When Bad Warlocks Turn Good
Brendan Rowe talks with Father Austin and fears that he is a fraud. He comes from generations of warlocks and wants to change, but feels weak. The priest tries to reassure him. His brothers, warlocks named Greg and Paul, confront him in the church; they want him to join them.
Piper, Prue and Phoebe are unloading food from a Quake] van for a benefit the church is holding. Phoebe grabs a pen that Brendan had, and has a vision of him being attacked by warlocks in the church. The sisters split up to find him.
Greg and Paul tell Brendan that he must join them to fulfil the destiny of the Rowe Coven. Brendan refuses. Greg morphs into a demonic form and knocks Brendan across the room. Greg grabs Brendan and tells him he can't run away from his destiny. Just then, Prue arrives and flings Greg into a table. Greg gets up and runs out, with Paul close behind. She offers to help Brendan, but he flees.
In a loft Greg and Paul share, Paul is admiring his pet chameleon, but Greg is obsessed with turning Brendan evil. Greg is fed up with the chameleon and is about to flip the cage over. Paul raises his hand and a force field surrounds the cage. Greg calms down, and Paul drops the force field. Paul wants to let Brendan go, but Greg insists on turning him and is even willing to kill him if he won't turn. Brendan is to be ordained as a priest within two days; once this is done, he will never be a warlock.
Josh calls the manor. Piper tries to stall, but Phoebe won't go along. Josh wants to take Piper out on Friday night, but Piper awkwardly declines. They then talk about Brendan. Prue wants to try to find him; she sensed that he wouldn't be scared about her being a witch.
Prue talks to Father Austin and warns him of Greg and Paul. Father Austin had expected them to come sooner or later, but is reticent with further details. He does, however, tell Prue where he can find Brendan.
Phoebe plays matchmaker between Piper and Josh. Piper finally agrees to go out with him, and Phoebe agrees to cover for her at Quake.
Prue finds Brendan at a ranch, and overhears him telling a girl he can't kill a spider he found on her. She asks who attacked him, and he initially isn't willing to talk about it. She goes horseback riding with him, and gets him to open up more; now he says it doesn't matter, as tomorrow he will be a priest and safe from them.
At the church, Brendan is standing over a badly injured Father Austin. He shows a demonic face. Prue walks in and he resumes his human face and flees. Prue catches up with him and flings him to the ground. Brendan insists that his brothers hurt Father Austin, and it was rage over what happened that turned him into a warlock. Unlike earlier, he begs for Prue's help. Prue is sceptical; there's no such thing as a good warlock. Father Austin is rushed to the hospital and a nun identifies Brendan to Andy and Darryl. Andy takes it very personally; Father Austin has been his priest since he was a boy.
Piper goes rock climbing with Josh. She takes a fall, and Josh catches her. They exchange "the look" and Piper starts to panic. She freezes the scene and calls Phoebe. The sink is overflowing in the Quake kitchen and when Piper realizes the emergency, she unfreezes the scene, makes an excuse to Josh about the phone and leaves for Quake.
Back at Quake, Piper tells Phoebe she should have called her. She also admits she's afraid that Josh will turn out to be either a ghost, a warlock or will live too far away for their relationship to work but thanks Phoebe for trying to set her up with someone.
Brendan tells Prue that he comes from a long line of powerful warlocks. However, he is only half warlock; his mother is human. His brothers want him to join them so they can create the most powerful evil force that the world has ever known, an evil counterpart to the Charmed Ones. However, he wants no part of it, and has been fighting his evil side all of his life. He has been on the run for many years to keep Greg and Paul from finding him. He wants to become a priest not only to completely suppress his warlock side, but to make up for all the evil his family has done over the centuries. He tells Prue that he is going to end it by killing Greg and Paul but that she and her sisters may have to kill him as well.
That night, Brendan confronts his brothers. Greg seems to be overjoyed that Brendan is willing to kill him and Paul. Brendan shoves Greg into another room. Suddenly, Greg gestures, lighting several candles and revealing a young woman spread on an altar. Greg and Paul urge Brendan to stab her, but the sisters arrive and free her. Before they can go after Greg and Paul, Paul repels them with a stream of electricity. Paul yells to Greg that they need Brendan on their side to defeat the sisters. Greg and Paul escape, while the sisters take Brendan home with them. Andy talks to the young woman and she gives the names of Brendan and Prue.
Prue shelters Brendan at the manor. He admits that he almost gave in to evil and is again unsure of himself. Prue believes in him, saying that she knows his good side is stronger. Her sisters, however, aren't as sure. However, Prue reminds them that both of them had encounters with evil and successfully fought them off (Piper with the Wendigo and Phoebe with the Woogyman). Andy shows up and demands to know where Brendan is. The sisters give no answers. Andy tells them that Father Austin is in critical condition. If Father Austin dies, Andy warns, he won't be able to look the other way if Prue is involved.
