Charmed (season 3)

Charmed (season 3)
DVD cover art
No. of episodes	22
Release
Original network	The WB
Original release	September 5, 2000 (2000-09-05) – May 17, 2001 (2001-05-17)

The third season of Charmed, an American supernatural drama television series, began airing on October 5, 2000 on The WB. Airing on Thursdays at 9:00 pm, the season consisted of 22 episodes and concluded its airing on May 17, 2001. It is the last season to feature original cast member Shannen Doherty, as she left the series at the end of the season. Paramount Home Entertainment released the complete third season in a six-disc box set on November 15, 2005.

Synopsis

The third season of Charmed sees many changes in the sisters' lives. Prue is looking for balance in her life, juggling her photography, her role as a Charmed one, and her love life. Piper and Leo's relationship becomes serious as they plan to get married against the wishes of The Elders. Phoebe gains an active power, levitation, and starts a new romance with the Assistant District Attorney Cole Turner / Belthazor; a half human/half demon sent by The Triad to destroy the Charmed Ones. However, over time he becomes conflicted between his duty and his love for her. Prue is extremely suspicious of Cole from the beginning, causing a rift between her and her youngest sister. The girls' father also comes back into their lives, this time in a more permanent role as he heals his relationship with Prue and attends Piper's wedding.

The Charmed Ones begin to discover and understand the hierarchy of the Underworld, as they learn of The Triad who are responsible for sending Belthazor and various other demons after them.

Cast and characters

Main cast

• Shannen Doherty as Prue Halliwell
• Holly Marie Combs as Piper Halliwell
• Alyssa Milano as Phoebe Halliwell
• Brian Krause as Leo Wyatt
• Julian McMahon as Cole Turner
• Dorian Gregory as Darryl Morris

Recurring cast

• Michael Bailey Smith as Belthazor and The Source of All Evil
• Jennifer Rhodes as Penelope "Penny" Halliwell
• James Read as Victor Bennett
• Finola Hughes as Patricia "Patty" Halliwell
• Simon Templeman as Angel of Death

