That '70s Episode

That '70s Episode is the seventeenth episode of Charmed.

Summary
The Halliwells encounter a warlock that has been waiting for years to obtain the sisters’ powers. The warlock is immune to the powers of the Charmed Ones after making a deal with their mother to spare her life in the past. In order to save themselves, the girls cast a spell which returns them to March 24, 1975, when the deal was made, their grandmother and mother are still alive, Prue and Piper are playful little witches and Phoebe is still unborn and in the womb.

Plot
Prue and Phoebe go over a number of old photos. Phoebe can't find any of herself, but then Prue points out some. A man rings the doorbell; Piper notes that he comes every year, claiming to be a secret admirer of Grams. He presents a flower pot and drops it. Piper freezes it and grabs hold of it. The grandfather clock strikes twelve, but the man hears only five chimes. He turns out to be a warlock named Nicholas. Piper tries to freeze him and Prue tries to blow him out the door, to no avail; he has a ring blessed by their mother that makes him immune to the Charmed Ones' powers. He uses his power to burn the sisters up from within, but Phoebe kicks him down and the sisters run to the attic. Phoebe finds a spell in the Book of Shadows that allows them to go back in time and undo a pact. Phoebe reads it, and the sisters disappear.

They reappear, still in the attic, and the phone rings -- with an old-style copper bell. Prue peeks down and finds Grams talking on the phone, and a very young Prue and Piper running in the house. They realize they've been taken back to the past.

Grams is talking to Patty on the phone. The sisters eavesdrop through an extension and Patty has had a premonition of three female warlocks in the manor, and one of them is holding little Prue. Grams finds it hard to believe; Patty only has the power to freeze time. Little Prue and Piper are racing through the living room when little Prue squints her eyes. To the adult sisters' surprise, a couch moves in front of the doorway just before little Piper gets through it. Little Piper cries foul at little Prue for using magic. The big sisters are surprised; they don't remember having powers that young. Prue befriends little Prue and Piper and they are talking when Grams walks in. Before Prue has a chance to explain, Grams exclaims, "Warlocks, be gone!" waves her hands and violently blows the adult sisters out of the manor.

Phoebe finds a newspaper and the date is March 24, 1975. Phoebe realizes that Patty is newly pregnant. The sisters track Patty to her job at a diner. Phoebe stays outside, lest Patty mistake them for the warlocks. Also, since she only has a passive power, she can't prove that she really is Patty's daughter. Patty comes to Piper and Prue's table. Piper and Prue find that their powers don't work--presumably because little Prue and little Piper have powers in this time. They inform Patty that she is pregnant, but she declares that to be medically impossible.



Grams calls Patty about the "warlocks" and she comes straight home, and bumps into Phoebe on the way out. Nicholas appears in a police uniform. They recognize each other, but Phoebe kicks him down and flings his keys away. She runs into the diner to warn Prue and Piper. Nicholas follows, but the sisters have escaped.

The adult sisters sneak back into the manor. Avoiding Grams and Patty, Phoebe eavesdrops through a heating vent. Big Prue and Piper find little Prue and Piper and befriend them. A young Andy walks in wearing a cowboy outfit. He yells, "Freeze!" and little Piper freezes the room -- freezing big Piper and Prue as well. Phoebe comes in to warn them that Grams is coming, but little Piper must unfreeze them first. She does so with a cock of her head, and they hurry out of the manor in Grams' car--but not before big Piper tells little Piper to buy them some time by freezing little Andy.

Grams comes down and finds little Andy frozen--apparently little Piper had a habit of freezing him. Little Andy tells Grams that "the strange ladies" left with little Prue and Piper.

The two sets of sisters play in a park. Big Prue throws a ball and little Prue and Piper use their powers to freeze and fling it. The police arrive and arrest the adult sisters.

Patty goes to a hotel room where she expects to see Victor. Instead, Nicholas ambushes her. Patty is about to freeze Nicholas when he incapacitates her with his burning power. He tells her that she has an unborn child (Phoebe), and that she is the mother of the Charmed Ones. Patty realizes that Phoebe already had her powers in the womb--which explains her premonition. He presents the ring and demands that she bless it, making him immune to the Charmed Ones' powers.

