Warren that we are aware of was a witch. They may or maybe not inherit whitelighter powers, it is difficult to say although I believe they would be witches only.

Phoebe's children would most likely inherit Cupid powers as well as witch powers. It seems to be a general rule that children of magical beings inherit abilities from both.

[Scott]

Perhaps not all witches can pass on their powers. Clearly, the Warren witches do. Alas, the Jenkins witches did not!

[kat29]

In 'Kill Billie vol 2/ Forever Charmed" Wyatt lost his powers to the hollow including orbing. Yet neither Piper, Phoebe, Christy or Billie used the power of orbing to get to the manor. They were all infected by the hollow and so had this power so I don't understand why they didn't use it.

[vandergraafk]

As we learned from Season 4, it takes a while to learn how to orb. There would be no reason for Piper and Phoebe to orb since Paige already had mastered this skill. Christy and Billie were already in the manor and didn't need to orb there.

[vandergraafk]

Here is a synopsis of this outstanding episode:

Baccara, a warlock, goes back in time to warn Cole that unless Cole prevents Phoebe from saving a latest beau (Miles) from dying (it is his time to die, and the Angel of Destiny will not be denied), Phoebe will die. Cole declines because doing so would further evaporate whatever remaining hope Cole harbored in order to win Phoebe back. As a result, Baccara decides to deal with Miles. In the course of doing so, he confronts all three Charmed Ones and survives. Better yet, he realizes that the Charmed Ones cannot defeat him. Thus, he sets out to vanquish the Charmed Ones by stealing the Book of Shadows and using the spell to steal a witch's powers to render the Charmed Ones defenseless.

Apart from the nonsense with respect to Paige losing her whitelighter powers, as well as her powers as a witch, this episode is truly one of the best that Charmed had to offer.

[vandergraafk]

There are, of course, other reasons why this episode is so powerful. Consider this extended dialogue between Cole and Baccara.

A Witch in Time

C: Who the hell are you?

B: The name is Baccara. I was sent here from the future.

C: Well, I can't say I've heard that one before.

B: Allow me to offer proof. Recognize this?

.... Cole catches the ring and compares it to his own wedding band ...

C: How'd you get my wedding band?

B: You gave it to me when you sent me with a message. Phoebe's in danger.

C: What kind of danger?

B: She saved a man's life today. Problem is: he was destined to die. Somehow she got a premonition she wasn't supposed to get.

C: The Angel of Death never gives up a claim.

B: Of course not. And, that's why death keeps coming for this mortal. But your ex-wife falls in love with him.

C: She falls in love?

B: Sorry to break the news. For the next six months she tries to save him over and over until she loses her own life in the process. And that's when you sent me back in time: to tell you to kill this man.

C: I see. I'd never get her back if I killed an innocent, especially one that she loved.

B: He's not an innocent. He's meant to die. You'd only be giving death a helping hand and save yourself a lot of future pain.

C: Hunh! A warlock who wants to save me pain. Who are you? I'd never send a warlock with a message this important.

B: You had no choice. If you left your throne, it wouldn't be there when you got back. Your rivals would steal it.

C: What rivals? What throne?

B: In the future - sooner than you might think - you're going to rule the underworld again. I'm your advisor. Of course, I advised you against this, but oh ...

C: I'd never turn back to evil. It won't happen.

B: It does happen. You unite demons and warlocks to lift the underworld to its greatest power in history. You're the future of evil, man!

..... Cole flings a fireball at a blinked to safety Baccara ...

B: You said you'd react that way. Well, guess it's up to me to get the job done. Wish me luck.

[vandergraafk]

The reason I have included this dialogue will become clear if the reader references the thread titled: Extra Extra! Charmed Ones Unfair to Cole in the Charming Men: Cole Turner forum. Here I include my analysis of this dialogue with respect to the importance (or lack thereof) that Cole exudes on the issue of his demonic possession by the Source. Was an explanation needed in order to redeem himself before the Charmed Ones? Did Cole really even care about redeeming himself about events in the past? Did he prefer to demonstrate his true nature by simply moving on and behaving better in the future? In short, I concluded that Cole, by tacitly consenting to Baccara's description, indicates that he prefers to move on.

"I chose to include the entire dialogue in order to allow readers to come to their own conclusions. However, what I find so striking about all of this is that Cole demurs not one bit when Baccara claims that he (Cole) is about to rule the underworld again. I know that if I'd be falsely accused of something of this magnitude, I would always demur. Cole doesn't and his silence speaks volumes.

What might Cole have said? Well, he could have told Baccara that he (Cole) had no interest in ever ruling the underworld and that the last time it had happened it occurred because the Source had possessed his body. Instead, Cole denies that the future that Baccara embodies will happen. What's past is passed. His focus is and will always remain on the future. In his deepest held hopes, Cole wishes Phoebe to be a part of that future.

Indirectly, I infer from this that far from protesting his fate, Cole seems almost resigned to it. What's the point in crying over spilt milk. It happened move on. Since the Charmed Ones themselves had moved on, how exactly is either party ever going to sit down and examine the events of Season 4?

Now, you might not like the way the character was developed and unfurled at this point. That's fine. The point is: there simply is no basis for any hope that Cole and the Charmed Ones might sit down and straighten out the past. Blood loyalty or marriage vows play no role in this either. Rarely, if ever, do the Charmed Ones attempt to deal with past events. They move on, especially since there's another demon lurking round the corner."