Awesome / Charmed (1998)

"The Power of Three will set us free, The Power of Three will set us free, The Power of Three will set us free"

Awesome moments in Charmed (1998).

• The pilot does a great job of setting up the sisters as Genre Savvy and quick learners.
  • Prue telling Piper and Phoebe to run while she holds off Jeremy by herself. Notably, she fends him off using the powers she only just received, demonstrating an early competence with her telekinesis.
  • Phoebe receives her first premonition. Seeing a pair of skaters will be run down by a passing car, Phoebe, riding a bike, cycles into the path of the car to save the skaters.
  • Piper is able to get the extra time she needs to finish the recipe and get her dream job as a chef.
  • The sisters' vanquish of Jeremy, their very first. They initially try to barricade themselves in the attic but Jeremy simply moves their barricade out of the way. He summons a circle of fire and then a tornado to surround them. Together they chant the Power of Three spell and destroy him.
• In "Is There a Woogy in the House?", a demon trapped inside the spiritual Nexus under the house is freed when an earthquake cracks the foundations. Phoebe, who was born in the house and also witnessed Grams trap the demon as a child but did not realise what exactly it was she saw, is still terrified of it. These also make her the most susceptible to the so-called Woogyman, turning her evil. At her sisters urging, Phoebe regains control, fighting through her fear, and banishes the Woogyman once more. The spell to banish the Woogyman also manages to be pretty cool too.
  I am light
  I am one too strong to fight
  Return to dark where shadows dwell
  You can not have this Halliwell!
  So go away and leave my sight
  and take with you
  this endless night
• The sisters end up in a courtroom full of demons. Blindsided, they barricaded themselves in a office with fireballs being thrown at the door. They've never been in a proper battle up to this point. Then they decide they're tired of always being on the defensive and take a level in badass.
• In "Murphy's Luck", when, with encouragement from Piper and Phoebe, Prue breaks free from the spirit killer's influence she sent him flying away from her.
  Prue: You bastard! How dare you hurt people this way!
• The creators tried to give everyone their fair share, but some that stand out are:
  • "Primrose Empath" sees Prue cursed with Empathy when helping a demon posing as an innocent. Initially seeing the power as a gift, the power, which Prue was never meant to have, begins to overwhelm her. That is until she remembers that powers come from emotions and she can channel other people's feelings into her powers, as well as her own, making her far more powerful that she normally is. She then uses that power take on the Nigh-Invulnerable, super-strong demon who tricked her into freeing him from that power. Channelling all of the city's emotions into her power allows Prue to amplify her telekinesis, able to enhance her agility, strength and speed, as well as power her astral projection to maintain two conscious astral bodies.
  • In "Baby's First Demon," after Piper arrives at the demonic marketplace to find the ones that put a price on Wyatt.
    Demon Guard: Who are you?
    Piper: I'm the mother. (boom)
    • Her resulting rampage in the marketplace was so extreme that the underworld started dealing with threats to Wyatt themselves just because they were so afraid of pissing her off again.
  • Leo at the end of Season 6, when Chris is killed. The closest thing the show has to a pacifist launches into a Roaring Rampage of Revenge, culminating in pumping the evil Elder who killed him full of frickin' lightning bolts. And before this time, Leo had only been used as The Medic and a quick-and-easy mode of transportation. Took a Level in Badass, indeed.
    • It's worth noting that Leo's killing of Gideon is cold-blooded MURDER, since he was both neutralized and not fighting back. While Leo actually uses Gideon's death to restore the balance of good and evil in the world, Leo's killing of Gideon is explicitly referred to as an act of great evil. And he KNOWINGLY does this, because even though Wyatt is safe for now, both the world and his family are still in danger, Chris is dead and Leo has been pushed too far.
  • Phoebe gets one in "Witch Wars" when, not long after being stripped of her active powers by the Cleaners, she absorbs demonic powers and proceeds to not only vanquish the demon of the week, but teleports to a bar filled with demons and goes on a demon-killing spree all by herself.
    • What about the episode before? Phoebe disguises herself to infiltrate the villain of the week's lair and using only her wits and Waif-Fu helps save the day.
    • Not to forget that time in Season Four when Piper and Paige were both stripped of their powers and temporarily incapacitated by the Source; Phoebe's power was always considered the weakest, yet she levitates, propels herself by twirling mid-air and kicks the Source in the stomach, knocking him down to the floor long enough to set a crystal trap. Everyone throughout the series kept trying to blast him from a range, yet she went down and engaged in physical combat with the freaking Source of All Evil! It takes guts, girl!
• Cole killing the Triad in his lonesome. Despite them being far more powerful, he kills them all in his lonesome, something never replicated by anybody without help in the series, ever. Watch
  • The best part? He was injured and bleeding during it, so he was not 100%. He still kicked ass.
• At one point in the series, Leo grabs Chris mid-orb, yanks him back into solidness, and bodyslams him. Probably not the best father-son moment they ever have, but also not something we ever see on the show again.
• The Charmed Ones' dads have their moments as well
