Astral Monkey

Astral Monkey is the 42nd episode of Charmed.

Episode Information

 * Season 2
 * Episode No. 20
 * Teleplay By Constance M. Burge and David Simkins
 * Story By Constance M. Burge
 * Directed By Craig Zisk
 * Production No. 4399041
 * Original Airdate May 4, 2000

Summary
A doctor, who treated Piper when she was dangerously ill, has been trying to uncover the reason for her miraculous recovery and accidentally acquires the powers of all three Halliwell sisters during a blood transfusion. In a desperate effort to save his dying sister, the doctor uses his new powers to harvest organs from innocent victims. Prue and Phoebe help Piper put an end to the doctor’s violent house calls. Meanwhile, Prue gets a job photographing a handsome actor and ends up in the tabloids.

Plot
Piper keeps receiving letters from Dr. Williamson, who treated Piper for Oroya fever in "Awakened". He wants her to come in for bloodwork. Piper has thrown all the letters away. Phoebe finds her granola box empty and in the trash; Leo, it seems, likes granola. Prue enters and announces she has a photo session with Evan Stone, and Phoebe is impressed; but Prue, perhaps burned by her experience with Finley Beck ("Chick Flick"), wants to know nothing about him in advance. She wants to enter, shoot and leave.

Dr. Williamson has three caged monkeys, each with the name of a Charmed One. He is on the phone with Dr. Jeffries, who has ended his project, but he is not giving up. He has injected each monkey with a sample of a Charmed One's blood; he tries again, the monkeys become agitated, and monkey-Prue flings a syringe into his neck.

Dr. Williamson patches his neck up as the monkeys become more agitated. He tries to shush the monkeys and blasts several vials of blood onto the floor, where they shatter. Dr. Jeffries enters and Dr. Williamson freezes and then unfreezes him. Dr. Jeffries suggests that Dr. Williamson take some time off. When Dr. Williamson again demands contact with the Halliwells, Dr. Jeffries orders him to clear out the lab.

Prue goes to her photo shoot and meets Evan Stone. His publicist, Lucy, calls for security, thinking Prue a tabloid photographer, Prue hands over her ID and, since it's temporary, Lucy calls 415 to confirm it.

Dr. Williamson calls Piper and asks her to come in, and she tell him no and hangs up. Nurse Jordan calls him to his sister's ward. Monkey-Prue astral-projects into Prue's photo shoot; she points the monkey out, but astral-monkey-Prue disappears before Evan can see. Prue quickly ends the session. Evan brings out her car keys, which she drops. As both bend down to pick them up, a tabloid photographer starts taking pictures.

Prue returns to the manor and finds that Evan has sent flowers. She tells them of the monkey. Her sisters don't believe her. Prue mentions the rose on the hospital wristband; it's the same as San Francisco Memorial Hospital, where Dr. Williamson works. The sisters suspect that Dr. Williamson is on to them and Prue and Phoebe go to the Book of Shadows. Leo gets an important jingle and orbs out.

Dr. Williamson is in the ward with his sister and her husband, a policeman. The sister is waiting for a kidney transplant and the cop is frustrated at the waiting list, while criminals get released on technicalities. Dr. Williamson puts a hand on the cop's shoulder and has a premonition of the cop's impending heart attack. He calls for a crash team and the cop collapses. Dr. Williamson goes to the records room and wants a list of criminals admitted and released in the jail ward.

The sisters find Dr. Williamson's lab and free the monkeys. They slip the monkeys and Dr. Williamson's records out of the hospital. Phoebe takes hold of monkey-Phoebe and has a vision of Dr. Williamson blasting the vials off the table.

Dr. Williamson blasts down the door of a drug dealer, Benny Ritter. He sedates Benny and cuts out a kidney.

As the sisters escape with the monkeys and the records, they see the "kiss" between Prue and Evan on TV and overhear discussion of Dr. Williamson's premonition. They go to the records room and find Dr. Williamson's request for the jail patients. They print a copy.

The sisters meet Darryl at the scene of the crime against Benny Ritter. Benny's wound was expertly stitched up and clearly the perpetrator had medical training. The sisters tell him only that it's supernatural and ask him to keep it quiet.

