Hyde School Reunion
Paige is flipping through Phoebe's high school yearbook, as Phoebe is about to go to her high school reunion. Piper, suffering from morning sickness, joins her and notes that Phoebe was rebellious as a teenager, perhaps missing her mother more than her sisters had.
Chris orbs in and asks for a cloaking spell. He thinks that "Scabbar demons" are after him; he has gone undercover to find out who turns Wyatt, and thinks his cover is blown.
Phoebe reads one of the writings in her yearbook: "Those who mock who I am/let them always remember when" and it functions as a spell, briefly turning Phoebe into her younger self.
Chris isn't talking to Piper and she asks her father to come and talk to him.
Paige and Phoebe go to Phoebe's high school reunion. Phoebe meets with Ramona Shaw, one of her former gang, and she recounts one of Phoebe's peccadilloes. Another one named Todd Marks joins; he is a personal-injury lawyer. His wife Paula shows up and taunts Phoebe, calling her "Freebie". She and Paige walk out and Phoebe briefly turns into her teenage self.
Back at the manor, Chris and Victor are talking, and mostly ignoring Piper. Chris mentions an "event" that brought him and his grandfather together but refuses to elaborate. Phoebe and Paige come home and tell what happened. Phoebe transforms in front of a mirror and is disturbed.
Todd calls Phoebe and asks what happened. Paula takes the phone from him and calls Phoebe "Freebie" again. Phoebe transforms permanently and goes after Paula. She climbs out a window and returns to the reunion, and walks up and openly kisses Todd. Paula argues with Phoebe, who calls Paula a "bitch". Paula transforms into a dog (a literal bitch). Phoebe casts a spell and the gentle reunion transforms in a wild high school dance. Paige orbs in, looking for Phoebe, just as Phoebe leaves with Todd and Ramona. Police arrive, and Phoebe, Todd and Ramona hide and steal a police car.
Chris and Victor are talking over a fancy meal, but Chris is afraid the Scabbar demons will notice he is missing. Victor wants to know why Chris isn't talking to Piper. Chris admits what the "event" was: Piper dies when he turns 14.
Phoebe, Todd and Ramona ditch the police car and plan to reunite the gang. They use a glamour to get into the local jail and meet with the former ringleader, Rick Gittridge. They morph back to their true forms and Rick is frightened. The three had only planned to visit Rick on a lark, but Rick bashes a guard with a chair. He takes the guard's uniform and shotgun and the four escape. Phoebe begins to get cold feet, thinking Rick is capable of violence.
Chris and Victor orb into the attic. Paige is scrying for Phoebe and finds her, just as two Scabbar demons attack. Paige, Piper and Chris fight them off, but the scrying crystal is ruined and Phoebe is lost again.
Rick proposes robbing an armoured car, but the others won't go along. The others walk away, but Rick threatens them with a shotgun. Phoebe returns to adult form, just as her sisters summon her with a spell. Phoebe begs them to send her back, and on her return, she finds Todd tied up and Ramona missing.
In the stolen police car, Phoebe and Rick intercept the armoured car. Phoebe sets fire to the cab with a spell. Rick enters the armoured car, but Phoebe casts a spell to create siren sounds and Rick flees with Phoebe. They come to the manor and Rick demands a new face. Paige, at Phoebe's suggestion, makes Rick look like Chris. Rick is pleased with his new appearance at first... then the Scabbar demons attack and kill him.
Later in the day, Phoebe has reversed her spell on Ramona and Todd, and officially puts the past behind her. Paige compliments her for her successful career and as a person. Piper walks Victor out and promises to keep the demons from dropping in the next time he visits. He tells her that he looks forward to really getting to know Chris when he is born, then advises Piper to enjoy every moment she has with him before walking out with a warning, "be careful". The episode ends with Piper watching both her sons play in the conservatory, then touching her belly.
Tropes
- Ascended Fridge Horror: It was already known how much of a trouble teen Phoebe was. This episode shows how much worse she would have been if she'd had her powers at the time.
- Asshole Victim: Rick was more than eager to take advantage of Phoebe's powers as a witch to rob armored vans, and threatened to kill an old friend of theirs to get her to do it. Nobody mourned when Phoebe and Paige decided to get rid of him by letting the Scabbar demons melt him with their acid.
