All Hell Breaks Loose (Charmed)

Prue, Piper and Phoebe rush into the manor with Dr. Griffiths (

The manor is then swarmed by helicopters, police officers, protesters, and news reporters. When Prue turns on the television, she finds Dr. Griffiths on the news telling reporters everything that happened when they first saved him. Prue and Piper then call Leo for help, and Leo tells them that they need to contact the demon Tempus to reverse time. Piper says that they vanquished Tempus, but Leo tells her that he was never vanquished and was just defeated. In the middle of their conversation, a crazed Wiccan fanatic named Alice (Marianna Elliott) breaks into the manor, telling Prue and Piper that she wants to join their coven; however, Prue throws her out of the manor. Leo then goes to The Underworld to tell Cole and Phoebe what has happened above ground and asks Cole if he can get Tempus to reverse time. When Cole tells Leo that he cannot summon Tempus, Phoebe says that he should ask The Source (Michael Bailey Smith), since the demonic side of magic has been exposed too. The Source then tells Cole that if Tempus was to reverse time, it would destroy him, but The Source says that he will do it if Phoebe agrees to join the dark side because it is the only way to save one of her sisters from dying.^[2]

Back at the manor, Prue and Piper barricade the doors, and Prue confesses to Piper that she is scared. When Prue tells Piper about what could happen, she hears a gunshot. When she looks down at Piper, she sees that Piper has been shot from a rifle used by the crazed Wiccan fanatic Alice. Prue then rushes to her car with Piper in her arms and cries out for Leo. She realizes that she has to drive to the hospital because Leo is in The Underworld and he cannot hear her calling. When several people block the driveway, Prue telekinetically sends them flying through the air. When she arrives at the hospital, Dr. Griffiths and his team race to save Piper's life. Despite all their efforts, Piper dies and a grief-stricken Prue orders all of the doctors to get out of the room. In The Underworld, Cole comes back from seeing The Source and tells Leo and Phoebe about the proposal because it is the only way to save one of her sisters. Back at the hospital, the SWAT team arrive, and Prue still furious about losing Piper, uses her powers and fighting skills against them, and locks herself in the room, just as Leo orbs in to see his wife has died. He then orbs back to The Underworld to confirm that Piper was the sister that died, and Phoebe agrees to stay in The Underworld to save Piper's life. Cole then tells The Source, but when he leaves, The Source tells his hit-man to kill Phoebe and detain Cole. Just as the SWAT team is about to shoot Prue, time is reversed to the sisters' first encounter with Shax at the manor. With Phoebe trapped in The Underworld, Shax is able to kill Dr. Griffiths by sending him through a window, and Prue and Piper are left for dead.^[2]

Production

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Reception

Ratings

The episode achieved 5.3 million viewers upon its original broadcast on May 17, 2001.^[3]

Critical response

In 2014, Gavin Hetherington of SpoilerTV reviewed the episode as part of a Throwback Thursday special on the site on October 30. Hetherington looked back at the season three finale fondly, calling it a "season finale done right" and commented that "[t]he third season finale of Charmed had everything in it, brimming with excitement and destruction, spelling the end of one of television's most influential witches."^[4] Of Prue's death, he said it was "one of the best in television history". He ended the review by saying the episode "was incredible, from start to finish".

References