Witch Trial (Charmed episode)

"Witch Trial (Charmed episode)"

Witch Trial is an episode of The WB drama series, Charmed.

Synopsis

On their anniversary of becoming witches, the Charmed Ones face a bizarre demon named Abraxas who pulls the Book of Shadows into another dimension and begins reversing each spell, causing vanquished demons to return and slowly erase the sisters' powers. In addition, Prue's guilt over Andy's tragic death leaves her weak and reluctant to save their powers. Eventually, the sisters converge on the most powerful night known to witches, the same night they became witches, and join the power of three to create the power of one, recapturing the Book of Shadows and banishing the demon in a puff of smoke. Continuing their teamwork, Prue and Phoebe refinance the house to financially support Piper's dream of starting a new night club.

Book of Shadows

Enemies

• Abraxas: A demon of the astral plane which destroys witches by demonizing their powers. He read the Book of Shadows backwards, undoing the spells, but if he had been allowed to read the entire Book, he would've revoked the girls' powers.
• Nicholas: A low-level warlock who kidnapped the Charmed One's mother when she was pregnant with Phoebe. He was able to convince her to give him immunity from the Charmed Ones' powers in exchange for Patty's and her daughter's lives. Soon after, Patty bound her daughters' powers as a temporary way of stalling time before he could steal their powers. Discovering this, Nicholas magically aged himself and posed as a would-be suitor for Grams. Each year, he would appear on the same day with a vase of flowers for her at exactly twelve noon. In the middle of the clock's gong, he would drop the flowers to see if one of the Charmed Ones would freeze it before the vase broke. When this finally happened, he realized that the Charmed Ones had their powers and tried to take them. He was eventually killed via a spell from the Book of Shadows.
• The Woogyman: Originally thought of by the sisters as a story Grams told to help Phoebe sleep better when she was 5 years old, the Woogyman is in fact a shadow demon that is released during earthquakes. He resides, after such an earthquake, in the Halliwell's basement, a place known to be a powerful nexus between the five spiritual elements. The nexus is a place that can be made either good or evil, and so the Woogyman wants to control it. It received its name because Phoebe thought it was a Boogie Man but, as a child, couldn't say the name properly. Hence, it was known as The Woogyman.
• Jeremy: A low-level warlock who would romance female witches to get their powers and kill them. He was after the Charmed Ones' powers and knew that they would be released after Grams died. He started dating Piper Halliwell so he could keep an eye on the sisters. Once Grams died and Phoebe returned, he made his move and was vanquished by the Halliwell Sisters.

Spells

• Dominus Trinus: Hear now the words of the witches, the secrets we hid in the night. The oldest of Gods are invoked here. The great work of Magic is sought. In this night and in this hour, I call upon the Ancient Power. Bring your powers to we sisters three. We want the power. Give us the power.
• Nicholas Must Die Spell: Must possess a pouch of lavendar, mimosa and thistle. Throw its contents on the victim and say the words: Lavendar, mimosa, holy thistle. Cleanse this evil from our midst. Scatter his cells throughout time. Let this Nick no more exist.
• To Banish The Woogyman: I am light. I’m one too strong to fight. Return to dark where shadows dwell. You cannot have this Halliwell. So go away and leave my sight, and take with you this endless night.
• Power of Three Spell: repeat this line until the demon is destroyed: The Power of Three will set us free.

Episode Stars

• Shannen Doherty as Prue Halliwell
• Holly Marie Combs as Piper Halliwell
• Alyssa Milano as Phoebe Halliwell
• Greg Vaughan as Dan Gordon
• Dorian Gregory as Darryl Morris
• Karis Paige Bryant as Jenny Gordon

Co-Stars

• Greg Cromer as Rob
• Janet Wood as Mrs. Milton
• Rick Cramer as Nicholas
• Jesse Goins as Doctor
• Walter Phelan as Abraxas
• Matt Entriken as Assistant
• Eric Scott Woods as Jeremy (Uncredited)

Featuring

• Mark Nearing as Paramedic

Trivia

• This is the first episode to show the girls demonstrating any interest in the actual faith of Wicca, outside of using their Book of Shadows.
• When Piper goes to look at the future site of her club, it is shown to be sold through SWA Properties, which is the same company Phoebe worked for in the episode From Fear to Eternity.
• Though Abraxas undid all of the spells the Charmed Ones used to vanquish past evil beings, only three were shown: Jeremy, Nicholas and The Woogyman.
• Abraxas can levitate the Book of Shadows to him, while in other episodes, the book will escape from the evil by its own.
• Prue vanquishes Nick without the use of the material components of the Nicholas Must Die spell: lavender, mimosa and holy thistle.
• This is the first appearance of Grams as a ghost in the present day.
• This is the first episode that Charmed had with this timeslot, Thursdays @ 9pm.
• Prue puts new wheels and an alarm system on her old car and also gets a new car, a black 1999 Mazda Miata.
• Piper gets a new car, a forest green 1998 Jeep Cherokee.
• In this episode, when confronted by the Woogyman, Phoebe forgets the spell to vanquish it, and in the first episode that it appeared, it is stated that she has never forgotten it since childhood and she remembered the spell in "Scry Hard".
• This is the first time that Piper sees the Book of Shadows flipping its pages on its own.
• This is the first episode we see Phoebe tanned.
• This is the first time that P3 exists. However if you look closer on the bar table, it's the same table used in Quake. And it disappears again at the series finale of this show, unexplained. Many fans assumed it's changed into Piper's own restaurant.
• This is the first time the sisters meet Dan and Jenny.
• This is the first episode to star Greg Vaughn who made a guest appearance on Sabrina the Teenage Witch, another supernatural series.

International titles

• French: Célébration (Celebration)
• German: Abraxas
• Mexican Spanish: Recuperando El Libro
• Spanish: Caza de brujas