Still Charmed & Kicking

Still Charmed & Kicking is the 157th episode of Charmed.

Plot


At the Halliwell manor, Victor is holding the reception for the Halliwell sisters’ funeral. Piper and Phoebe are there in new forms while Agent Keyes of Homeland Security is keeping an eye on things. Janice Dickinson shows up crying over Paige. However, Piper and Phoebe recognize "Janice" as Paige in a glamour and bust her on it. Paige is unhappy no one cares that she was dead except for leprechauns but they’re interrupted by the arrival of a mysterious man – Leo in a disguise of his own. Paige is interrupted by a signal from her charge, even though the Elders don’t know she’s alive. There are demons nearby making sure they’re dead and the sisters refuse to encounter them. Phoebe notices a guy from the paper that she was attracted to, even though she never knew his name.

Victor is approached by a real estate agent named Paul Haas, who pries into the sisters’ cause of death and Leo’s disappearance, then offers to buy the house. Victor tells him to get lost and he leaves then enters by flame into a sect of demons in the Underworld to announce to them his certainty that the Charmed Ones are dead. A demon assuming leadership over the next band of demons in the wake of Zankou’s defeat, Haas plans to establish a foothold in the mortal world and rise to power by acquiring the Manor after killing Victor.

Agent Keyes is calling off the case over the protestations of his younger partner Murphy – Keyes admits he’s faking calling off the case so that the Halliwells resurface, and Murphy will spot them.

Phoebe in her other form approaches the guy from the office but Piper gets him out before Phoebe blows their cover. Wyatt is concerned about the fact he can’t recognize his mother, so Phoebe comes up with a plan to use the Book of Shadows to cast a spell to fix themselves each in one look but they will look like themselves to their family. They’re interrupted by Paige’s “jingle.” Meanwhile, a leather-clad woman dons a black wig and weaponry, and goes out on some mission.

The sisters come up with their new identities’ histories and cast a spell to “create” them, and Phoebe decides to go shopping now that they’re relieved of hunting demons. Paige suspects Haas of being a demon and Phoebe hauls Piper along while Paige remains behind to “relax.” Piper is reluctant about the “big change” even though she now has the normal life she always wanted. Piper goes to check up on P3 and the guy running it, while Phoebe contemplates the loss of her column. Paige is griping to Grams about her lack of any real life and that she doesn’t know where to start. Grams isn’t thrilled about the fact no one consulted her about abandoning the Halliwell legacy. Grams basically tells Paige to live with her choice and go out and “find her thrill.” Paige is having a cup of coffee when a guy hits on her but they’re interrupted by a purse-snatcher. Paige goes after him, but loses the guy because she didn’t orb, then gets more “jingling.”

The black-clad woman goes into a theater where a patron is having his fear from something he sees in the movie amplified by one of Haas’ demon allies to the point of passing out (and presumably dying). Paige orbs in, following the Whitelighter “jingle,” and the demon attacks and stuns her. They are interrupted by the black-clad woman who does some acrobatic moves and then redirects his fireballs back at him. She flees just as Paige wakes up, wondering who it was.

Victor and Leo are doing household chores and Victor expresses his concerns. After Leo leaves, the Elder Jonnah arrives to console Victor about the loss of his daughters, and tell Victor that the Elders are considering raising the boys. Leo overhears them as Victor refuses and Jonnah reluctantly accepts his decision. An injured Paige returns and the guys notice her, while Haas confronts the demon who failed, mockingly addressing him as “the great” Elkin before detailing a new plan to kill Victor at home.

Piper is at P3 and notices Victor has been changing the club music and the place isn’t doing well. She covers by saying she’s Victor’s “niece” which is why she has the passwords for the club computers. Leo calls Piper to come back and deal with the situation, while Phoebe drops in at the paper and gets to hear them say nice things about her. She introduces herself as Phoebe’s “cousin” and doesn’t cover very well, then leaves. When she heads out, she runs into the hot guy in the elevator and gets his name – Dex Lawson. When they shake hands she gets a premonition of them marrying and going into the manor.

Back at the manor, the sisters get together as Paige is trying to locate the demon, much to her sisters’ dismay. Paige is feeling bad that she can’t respond to the calls for help, and talks about the woman who attacked the demon. Victor is putting the boys to bed when Haas arrives with Elkin and another demon to kill Victor. Grams arrives to help Paige out, and Paige gets another signal. Haas confronts Victor but the black-clad woman arrives and the sisters hear the resulting battle downstairs. The woman disposes of Elkin and the third demon partner, but Haas makes his escape. It’s clear the woman has some kind of telekinetic powers, and she takes off after thanking the sisters.

The sisters suspect the woman knows who they are, or may have a way to home in on the calls that Paige has been getting. They figure they have to make a statement so the demons don’t keep coming after Victor and the boys, but wonder how to do it without alerting the demons to their secret IDs. At his home, Victor is confronted by Haas and more underling demons. Haas asks who the women are and promises a painless death if Victor tells him. Victor identifies the sisters as “cousins” and then Wyatt orbs in. Wyatt blows up all the demons except Haas and Victor tells him to spread the word. Haas suspects that it wasn’t really Wyatt and the Charmed Ones are still alive. Piper was disguised as Wyatt and Phoebe as Victor, and they think their plan worked. They figure the mysterious woman is Paige’s charge and she’ll have to deal with it.

At her home, the woman takes off her black wig and weaponry and reveals she’s a blonde girl, Billie, who heads off to class.

Book of Shadows
To Change Appearance
 * I call upon the Ancient Powers,
 * to mask us now and in future hours.
 * Hide us well and thoroughly,
 * but not from those we call family.
 * Result: The sisters and Leo look different for the whole world except their family.

