YMMV / Charmed S5E3 Happily Ever After

• Adorkable: Phoebe's forced walk when in Cinderella's glass slippers is wonderfully dorky. Especially when she nearly gets hit by a car, and has to do the "Hey, I'm walkin' here!" bit (Alyssa Milano leaning into her 'noo yawk' accent to great effect).
• Catharsis Factor: Phoebe being turned into a pumpkin and nearly smashed is a very fitting Take That, Scrappy! moment for her. Also seeing her being forced to apologise to Cole after she Took a Level in Jerkass is very satisfying.
• Genius Bonus:
  • Piper saves herself from the wolf by blowing him up from the inside. While the Red Riding Hood analogue saving herself might seem like a modern twist, early examples of the fairy tale did indeed have Red saving herself without any woodsman's help; usually by outsmarting the wolf and escaping, or killing him herself.
  • Paige also doesn't get woken by True Love's Kiss, which also seems like a modern invention. However, the original Snow White tale didn't have the prince's kiss revive her; she's only revived when the piece of the apple is dislodged as the prince has the coffin moved.
  • Piper and the wolf disguised as Penny even have a mild argument about how Red Riding Hood is supposed to end. Piper recaps the more popular softened version, where a woodcutter arrives to save Red and the grandmother. However, previous versions of the tale did indeed just end with Red getting eaten.
  • The episode's overall position on fairy tales as retellings of ancient battles between good and evil, with the potential to be corrupted for future generations is likely a reference to the different forms fairy tales often take. Some of the originals had Downer Endings with a Scare 'Em Straight message (suggesting these were battles that evil won). Over the years, the tales were changed to have happy endings or to become Lighter and Softer.
• Hilarious in Hindsight:
  • Paige bites the apple and turns into Snow White. Fast forward to Once Upon a Time where Rose McGowan plays the younger version of Snow White's step grandmother Cora.
  • Also the dwarf recommends that she find herself a prince and quickly. In Rose's second episode as Cora she assumes a man is a prince and tries to marry him immediately. When that doesn't work she nearly marries a second.
• Signature Scene: The shot of Paige biting the apple and turning into Snow White was used in many trailers and TV spots, especially when the show was rerun on Living TV in the UK. It even got used in a scene in Fighting with My Family, demonstrating that Paige got her name from the TV show.
• WTH, Costuming Department?: Phoebe's "gown" once she's turned into Cinderella is a skimpy, two-piece outfit that's out of place at the charity ball she's attending and doesn't look at all like something a princess would wear.