User Reviews

I really love this episode. I love that they take a really common, normal thing, like being sick, and show us how magical people would react in those situations.

In this episode, Piper opens a kiwano fruit which she had smuggled in, when a sand fly escapes and infects her with a tropical fever virus, which sends her to the hospital. When her sisters realize that medicine isn't going to help her, they decide to use magic, even though the golden rule of witchcraft is to never use it for personal gain. After Piper is healed by a spell, others are being infected, which leads to the sisters being forced into quarantine whilst the doctors try to find a vaccine. To save the other people, the sisters decide to reverse the spell, which puts Piper into a coma. The only other option is for Prue and Phoebe to call Leo and ask him to save her.

Best part of the episode: When the sisters are in quarantine.

Worst part of the episode: The douchey doctor.

Overall, I give this episode a 9 out of 10, which in my ratings book is: Amazing.

This is a really unusual episode, mostly because there is absolutely no demon to fight in it. Actually, it is all about magic is powerless against real-life problems, which cannot be spelled away. This is an ongoing tenet of the show, actually. As a result, and because a lot of the episode takes place in hospital, its mood is rather more gloomy than usual. Phoebe's and Prue's fear and despair are pretty tangible.

Yet magic is still quite present. First, because the Charmed Ones are too stubborn not to try everything, even though it is clear that their Awakening spell is bound to backfire -symbolically enough, threatening the same boy Phoebe had saved earlier on. And then, because Leo is still (quite literally) waiting in the wings. The scene when he breaks a core rule to heal a dying Piper is really touching and beautiful, and I love that she recognises him before we can even see his face. While I empathise with poor, lovely Dan, I do not think he has any chance against a determined, human Leo. (On a side note, how could the Elders not think of that slight loophole!)

Finally, another thing that makes this episode interesting is how crucial it is for the characters on the long run. There is nothing to keep Piper and Leo apart anymore; Prue takes a life-altering decision (although this is hardly fair for Jack). And though this is only mentioned briefly, Phoebe's enrollment at university will be very meaningful for her development. Finally, the sisters' rather careless use of magic at the hospital will have dire long-term consequences, as the doctor will not forget it so easily.

When Piper falls deadly ill, her sisters caste a spell to take it from her unknowing bringing a poppet to live speeding the virus. This is my second favorite episode next to morality bites as the sisters learn the wrong thing done for the right reasons is still the wrong thing so they must choose between their sister or innocents harmed. In the end I was saddened Piper dies, relieved when Leo heals her and cheated since he can't heal the dead not should he be able to for a main character. I know Piper is a charmed one, but Paige is waiting in the wings and yet a whitelighter's girlfriend gets special attention.

Another aspect is the boy that Phoebe gets closed to only for him to fall sick. Being the baby sister she clicks with kids, wanting to make him feel better and let him know everything will be OK. While I do love this episode I feel like it should've came later on since as I mentioned above it has a powerful message and feels cheapened by the twist ending.

This is the best episode of Season 2 and one of the best episodes of the entire series, receiving my first 10 rating. This has all the stakes of Morality Bites without taking place in an unrealistic future that you might never have really immersed yourself in or the unrealistic set up. This has all the realism you'd want; the bad guy is a simple virus without a known cure, and there is no spell that will vanquish it.

In true Greek tragedy style, Piper has a hand in her own demise as she accepted fruit smuggled into the country. A small crime with no expected victim, it comes back to literally bite Piper when the bite of a fruit fly infects her with a deadly virus. She collapses in P3's and quickly deteriorates into a coma at the hospital. Fearing the consequences of casting a spell to save her, Prue and Phoebe first call for Leo, against Piper's wishes. This is the first time any of the sisters bring Leo by calling for him. He orbs in and explains that he is aware of the situation but there is nothing he can do. The Elders will not allow him to heal Piper. If Leo healed people stricken with disease, he'd be too busy to do anything else, but we all understand this is a Charmed One we are talking about here. At the time, it seemed non-sensical that the Elders would be OK with Piper dying, but now that we know Paige is still around, kind of a different story.

Anyway, with no other choice, Prue and Phoebe cast an awakened spell to bring Piper out of the coma. It instantly works, but at the same time awakens the disease in an animated ninja doll. Where before the disease wasn't transmitted between humans, it now is let loose in the form of the ninja doll that roams the halls of the hospital, spreading the deadly disease. WIth an outbreak now occurring at the hospital, the CDC is called in to deal with the situation. They put all 3 sisters in quarantine, and the doctor who treated Piper explains they will stay there until he figures out how Piper recovered. Six innocents at the hospital are now infected and likely to die unless an answer is found.

At this point, the sisters have little choice but to reverse the spell they cast before more people get infected. Piper immediately was stricken with the disease again and quickly devolved to cardiac arrest with her poor sisters and Dan looking on. All hope seems lost when Piper flatlines and her soul lifts from her body.

However, as Piper floats towards a doorway of brilliant light, a man comes walking towards her. It is Leo, who the Elders will not stop from healing her after all, or can not stop if they don't know it is happening. Leo heals Piper who returns to her body and immediately calls out Leo's name upon awakening. The medical staff is in total disbelief at what they just saw, even though people do return from flatlining every great once in a while.

Piper's decline into the coma before the spell and then even more so her quick deterioration after they reverse it is both tense and horrifying. The acting by the sisters is spectacular, and it is truly harrowing to see Piper possibly die of a disease right before our eyes. Piper being saved from death by Leo may have been predictable but is done beautifully with him literally walking out of the light to save her.

I thought Doctor Williamson was fabulously played, and through him we see the gravity of the situation at the hospital as things spiral out of control. I actually feel sorry for Dan here as he goes through a rollercoaster ride, witnessing Piper's apparent death, only to have her awake and call for Leo. OUCH.

And if that wasn't all great enough, the episode finishes with one of my favorite Charmed scenes of all time when Leo returns to P3 and talks with Piper. He explains that he lost his powers as a consequence of saving her. When Piper explains that she is with Dan, Leo pulls the ultimate boss move of saying, "Now that I'm mortal, I'm going to fight for you. May the best man win." Which means, bye Dan.

This episode also has huge consequences for the other sisters as Phoebe decides to go back to college, and Prue quits both the auction house and Jack in a well-written set up. Again, Jack was an entertaining character, and well played, but he never made a lot of sense as a boyfriend for Prue. Jack and the auction house were willing to pass a copy of a Monet painting as an original, even after Prue confirmed that it was not. That made her a fraud as well if she went along with it, and she refused. Lesson learned for everyone.

I would be remiss to not wonder why reversing the spell, which de-animated the doll, stopping the spread, why that would also I guess heal the other infected patients at the hospital. I can only assume that is what happened since it is never mentioned again. That doesn't seem logical. Maybe Leo healed them all too, whether that was fair or not. Consider how dark the episode would have been if even some of those poor people would have died.