The monkeys run loose at the manor and Phoebe has trouble dealing with them. Piper is explaining to Gil Corso that no, she is not dating Evan. Leo orbs back in and tells the sisters that their powers will drive Dr. Williamson mad. His need to do good could well backfire. Photographers mob the manor and so Piper freezes them to allow Prue to escape.

Prue meets Evan and asks for help with the photographers. He advises her to let the whole thing blow over. At last Evan takes Prue's cell phone and calls Celebrity Peepshow, posing as a tipster named Julius. He promises to tell them that he dumped Prue, in line with his bad-boy image.

Dr. Williamson cuts the heart out of a gun-runner, a Frank McNamara.

Phoebe prepares a potion and slips it into milk bottles for the monkeys. This removes the powers from the monkeys. Darryl comes to the manor and says Dr. Williamson has attacked twice more, the third being Arlen Jackson. Piper remembers the name McNamara and pulls down the list from the hospital. The sisters call Prue.

The sisters confront Dr. Williamson at a chop shop. Piper offers him a potion and tries to convince him to drink it. Instead, he flings her away. The sisters get the worst of the struggle and Dr. Williamson stomps the potion bottle as he walks away.



The sisters try scrying, but find only themselves. Eventually, they find the doctor. They meet him in a trash-strewn ally with junkies everywhere. Dr. Williamson tries to throw a scalpel, but Prue flings it away as the junkies flee. Dr. Williamson flings a sawblade. Piper tries to freeze him, but he doesn't stay frozen for long. He and the withes fight for control of the sawblade. Finally, on Prue's instruction, the witches duck and let go. The sawblade bounces off a chain link fence and into Dr. Williamson.

The sisters burn Dr. Williamson's records of them. Phoebe has compiled a wish list for "someone as great as Leo". Piper, in turn, burns Dr. Williamson's letters to her; she feels responsible for his death. As she cries for him, Leo comforts her.

Guest Stars

 * Matthew Glave as Dr. Curtis Williamson
 * Jim Davidson as Evan Stone

Co-Stars

 * Milt Tarver as Dr. Jeffries
 * Susan Martino as Lucy
 * Jack Maxwell as Barry
 * Dierdre Holder as Nurse
 * Gary Douglas Kohn as Benny Ritter
 * Karen James as Sally 'Bones' Dopler
 * Lina Patel as Doctor

Featured Music

 * "Then The Morning Comes" by Smash Mouth
 * "Letting The Cables Sleep" by Bush

Quotes

 * Piper: I got another letter from Dr. Williamson.
 * Phoebe: Williamson? Isn't he the specialist that treated you for Oroya fever?
 * Piper: That would be him.
 * (Phoebe opens the pantry.)
 * Phoebe: Oh that was months ago. What does he want?
 * Piper: He wants me to come in for blood work so he can make sure I'm cured.
 * Phoebe: An angel brought you back to life. Trust me, you're cured.




 * (Phoebe's kneeling down with her head in the closet throwing clothes out on the floor. Leo orbs in and kneels down really close to Phoebe.)
 * Leo: (thinking it's Piper) Ever done it on a cloud?
 * Phoebe: I don't know, does a feather bed count?
 * (Leo quickly stands up.)
 * Leo: Uh, Phoebe. I thought you were Piper.




 * Prue: Yeah. Exactly like this. Wait, is this the same Dr. Williamson?
 * Piper: Yeah, he's been sending me requests for weeks and he called this morning and said he wanted to see me.
 * Prue: What?
 * Phoebe: Wait, you didn't tell me he called you.
 * Piper: Well, there was nothing to say. I hung up on him. Do you think he found out about our powers?
 * Prue: B.O.S.
 * Phoebe: B.O.S.? Oh, Book Of Shadows.




 * Piper: Okay, then, so what are you suggesting? (Prue and Phoebe look at each other.) You guys wanna vanquish him? You can't be serious, he's, he's not a demon, he's a human being.
 * Prue: Not anymore.
 * Piper: But, okay, we can't use our powers to punish anyway you know that.
 * Prue: Piper, we're not punishing, alright, we're saving lives. All you have to do is freeze him.
 * Piper: And then what? You're gonna move him in the path of an oncoming bus, drop a building on him, kill him? (Leo walks in.) Leo, tell me you found something, anything.
 * Leo: Sorry. I don't think there's any way out of this one.
 * Piper: I don't believe this.