Which Prue is It, Anyway?

Which Prue Is It Anyway? is the 16th episode of Charmed.

Episode Information

 * Season          1
 * Episode No.     16
 * Written By      Javier Grillo-Marxuach
 * Directed By     John Behring
 * Production No.  4398015
 * Original Airdate March 3, 1999

Summary
When Phoebe has a terrifying premonition of Prue being stabbed to death, Prue takes the drastic step of saying an incantation to multiply her strength by three. The spell surprisingly results in the creation of two additional Prues to fight the enemy, an ancient Lord of War. Meanwhile, Piper and Phoebe try to wean Prue from her selfish and headstrong habit of always taking matters into her own hands, while Phoebe vents her aggression with a martial arts training program. Meanwhile, a suspicious medical examiner drops a bombshell on Andy.

Plot
Two men are sparring in a boxing ring as a third looks on. The third man, Gabriel Statler, meets with one of the boxers, Luther Stubbs. Luther had killed a man in the ring three years ago. Gabriel says he is after Luther's killer instinct and draws a sword, stabbing him.

Phoebe is also sparring, but with a dummy. She has been taking self-defense classes. The other sisters meet her and Phoebe manages to grab Prue by the arm. She has a vision of Prue dying at Gabriel's hand. Phoebe draws the sword she saw, but cannot find it in the Book of Shadows.

Helena Statler meets with Prue. She is Gabriel's sister and wants to sell a large collection of antiquities.

Phoebe at last finds the sword; it belongs to the Lords of War. The sword renders its bearer invulnerable to all weapons and steals power. Gabriel is after Prue because he wants the power of a firstborn witch.

Prue meets Helena at a warehouse with her collection. One of the items is a pillory; Prue puts her arms in it, and it suddenly closes. Prue opens it again with her power. She swings a halberd at Gabriel, but it doesn't harm him. Prue runs. Gabriel throws his sword but misses.

Phoebe finds Gabriel in the Book of Shadows. An ancestor named Brianna had taken Gabriel's sword, disgracing him, and now he must steal his powers back. The page has an incantation, which Prue says. The spell summons two more Prues. Phoebe provides the Prues with sweaters in order to tell them apart: one pink, one blue, and one black for the real Prue.

Andy comes to the manor, claiming a social call. The pink clone Prue answers and he gives her tickets to the Bay Area Musical Awards.

The pink clone-Prues goes to Bucklands while real-Prue hides nearby. Clone-Prue gets Gabriel's address. Claire confronts clone-Prue about the incident at the warehouse. Claire takes the sheet with Gabriel's address. Real-Prue leaves with Claire.

The pink clone-Prue runs into Gabriel. Gabriel throws a tear-gas canister and runs clone-Prue through with the sword. Real-Prue feels the pain. Andy finds clone-Prue in the morgue and goes to Phoebe. Phoebe asks what color sweater was "Prue" wearing; it was pink. Blue clone Prue walks in, followed by real-Prue, and Piper freezes the room while real-Prue hides. Andy doesn't know what to think. Blue clone Prue doesn't know about the concert.

Piper, Phoebe and the two remaining Prues plan to confront Gabriel at his house. Helena and Gabriel, meanwhile, plan to face the Halliwells at the manor. The three sisters make further plans, excluding blue clone Prue from the conversation and offending her. Clone Prue takes Helena hostage in a torture device and demands the sword. Gabriel instead uses the sword to disable the torture device and kills clone Prue. Real Prue again feels the pain.

The sisters hatch a new plan, to impale Gabriel on his own sword. Phoebe has a vision and knows that Gabriel is coming.

Andy asks the medical examiner about pink clone Prue. The ME says that as far as he can tell, the woman is Prue Halliwell.

Gabriel breaks through a window of the darkened manor. He throws his sword, but it strikes only Phoebe's sparring dummy. He is now vulnerable, and the sisters attack. Prue flings his sword into his chest, vanquishing him.

Andy takes Prue to the morgue to show her the clone, but finds only the clothes that pink clone Prue was wearing. Later he opens a folder marked HALLIWELL, PRUE and removes a sheet mentioning black magic and witchcraft.

Guest Stars

 * Alex McArthur as Gabriel Statler
 * Shannon Sturges as Helena Statler
 * Bernie Kopell as Coroner
 * Cristine Rose as Claire Pryce

Co-Stars

 * Mongo Brownlee as Luther Stubbs
 * Susan Chuang as Monique

Quotes

 * Prue: Okay, but Piper, she's ugly. (Grams' statue)
 * Piper: Majority rules, sis. Unless, you can move her.
 * (Prue tries to move her with her power. She can't.)
 * Prue: Oohh... okay, okay, that didn't work.
 * Piper: It's solid marble. It took eight of Phoebe's bouncer friends to move it. It's too heavy for you.
 * Prue: You know, my powers are still growing and one day...
 * Piper: You can move it into the basement. But until then suffer.




 * Piper: I'm gonna have to wash my hair in the kitchen sink if I want to get to work on time. Do you know which is the real Prue yet?
 * Phoebe: Oh, I don't know. It could be the upstairs bathroom hogging Prue, or the downstairs bathroom hogging Prue, or the sitting in the kitchen drinking all the coffee Prue.




 * Prue: Don't blame me, I didn't cast the spell.
 * Phoebe: Great, you're a clone.
 * Prue: Well, no, I'm not exactly a clone, I mean I do have all of Prue's memories up until the time she cast the spell, so, in a lot of ways I am Prue.
 * Piper: Then it is your fault.
 * Prue: No, it's not, and neither is the lack of hot water. (Prue walks away.)
 * Phoebe: Oh, you didn't. Geez.
 * Piper: This is ridiculous. This is like, this is like the "Parent Trap" with a B cup.
 * Phoebe: I think I might've just found a way to take some of the Disney out of our life.




 * Piper: Once you know where he lives, are you sure you have the power to do the job?
 * Prue: Observe. (to clones) Ladies, shall we?
 * (The 3 Prues hold hands and easily levitate Grams' statue)
 * Prue: Enough said?




 * Real Prue: Okay, alright, let us think, um, I got it. I will take Claire to the wrong address, pretend we've been stood up or something. You call the other one of us at Quake.
 * Pink Prue: I love it when I'm so decisive.
 * Real Prue: Okay, look, you go get the other Prue and take her to the manor. Okay, and we'll finish this. (She dials the phone.) Hey, yeah, Pheebs, it's me. No, the real one. I'm just checking in.
 * Pink Prue: We do that a lot don't we? Check in with our sisters, make sure they're okay. Don't you think if there were a problem, they would call us and let us know?
 * Real Prue: Phoebe, I'll call you back. I have to go yell at myself. (She hangs up.)




 * Phoebe: Do you have any idea what color sweater she was wearing when they found her? I know it sounds strange, Andy, but it's important.
 * Andy: I think the report said pink.
 * Phoebe: Thank God.
 * Andy: I just told you I saw your sister dead and you're relieved?
 * Phoebe: Andy, it's uh, no secret that we fought at times.
 * Andy: What the hell kind of answer is that, Phoebe?