  • Victor, the Charmed Ones' father, gets one as well. When Piper was about to give birth, the entire magical community being depowered at that time, two demons came into the house a took Piper hostage, with Phoebe and Paige unable to vanquish them since they had knife to Piper's throat and were standing too close to her. Despite being stabbed by one of them previously, he crawls down the stairs, grabs the demon who had the knife to his daughter's throat, and throws him over his head. He also elevated himself into a badass grandpa through this. In the season eight premiere an Elder, believing the Charmed Ones are dead, comes to Victor and tells him that they should take over raising Wyatt and Chris for their safety. Victor replies that they'll be taking the boys over his dead body. The Elder immediately backs down after hearing this.
  • Sam, the former Whitelighter of Patty, the Charmed Ones mother, later revealed to be Paige's father lets a demon possess him, and then electrocutes himself, killing them both. Through it he also gets his revenge on the demon for killing Patty and saves Prue from death.
• In "Once Upon a Time," in a moment that's a Tearjerker, Heartwarming and Awesome, after having had enough of the Elders jerking her and Leo around, and her literally screaming at the heavens to return him to her or else she will no longer perform her duties as a Charmed One, after a little girl almost lost her life due to her brief inactivity, she comes to the realization that innocents will always need her, and that she must continue to be a witch to protect them, even if she never sees Leo again. This act of selflessness is enough for The Elders to give Leo back to her, and allows them to continue with their engagement, while the Elders continue to observe and deliberate on their marriage!
• How does Piper deal with Red Riding Hood's big bad wolf in "Happily Ever After"? Even when the thing blindsides her and swallows both her and Penny, she uses her powers to blow him up from the inside.
• Billie pulls off a magnificent Batman Gambit in "Rewitched", luring the demon into the Manor so the sisters can vanquish him with the Power of Three - while still preserving their cover.
• Paige's mundane way of getting the press off their back in "Kill Billie Vol. 1" - inviting them into the house to see that there is nothing whatsoever happening. She even does so while the Book of Shadows is right behind her. She even manages to keep control of the situation when walking in on an argument between Piper and Leo. Refuge in Audacity at its finest.
• "That Old Black Magic" is notable in that it is a CMOA not for any of the regular cast, but for two mortals - Kyle Gwydion (though, granted, he was the Chosen One), who singlehandedly defeated an extremely powerful witch able to kick the ass of all the Charmed Ones combined, and Dan's sister Jenny, who inspired him to take up the fight. Kyle was there for just that single episode, and Jenny, despite nominally being a main cast member, only for four episodes in the entire series - still, were it not for them, the Charmed Ones would be no more.
  • If Magnificent Bastard ones count, the entire "Dream Sorcerer" episode is undoubtedly Whitaker Berman's CMOA. This is probably the only example in the entire series where by pure reason and science, with no magic whatsoever, an ordinary - in fact, a disabled! - mortal managed to access a power available to very few even in the magical world (even if for very evil purposes). So badass he was that the Charmed Ones presumably never even learnt he was just a mortal to begin with. Maybe there is a reason why The Masquerade is upheld by the evil as well as by the good...
• "Styx Feet Under" - Phoebe Halliwell, the only Charmed One to be stripped of her powers for her selfishness in misusing them, earns her redemption here. They discover she is next on Death's list, and the others want her to stay in Magic School until they deal with the demon. Phoebe walks back into the Manor, refuting Piper and Paige's insistence that they don't want her to reminder of what the Charmed Ones are all about.
  "Because this isn't just about me. Look, I don't want to die, but that doesn't mean I'm going to sit around and wait for an innocent to die either."
  • Phoebe likewise pulls a great Batman Gambit by trading Sirk's human soul for Paige's, and even vanquishing Sirk in the first place even when she'd lost both her sisters.
  • Even in Phoebe's premonition, praise has to go to Harriet; the premonition shows her attempting to fight Sirk off, doing whatever she can to protect herself and her child.
• Piper's Mama Bear tendencies saving the day in "Forget Me...Not". The Cleaners take Wyatt away rather unreasonably, since it's later shown they could easily erase everyone's memories without doing so, so Piper gets her sisters to expose their powers on live television, forcing the Cleaners into a confrontation. She then reminds them that they can't erase the Charmed Ones, because that would shift the balance of power to evil, going against their neutrality.
• Darryl gets two in "Charmed Again".
  • Inspector Cortez barges into the Manor, thinking the sisters themselves are responsible for Prue's death. He catches them talking to the spirits of Patty and Penny, and behaves like a Smug Snake about how they're going to be under constant surveillance. Darryl nonchalantly clocks him from behind, saying "I think you've been through enough today".
  • When Cortez gets back from the Underworld, he calls Darryl "a disgrace to that shield", thinking he's an accessory to covering up murders. Darryl, normally the picture of composure, pins him against the wall and lets him have it.
    "This isn't the first time I've risked my career for those girls. My life, my family. They're the best people I've ever met, they'll do more good than you'll ever know. And it cost them their sister!"