Lost and Bound

Lost and Bound is the 78th episode of Charmed.

Episode Summary
A eleven year old boy named Tyler runs away from home after discovering he can set fire to things with his mind. Paige takes him back to the Manor. Meanwhile, Cole proposes to Phoebe again with Grams' old engagement ring, not knowing that it is cursed. Phoebe starts acting like a traditional 50s housewife and seems more interested in making Cole's dinner than saving Tyler. Cole begins working at the social services office when Paige recommends him but he gets fired on his first day. It turns out that Tyler's foster parents are bounty hunter demons who have been hired to capture Tyler for an upper level demon called Ludlow. Piper and Leo pose as bounty hunters to get to Ludlow, whilst Paige takes Grams' ring off Phoebe to return her to normal. After Tyler is captured by Ludlow to be prepared for the Source, Piper and Leo are thrown out of his castle, but burst back in and vanquish Ludlow with a spell written by Paige. He dies and Tyler is revived. Piper binds his powers to help him and Phoebe throws Grams' ring down the drain after realizing that Grams hexed the ring to stop her getting engaged for a seventh time.

Plot


Phoebe tells Cole about her favorite classic TV show, Bewitched. She loves this show, but is concerned with becoming an old-fashioned housewife. Cole asks Phoebe to marry him and offers her Grams' ring. Phoebe puts on the ring, and it glows ominously.

A young boy, Tyler, is about to be sent to The Academy. He does not want to go, and as he becomes angry, his bed catches fire.

Leo and Piper are having a small spat; Leo wants to bind their future child's powers, while Piper does not.

Paige has recommended Cole for a job at social services; his first assignment is to deal with a slumlord. Tyler, meanwhile, has been brought in; he is unwilling to talk, and he ends up setting fire to a wastebasket. Paige sees that he started the fire and looks for him after he runs off. His foster parents appear, and it turns out that they are demons. Paige brings Tyler to the manor, where Piper explains that he is a magical being.

Phoebe acts more and more like an old-fashioned housewife.

The foster parents appear at the manor. Piper becomes suspicious and they attack with energy balls. Tyler sets them on fire. Tyler becomes guilty and Piper tries to reassure him. Then she shows him the Book of Shadows and finds the entry for demonic bounty hunters--his foster parents. They then find the entry for a firestarter--Tyler. The foster parents were going to send Tyler to serve the Source.

Another bounty hunter appears in the kitchen, demanding to know where Tyler is, but Phoebe just complains about his tone of voice, unwilling to fight him. Just as he is about to throw an energy ball at Phoebe, Piper runs in and blasts him to bits.

Cole attacks the slumlord, and ends up getting fired, though he races to quit first.

Phoebe flashes into black and white, to everyone's surprise.

Leo and Piper orb to the Academy, and Tyler jumps on to them as they go. They are confronted by demons. Piper freezes them and tells Tyler to go back. He insists and tells them that he doesn't want bounty hunters to keep chasing him all his life. Piper agrees in defeat and unfreezes the demons. Piper tells them that they are bounty hunters and Tyler says that he is a Firestarter. One of the demons ask for the password and Piper blasts one of them. The others let them in as it was the "password".

Phoebe continues to flash into black and white. Cole realizes the connection to Bewitched, a black and white show in its first season.

Leo, Piper and Tyler meet with Ludlow, who runs the Academy. Tyler attempts to set Ludlow on fire, but Ludlow survives and Piper tries to secretly freeze him but also fails. Ludlow magically freezes Tyler and then flings Leo and Piper out of the Academy gate. Outside, Leo tries to orb back inside but fails as the Acadamy gate has a force shield.

Phoebe is now black and white full time. Cole realizes that she became so when she put on Grams' ring. Paige orbs the ring into her hand and Phoebe returns to normal. Paige finds an inscription that Grams used to curse the ring. The sisters and Leo return to the Academy, but are unable to get through the gate until Tyler's screams cause Piper to focus all of her power and blow the gate open. The group makes their way to Ludlow's office where Piper blasts him, but he survives, so they use a Power of Three haiku written by Paige, in Phoebe and Piper's confusion, to vanquish Ludlow. Leo heals Tyler and they leave.

Piper offers Tyler a potion to bind his powers and Paige finds him a nice new foster home nearby so he can have a nice normal life.

Phoebe tosses the ring into the bathtub drain.

Evils

 * Tyler's Bounty Hunter foster parents
 * Bounty Hunter in Manor kitchen
 * Guards outside Ludlow's Acadamy
 * Ludlow

Evils Vanquished

 * 1) Tyler incinerated his Bounty Hunter foster parents
 * 2) Piper blew up a Bounty Hunter demon
 * 3) Piper blew up one of the guards outside Ludlow's Acadamy
 * 4) Ludlow was vanquished by a Power of Three spell

Quotes

 * Cole: .....get out that bath tub, and show me what you are made of!!
 * Phoebe (under the curse of Gram's ring): (waking up from the tub) Better? (flashing from colour to black and white)
 * Paige: Hey Cole, how's your progress are going on? (entering the bathroom) Oh God, full frontal Phoebe!! Sorry!
 * Cole: She's just.... emm, she's just flashed.
 * Paige: (sarcastically) Yeah, I got that.
 * Cole: No, no, I mean she's just flashed black and white.

:(Piper, desperate to reach Tyler, blasts open the gate with three blasts when not even the Power of Three could open it)
 * Phoebe: (to Paige) What was that?
 * Paige: I think you just saw a mother lift a car off her child.

:Piper: Power of Three spell? (facing Phoebe)
 * Phoebe: I don't have one.
 * Piper: What?
 * Phoebe: I don't have one.
 * Paige: I did one. (taking out a piece of paper)
 * All sisters: The brittle winter


 * gives way to flowers of spring
 * Ludlow is vanquished
 * (The demon is vanquished)
 * Phoebe: What the hell was that?
 * Paige: It's a haiku, I couldn't do the rhyming thing.

International Titles

 * French: Ma Sorcière Mal Aimée