The Witch is Back

The Witch Is Back is the ninth episode of Charmed.

Episode Information

 * Season 1
 * Episode No. 09
 * Written By Sheryl J. Anderson
 * Directed By Richard Denault
 * Production No. 4398008
 * Original Airdate December 16, 1998

Summary
Prue is attacked by a 300-year-old warlock, who had been trapped in a locket by Melinda Warren, founder of the Warren/Halliwell line of witches. Seeking revenge for his containment, the warlock is after Melinda’s descendants; the Charmed Ones. He has the ability to copy powers; once he has copied theirs, there’ll be no stopping him. The sisters cast a spell to bring back Melinda; they concoct a potion just in time to banish the warlock back into the locket. It turns out Prue’s boss and his assistant are really warlocks who were behind this devious plan to steal the sisters’ powers. Piper musters up the courage to ask out the cute handyman named Leo, and Andy is frustrated by Prue’s continued involvement in bizarre police investigations.

Plot
In Salem, Massachusetts, in 1692, Melinda Warren awaits burning at the stake for witchcraft. (In the real Salem witch trials, no one was burned; all convicted "witches" were hanged.) Matthew Tate, her former lover, visits her in her cell. He seduced her, copied her powers and then outed her as a witch to keep from being exposed as a warlock. Melinda pulls off the locket Matthew gave her as a gift and gives it back to him. Matthew says he plans to copy other witches' powers as well. He opens the locket and pulls out a piece of paper. Suddenly, the paper disintegrates. Before Matthew can figure out what is happening, Melinda recites a curse, and Matthew disappears into the locket.

In the present, at Buckland's Auction House, Rex Buckland presents the locket to Prue, telling her it's part of a large estate from the east. She opens it and Matthew appears. Realizing that Prue couldn't have opened it unless she was a descendant of Melinda, Matthew tries to attack her, but Prue sends him flying across the room. Matthew thanks Prue, because he now has her power of telekinesis. He pins her against the wall with a chair, then disappears and reappears behind her to finish her off. Believing that Prue inherited all of Melinda's powers, he grabs her again and tries to goad her into freezing him. Prue tells him she doesn't have that ability. Matthew releases her, blows out a window, and jumps, landing safely on his own two feet. The cops arrive, including Darryl and Andy; Andy knows that the blown-out window is Prue's.

Leo is repairing the kitchen sink. Phoebe urges Piper to ask him out, but she is reluctant.

It turns out that Rex and Hannah provided Prue with the locket. The warlock-couple is after the Charmed Ones' powers, and plan to use Matthew to get them--and then banish him again once he succeeds.

Prue goes to Phoebe and Piper and tells them of Matthew Tate. Phoebe takes the locket and has a vision of Melinda putting Matthew in the locket.

Matthew goes to a lawyer named Arnold Halliwell. Matthew demands to know where Arnold's "sisters" are -- but Arnold Halliwell shares only a name with the Charmed Ones. Matthew breaks Arnold Halliwell's neck and walks away.

The sisters consult the Book of Shadows and find Matthew. They find out that he was never supposed to be let out of the locket, since he would likely be hellbent on destroying the Warren line.

Andy appears at the manor to question Prue. Phoebe answers the door and won't let him in. He tells her of the murdered lawyer and wants to know where Prue is. She demands a warrant and he leaves. The sisters are at a loss as to how to handle Matthew. Phoebe tells them that she found a spell to summon Melinda so they can ask her for help. They cast the spell, and Melinda appears in 17th century dress. They redress her so she can blend in. Leo shows up and the sisters introduce Melinda as their cousin.

Matthew runs into Rex and Hanna at a "Halliwell Hardware and Appliance", where Matthew has murdered the proprietor. Rex and Hannah offer to find the Charmed Ones for him.

Melinda tells the sisters of her arrest and burning. She had not used her powers to escape so that her daughter, Prudence, would not be found out as a witch as well. She tells them of Matthew's ability to copy a good witch's power and become immune to it. When Prue asks her about Matthew's "wild power," Melinda tells him that it's called blinking--the ability to think of a location and literally be there "in the blink of an eye." She mentions that Matthew copied that power from another witch. Melinda proposes to curse Matthew back into the locket. The four witches consult the Book of Shadows and find the curse.

Rex shows Matthew pictures of the sisters and the address of Quake, and has Hannah take him to Quake. Matthew is after Piper, but finds Phoebe instead. He grabs her and she has a vision of him attacking Melinda. Matthew now has her power, and knows the sisters summoned Melinda. Phoebe calls the manor trying to find Prue. Only Melinda is there, and she does not know how telephones work. Matthew comes to the manor and confronts Melinda. He has a vision of the four witches cursing him back in the locket.The curse requires a spotted owl feather, and Prue has gone to the Museum of Natural History (where she once worked) to steal one. Andy nabs her and wants to know where she got the feather. Just as he's about to take her to the station, Prue sets off the airbag in his car and escapes. Matthew comes to the manor and confronts Piper, Phoebe and Melinda. He draws Piper toward him and points a pistol at her, trying to goad her into freezing him--and thus allowing him to copy all of the Charmed Ones' powers. Just in time, Prue comes in and flings the pistol from Matthew's hand. She then slams him to the ground with a chair. She adds the feather to the potion. Piper freezes Matthew just as he gets up. Melinda speaks the curse and sends Matthew back into the locket.