In Brendan's cell at the rectory, Greg and Paul chant, giving Brendan disturbed sleep and stirring up his warlock side. He joins them in the chant, then gets up and smashes a spider in a web. The next morning, Brendan returns to his cell and offers to join his brothers. Paul says that he needs merely to kill a mortal in order to be fully initiated as a warlock. However, Greg thinks that isn't enough, and demands that Brendan prove himself by sacrificing Prue and taking her powers.
The next morning, Prue and Piper find Brendan missing. Phoebe joins them and tells them that Rowe warlocks have been around since the tenth century, and no one has been able to figure out how to vanquish them. She also says that what she's read in the Book of Shadows, they won't have stand a chance if Greg and Paul have managed to turn Brendan. Prue meets Brendan at the rectory, and he pulls a knife out of the door. He says that his brothers cast a spell on him to make him see her as just another mortal. Just as Brendan goes after Prue, she flings him into a closet, and he assumes his demon face. Piper and Phoebe join them and Prue talks Brendan out of giving in to evil. He resumes his human face, and doesn't appear to remember anything.
Brendan and the sisters head downstairs, with Brendan in his vestments. Greg and Paul are waiting for them. Piper tries to freeze Paul, but he raises a force field around him. Phoebe throws Brendan's knife at Greg, but he raises a force field around him as well. Prue tries to fling them into the wall, but they still have their force fields up. Greg grabs the knife and is ready to throw it at Brendan, but Paul talks him into offering Brendan one more chance to turn. Brendan refuses. Enraged that Brendan has chosen good over evil, Greg throws the knife, but Paul jumps in front of it, proving his affection for his younger brother. Mortally wounded, Paul uses his last ounce of strength to throw the knife back at Greg, killing him as well. Brendan proceeds to his ordination.
Father Austin has identified Greg and Paul as his attackers; Brendan and Prue are off the hook. The sisters are together at Quake when Josh appears; it was Piper who called him and they seek another table.
Tropes
- Big Brother Instinct: Averted by Greg, the eldest brother, who doesn't appear to care about either of his younger brothers beyond needing them to complete the Rowe Coven. Paul, however, doesn't want to hurt Brendan even when he refuses to join them, and ends up Taking the Bullet for him and taking out Greg in a Mutual Kill.
- Christianity is Catholic: Brendan is becoming a priest so that he'll no longer be in danger of turning into a warlock, but he'll have to give up any chance of romance (i.e. with Prue). The fact that it's only Catholic priests who are forbidden from romantic relationships and he could have chosen to get himself ordained in a Protestant denomination if he had wanted to leave that possibility open doesn't even come up.
- Early-Installment Weirdness: This is the only episode where warlocks are shown having a Game Face. Could possibly be hand waved by the Rowes being a special case.
- Evil Counterpart: The Rowe Coven to the Charmed Ones. Prue and Phoebe even lampshade this.
- Half-Human Hybrid: Brendan's mother was human and his father was a warlock. His half-brothers had two warlock parents.
- Human Sacrifice: Greg and Paul kidnap a woman for Brendan to kill in a ritual sacrifice, but he doesn't go through with it.
- Innocuously Important Episode: This episode establishes that half-siblings can access the Power of Three just as well so long as they share the same magical parent. This becomes very important in Season 4.
- It's Personal: Father Austin gave Andy his first communion, which means he's extra determined to track down his attacker.
- Manchild: Paul, who loves his pet lizard.
- Sexy Priest: Brendan, though technically he's only about to become a priest. Prue is pretty glum about it.
- Shirtless Scene: Brendan gets one.
- Spear Counterpart: Each of the three Rowe brothers is written as a parallel to the Halliwell sister of the matching birth order.
- Oldest brother Greg, like Prue, is the most focused on their magical destiny, but where Prue genuinely loves her sisters and will do anything to protect them, Greg has no feelings for his brothers beyond needing them to achieve their full power.
- Middle brother Paul, like Piper, often finds himself mediating between their other two and is more sympathetic to his youngest sibling's struggles, but where Piper is usually the most grounded and mature of the sisters, Paul is in many ways an overgrown child.
- Youngest child Brenden, like Phoebe, struggles the most with the choice between good and evil. Both ultimately choose good, but where Phoebe choosing good means reaffirming her bond with her sisters, Brenden choosing good means completely rejecting his bond with his brothers.
- Brenden is also a retroactive counterpart to Paige. Both were raised separately from the rest of their siblings because they had a different opposite-sex parent, but where Paige embraces her magical heritage and integrates into her birth family, Brenden completely rejects his magical heritage and corresponding relatives.
- Suddenly Always Knew That: Turns out Prue is a fairly accomplished horsewoman.