Episode list

See also: List of Charmed episodes

No. in series	No. in season	Title	Directed by	Written by	Original air date	Production code	U.S. viewers (millions)
45	1	"The Honeymoon's Over"	Jim Conway	Brad Kern	October 5, 2000 (2000-10-05)	4300045	7.7
While Piper and Leo are away for a month seeing The Elders, Prue and Phoebe must face a series of demons known as Guardians, who help mortal murderers go free in exchange for the souls of their victims. After saving Darryl from a Guardian, Prue and Phoebe must testify in court, where it is later revealed that the judge and all the other people in the court room are demons. Phoebe falls in love with the District Attorney Cole Turner (Julian McMahon), however she does not know he is a demon sent by The Triad to kill the Charmed Ones. Meanwhile, Piper and Leo return and reveal that The Elders want them to end their relationship or else the sisters will get a new Whitelighter. However, Leo decides to propose to Piper in secret. Special Musical Guest: Barenaked Ladies
46	2	"Magic Hour"	John Behring	Zack Estrin & Chris Levinson	October 12, 2000 (2000-10-12)	4300046	5.1
The sisters must help a young man who is turned into an owl by day and his girlfriend who is turned into a wolf by night. The two lovers have been cursed by the woman's warlock boss, who will lift the curse once she gives in to him or whenever there is a 'night within a day'. Meanwhile, Piper and Leo try to find a way to hide their wedding from The Elders. However, they eventually find out about the wedding and send Leo away during the ceremony.
47	3	"Once Upon a Time"	Joel J. Feigenbaum	Krista Vernoff	October 19, 2000 (2000-10-19)	4300047	5.4
While Piper worries that Leo will never return, Prue and Phoebe try to save a little girl named Kate and a Fairy Princess named Thistle from evil trolls who lurk in the "tweens" and want to capture the princess. When Prue and Phoebe need Piper's help, her concern with Leo causes a spell to backfire, placing Kate in more danger. Meanwhile, Cole, who appears in his demonic form Belthazor, tries to steal the Book of Shadows.
48	4	"All Halliwell's Eve"	Anson Williams	Sheryl J. Anderson	October 26, 2000 (2000-10-26)	4300048	6.5
On Halloween, a local coven leader from the 1600s named Eva (Clare Carey), summons the sisters back in time to save a witch named Charlotte (Sadie Stratton) and her soon-to-be born child from an evil witch named Ruth Cobb (Judy Geeson), who wants to raise the child evil. It is later revealed that the child in the womb is the sisters' ancestor Melinda Warren and Cole travels back in time to capture her at birth. Meanwhile, back in the present time, Leo and Darryl try to fight off two Grimlocks who were vanquished by the Charmed Ones once before, but were brought back by the power of Halloween. Special Musical Guest: Snake River Conspiracy
49	5	"Sight Unseen"	Perry Lang	William Schmidt	November 2, 2000 (2000-11-02)	4300049	5.7
Prue becomes obsessed with learning more about The Triad, and thinks that they are launching an attack when the manor is burglarized with her personal items missing. Piper cannot concentrate whenever she is with Leo in a romantic setting because she fears that The Elders are always watching them. Meanwhile, Cole discovers that a demon named Troxa is trying to kill the sisters. Special Musical Guest: Marvelous 3
50	6	"Primrose Empath"	Mel Damski	Daniel Cerone	November 9, 2000 (2000-11-09)	4300051	6.1
Unwittingly following the signs laid out by Cole, Prue comes into contact with a seemingly innocent shut-in, Vinceres, who refuses to leave his apartment that is about to be demolished. The man is faced with unendurable pain caused by his ability of feeling all of the emotions of the city. After learning the man is an Empath, she casts a spell to relieve him of his power, but it is transferred to her. Prue is later told he is a demon given this power to serve as a curse, causing him the inability to prey on witches or innocents. She nearly goes insane from bearing this gift that she was not meant to have. But Prue eventually overcomes it, intensifying the pain Vinceres felt by finally astral-projecting into his body and destroying him. Special Musical Guest: Idol
51	7	"Power Outage"	Craig Zisk	Monica Breen & Alison Schapker	November 16, 2000 (2000-11-16)	4300050	5.7
In an attempt to destroy the Charmed Ones, Cole enlists the help of Andras, a demon who magnifies anger into rage. Meanwhile, when the sisters lose their magic after using their powers against each other, they are left defenseless against attacks from The Triad and Belthazor. Special Musical Guest: Fastball
52	8	"Sleuthing with the Enemy"	Noel Nosseck	Peter Hume	December 14, 2000 (2000-12-14)	4300052	5.5
When the sisters discover that Cole is Belthazor, Phoebe must make one of the toughest decisions of her life: either vanquish her boyfriend or keep one of the most dangerous demons known to exist alive.
53	9	"Coyote Piper"	Chris Long	Krista Vernoff	January 11, 2001 (2001-01-11)	4300053	5.1
Prue and Phoebe have their hands full when Piper is possessed by the evil spirit named Terra, on the day of her high school reunion.
54	10	"We All Scream for Ice Cream"	Allan Kroeker	Chris Levinson & Zack Estrin	January 18, 2001 (2001-01-18)	4300054	5.4
The sisters trace a mysterious ice-cream van operator who abducts children, but the evil may not be who they initially suspect. Meanwhile, the girls' dad Victor comes for a visit.
55	11	"Blinded by the Whitelighter"	David Straiton	Nell Scovell	January 25, 2001 (2001-01-25)	4300055	5.4
The sisters must stop a warlock from executing his plan to steal specific powers from witches in his attempt to kill every Whitelighter in the world. Special Musical Guest: Box
56	12	"Wrestling with Demons"	Joel J. Feigenbaum	Sheryl J. Anderson	February 1, 2001 (2001-02-01)	4300056	5.9