Matthew has failed to steal the Charmed Ones' powers, but Rex and Hannah now know that they are the Charmed Ones. Hannah says that they should have gone after the Charmed Ones directly, and Rex admits they should have.

Andy wants to arrest Prue, but Darryl talks him out of it.

Piper asks Leo out.

The sisters speak a spell and send Melinda back to among the dead, but not before Phoebe grants her a vision of her many future descendants -- "daughters", she says, though that will turn out not to be entirely true.

Guest Stars

 * Billy Wirth as Matthew Tate
 * Tyler Layton as Melinda Warren
 * Brian Krause as Leo Wyatt
 * Neil Roberts as Rex Buckland
 * Leigh-Allyn Baker as Hannah Webster
 * Terry Bozeman as Arnold Halliwell
 * Michael Mitz as Cafe Patron

Co-Stars

 * Catherine Kwong as Waitress
 * Jodi Fung as T.V. Reporter

Quotes

 * (Rex leaves. Prue sees the locket and picks it up. She opens it. The door slams shut and Matthew comes out of it.)
 * Matthew: At last, freedom. The world has changed. What time is this?
 * Prue: Excuse me?
 * Matthew: Where am I?
 * Prue: Who are you?
 * Matthew: Matthew Tate, and if you freed me from that locket you are a descendant of Melinda Warren. (He walks closer to her and she throws him across the room.) Thank you.
 * Prue: For what?
 * Matthew: I tricked you into using your power on me. Now, I have it. (He slams her against the wall with a chair. He then blinks, she runs in the middle of the room and he reappears behind her.) Behind you, witch.
 * Prue: How did you do that?
 * Matthew: I can share your power but you can’t share mine.
 * Prue: What do you want?
 * Matthew: I want what Melinda took from me. I want all three powers back. (He grabs her.) Defend yourself. Stop time.
 * Prue: I can’t.
 * Matthew: Ah, so you’re not alone. There are others. (He disappears and appears in front of the desk.) And the family name is now Halliwell.




 * Phoebe: You’ve never asked a guy out before?
 * Piper: Not on a real date, no.
 * Phoebe: I don’t understand. Am I the only person in this family who’s inherited the take-a-chance gene?
 * Piper: Probably. ‘Cause if I remember my biology correctly, it’s attached to the can’t-mind-my-own-business gene.
 * Phoebe: Ooh. Go.




 * Prue: Great, so now I’m being hunted by a warlock and the San Francisco P.D.
 * Phoebe: Nobody ever said you led a boring life, Prue.
 * Piper: Maybe Andy can help.
 * Prue: Oh, yeah. You want to have that conversation with him? "Hey Andy, I hate to bother you but this seventeenth century warlock is trying to kill me and my sisters." Any thoughts?
 * Piper: Okay, it was a bad idea. But the point is we need help.




 * Piper: Oh, wow, Melinda, you look great.
 * Melinda: Thank you. Oh, but how do you keep your legs warm?
 * Prue: We drink coffee.




 * (Leo approaches the doorway of Phoebe's bedroom.)
 * Leo: Oh, sorry, I let myself in and it didn’t occur to me.
 * Piper: Leo, uh, it’s okay. This is, uh...
 * Phoebe: Our cousin, Melinda.
 * Leo: Nice to meet you.
 * Piper: Leo’s fixing our plumbing.
 * Melinda: What’s that?
 * Prue: Uh, we’ve got to go now.
 * Melinda: To work with one’s hands is a great gift.
 * Leo: Well, I am a true labourer. I earn that I eat, get that I wear.
 * Melinda: Owe no man hate, envy no man’s happiness.
 * Leo & Melinda: Shakespeare.
 * (Melinda giggles.)
 * Prue: Wasn’t that fun? Okay, let’s go now.
 * (They walk out of the room and Leo walks in.)
 * Melinda: (to Piper) He is a treasure, Piper.
 * Piper: Why you telling me?




 * (At Quake's kitchen Phoebe is holding a rolling pin and Matthew is backing her into a corner. Phoebe goes to hit him with the rolling pin but he grabs it and throws it on the floor. He then grabs Phoebe and she has a premonition of him attacking Melinda.)
 * Matthew: Now I have your power. And I see Melinda’s here. Good. She will die at my hand. (He pushes her on the ground and he blinks out of the room. Piper comes in.)
 * Piper: Are you okay?
 * Phoebe: Yeah. It was Matthew. He’s gone, but he copied my power.

______________________________________________________________
 * Matthew: They retourned Melinda Warren back from dead to do it.
 * Hannah: They did what?

______________________________________________________________
 * Piper: Leo! You're here! Why are you here?
 * Leo: I thought I could work on the plumbing in the downstairs bathroom.