A Paige from the Past

A Paige from the Past is the 76th overall episode of Charmed

Plot
Cole is detained at the police station, for driving without a license. Darryl has covered for him, but is angry due to all the open cases. Paige and Piper come for him. As they leave, they see a car flip over and catch fire. Piper freezes the car and she and Cole rescue the driver; but Paige has frozen in her own way, and watches the scene, terrified.

Piper and Phoebe worry about Paige. Leo tells them what he thinks might be wrong: Paige's adoptive parents had died in a car wreck. Piper and Phoebe find Paige at work and try to comfort her. Paige takes the rest of the day off and returns to the manor with her sisters. She admits that she was a rebellious teenager, and cruel to her adoptive parents; she had told them that they weren't her real parents just before they died. She doesn't know how she survived the crash.

Leo summons Clyde and reminds him of a favor that Clyde owes him. Clyde opens a door and sends Leo off with Paige. Before Clyde leaves, two ghostly blobs appear in the attic; one enters Phoebe. Speaking with a thick Southern accent, she tells the other blob, Frankie, that she'll find a body for him soon.

Paige finds herself in her old bedroom, and realizes she's a teenager again. Her father knocks on the door and discovers that Paige has been smoking. Paige tries to convince her parents that she's changed, but they believe it's an act.

Frankie lurks in the manor, and then enters Cole, who starts speaking with a thick Southern accent as well. It turns out the blob that possessed Phoebe is Lulu, Frankie's fiancee. The two kiss and hug, and Piper notices. The two say that they have a "job" left unfinished 50 years ago.

Paige attends a history class, and is bored to tears. She gets up and walks out of the classroom, to the cheers of the other students, and is confronted by a security guard.

Darryl has found Frankie and Lulu in the database. They were a Bonnie and Clyde-like couple who robbed a series of jewelry stores in the 50s. He and Piper head for the jewelry store where Frankie and Lulu had been shot dead. Frankie and Lulu go to that same store, and Frankie punches a security guard and takes his gun. He shoots the display case and Lulu steals the ring. The guard gets up and Frankie shoots him in the leg before escaping with Lulu. Piper and Darryl arrive and Piper freezes the crowd to steal the surveillance tape. A cop tells Darryl that Frankie and Lulu have knocked off a bridal store, and Piper realizes that the "job" is to get married.

Paige feels guiltier than ever. She is determined to save her parents' life, over Leo's objections. She is suspended from school. She tries to reconcile with her parents, and thinks she has succeeded in saving them. They go home in the car, and it drives out in front of a truck. Paige finds herself tumbling on the pavement as the truck hits the car. Paige now knows how she survived -- she orbed. Leo tries to comfort her while they look to the crushed car.

Darryl and Piper track down Frankie and Lulu to a church, where Frankie is holding a priest at gunpoint. Piper tries to freeze the scene, but only the priest freezes. Frankie turns and shoots at Darryl, who shoots back, wounding him. The ghostly blobs leave and now Phoebe and Cole are themselves again. Darryl ushers the priest away and Piper summons Clyde. Leo and Paige return from the past. Leo heals Cole. Clyde recognizes Frankie and Lulu and sends them back through the time door. Cole again asks Phoebe to marry him and she accepts.

Over dinner, the sisters discuss Paige's accident. She is sad that her parents didn't see how she turned out -- and then Leo appears with the parents' ghosts, apparently another favor from Clyde.

Power Usage

 * Piper / Freezes / Car on Fire / Street
 * Piper / Freezes / Crowd / Jewelry store
 * Piper / Freeze / Phoebe, Cole and priest / Church
 * Paige / Orbs / Herself/ Car

Witch-Whitelighters

 * Paige Matthews: a troubled teen, skipped classes, partied all night with friends, cruel to her parents. The day her adopted parents died, she told them that they weren't her real parents.

Ghosts

 * 1) Clyde: a malevolent ghost who visited Charles Dickens, the only one who helps the living visit the past, Leo healed one of Clyde's charges when Clyde returned her from the past on the edge of a cliff with 32 broken bones


 * 1) Frankie and Lulu: two robbers who possess the bodies of Cole and Phoebe.


 * 1) Mr. and Mrs. Matthews: Paige's adoptive parents, who died in a car crash when she was 17 years old.

Glitches

 * When Leo and Paige arrive in 1994, there are a few factual errors in Paige's bedroom: on the wall, there is a poster of Metallica's album Garage, Inc., which wasn't released until 1998, and on her desk is a doll from the movie Bride of Chucky, which also wasn't released until '98. There's also a movie poster for Scream from 1996 (curiously starring Rose McGowan) on the wall. The poster is blurred out for reruns, possibly due to licensing reasons.
 * As Paige is walking out of her class and her teacher orders her to sit down, she responds saying "No, I won't." Here you can clearly see that she doesn't have braces on her teeth. However, after she opens the door and is met by a security guard, we see in the next shot that she has them on again.
 * When Paige's parents car burst into flames, you can clearly see that nobody is in the car.

Quotes
Darryl: Look, I am sick of you and your entire dysfunctional family unit. I will not falsify evidence. I am a cop. Piper: Okay, cop, do I need to remind you that you bailed Cole out of jail last night? Darryl: So? Piper: So I was wondering what you were going to tell your captain when he sees Cole on the surveillance tape. Darryl: What are you waiting for? Go get the damn tape!

Leo: You owe me, Clyde. Or do I need to remind you of your client that I healed? The one you returned from the past - on the edge of a cliff? I believe there were thirty- twobroken bones.

Leo: Rough ride. Are you okay? Paige: Yeah. I'm alright. I'm all... (She looks into the mirror and sees that she is a teenager again) wrong! Oh my God. I'm so screwed. I'm supposed to come back as a ghost. Not a ghost with...braces? Leo: You're meant to relive the experience, Paige. Not observe it. Paige: Yeah. But I just wanted to come back and watch me make sarcastic comments about my lack of style.

Piper: Oh, my god, Cole. How's my car? Cole: It's fine. Piper: That is the first and last time you borrow my car, got it? Good.

International Titles

 * French: Mauvais Esprits (Bad Spirits)
 * Czech: Paige z minulosti
 * Serbian: Pejdž iz Proslosti
 * Spanish (Latin America): El pasado de Paige (Paige's Past)
 * Italian: Il Passato di Paige (Paige's Past)
 * Spanish (Spain): Una Paige del pasado (A Paige from The Past)
 * German: Geister der Vergangenheit (Phantoms of the Past)