Chris Crossed
The sisters are at P3, talking, when Chris passes. They invite him to join them, but he declines, claiming research for the next demon on his list. Chris walks into a back room, only to find Bianca, a Phoenix, waiting for him there. She tries to steal his powers, but Piper walks in shortly after and blasts Bianca. Chris claims not to know her, though he'd said her name in obvious surprise when he saw her. Bianca reforms outside of P3, unbeknownst to Piper, who believes the vanquish worked.
Chris hedges the sisters' questions as they try to identify her in the Book of Shadows, again claiming not to know Bianca. Leo doesn't believe him. He claims to be unhurt, but in fact has a large wound on his chest.
Chris holds an engagement ring and remembers the future that he came from. In a flash-forward, Chris gives Bianca a ring and asks her to marry him. Some kind of flying probe points at them, but Chris blasts it. Chris makes his plan to go back in time.
Leo has found the entry for the Phoenix coven in the Book of Shadows. Paige scries for Bianca, and she and Piper find only a little girl with a tattoo on her left arm. The girl's mother hurls energy balls and Piper blasts her. Looking for the girl, they see the mother reform.
Chris meets with Bianca. She tells him he'll die if he doesn't go back. She tries again to steal his powers as he orbs away. Chris orbs into the manor and says only "Bianca" before collapsing. Leo finds his chest wound, but cannot heal him. Phoebe gets an empathic read on Chris and realizes that Chris loves Bianca. She finds the engagement ring and the sisters use it to scry for Bianca.
A flash-forward finds a guided tour of the manor, now called the Halliwell Memorial Museum. Chris and Bianca slip in unnoticed as the tour guide shows footage of the Charmed Ones' reconstitution ("Charmed Again"). Away from the tour, a demon shimmers in behind them, but Bianca vanquishes it with an athame. They hide in the basement and plan to reach the Book of Shadows.
In the present, Bianca rummages through her mother's house when the mother shimmers in. Bianca shows the tattoo and demands to know where the Grimoire is. The mother shimmers the Grimoire in and Bianca quickly reads a spell. The Charmed Ones suddenly lose their inhibitions, worrying Leo.
In the future, Chris and Bianca have reached the attic. Chris is to pass himself off as the Charmed Ones' Whitelighter. There is only a holographic image of the Book of Shadows, but Chris plans to summon the real one.
With the sisters scattered, Bianca attacks Leo and shimmers away with Chris.Piper is getting horizontal with Greg on top of a fire truck, when Leo orbs in. Piper, alarmed, freezes Greg and Leo throws a potion, freeing Piper of the spell. Paige is with Richard, when Leo and Piper orb in and Leo throws another potion.
Bianca has taken Chris's powers, and is preparing to return to the future. She tells Chris that he will keep facing more assassins if he doesn't go back.
In the future, Bianca draws a large triquetra on the wall of the attic. Bianca gives Chris her engagement ring as a keepsake. Chris summons the real Book of Shadows with a spell and reads another spell to open a portal in the triquetra. A demon shimmers in after them, but Bianca fights him off.
In the present, Bianca prepares to open a time portal, as the Charmed Ones orb in. Bianca holds a knife to Piper's throat, but Chris convinces her not to kill Piper. He steps through the portal with Bianca and is met by several bodyguards and a long-haired man — the full-grown Wyatt.
The sisters plan to save Chris. Chris had pointed out a squeaky board in the attic, and the sisters plan to use it to send Chris his powers. They slip a note under the board with a spell.
In the future, Chris and Bianca confront Wyatt, who has become an evil witch-king. Wyatt tells Chris he will spare his life if he promises never to cross him again; Chris won't make that promise. Wyatt raises a hand and blows Chris across the attic. Bianca restrains Wyatt while Chris looks for the note. He reads the spell and gets his powers back. He and Bianca fight Wyatt off, but Bianca is fatally injured. Chris reads a spell from the Book of Shadows and jumps back to the present. Chris tells the sisters he came from the future "to save Wyatt"; from what, he won't say.
Later that night, Piper, Phoebe and Paige have a meeting. Piper tells them to move out and join their boyfriends.
Tropes:
- Above Good and Evil: The future Wyatt insists he is above all that, as his true focus is simply having power. Unsurprisingly, Chris doesn't see it that way. Interestingly, he touched the Book of Shadows while talking about this, implying that he isn't evil, at least in a way the book would recognize.
- Bad Future: Chris's future is very bleak, San Francisco is in ruins and an evil warlock rules the city. An evil warlock named Wyatt Halliwell.
