Charmageddon
The world is in its utopian state. No one is aware of what the Avatars did but the world seems a much happier and improved place. However, a man is seen arguing with a police officer. Upon seeing the conflict, an Avatar makes a simple gesture and the arguing man vanishes.
Elise is speaking to Phoebe at work and notes that the newspapers are the thinnest they've ever been due to the lack of crime and bad news being reported. However, she mentions the disappearance of a troubled young man not long ago.
Meanwhile, Zankou attacks Leo and takes him to an Egyptian pyramid. He shows Leo what the Avatars did thousands of years ago and tries to convince him to rebel against them. Later on, Leo goes to the other Avatars and they show him how they maintain utopia - they simply remove anything causing conflict.
At the manor, the sisters are planning to hold a party. Paige comes down the stairs and confesses that she doesn't seem to feel anything regarding Kyle's death. In this new world, no one dies, they just 'go to a better place'.
Leo goes back to the pyramid to meet up with Zankou. Zankou is already there, trying to decipher the recipe for the Avatar vanquishing potion. They realise they'll need the Charmed Ones on their side in order to do it. Leo meets with Phoebe and takes her to Kyle's apartment where she has a vision of him being killed by an Avatar. Leo tells her about how the Avatars maintain the utopian world and that it was really Beta who had killed Kyle. Phoebe is conflicted as she still wants to live in the demon free world.
At the party, Zankou and other demons shimmer in. Leo fights the demons and the Avatars remove him as a source of conflict. The party resumes as if nothing has happened. Piper and Paige don't appear to be affected by the event however Phoebe looks worried. Chris and Wyatt are devastated.
Phoebe goes up to the attic to the Book of Shadows as Leo instructed. She begins to remember all of the people who have died in her lifetime, including Prue, and realises Leo is right about the Avatars. She rushes downstairs to speak to Piper, explaining that the only reason Chris and Wyatt are crying so much is because they're still young and aren't programmed to feel pain like adults do. Piper then finally breaks down. They then convince Paige to go to Kyle's apartment with them where they tell her that Beta killed Kyle. Paige then starts to feel Kyle's loss.
The sisters, who have now turned against the Avatars, go to meet with Zankou. He has managed to decipher the potion recipe and the sisters make them. They enter the chamber where the Avatars hold court and demand restoration of the world to how it was before. Alpha agrees to rewind time however they can't bring Kyle back.
The Avatars do as they say, rewinding time and people are back to normal again. Piper and Leo remember what had happened to them. Piper and Phoebe are seen walking down the street and spot Zankou over the road, who waves before disappearing.
Kyle is able to see Paige one last time, appearing to her as a Whitelighter.
Tropes
- The Atoner: It's implied that Kyle will become this as a Whitelighter; seeing it as a way of atoning for the mistakes he made in his human life.
- Bittersweet Ending: The Avatars are stopped, and those they killed are brought back to life (Leo included). Kyle stays dead, but he becomes a Whitelighter. On the other hand, Leo fears reprisals from the Elders for all this, while Zankou is free to begin a takeover of the Underworld.
- Call-Back: Utopia here isn't too unlike the warped world in the Season 6 finale, where it was always day and everyone was cheerful. Although thankfully people don't get their limbs chopped off for minor infractions here.
- Children Are Innocent: Wyatt and Chris are too young to be affected by what the Avatars are doing. When Leo is killed, the boys cry uncontrollably, while the adults carry on like nothing happened.
- Continuity Porn: Phoebe is freed from the Avatars' spell when she touches the Book of Shadows and gets a premonition of every major loss the sisters have suffered. The complete list - Andy, Penny, Cole, Chris, Piper in the alternate timeline in "All Hell Breaks Loose" and even Miles from "A Witch in Time". They get around Pruenote by showing both her grave marker and clips from her funeral. Oddly enough, Patty doesn't get referenced, possibly because Phoebe was too young to remember that loss.
- Crapsaccharine World: It's a Utopian paradise where everyone is happy all the time, and there's virtually no conflict at all. But anyone who creates conflict is erased instantly, and people are unable to grieve for their loved ones.
- Death Is Cheap: Leo and the others that the Avatars killed are brought back, save Kyle. Justified since the Avatars just reset time to when right before the spell was cast. Beta can't get revived either.
- Enemy Mine: Zankou exploits Leo's newfound doubts about the Avatars and convinces they must be driven away. After Leo is killed, the sisters realize what happened and team-up with Zankou.
- Freudian Excuse: Phoebe points out that Wyatt and Chris aren't scared of demons, due to constantly being in contact with them since birth.
- Graceful Loser: Upon realising that the sisters are not going to tolerate Utopia, complete with vanquishing potions, the Avatars bow out gracefully and rewind time to before the spell was cast. They say they'll try again in a few years to see if humanity is ready.
- Heroic Sacrifice:
- To convince the sisters something is wrong, Leo willingly commits violence and lets himself be killed to show Phoebe the price of this new world.
- A different example with Paige. The Avatars say they don't have enough power to rewind time and resurrect Kyle, so she does have the option to get him back. Being a Charmed One, she of course gives that up to save the world.
- Montage: When Phoebe touches the Book of Shadows, she sees various deaths of prominent characters from throughout the show.
- Never Say "Die": Everyone in Utopia becomes unable to say 'die' or its derivatives. Leo points this out when Phoebe feel she has to justify saying 'killed' figuratively.
- Put on a Bus: Kyle has been made a Whitelighter and is never seen on the show again, though he did appear in the comics.
- Ripple-Effect-Proof Memory: The sisters, Leo, Zankou, and the Avatars remember what happened.
- The Pollyanna: The Avatars essentially affect emotions to leave people in a constant state of bliss, even while acknowledging various problems or tragedies. Only a small number of people are considered too damaged for the process to work, and they're slowly eliminated.
- Sweet and Sour Grapes: Paige gives up her chance to resurrect Kyle, knowing it's more important that the world be restored. Then she finds out he's become a Whitelighter. Of course they part mutually, but still better than what she'd expected.
- Thanatos Gambit: After the Avatars succeed in recreating the world without Good and Evil, Leo realizes that it was a mistake (basically emotions are dulled and people can't really be themselves or make choices). He allows the Avatars to kill him so that Piper, Phoebe, and Paige will get angry enough to break through the Avatars' control and reset the world. As an added bonus, the Avatars are able to bring him back to life afterward, but it's unclear whether he knew that or not.
- Utopia Justifies the Means: The Avatars not only rewire people's minds, but they also casually dispose of anyone who creates chaos (no matter how minor that is).
- We Will Meet Again: Zankou gives a non-verbal example to the sisters before departing.
- Yank the Dog's Chain: To get Piper to snap out of it, Phoebe forces her to realize that she went through with remaking the world to be with Leo and then the Avatars killed him mere hours later for creating chaos.
