Siren's Song
Phoebe is having dreams of her relationship with Cole, right until the point where he gets vanquished and then she wakes up in horror.
The next morning, the Siren is seducing a man on a bed with her song. She tells him that his wife is almost there and then she can watch him die. As the wife comes into the room, the Siren kisses that man. He begins to turn gray as smoke rises off his lips. He falls back dead on the bed. The wife, Melissa, walks in, obviously in a trance. The sight of her dead husband snaps her back to herself. She tries to revive her husband, but to no avail. The Siren starts a fire in the room, telling her she was burned to death and the new widow should die that way as well. She smokes out.
Almost at the same time, Cole is still trying to talk Phoebe into getting back with him, but Phoebe is determined to go through with the divorce. Cole also tells Phoebe of some of the good deeds he's done, but she is still convinced that at bottom he's a demon. While they are talking, Cole sees the burning building and fades there and pulls Melissa out of the flames. Phoebe looks at the television and sees Cole walking out of the building with the unconscious woman.
Back at the manor, Paige is concentrating on making her potions. Piper is upset that her baby is making her burp orb-like bubbles, along with other tricks that it has been playing on her recently combined with nausea and breast pain. She's somewhat upset that Leo hasn't been paying attention. Piper and Paige go to the living room and find Leo watching news of Cole rescuing the woman. Paige isn't impressed, but Leo mentions the woman, Melissa, is a future Whitelighter. Piper tries to ask Leo about the tricks the baby is playing on her body. However, Leo has to hurry out to protect Melissa. Piper is upset that Leo doesn't understand what's happening to her. Paige wonders if a Darklighter is after Melissa, but Piper isn't so sure; Darklighters usually don't burn people to death.
Elise wants Phoebe to get an exclusive interview with Cole. Phoebe thinks it's too awkward, but reluctantly goes along.
The Siren runs into a man at a bar. She hums a song and starts to come on to him. Suddenly, she sees the footage of Cole saving Melissa and leaves in a huff.
At Phoebe’s office, Cole tells Phoebe that he feared he'd never see her again if he died in the fire; he is still very much in love with her. Phoebe, however, tells him that while he may be the toast of the city, she's scared to death of him because he has more powers than any demon she's ever faced. She thinks that despite her attempts to save him, the evil in him is simply too strong. Cole wants to prove that he's good. Phoebe tells him that as much as he wants to believe he's good, it's only a matter of time before he gives in to evil again. Cole walks out.
Paige has summoned a Darklighter and trapped him in a crystal cage, much to Piper's alarm. She found out that Melissa wasn't attacked by a Darklighter, but Paige still isn't buying it. The Darklighter gets out of the cage, and he conjures his crossbow. Piper tries to blast him, but only starts a small fireworks display over him. Paige orbs the crossbow into her hand and kills the Darklighter with it. Piper realizes the baby's pacifist tendencies are messing with her powers. She calls for Leo and he responds on her cell phone from the hospital. He's trying to get a window to heal Melissa. He hurries back to Melissa's room, much to Piper's frustration.
Just as Leo gets to Melissa's room, the Siren smokes in. She spots his wedding ring and sings to him. Piper hears the song as well. She and Paige orb to Melissa's room just as the Siren is kissing Leo. Paige cracks the Siren over the back with an IV stand. While she's distracted, Leo orbs Melissa out. Piper tries to blast her and covers her with flowers. The Siren flings Piper through a window. Paige throws a pole at the Siren and impales her. She then guides Piper into a dumpster.
Piper and Paige orb back home just as Leo is healing Melissa. Piper freezes the room so she can talk with Leo. While Leo wants to figure out what's going on with Piper's powers, Piper is upset that Leo hasn't been with her more. Paige walks in; she's found the Siren in the Book. She is a demonic seductress who was once a mortal woman. She was burned at the stake for adultery while the married man she seduced got off scot-free. The woman's rage consumed her humanity, and turned her into a demon who seduces married men—only to burn him on the inside and then set the woman afire. However, Piper and Leo are still arguing, unaware that orbing lights are coming out of their backs. Suddenly, they're knocked to the ground. The room unfreezes. Piper tries to freeze Melissa again and instead briefly orbs. A frightened Melissa runs for the door. Leo tries to reach out to her, and blows out the glass. Melissa runs out the door just as Phoebe comes in.
The Siren goes to a demonic healer to fix the wound in her stomach. When the healer finds out she faced the Charmed Ones, he's skeptical about her going after them again. However, the Siren thinks that even though they're powerful witches, they're just like ordinary women when love is involved.