- Batman Gambit: Before being taken through the time portal, Chris mentions his powers were stripped and that the sisters should tell Leo he'll have to fix the attic's floorboard without him. The sisters soon figure out what he was suggesting, so they prepare a spell to restore his powers and stash it under the floorboard.
- Big "NO!": Chris, after Future Wyatt mortally wounds Bianca.
- Bittersweet Ending: Chris is safe in the present and retains the others' trust, but Bianca is dead. Also, Chris makes it clear he'll take Wyatt down if he can't save him.
- Breaking the Fellowship: At the end of the episode, Paige moves in with Richard and Phoebe leaves for Hong Kong, leaving Piper alone in the Manor.
- Continuity Cavalcade: The "Halliwell Museum" in the future is filled with references to past episodes. Costumes from "Which Prue Is It, Anyway?", "A Witch's Tale", "Witches In Tights" and "Happily Ever After" are on display and a hologram of Shax pops up to scare visitors.
- Continuity Nod:
- Phoebe reminds Piper of how when she and Leo started sleeping together she kept accidentally freezing him.
- While trying to figure out how to follow Chris to the future, Piper asks how they did so back in Season 2. Leo says that was "a unique situation" brought about by the Elders as a group.
- A Day in the Limelight: This episode focuses mostly on Chris.
- Even Evil Has Loved Ones: The future Wyatt says he would've killed anyone else for what Chris attempted, but he offers to simply forgive him in exchange for his loyalty. Downplayed, though, as Wyatt doesn't hesitate to harm Chris for continued defiance.
- "Eureka!" Moment: The sisters figure out what Chris was trying to say when Leo steps on the squeaky floorboard.
- Evil Brit: For reasons best known to himself, future Wyatt has a British accent.
- Et Tu, Brute?: Future Wyatt has this attitude over Chris trying to change his past, saying he never expected such treachery from him.
- Foreshadowing: It is shown that Chris might be related to the Charmed Ones when he is able to conjure their Book of Shadows. He also warns Bianca not to kill Piper because if she does, there "won't be a future for either one of us to go back to".
- Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: After Bianca prevents him from blasting Chris, Future Wyatt kicks her away. She gets impaled on some broken wood, dying soon afterwards.
- In the Back: In the attic, Bianca attacks Future Wyatt this way, giving Chris enough time to find and read the spell.
- Intimidation Demonstration: The future Wyatt says he maintains the manor as a museum in order to remind everyone of the power he came from and now possesses.
- Irony: After learning Chris was keeping being half-witch from them, the sisters are rather displeased. Leo, despite his own issues with Chris, vouches for him and says he's done a lot of good so far. Paige lampshades it.
- It Gets Easier: Subverted with Bianca. She has a history of killing and does so, but it still affects her.Bianca: [to her mother] Someday, when I ask you what it feels like to kill, don't lie to me. Don't tell me you don't feel a thing.
- Lampshade Hanging: As the tour guide says, there's a section of the Halliwell Manor museum dedicated to displaying all the things the sisters have been turned into over the years.
- Power of Trust: Leo reminds Chris that trust works both ways and that the next time he's in trouble, he should ask for help instead of try to handle it himself.
- The Reveal:
- Chris is revealed to be half-witch and half-Whitelighter, like Paige.
- In the future, Wyatt is an evil overlord. Chris went back in time to prevent this from happening.
- San Dimas Time: The Charmed Ones hurry to hide a spell under the floorboard, where Chris will retrieve it 23 years later.
- The Scottish Trope: Prior to The Reveal about Wyatt, the evil warlord ruling over San Francisco is never named.
- Taught by Experience: In the end, Piper supports Phoebe and Paige moving out. She's not happy about saying goodbye, but she says their family's history has taught her she can't put her own happiness and priorities ahead of them.Piper: Mom did that, Grams did it, and even Prue, and look what happened to them. That's not a legacy I want us to inherit.
- Tragic Keepsake: Before dying, Bianca hands a devastated Chris back the engagement ring.
- The Un-Reveal: Despite the circumstances of his travel from the future and his true nature revealed, it is never explained who Chris really is and why he is so close to Wyatt in the future.
- Wham Line: After the leader of the demons greets Chris.Chris: Hello, Wyatt.
- Wham Shot: Piper tries to stop Chris from entering the portal by freezing him, but he keeps moving, meaning he's part-witch.
- Whole Episode Flashback: A lot of the episode is a flashback of Chris's past, which is technically a flash-forward since Chris is from the future. Doubles as a Wham Episode in that it's revealed that not only is Chris actually half-witch/half-whitelighter like Paige, but also in the future Wyatt is an evil overlord.
