Black as Cole

Black as Cole is the 74th episode of Charmed.

Guest Starring

 * Vincent Angell as ADA Sykes
 * Heather Dawn as Emma
 * Bonnie Root as Susan Coleman
 * Aaron Brumfield as Demon Sykes

Featuring

 * Sara Lynn Moneymaker as Marika
 * Matthew Heron as Annoying Man
 * Kaycee Shank as Kari

Co-Starring

 * Michael Bailey Smith as Belthazor

Plot
Phoebe and Cole pursue a demon that has killed several witches. Piper and Paige ponder Piper's future baby while Paige consults the Book of Shadows. She thinks she's found the demon she is looking for -- but it's Belthazor. A demon attacks Phoebe and Cole blasts him with an energy ball. The demon vanquished, Cole asks Phoebe to marry him. In an alley, a demon kills a witch with an athame and takes a charm from her neck. The demon resembles a different-colored version of Belthazor and he too has a human form.

Phoebe ponders Cole's proposal. He assures her that he really does want to marry her, that this didn't just come out in the heat of battle. Downstairs, they hear a baby crying; Paige brought a mechanical baby from the clinic.

Leo says that a witch has been killed. The sisters call Darryl and proceed to the crime scene. Also present is assistant district attorney Sykes. A witch, Susan, with the same charm as the victim, a triple crescent, meets Phoebe. Phoebe has a premonition of Susan being killed by a Belthazor-like demon. The sisters and Susan go to the site of the premonition and use Phoebe as bait. The demon shimmers in and attacks, and Piper tries to freeze him; but another witch, Emma, shows up and tries to kill the demon. Emma tells the sisters that the demon killed her fiance, and she seeks revenge.

Sykes wants to see all of Darryl's recent case files. He calls Susan and asks her to come to his office.

Emma scries for the demon, and finds him -- at the manor.

Susan goes to Sykes's office with Leo. He closes the door and tries to kill Susan, but Leo orbs her out. Sykes follows them to the manor. Cole turns into Belthazor, Sykes assumes his demon form and the two demons fight. The mechanical baby is smashed in the process. Emma is upset, however, because the demon who killed her fiance was not Sykes, but Belthazor.

Cole doesn't remember killing Emma's fiance, but regrets his past. He fears, furthermore, that he may have to become fully demonic to beat Sykes. He asks Phoebe to be ready with the Belthazor vanquishing potion just in case. Phoebe tries to calm Emma, but she won't listen. Paige and Phoebe prepare the potion to vanquish Sykes. Cole believes that Sykes will be in the mausoleum with an ambush. Cole, Paige and Phoebe go to the mausoleum and Cole recognizes a trap. Cole realizes that Sykes is after him, not the sisters, and the best way to him is through Phoebe.

Cole finds Sykes in the attic, pointing an athame at Phoebe. The two assume their demon forms and fight. Belthazor stabs Sykes and, as feared, he cannot turn back into Cole. Emma runs in and throws what she thinks is a vanquishing potion, but Phoebe had substituted a powers-stripping potion. Cole is now human without powers. Phoebe won't let Emma kill him.

Leo now has second thoughts about children, given what happened to the doll. Phoebe likewise has second thoughts about marrying Cole.

Book of Shadows

 * 1) The Dragon Warlock page is right before the Enchantment Spell.
 * 2) The Enchantment Spell is a page before the page on Time Loops.
 * 3) The Reverse Awakening Spell is across from the page on the Scavenger Demon.