Phoebe realizes the baby switched Piper and Leo's powers because they haven't been talking lately and won't switch them back until they understand how the other one feels. Piper is getting a headache from hearing the voices of Leo's charges in her head. Cole fades in and warns everyone about the Siren. Leo burps an orb-like bubble, and is feeling nauseous and sore in an area where breasts would be in a woman—apparently he's having Piper's pregnancy symptoms, though the baby is still in Piper's womb. Cole thinks Phoebe's powers might be off as well, and offers to help them hunt down the Siren. Phoebe declines, and Cole fades out. Phoebe starts to wonder if she's being too hard on Cole, but Paige isn't so sure. Piper senses Melissa is overwhelmed. Leo offers to go, but Phoebe tells him Piper has to since she's the Whitelighter. Piper and Paige orb out, while Phoebe and Leo stay behind to make the vanquishing potion.
Piper and Paige find Melissa, but she's still not willing to talk to them. Piper hears another charge in trouble, and orbs to her. The charge turns out to be in Paris, France and Piper, much to her surprise, is able to speak to her in French.
Leo is still trying to get a handle on Piper's powers, and wonders how Piper pulls it off every day. Piper orbs in with a rooster in hand, and wonders why Leo never told her he spoke French. Leo tells her that Whitelighters have the ability to speak whatever language their charges speak. Piper is surprised; Leo never told her this before. Leo wants help using Piper's powers, but Piper hears another charge in trouble and orbs out. Phoebe needs Leo's help to summon the Siren.
Cole has found the Siren's lair, and is roughing up the healer when the Siren starts singing to him. Cole drops the healer and comes over to kiss the Siren. However, the Siren wants to lure Phoebe as well.
Leo has written a spell to summon the Siren to the manor, but Phoebe doesn't like the first draft. Paige orbs in and says Melissa got herself arrested. Piper orbs in; she sensed Melissa was in trouble, but can't pick her out from all the signals she's getting. Phoebe hears the Siren's song; apparently her love for Cole is stronger than she's letting on. Paige doesn't think she's good at being a Whitelighter, but Piper thinks her Whitelighter half made her study social work in the first place. Leo and Piper convince Paige to go back to Melissa. Paige finally manages to gain Melissa's trust.
Phoebe disappeared without any warning, and Piper is finding it hard to sense her. Figuring Cole somehow has her, she orbs herself and Leo to Cole's apartment. However, the apartment is deserted. Leo suggests Piper try sensing her again.
The Siren is about to kill Cole when Phoebe arrives. The Siren throws Phoebe into a wall, but Phoebe recovers, pulls out the potion and throws it at the Siren. Suddenly, Cole disintegrates it, saying he wants to finish the Siren off himself and then starts kissing her.
Piper is still having no luck sensing Phoebe, and wonders how Leo does it every day. Leo tells Piper that her love is the only thing that keeps him sane amid all of his Whitelighter duties. Piper finally senses Phoebe, and she and Leo orb to the Siren's lair. They arrive to find Cole choking Phoebe. Leo blasts the Siren backwards. Piper tries to pull Cole off Phoebe, but he knocks her across the room. Leo tries to blast the Siren again, but misses. Cole chokes Phoebe into unconsciousness. Leo manages to blow up the Siren, and Cole lets go of Phoebe. Piper heals Phoebe. Cole can't believe what's happened, and fades out.
The next morning, Piper and Leo apologize to one another for thinking that the other didn’t understand what they were going through. They both realize that they have a lot on their plate, but that together they can accomplish it all. After this, the baby switches back their powers. Paige is glad she finally got in touch with her Whitelighter side.
The next morning, Cole sends Phoebe some flowers to apologize, and also comes to her office to personally apologize to her. He tells her that he never meant for that to happen. Phoebe knows that the Siren's magic made him do it, but thinks this only proves their relationship is too dangerous to continue. Cole leaves feeling defeated, but not giving up hope.
Tropes:
- Always Wanted to Say That: Paige appears to fix the Manor's front doors by saying "Abracadabra". When Piper asks if that's really the words to the spell Paige admits it isn't, she just always wanted to say that phrase.
- Asshole Victim: Subverted. Melissa's husband is introduced making out with the Siren, apparently cheating on her. But it's then revealed the Siren's power automatically seduces married men.
- Be Careful What You Wish For: Piper complained back in Season 4 that Paige was not taking her witch duties seriously. Now she's complaining about Paige stinking up the house with all her potions.