- Class Reunion: Phoebe has, when she met an old acquaintance who was more violent than ever before. She even cast a spell (first on herself, accidentally, and then on the entire class deliberately under the influence of said spell) that brought everyone's high school personalities to the forefront.
- Continuity Nod: Way back in Season 1, Prue claimed that Phoebe got caught making out with a boy under the bleachers. In this episode, we meet the guy. Prue had also mentioned that she was nicknamed 'Freebie' as a Berserk Button, which is again what is referenced.
- Cool Old Guy: Victor learns he was this to Chris in the Bad Future. He really gets a kick out of being referred to as "awesome."
- Embarrassing Nickname: 'Freebie' for Phoebe, which is still a Berserk Button for her.
- Everyone Has Standards: Phoebe's old gang is fine with having a little magic fun and sneaking into a jail to say hi to an old friend. When he knocks out a cop with a chair, they stop laughing and are horrified from that moment onwards.
- Exact Words: Rick demands that Phoebe and Paige give him a new appearance to get the cops off his tail, and tells them to make it young and good-looking. They make him look like Chris, who is young and good-looking... and the quarry of a bunch of Scabbar demons.
- Forgot About His Powers: Paige forgets that she can easily orb away Rick's gun, or else orb out to distract Rick, rather than what they actually do to him.
- Forgotten Aesop: In "Morality Bites", the sisters learned that their priority should be to protect the innocent instead of punishing the guilty, and in this episode they do exactly the latter.
- French Cuisine Is Haughty: Victor tries to bond with Chris by taking him to a fancy French restaurant. Chris doesn't know what any of the items on the menu are and the waiter gives him a hard time for it, although Chris snarks right back at him.
- Green-Eyed Monster: Paula, Todd's current wife, gets extremely catty when she sees Todd talking to Phoebe.
- Hell-Bent for Leather: Phoebe's rebellious teenage self wears leather.
- Hypocrite: Chris doesn't want to warn Piper that she dies young out of fear that it could somehow change the future for the worse. However, that doesn't stop Chris from warning Victor not to keep smoking cigars.
- Identity Amnesia: Played with. Although Phoebe's teenage self takes over, she still has all her memories and knows she's a witch.
- Lampshade Hanging: Victor quips that demon drama is why he doesn't come around more often.
- '90s Hair: Phoebe would have been a teenager in the early 90s and so has very long hair with thick bangs.
- Noodle Incident: "The event" that Chris refers to, when Piper died in the future. Except for what's mentioned in the plot summary, all the details are left to the viewer's imagination.
- Parental Title Characterisation: Chris calls Piper "Mom" for the first time after she points out that nothing's going to happen to her while she's still pregnant with him.
- Raised by Grandparents: Chris was this, having been raised by his Grandpa Victor because Piper was dead and Leo was either dead or too busy Elder-ing. He is afraid to talk about this in Piper's presence.
- Sadistic Choice: Chris has actually been struggling with whether or not to warn Piper what happens to her in the future. He's not sure if it will make things better or worse.
- Throw the Dog a Bone: As they both worry about what may happen to her in the future, Victor assures Piper that Chris loves her.
- Time Skip: Apparently, months have passed since the previous episode (in the following episode it will be stated that Leo hasn't been around for six months). Piper went from not being pregnant to being pregnant and showing. This was done to let Piper's pregnancy catch up to Holly Marie Combs's real-life one.
- Unwitting Instigator of Doom: Phoebe herself. She innocently reads through an old yearbook, and reads an old poem. Said poem acts as a spell and turns her into an immature teenager who still has her powers. Under the influence of this immaturity, she regresses her entire class mentally back to teenagers, including some old friends, who decide to visit their friend...unconventionally. And that results in him forcing them to break him out.
- With Friends Like These...: In high school, Ramona was a very devoted friend to Phoebe, despite not being treated very well from what we hear. For example, Phoebe snuck Ramona into a country club in the trunk of a car but left her in there. Phoebe actually feels pretty bad about such actions and apologizes, though Ramona genuinely saw it as all in good fun.