Patty visits the adult sisters in jail and asks how they knew she was pregnant. The sisters admit the truth -- they are Patty's daughters, come from the future to stop Patty's deal with Nicholas. She pays their bail. After an emotional reunion, the four return to the manor. They are too late to stop the pact, though.

Grams grills the adult sisters, asking them questions that only her real granddaughters can answer. She is at last convinced of their identities, and says that she knew either she or Patty would give birth to the Charmed Ones. Grams says she plans to bind the little sisters' powers once Phoebe is born, and doesn't understand how they got unbound--until she realizes she died shortly before the adult sisters regained them. The sisters are dismayed they couldn't stop the pact, but Grams tells them that they can only alter the past so much. She suggests that if they change the past incorrectly, much (if not all) of the good they'd done in their time might have never occurred. Patty suggests that there is something they can do--get the ring and let her unbless it so they can defeat Nicholas in their time. She offers to go since the adult sisters are powerless, but Prue doesn't want to chance Patty dying.

The adult sisters find Nicholas's hotel room. Phoebe picks the lock and she and Prue enter as Piper watches for Nicholas. They bring the ring back to the manor. Grams and Patty prepare to send the sisters back, but Phoebe slips a note into the Book of Shadows, trying to warn Patty of her drowning death in 1978. Grams casts a return spell she just wrote, and nothing happens. Patty joins her in a second try, and this time the sisters disappear for a few seconds only. Piper figures they need the Power of Three--but it doesn't exist yet.

Patty proposes using the Power of Three via little Prue and little Piper. Nicholas comes in, demanding his ring. Grams flings him onto a table, then heads back to the attic. While Prue and Phoebe fend Nicholas off, Patty brings the little sisters upstairs. Grams says that Patty unblessed the ring, but they haven't had time to test it. The three chant the return spell, Patty standing in for the unborn Phoebe. Phoebe snaps a quick photo as the three chant. The spell sends the adult sisters back to the present.

Nicholas is still after them, but just as he is about to burn them again, Prue flings him across the room--the unblessing worked. Piper freezes him while Prue and Phoebe find a spell. They find Grams wrote one, and even included a pouch with the ingredients for a potion. Phoebe speaks the spell, vanquishing Nicholas.

The sisters are again looking at the old photos, and find the one that Phoebe took before they were taken back to their time. Phoebe admits she wrote the note, but thought better of it and put it back in her pocket.

Guest Stars

 * Finola Hughes as Patty Halliwell
 * Andrew Jackson as Nicholas
 * Jennifer Rhodes as Penny 'Grams' Halliwell

Co-Stars

 * Jake Sakson as Little Andy
 * Megan Corletto as Little Piper
 * Emmalee Thompson as Little Prue
 * Sally Ann Brooks as Officer at Jail
 * Rey Silva as Officer at Park

Quotes

 * Nicholas: Five chimes.
 * Piper: Excuse me?
 * Nicholas: I only heard five chimes. It's noon. That means you froze me. Which means you have your powers at last.
 * Piper: Uh, I don't know what you're talking about Mister but thanks for the flowers, okay, bye.
 * Nicholas: Call me Nicholas. Your mother did.

:Piper: And you saw us? As kids?
 * Prue: Yeah.
 * Piper: This can't be happening. I'm getting a migraine.
 * Phoebe: Better not, I don't think Advil's been invented yet. And apparently neither has the spell. It's not in here anywhere.
 * Piper: But we just cast it, that's how we got back ... here.
 * Phoebe: Yeah, well, wherever here is, it's before the spell was written.
 * Prue: So, there's nothing in here about how to get back to our own time?
 * Phoebe: Nothing. Uh, let me be the first to say we're screwed.

:Phoebe: Coast is clear.
 * Piper: What if Grams catches us?
 * Prue: She'll kill us before Nicholas has a chance.
 * Phoebe: She won't catch us. Observe. (She opens the heating duct and they can hear Grams and Patty talking.)
 * Patty: You said yourself the girls are safe with you. Besides, I want to go.
 * Grams: You are making a big mistake Patty, Victor is not coming back.
 * Prue: How did you ...?
 * Phoebe: Heating duct to upstairs. I used to listen to you guys for hours. Especially when you used to sneak Andy up to your bedroom in high school.
 * Prue: Oohh...