- Both Sides Have a Point: The point of the Piper/Leo subplot actually.
- Piper is going through wacky pregnancy symptoms for the first time, and her husband and father of the baby is frequently away or unable to talk. What's more is that he dismisses the hormones making her upset as "the crying thing" rather than attending his wife's emotional needs. She also has to juggle pregnancy with Charmed duties.
- Leo is also right in that he's not away for no good reason; he has hundreds of charges he has to see to, and he can't exactly schedule when people are going to need help (especially when good witches and future whitelighters often need help when their lives are in danger). Piper also has her sisters to help her, while he has to do everything alone.
- Destination Defenestration: The Siren shoves Piper out of a window after Leo Orbs away with Melissa. Paige is able to Orb after her and redirect them into a nearby dumpster.
- Did Not Think This Through: Cole decides to go after the Siren himself. The Siren whose Compelling Voice enthralls married men, which Cole still is (albeit technically).
- Double Standard Rape: Female on Male: Mild example. Piper chews Leo out for kissing the Siren, even though he was entirely under a spell at the time. Granted, she doesn't know that the Siren's spell does that to a husband yet.
- Eiffel Tower Effect: When Piper Orbs to France to help one of Leo's charges the Eiffel Tower is visible in the background.
- "Freaky Friday" Flip: A variation. Piper and Leo's abilities are flipped around - Piper becomes a whitelighter and Leo a Charmed One.
- Genre Savvy: Paige points out that Piper and Leo's powers aren't going to switch back until they've learned a lesson.Piper: I hate that. It's so very After School Special.
- Hellbent For Leather: The Siren's outfit is completely black leather.
- Internal Reveal: Cole learns that Piper is pregnant.
- Jack Bauer Interrogation Technique: Paige summons a darklighter into a crystal trap and tries to torture information out of him.
- Keep It Foreign: In the French dub, Piper's lines in French are spoken in Spanish instead, no matter how little sense it makes.
- Noodle Incident: Piper reappears from her whitelighter duties with a rooster under one arm. When listing all the other things she had to do, she never mentions where it came from.
- Omniglot: It turns out whitelighters are this - speaking whatever languages their charges do. Piper then becomes this when she receives Leo's powers.
- Our Sirens Are Different: The siren was a human who fell in love with a married man, and was burned to death by townspeople - coming back as a demon that seduces married men with a Compelling Voice and then kills the couple in a fire.
- Playing with Fire: The Siren is able to set fire to wherever she traps the husband and wife.
- Pre-Mortem One-Liner: Piper attempts this...only for the baby to stop her from killing the demon.
- Purple Prose: Phoebe laughs at Leo's attempt at a spell because it contains a lot of this."'We harken ye?' We're not trying to summon a leprechaun here."
- Red Herring: Melissa being a future whitelighter is entirely a coincidence - though it does lead to Paige mistakenly summoning a darklighter for interrogation.
- Refuge in Audacity: Cole sends Phoebe flowers saying "sorry I tried to strangle you" on the card. Phoebe notes that the florist probably doesn't see that one too often.
- The Reveal: Darklighters are apparently as vulnerable to their poison arrows and Whitelighters.
- Sadly Mythtaken: The Siren doesn't really match mythology, aside from having a hypnotic voice.
- Shirtless Scene: Cole when the Siren is seducing him.
- Skewed Priorities: Leo tries to attribute any of the wacky pregnancy symptoms to the baby being upset with all the arguing.Piper: Leo, the baby is an inch long! All this arguing is upsetting the mommy!
- Slut-Shaming: The Siren was punished for her seduction of a married man, which gets lampshaded by an annoyed Piper.
- This Is for Emphasis, Bitch!: "Kiss this, bitch" before attempting to blow up the Siren.
- The Unfair Sex: Paige notes that when the Siren (before becoming a demon) was discovered having an affair, she was punished and the man left blameless. Piper scoffs "typical".
- Weaksauce Weakness: Married men are automatically susceptible to the Siren's hypnosis. This seems to count for men whose divorce isn't finalised yet, since Cole gets overpowered.
- What the Hell, Hero?: Piper chews Paige out for summoning a darklighter into the house - reminding her that she left herself vulnerable, as well as Leo and the unborn baby. She later gets another one when she's called out for leaving Melissa alone and frightened because she's so keen to get home for a vanquish."It's our compassion, not our powers that separates us from the demons."
- Woman Scorned: The Siren is one, though she punishes both husbands and wives.
