The Witch is Back

The Witch Is Back is the ninth episode of Charmed.

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.

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.

A lawyer named Arnold Halliwell is on the phone when the door to his office suddenly swings open. Before Arnold Halliwell can figure out what is happening, Matthew blinks in and telekinetically pins him up against the wall and demands to know where Arnold's "sisters" are -- but Arnold Halliwell shares only a name with the Charmed Ones. Matthew telekinetically 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 Hannah 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.

Matthew changes into more modern clothes to blend in, and is amazed at how "closed" things are in the 20th century. He appears to be making a pass at Hannah when Rex comes in and snaps them all back to task. He tells Melinda that Matthew goes back in the locket as soon as the sisters are dead.

The four witches consult the Book of Shadows and find the curse. Melinda is amazed at how big the Book has gotten since she started it. Phoebe finds it hard to believe that they'll be able to add to it eventually. Piper thinks she can get most of the ingredients at Quake. However, one ingredient they can't get is a spotted owl feather; Prue offers to get it.

Rex shows Matthew pictures of the sisters and the address of Quake, and has Hannah take him to Quake.

Prue knows there's a stuffed spotted owl at the Museum of Natural History, where she used to work. She offers to get the feather there. Unknown to Prue, Andy is following her.

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 tries to goad Melinda into freezing him, but Melinda won't go along. Matthew grabs Melinda by the neck, and has a vision of the four witches cursing him back in the locket. He demands to know where Prue is, and Melinda sends him to the zoo. Matthew vows to break Melinda's spirit by killing the sisters, then killing her last. He blinks out.

Rex knows Hannah lost track of Matthew; he magically followed her.

Piper and Phoebe arrive at the manor to find Melinda badly shaken. Melinda says Prue is taking care of the feather.

Prue is heading out of the museum when Andy nabs her and takes her to his car.

Matthew flings Hannah through the door of Rex's office. Matthew is hellbent on killing Prue. Rex tries to get him to focus on Piper and Phoebe, but Matthew tells him that the sisters summoned Melinda and are trying to curse him back into the locket. Rex suspects they'll have to speak the curse in the manor--and if he goes there, he can copy Piper's freezing power and kill them all. He hands Matthew a pistol.

Andy grills Prue about 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 the pistol at her, trying to goad her into freezing him. Just in time, Prue comes in and flings the pistol from Matthew's hand. She then pins him to the ground with a chair. Prue 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 she grants Phoebe a vision of her many future descendants -- "daughters", she says, though that will turn out not to be entirely true. Melinda takes the locket with her--likely trapping Matthew for eternity.

Melinda's Warlock Curse
(To Curse Matthew Tate into Melinda's locket)


 * Ingredients needed:
 * assorted herbs,
 * a Spotted Owl Feather,
 * a leather bag
 * and a locket.


 * Combine the herbs and make it into a fine powder.
 * Put the powder into the leather bag and add the owl feather.
 * Put the bag into fire and let it burn while chanting the spell
 * and holding the locket open, pointed to the to-be-cursed warlock


 * Outside of Time!
 * Outside of Gain!
 * Know only Sorrow!
 * Know only Pain!

Trivia
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 * This is the first time Phoebe sees a vision of the past--a power advancement, the first for the sisters that didn't occur under the influence of evil magic.
 * This is the first episode of many to have the word 'witch' in the title.
 * Phoebe makes a joke that she believed her future power was the power of flight. She does temporarily develop the power to fly in the season 2 finale Be Careful What You Witch For. Later in the season 3 premiere The Honeymoon's Over, she develops the power of levitation.
 * Upon being summoned to the present, Melinda's first words to the Charmed Ones were "Blessed be!", a traditional Wiccan greeting.
 * Melinda Warren assumes that Matthew must have copied the power of Blinking from another witch. Although it is later established that Blinking is a Warlock power, warlocks are still technically witches, just evil ones. So technically, Melinda was correct.
 * The photos that Rex Buckland gives Matthew will be used again in Deja Vu All Over Again and again in Something Wicca This Way Goes...? Prue's photo doesn't appear because Shannen didn't want her face shown on the show after she left.
 * Matthew killed Arnold Halliwell by telekinetically snapping his neck, believing he was related to the Charmed Ones.
 * Even though Phoebe's power is passive, Matthew was still able to obtain a premonition when he touched Phoebe, causing her to have a vision and allowing him to obtain it.
 * Melinda did not use her powers to escape her execution in order to protect her daughter from the same fate.
 * Prue shares her name with Melinda's daughter, Prudence Warren.
 * Before Melinda departs, Phoebe triggers a premonition in her, allowing her to see a future of "many more generations of my beautiful daughters". However, the next generation of Halliwell witches begins with Wyatt Halliwell and Chris Halliwell, establishing that the craft is not confined to the female line.
 * Phoebe and Piper say they'll miss Melinda, and Prue says that they can always bring her back, but they have never done so in future episodes. Melinda makes an appearrence in one episode of season 3 as a baby and in season 9 when Patty and Penny summon her and all the Warren Witches to help Charmed Ones defeat Neena.
 * This episode starts the trend of an element of the past coming back before the New Year, which happens next in Season 2 (P3 H2O), 3 (Coyote Piper), and 5 (Sam, I Am). Seasons 4 (A Paige from the Past) and 6 (Witchstock) both have episodes about the past as the first episodes of the New Year.
 * This is Tyler Layton's last TV role.
 * This episode scored six million viewers.

Glitches

 * Melinda claims she sees her line continuing with many "beautiful daughters"- however Phoebe, the one she is touching, is the only Charmed One to have 3 daughters. Prue doesn't survive to have children, Piper has two boys and a girl and Paige has a boy and two girls. This may be because Melinda was only touching Phoebe at the time.
 * When Matthew jumped out of the window, glass flew meaning the people below should have felt them. But they didn't.

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 returned Melinda Warren back from the 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.