Thank You For Not Morphing
The Charmed Ones attend a party at a nearby house. The party is hosted by three young people who recently moved into the neighborhood – Marshall, his brother Fritz and their sister Cynda. Prue wants to leave early so she can be rested for work, but Andy is also present. They chat briefly and then Prue returns to the manor – where she finds the door ajar and a large, angry dog on the attic stairs. She backs away and runs out the door.
A man walks into Prue's office and asks her to appraise a ring. She says the ring is old, perhaps 17th century, and is meant for protection. She wonders where the man got the ring–and who he is. The man tells Prue, or "Prudence" as he calls her, that she should know who he is. Prue now recognizes her father, Victor, who hasn't seen them in 20 years. She tells him to leave her and her sisters alone. Victor invites the sisters to dinner with him at a swank hotel where he's staying, but Prue isn't interested. Victor tries to reason with Prue, but Prue brusquely orders him out.
At lunch, Prue lets it be known that she wants nothing to do with Victor. However, Phoebe and Piper are more open to seeing him; they scarcely have any memory of him. Prue says that Grams always warned them Victor was a threat to them, and is suspicious that he showed up so soon after they discovered they were witches.
Phoebe goes to visit Victor. He is happy to see her, though he confuses her with Piper. They hug, and Phoebe has a vision of him stealing the Book of Shadows.
A man in a postman's uniform appears at the manor. He morphs the end of a finger into a key and unlocks the door. He kicks in the attic door and picks up the Book of Shadows. He tries to leave the manor, but the Book won't pass the front door. Prue appears and the "mailman" tosses the Book aside and assumes Andy's appearance. Cynda joins them and "Andy" leaves with her. Prue wonders what the Book is doing on the floor and returns it to the attic, finding the door kicked in. The sisters suspect Victor, but Phoebe remains quiet about her premonition.
Phoebe and Piper go to dinner with their father. Andy joins Prue at the manor. Prue is resentful of her father, but Andy convinces her to join him. She doesn't want to have dinner, only to know where Victor has been all these years. A waiter carrying a flambe, trips over and Piper freezes him. Victor admits to knowing the sisters are witches.
Piper and Phoebe, or so it seems, are sitting in the manor reading when the "mailman" shows up. Suddenly, "Piper" and "Phoebe" morph into Cynda and Marshall, while the mailman morphs into Fritz. The neighbors, it turns out, are really shapeshifters who are after the Book. Cynda wants to kill the Charmed Ones, but has to be calmed down by her brothers. They hear the sisters arrive with Victor, and morph into crows to avoid detection.
Victor and the sisters are reminiscing. Phoebe wants to talk about becoming a witch, making Prue and Piper uncomfortable. Victor asks to see the Book of Shadows, raising the sisters' suspicions.
Cynda is trashing the house; she is still angry that they didn't get a chance to kill the sisters. Marshall has to calm her down; they need to keep them alive in order to get the Book. Fritz wants to kill two of the sisters and make the third give them the Book, but Marshall shoots that idea down as well. He reminds Fritz and Cynda that they still have to give Victor a chance to get it; apparently they're using Victor to steal it.
Victor admits that he is after the Book, because it tends to draw evil to the sisters and he wants to protect them. He says that while Grams wanted them to discover they were witches, he vehemently opposed it, fearing for their safety. They refuse, and when he persists Prue violently throws him across the room. Victor takes the hint and leaves. Piper at dinner with Victor
The shapeshifters come to Victor at his hotel room and threaten to kill him unless he makes another try for the Book. Victor plans to go to Phoebe, believing her to be the only one who isn't now openly hostile to him.
The next morning, Phoebe comes downstairs and finds Prue and Piper ignoring her. Phoebe admits to having visited Victor and that she had her premonition, but didn't want to believe it was true. Prue comforts her. Piper finds the protection ring. Victor meets Phoebe outside the manor and has her premonition again — only this time "Victor" morphs into Marshall, who then walks away with Cynda and Fritz. Phoebe runs back into the manor, and warns Prue and Piper about the neighbors. Cynda happens to be there making cookies. Minutes later, Fritz and Marshall show up, followed by Victor. Phoebe goes to the Book, which flips open by itself to a spell designed to vanquish shapeshifters.
Phoebe comes back downstairs and finds two Victors. Both try to convince the sisters that they are the real Victor. Prue shifts the protection ring, and the Victor on the left picks it up, proving he's the real Victor (the one on the right is Marshall). The sisters say the spell, and the shapeshifters melt. The ring protects Victor. Victor and the sisters share an emotional hug, and Victor says that they don't need him to protect them anymore.
The newly hired handyman, Leo Wyatt, brings in a small package left on the doorstep. The package is from Victor, who has left town again. It contains a videotape showing the girls as children, enjoying a family Christmas.
Tropes
- Chekhov's Gun: The ring Victor has Prue appraise near the beginning. She discovers it has a protection charm, and it saves Victor's life at the climax of the episode.
- Disappeared Dad: Victor returns to the sisters' lives, and there is a lot of anger from Prue about him being one of these.
- Early-Installment Weirdness: Victor in this episode is very different to how his character would be portrayed in later appearances (even aside from the switch in actors). In this episode he's slightly more morally ambiguous, coming off as something of a shady con man and so disconnected from his daughters that he initially mistakes Phoebe for Piper. However, beneath this are still aspects of the characterization he'd come to be known for in Season 3 onward, such as his desire to protect his daughters.
- Evil Lawyer Joke: A variation. When a group of shapeshifters tries to enlist the cooperation of Victor, the Charmed Ones' father, one of them threatens to "rip him into a thousand pieces and dance on his entrails." In response, Victor quips "Ah, so you're lawyers."
- Happier Home Movie: Victor's parting gift is a tape of the entire family opening Christmas presents.
- Obviously Evil: Cynda.
- Papa Wolf: Victor will do what he has to in order to protect the girls, even if he has to sacrifice himself to do so. Sadly, his attempts to do so actually makes him come off as suspicious, including stealing the Book of Shadows.
- Parental Title Characterisation: Prue, who's the most resentful towards their father, insists on referring to him as Victor. Piper and Phoebe, who barely remember him and are more open to rebuilding the relationship, call him "Dad".
- Ring of Power: Victor's protection ring. It enables him to survive a spell that kills anything in the manor that isn't the sisters.
- Secret Test: Victor intentionally trips a waiter carrying a Baked Alaska to force Piper into using her powers.
- Self-Guarding Phlebotinum: This is the first time the Book of Shadows is seen being able to protect itself. However, unlike in later episodes, evil can touch it, they just can't take it out of the manor.
- Something Only They Would Say: Victor is the only person to refer to Prue by her full name, Prudence. First he does this to reveal his identity to her, then at the end to prove he's not the shapeshifter.
- Voluntary Shapeshifting: The three neighbors, Marshall, Cynda and Fritz, are in fact shape-shifting demons.