Prue discovers that her former college boyfriend is being led down the path to becoming a demon, and the sisters must risk their lives in an underworld wrestling ring to save his soul.
57	13	"Bride and Gloom"	Chris Long	William Schmidt	February 8, 2001 (2001-02-08)	4300057	5.4
When a shapeshifting warlock tricks Prue into a shot-gun wedding in order to steal the Book of Shadows, Phoebe and Piper are lured to the dark side and begin to enjoy their new evil powers.
58	14	"The Good, the Bad and the Cursed"	Shannen Doherty	Monica Breen & Alison Schapker	February 15, 2001 (2001-02-15)	4300058	5.1
Phoebe feels the pain of an injured Native American named Bo trapped in a time loop of a deserted town she visits. Prue and Cole enter the time loop that is stuck in the mid-1800s to save Bo, and Phoebe, from death at the hands of a local thug, and break the time loop.
59	15	"Just Harried"	Mel Damski	Daniel Cerone	February 22, 2001 (2001-02-22)	4300059	5.8
On the day of Piper and Leo's wedding, Prue's astrally-projected self adopts an uninhibited, wild personality that threatens to ruin the wedding and place her in jail for murder.
60	16	"Death Takes a Halliwell"	Jon Pare	Krista Vernoff	March 15, 2001 (2001-03-15)	4300060	5.4
Prue, growing weary of her battles to save innocents and in fighting off the Angel of Death, is forced to turn her back on a dying soul, and must come to grips with her feelings towards fate and the death of her mother.
61	17	"Pre-Witched"	David Straiton	Chris Levinson & Zack Estrin	March 22, 2001 (2001-03-22)	4300061	5.1
While the sisters must deal with the possibility of being separated as Piper and Leo plan to move out on their own, they recall a time before they knew they were the Charmed Ones, when the girls were coming to grips with the death of Grams and Phoebe's departure to New York.
62	18	"Sin Francisco"	Joel J. Feigenbaum	Nell Scovell	April 19, 2001 (2001-04-19)	4300062	4.0
A demon named Lucas wielding the Seven Deadly Sins uses his powers against The Charmed Ones. Phoebe becomes infected with lust, Prue with pride), Piper with gluttony, and Leo with sloth. It is revealed that those infected with one of the sins may self-destruct due to the nature of the infection. Special Musical Guest: Orgy
63	19	"The Demon Who Came in from the Cold"	Anson Williams	Sheryl J. Anderson	April 26, 2001 (2001-04-26)	4300063	3.6
Cole poses as Belthazor to infiltrate an internet organization run by evil, that plans on controlling the world's information flow on the internet. Meanwhile, the sisters must vanquish the warlock posing as the company's manager without exposing Cole's role in the situation.
64	20	"Exit Strategy"	Joel J. Feigenbaum	Peter Hume & Daniel Cerone	May 3, 2001 (2001-05-03)	4300064	4.1
The evil Brotherhood plots to sabotage Cole's relationship with Phoebe in an attempt to turn him back to evil. Meanwhile, Piper develops a new power, the ability to accelerate the molecules in an object.
65	21	"Look Who's Barking"	John Behring	Teleplay by: Curtis Kheel & Monica Breen & Alison Schapker Story by: Curtis Kheel	May 10, 2001 (2001-05-10)	4300065	4.7
Phoebe has a premonition of a young woman being killed by a demon in a phone booth whilst adding on to the Belthazor section of the Book of Shadows, thus causing her to think Cole is responsible. However, the sisters realize that this murder does not follow Cole's pattern. Piper learns that it is actually the demon on the reverse page that's responsible; a Banshee. The sisters then cast a spell to track down the banshee which turns Prue into a dog, but Prue gets hit by a car. The driver takes her home to care for her, thus taking her out of the action. When the banshee attacks the Halliwell manor she surprises Phoebe in the attic and, sensing her immense pain, which is what the banshee feeds on, over Cole's betrayal, screams at her. It is later discovered that although this scream would kill mortals, it has a very different effect on witches: it turns them into a banshee too. Piper blows the Banshee up but it is too late, Phoebe has already turned into a banshee. Leo warns Piper that if Phoebe kills, she will stay a banshee forever.
66	22	"All Hell Breaks Loose"	Shannen Doherty	Brad Kern	May 17, 2001 (2001-05-17)	4300066	5.3
At the beginning of the episode, Prue and Piper bring a doctor to the manor, to protect him from a powerful demonic assassin named Shax, who was sent by The Source. When Shax breaks into the manor, he throws Prue and Piper through a wall, causing them to almost die, until Leo arrives with enough time to heal them. Phoebe uses a vanquishing spell on Shax but it does not kill him. While searching for Shax out in the streets, Prue and Piper are caught on live television using their powers, thus exposing themselves as witches. Phoebe goes to the Underworld to find Cole and while there, they are forced to strike a deal with Tempus to travel back in time to before it was revealed that magic existed. They travel back successfully but Phoebe, Cole, and Leo are now trapped in the Underworld, leaving Prue and Piper lying unconscious on the floor from when Shax blasted them in his initial attack.

Reception

In 2016, Gavin Hetherington of SpoilerTV ran a series of Charmed articles in the run-up to the 10th anniversary of the series finale. The third was a complete season review of season three, in which Gavin comments that the season was the most iconic in the show's history. He wrote it was due in part to Doherty's departure at the end of the season, but said that "this season continued the upward trend of rising quality that began with the season before", saying season 2 was better than season 1, and season 3 is better than season 2. He concluded that there is "no denying how iconic this season is".

External links

• Charmed at IMDb
• List of Charmed season 3 episodes at TV.com
• Charmed at epguides.com