Power Usage

 * Leo / Orbs / Himself / Manor Attic
 * Scavenger Demon attacks Phoebe in the Alley at Battery and Clay
 * Cole / Energy Ball / Demon / Alley behind Canon Theater
 * Cole / Shimmers / Himself / Manor
 * Sykes / Shimmers / Himself / Alley
 * Sykes / Energy Ball / Guy at the Phone Booth / Alley
 * Sykes / Shimmers / Himself / Alley
 * Cole / Shimmers / Himself / Manor Attic
 * Piper / Freezes / Mechanical Baby / Manor
 * Piper / Unfreezes / Mechanical Baby / Manor
 * Leo / Orbs / Himself / Manor
 * Phoebe / Premonition / Triple Crescent Necklace / Alley behind Canon Theater
 * Sykes / Shimmers / Himself / Alley behind Canon Theater
 * Leo / Orbs / Himself / Park
 * Leo / Orbs / Susan / Park
 * Sykes / Shimmers / Himself / Park
 * Sykes / Shimmers / Himself / Park
 * Sykes commands his Shadows. (He mentions that his shadow's old boss was Belthazor)
 * Leo / Orbs / Himself / Sykes's office
 * Leo / Orbs / Susan / Sykes's Office
 * Leo / Orbs / Susan / Manor
 * Sykes / Shimmers / Himself / Manor
 * Sykes / Energy Ball /Wall / Manor
 * Cole / Energy Ball / Sykes / Manor
 * Piper / Freezes / Sykes / Manor
 * Belthazor / Energy Ball / Energy Ball / Manor
 * Sykes / Energy Ball / Energy Ball / Manor
 * Sykes / Shimmers / Himself / Manor
 * Sykes / Shimmers / Himself / Manor
 * Sykes / Shimmers / Phoebe / Manor
 * Belthazor / Energy Ball / Sykes / Manor Attic
 * Piper / Freezes / Room / Manor Attic

Vanquished

 * 1) Scavenger Demon: Vanquished by Cole, "feeds on the remains of other demon's victim's" (Book of Shadows)
 * 2) Sykes: by reputation Belthazor was his mentor. Vanquished by Belthazor with an Athame.
 * 3) Belthazor: Vanquished by Emma with the power stripping potion.

Witches

 * 1) Kari: Murdered by Sykes, a beautiful person who everyone loved.

Innocents

 * 1) Emma: her fiance Andrew was a witch, wasn't a witch until her fiance was murdered by Cole and she devoted her life to the Craft,

Lost

 * 1) Guy at the Phone Booth: murdered by Sykes

Spells

 * 1) Emma tries to scry for Sykes.

Potions

 * 1) Piper makes a potion to kill Sykes using a pig's foot and a piece of Sykes's flesh.
 * 2) Power Stripping Potion

Quotes

 * Paige: You were a demon and a lawyer? Insert joke here.




 * Piper: I don't think a witch is allowed to marry a demon (nervous laugh) honey, we can't have a demon in the family.

Trivia



 * The title is a reference to the common saying "as black as coal" is a reference to a very dark color or mood.thumb|right|280px
 * This is the only episode of the series with Cole's name in the title.
 * For the first time Holly Marie Combs' tattoos on her wrists are shown on screen.
 * This is the last episode of Michael Bailey Smith as Belthazor, however the demon will be back to life in the alternative reality of Centennial Charmed but won't be seen on screen.
 * Paige falls to the ground after blowing up the vanquishing potion for Sykes, like Piper did in Sleuthing With the Enemy even though the earlier explosion was much more violent than the one in this episode. However it is possible this is due to Sykes being weaker than Cole.
 * This is the last time Phoebe will shimmer with a Demon.
 * The Alley where Darryl and the sisters are is the same one used in The Honeymoon's Over and Wrestling With Demons.
 * Julian (Cole) is wearing the same clothes, that he wore for his Charmed promotional photo shoot.
 * The first shot of the Manor seen in this episode will be used constantly throughout season 4
 * Although having shown a greater desire to get married/"cinderella complex" in the past, in this episode Phoebe displays a strong concern about getting married, this may be due to who was asking her rather than the idea itself.
 * This episode begins Paige's distrust and questioning of Cole, similarly to that previously held by Prue.
 * Phoebe says that Sykes' demonic form shimmers like Belthazor, this is misleading as many demons shimmer.
 * This episode scored 5.2 million viewers.
 * The shot of the Belthazor page was the same shot seen in Primrose Empath.

Glitches

 * When Paige is looking through the Book of Shadows for the demon while talking to Piper and Leo, she says she found a demon that kills with an athame. The demon is Belthazor, but the Belthazor page says nothing about him killing with an athame.
 * The Cole's Human Form page, which Phoebe wrote next to the Belthazor entry has been replaced.