YMMV / Charmed S3E3 Once Upon A Time

• Fanon: Fans decide that Paige can see fairies due to reading the spell the sisters write into the book at the climax of this episode.
• Franchise Original Sin: This is the first episode of the show to really drift into fantasy and fairy tale territory. Season 5 would feature a lot of these episodes, angering a lot of the fans. They don't seem to mind this one too much since it's only one episode in a pretty dark season otherwise - and doesn't feature any blatant Fanservice. The sisters just act like kids when they're given fairy dust, when if it had been two seasons later, there probably would have been Fairy Sexy costumes involved. The episode also has a clever way to justify the Genre Shift - since only children can see fairies, it makes sense that they wouldn't have been referenced or appeared on the show before.
• Hilarious in Hindsight: Abbey gets revealed as Prue's stalker two episodes later. And compared to everyone else in P3, she is portrayed as the Only Sane Man while Phoebe and Prue are under the influence.
• Narm Charm: Prue under the influence of fairy dust, because it is so jarring to see. When Cole asks to use the bathroom, she even giggles and says "he has to go doodie".
• Retroactive Recognition: Thistle is played by Scout Taylor Compton, who played Lita Ford in The Runaways and Laurie in Rob Zombie's Halloween reboots.
• The Woobie: Poor Kate. A little girl who's had to witness her parents divorcing, and is terrorised by beings no one else can see. Her parents think she's crazy, and the trolls physically harm her.