Quotes

 * Piper (to Victor): And look a little more berieved, Agent Keyes is watching."


 * Phoebe: Jo, Jenny- nice, Julie, Louis?"


 * Leo: Yeah, as in Louis Armstrong, the famous trumpeter?


 * Piper: Yeah, I think dad used to listen to him (with a smirk on her face)


 * Phoebe: Well if you can deal with it, so can the government.

Trivia

 * Piper gets a new car, a dark blue 2005 Jeep Grand Cherokee.
 * Kaley Cuoco joins the series as a regular and is listed just after the three leading ladies, replacing Brian Krause's place since he will be leaving after the 11th episode.
 * Kaley as Billie Jenkins is the second and last female secondary actress who's added to the opening credits. The first one was Karis Paige Bryant as Jenny Gordon in season two.
 * Jason Lewis also joins Charmed guest starring in the role of Dex Lawson, Phoebe's new love interest. The role of Dex was initially intented for the singer Mark McGrath, who turned down the role due to scheduling conflicts.
 * This is the second and last episode of Glenn Morshower as Agent Keyes.
 * Brandon Quinn appears for the first time in the role of Agent Murphy. He got his role after he had shot the pilot of Mermaid, a spin-off by Brad Kern based on the season 5 episode A Witch's Tail, parts 1 and 2.
 * This year's opening credits are two clips per character, whereas previously Holly, Alyssa and Rose each had 3, and the remaining characters had 2.
 * Holly Marie Combs is the only main cast member whose name clip in the opening credits has not been changed.
 * In this episode it's said that Victor booked Barry Manilow in the club P3. Barry Manilow is an American singer and songwriter best known for his recordings I Write the Songs, Mandy and Copacabana. In season three Phoebe said that she couldn't book even him while Piper was in the Heavens with Leo.
 * The sisters take the identity of cousins, which is what they (minus Paige and plus Prue) had been in their past lives.
 * Phoebe said Glen visited Paige's urn, although he doesn't appear on screen.
 * Alyssa Milano wears her hair long for the first time in 2 years.
 * Janice Dickinson appeared as a minor character during the memorial service who visited Paige memorial where she in the story was actually Paige herself, who is not satisfied with her magical Charmed-Season8Poster_001.jpg life's adverse effects on her social life - as proven by the small number of non-magical people who visited her memorial.
 * Starting from this episode, Phoebe's premonitions are in full color. The vision has a colored frame around it: Gold if the vision is positive as it is in this episode and later in "Hulkus Pocus", or blue if it warns of impending danger (like in "Run Piper, Run"). The need for color-coding premonitions probably came about because the frequency of good premonitions was rising, which could be explained in-universe as an advance in the clarity of Phoebe's foresight thanks to the positive visions.
 * This is the second time in 7 years that Phoebe takes the Book of Shadows out of a trunk in the first act. Whether this was done intentionally is unknown.
 * It's the first time a demon, other then Barbas, uses Fear Amplification.
 * Starting from this episode, energy balls and fire balls have a glare.
 * This is the only episode to feature a female leprechaun.
 * The glamouring spell used by Phoebe was theorized to be the one mentioned by Prue in Morality Bites; however, this was debunked after the release of the comic issue "Morality Bites Back."
 * The actor who portrays the character of Haas, Mykel Shannon Jenkins, won the contest on I Wanna be a Soap Star.
 * The child actor who plays Wyatt had to shoot the scene with the demons in another room by himself in front of a blue screen since the demons scared him too much.

Glitches

 * When Paige glamoured into Janice Dickinson and walked toward her urn, she's wearing a black dress. After Piper and Phoebe pulled Paige into the kitchen she unglamoured herself and is suddenly wearing a white dress, whereas when Piper and Phoebe unglamoured themselves they were wearing the same clothes from before.
 * After casting the spell to get a "permanent" new look, Victor says that they all still look the same. Leo wonders if the spell failed, however, Phoebe said that the new look would only be visible to others except family. It's normal for Victor to see their original looks.
 * Often times, the "reflections" would be wearing their hair differently than the real Phoebe, Paige, and Piper. For example, when Piper and Phoebe are shoe-shopping and look into the store window for reflection, the real Phoebe (Alyssa) has her hair in a ponytail, but her reflection is wearing her hair down.
 * New footage of the Manor was shot for this season, most noticeably for this episode, a shot of a mourner walking up the stairs.
 * Paul Haas wants to take over the the symbolic seat of power, which is the Nexus, but the Charmed Ones banished the Nexus along with vanquishing Zankou. Surely Haas would've known this.
 * When Piper and Phoebe walk out of the store their own reflections are visible in the door, however when they look into the window, it's their fake identities instead.
 * When Billie is first shown she has knee-length stiletto boots but when she lands on the movie theater seat she has almost flat boots on.
 * Julie and Jo Bennett are credited with the last name Bennet.
 * When they look in the mirror after saying the spell, and Paige hears the call it shows (in her reflection) she is touching her head but when it went back to the real Paige it shows her hand still going to her head.
 * There is a filming glitch in the scene when Victor is washing dishes and chatting with Leo. The back of the of the counter where the sink is can be seen. Normally, there is a wall and a window there. Obviously, the wall was pulled out for the advantage of the filming angle.
 * Each of the sister's memorials has an urn, but Paul Haas states that no remains were found (not even fake)

thumb|300px|right|Still Charmed and Kicking Trailer

International Titles

 * French: Une Nouvelle Vie
 * Spanish (Spain): Aun Embrujadas e Incordiando
 * Spanish (Mexico): Aun Hechiceras y Coleando
 * Czech: Nový život